Well at long last it is here - the game every PC-head has been waiting for. But is it any good? Damn right it is! It's so good people in my house are getting annoyed at me for playing it constantly, even forgetting to eat at times. This is what every game should aim for! It now raises the benchmark so high it will take a lot to compete. It also is one of the first true sequels that actually outshines the original.
Once again you are Gordon Freeman, the gun-toting scientist from the Black Mesa facility. You arrive in a strange city and you find yourself not exactly popular with security forces. That's all I'm going to say about the story, as I don't want to spoil it for you. Let's just say you will thank me for doing this once you play it.
Graphically this game is amazing with human skin being beautifully reproduced and perfect lip-synching being the order of the day. The surroundings are beautiful as well and thanks to the new Havoc engine, it is nearly all interactive. If it can be pushed, pulled or shot at, you can do it. The graphics supplied by the Source engine far outshine anything else this year and it truly makes you appreciate why Valve spent so long making this game look and feel the way it does. The sound is spot on with the audio of vehicles, guns and voices giving you a great feeling of immersion instead of just listening to a looping sound tape being played in the distance.
The vehicles in the game have great control, (one being a boat, I'll let you find out about the others), and are very responsive and a good part of the game. They have not just been thrown in as filler in the game, but play a major part in it, a nice change. Weapons are good as well. They have the weight and feel of proper weapons. One weapon in particular made my day. It enabled me to pull of some hilarious moments involving buzz saw blades and bad guys, ahh the memory.
Now a sequel to Half Life would have to have puzzles and this makes this game seem like the Tetris of shooters. No finding the red key for the red door here, no way. You find yourself thinking laterally to solve them and when you do, you get a warm and fuzzy feeling that you have actually accomplished something. I could write about this game for days but I won't. I really am doing you a favour by not telling you what happens, truly I am. All I can say is, buy this game, put a pot of coffee on and get set for the ride of your life!
