By: Wilson Liang
Dated: 12.31.04
V1.0
!!!TO THE POINT!!!
All the hype and 6 long years of development comes down to this, a brilliant and gorgeous game to stare and admire upon. The new Source engine is amazing, you can really tell Valve pulled all their efforts and skill into making the best HL2 experience ever. HL2 is a great sequel and follow up to 1998's Half Life that went onto winning 50 awards.
As you know, you play a M.I.T Phyicis known soley as Gordon Freeman. Gordon Freeman is a man of few words or none, as a matter of fact, Valve made a immersive game even though the main character (you) never have any lines and the fact that there are no true cutscenes in the game. It still is very convincing. Now onto the Pros and Cons ->
Pros-
+ gorgeous game engine, interactive pyhsics that blend into the gameplay
+ character modeling and animation is top notch
+ bump-mapping and soft shadowing is a nice touch
+ HL2 Deathmatch as of 11.30.04
Cons-
- Loading sequences tend to get quite frustrating and takes you away from the immersive gameplay (on middle to low end systems anyway)
- Story is another cliff-hanger, still no ending...
- HL2 DM only has 2 maps, as for this, it's a con, for now...
It's quite clear that HL2 is a very impressive game from a technical standpoint. All the effort the Valve software team placed on this game is truely something that will never be forgotten. This is definately a game to keep and still play in the years to come just like Half Life did before.
Final Judgement:
9.5 Superb!!!
