Wake Up, Mr. Freeman

By Hardflip

In 1998 we were blessed with a game that placed us in the role of a Black Mesa scientist who became well-known for rivalling the other first person shooter great - the Doom marine. Many say it was better than Doom, others say you can’t beat a double-shotgun toting space soldier. I’m afraid this time around, Gordon Freeman kicks all kind of godly ass, establishing itself as probably the best FPS you’ll ever play.

To begin with, many may remember how immersive Half Life 1 was. You were placed into a world which was believable. Machines would churn by you, people would walk by doing whatever their job was, or would talk to you if you wanted them to. You weren’t just there to kill people. Half Life 2 does this in an even better way, thankfully lacking the fifteen-minute train ride. The world around you is far more active, and clearly emotional. You can listen in on conversations, interact with other people and get many different reactions (see: throwing bottles at people), and the finest details such as game textures and floating scanners really drag you into the kind of world Earth has become.

The story is also quite ‘genius’. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone, but it’s described in the same way as the original; your character does not define events, rather, you get many interpretations on them from the surrounding characters, and it isn’t all about the quest for truth, although many subtle hints are given for your own speculation.

The game play, and the pacing of it is simply perfect. It is not a corridor shooter like Doom 3 was, or perhaps the original Half Life could be criticised for having looked at the majority of the game. There is a wide variety of environments, all having a distinctive feel to them which really gives the game character. Each chapter of the game has its merits because of this, taking on using vehicles to manipulating objects with the superb Havok physics.

Physics is also one of the most mentionable subjects about the game play. Valve have used it in such a way that we’ve not really tackled upon prior to this, even in Max Payne 2. Rather than using just bullets to kill your enemies, you can use other items and structures to rid yourself of incoming fire. In addition to this, there are a lot of physics puzzles used to progress through the game, fantastically designed to place you into a believable world.

This believable world is also portrayed by a fantastic graphics engine. From an artistic viewpoint, this game is vastly superior to Doom 3 and Far Cry, however not on a technical front. Textures look fantastic, models have quite a high poly-count, and bump mapping is utilized effectively to give the game more of a gritty than plastic feel. Lighting is also superbly balanced, considering the game does not take place in the dark all the time. I must also mention how they’ve created the best facial animation you’ll see in a game, probably being Hollywood worthy for a CGI film. It oozes character beyond belief.

Simply put, I believe Half Life 2 to be the third coming of the messiah. First, we had Doom, and then Half Life, and now Half Life 2. Sadly Doom 3 never touched the level of brilliance that Half Life 2 does, but it was a fantastic title either way. Valve have used five years, and forty million dollars of genius to construct a game which now sets the standard for the PC first person shooter market.