Half-Life 2 (DVD ROM)

Even more so than the original, what sets Half-Life 2 apart from the rest is its incredible technology--stunningly realistic graphics, amazing real world physics and highly adaptive AI. In combining all three elements, the game offers an almost infinite variety. One minute you find yourself being hunted down by Special Forces, using furniture to block doorways and throwing grenades to dislodge container crates and squish unsuspecting bad guys, the next you'll be stalking zombies through an abandoned village or fighting giant War of the Worlds styled tripods with the resistance movement and using a tractor beam gun to capture chunks of masonry and fling it at your enemies.

Half-Life 2 allows all this and more and could very well be the first game to actually exceed its hype, never mind just live up to it.--David Jenkins

However, it will undoubtedly be the best PC action game EVER.

--
Grumps


The worst game yet for installing   November 25, 2004
55 out of 92 found this review helpful

I am a simple man.

When I buy a game I like to instal it then play it. When it is one of the most eagerly hyped games like Half Life 2, it is with even greater pleasure and anticipation that I slip the disk for the first time into the computer.

Whoops! To install Half Life 2 I need access to the Internet. But the computer I use for games does not have Internet access (not having broadband I try to keep Internet use to a minimum to keep costs down.)

Never mind, with a couple of days work and an expensive phone call to Microsoft I manage to get Internet Connection Sharing to work for the first time, which is probably a good thing. And then, instead of installing the game, I am installing some kind of interface with Steam. Who or what is Steam? Why do I need it? Explanation comes there none.

Never mind, say I again, let's get on with it. Evemtually the game is installed and there is some nonsense about the key - presumably to stop you installing it on your second computer so you can play with friends.

And then I appear to be downloading it from the Internet and decrypting it at least twice. What on earth is happening?

Is there a booklet of explanation? No. Is there a manual? No. Is there a manual on the disk? No. (You can email their technical support for "documentation" apparently).

Sorry, Valve, you may have worked hard on the game but you forgot about the human interface. Zero points for effort. And frankly, trying to stop people playing multiplayer on their home network without ordering multiple copies of the game is just plain greedy.


Lets just clear this up once and for all   November 29, 2004
54 out of 63 found this review helpful

Right. This internet connection issue. Yes, you do need an internet connection during the installation process which will:

1) Set up a Steam account for you
2) Prompt you for the DVD key
3) Decrypt the already installed files on your hard drive
4) Update the game

Steam is there to reduce piracy through compulsory registration, offer an online channel for buying and updating games and to help with network play. Once it's set up though (and it will take a little over an hour on dial-up), you will ONLY need to be connected to Steam the FIRST TIME you play the single player game. Just follow the 3 instructions about setting Steam options on the Quick Reference Card in the box.

The first time you try to play it offline it will say that Half Life 2 hasn't been set up to be played offline. Go and start it through Steam while online and when you've started the first level, QUIT the game. Then launch the game again without an internet connection, click 'play offline' in the Steam dialogue box and you're sorted, because the game is now registered and has stored the information it needs on your PC. But it's very important to follow the 3 bullet points listed on the Quick Reference Card.

I hope this helps.

BTW: Haven't got that far in the game, but already the atmosphere of City 17 is proving to be pure escapism. But that installation process...


Counter Strike: Source   November 5, 2004
46 out of 120 found this review helpful

First of all I would like to say this not a review as many would say to "stop writing reviews if you have not played the game", but I wish to make a point about the major multiplayer aspect which I have played of the game. The game will include Counter Strike : Source. I have played this through the Valve's Steam Service, which i downloaded(I hope amazon would print this).

Many of the fans of the original Half Life fans bought the original game because of the original Counter Strike, because CS is a modification of Half Life and you need the CD-Key to play online. From this, they (including me) were attached to a game that offered a different kind of multiplayer component, such as rescuing hostages and planting bombs if you chose to be a terrorist, and the Counter Terrorists would then try and stop you - to complete a round or mission. From that Half Life became a huge success, and was also slated a graphics platform from which future games developed thier ideas from.

Now, the new graphics engine that they call it "Source" has been developed to offer real life physics and graphics that are better than anything that is out now (that is, if you have a good machine). I have compared this game to Doom 3, which also offers good graphics and physics, but by playing Counter Strike: Source, I noticed that HL2 will offer gamers an astounding range of new world physics, without sacrificing a ounce of fun and gameplay. Whether you are walking on water, or shooting bullets at them, it is a beauty to see the splashes and reflections. Another nice thing I noticed is that if you fire bullets through a wall, and you go back to the other side of the wall, you can see the bullet holes!! Beautiful!!

In Counter Strike: Source, i always be a counter terrorist and try and stop the terrorists from planting the bomb, or I have to rescue the hostages and then the terrorists would try and stop me. But the main point is that you have to work in a team, and this is one of the elements that were created efficiently by the Valve team. You have commands that you can give your team members and they will try and follow them(most of the time). The range of weapons are realistic and offer a wide range of choices. You can throw stun grenades in a room from the outside and rush into a room filled with terrrists, and just take them out as they would not be able to see anything! Just like in the movies!

I wanted to say so much more, but when i think and look at the achievements of Counter Strike, I wonder what is not possible in Half Life 2, when it is released on 16th November 2004. The game will include Counter Strike:Source with Half Life 2 (at least thats what the Valve site tells me) otherwise you can just download from Valve's Steam service, free as I believe as that how it was with the original Half Life. The bottom line is, I would reccomend this game as a definite buy(from amazon!) to anyone who wants to see history in the making of the gaming industry. The graphics are state of the art, the story is like a blockbuster movie, the gameplay is richer than any other and the realism takes the game itself further than it has ever been before.

Forget Doom 3, leave UT2004, throw away Halo 2, and bring out the big guns that is Valve's Half Life 2!