Rating: 
Summary: Yes, it is going to rock.
Review: Half-Life, released by Sierra and Valve Studios in early 1999, won over 100 Game of the Year awards from top gaming sites and magazines. It was voted Best Game of All Time by PC Gamer, and has sold millions upon millions of copies.Half-Life 2 has been in development with a full team for over 5 years - the original Half-Life was in development for 2 years with an incomplete team. The screenshots surpass visual quality of any games on the market, with in game graphics like those found on a rendered computer graphics movie in another game. The game engine (a system of physics and such, to determine bullets, sunlight reflection, collapsing objects, etc), called the Source engine, is extremely well developed. The released gameplay movies are phenomenal, and Half-Life 2 is promised to be a groundbreaking game, much like its predecessor. Buy it. Buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Be prepared
Review: The world of first-person shooting games was revolutionized in 1998 when Half-Life hit the mainstream. Featuring a slew of smooth graphics, a huge three-dimensional environment, and an interesting arsenal of weaponry, Half-Life was bound for greatness. Since its conception, several modifications have been created, including total game revamps like Counterstrike and Team Fortress Classic. Now, Sierra has decided enough time has passed since their original creation, and are onto bigger and better things. I base this information from the 25-minute video shown from the debut at E3 of 2003 that showcased Half-Life 2 to the fullest. Graphically, no other first-person shooter has ever looked so good. The characters have "rag doll" physics, meaning when a body hits the ground, its arms and legs flail lifelessly. Barrels float in the water, and splinters fly from a section of wood that is shot by bullets. The realism is astonishing. The opening sequence features the G-man from the last title that greets you in the end to offer you a position to work for him, or to face a fate "you have no chance of surviving." The programmers inform us that the G-man has over twenty separate "muscles" in his face that change when he talks, or has emotional responses. The A.I. is revolutionary. During a street combat, you find yourself being bombarded by enemy fire, while several resistance fighters alongside you are trying to fight back. The computer-controlled characters wait for prime opportunities to move and counterattack when their opposition isn't attacking them. A.I. of this calibre has never been seen before. In addition to the classic weapons we've seen (with updated graphics and sound effects, of course), new revolutionary ways of dispatching enemies await the classic hero Gordon Freeman. So, whenever Sierra decides to release this game (if the actual date isn't pushed back again), we'll get to see the mystic wonders of the world of Half-Life once again. Only this time, it's personal.
Rating: 
Summary: lets hope
Review: In 1998 I happened to stumble on a little game called Half-life. Okay, by that time (December of 1998) everyone was talking about Half-Life and I could not wait to see what all the hype was about. Usually when you have high expectations for a game the game fails to deliver even if normally you would have enjoyed it but Half-Life surpassed my expectations and become one of my favorite games of all time (Unreal, GTA3, DOOM, Command & Conquer). It became an obsession long after I beat it and every now and than as late as 2002 I would re-install it and relive the experience. That was then this is now. Games have came a long way- graphics, physics, storyline, multiplayer, and scripted events. I will find myself drawn to my local Best Buy to see the results of the sequel if they measure and hopefully surpass my current expectations for games. In all honesty it will probably fail to be as great as the first but one can hope that the second will be just as memorable if not more so than the original.
Rating:
Summary: What would we do without GORDON?
Review: I feel very strongly about this. The first half-life is so embedded into my psyche that the mere thought of a sequel is stroke inducing. I have played the BETA and i must say, other than the early-on problems with frame-rate production, that this game runs practically flawlessly. Yes, valve is a very unpredictable company. But, i don't expect that this, their prized possession, and the very reason they have a job in the first place, will be treated lightly. I have seen the projected system req. They are very low considering the beautiful graphics. You can get away with a geforce 3 and 256 meg of ram. However, like most games these days, expect a WHOLE lotta hard drive space to be reserved for this one. If you don't already have one, get a SOUNDBLASTER AUDIGY 2 for this. I have tried it with both the AUDIGY 1 & AUDIGY 2 and the extra features on AUDIGY 2 make it worth the purchase. This BETA is as clean and polished as any i've played. That must be a good sign for the game. Let's just hope VALVE doesn't have any more 'code' problems before its' next projected release.
Rating:
Summary: A Healthy Alternative
Review: Everyone that is waiting for this game does not have to wait any longer. Why is that you ask?
Half-Life 2, being the end-all-be-all of PC gaming as we know it has been bested. The game I speak of is already out. Graphically it does everything that Half-Life 2 claims to do, and it's single player mode is long, interesting, and a fair challenge. This game can be exactly what everyone needs: something to hold tight to until the big HL2 arrives. For myself, I don't really mind if they delay HL2 again. This game I speak of has pacified me indefinitely. The game, is FAR CRY!!!!!!!! If you haven't yet tried it, and are looking for HL2... Get this game! If anything, play the demo and be surprised that a small development studio can do HL2 quality, and be OUT ON TIME! Valve really has some work cut out for them to best FAR CRY, and they have had so much time to do it already. FAR CRY. Do it up, people. You won't be disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: The biggest secret in video game history revealed!
Review: The sequel to the monumental Half-Life game released in 1998 came out of nowhere to stun both hardcore fans and new gamers alike. Half-Life 2 will raise the stakes by providing a new cutting-edge graphics engine, as well as using highly-detailed character models and advanced facial muscle technology for movie-like realism never seen before in a game. The story is once again written by Marc Laidlaw, so you can be sure of a exchilirating (and frightening) experience. The game takes place in a fictional city called City 17 in Eastern Europe. At the center of the city is the Citadel, a 200+ story structure whose purpose is unknown. The mysterious structure is closely guarded by an international police force which includes robotic drones, gas mask wearing soldiers, and semi-robotic creatures. And this time you are working for the G-Man. But have you worked for him before, and what is his true identity and mission? Is he an enemy or a friend? This game is sure to pose more questions then it answers, which is probably the most exciting part of it all!
Rating:
Summary: Half life 2, spectacular game, odd release date..
Review: I am a huge fan of the Half Life series!!!! It's one of the greatest games of all time..But noone told me half life 2 was released Dec 31, 1969?
~Some kid with no life
Rating:
Summary: They Better Solve Cheating Problems Next Time
Review: There was nothing new much in the Half-Life game engine which was essentially just a modern hack of the Quake game engine, so how could a game that based itself on software that others developed succeed in becoming the biggest selling game of all time? When Half-Life first came out it did a couple of things right that most other first person shooters failed to do at the time. (1)Story, (2)Story, (3)Story. Valve created Half-Life in period of life when Area 51 was a hot topic among UFO researchers and the X-Files was beginning to become mainstream viewing. Alien based entertainment media was then a craze in the mid and late 1990's that was unprecedented since the 1950s. Smack in the middle of what could be considered the most influential era for UFO enthusiasts came HALF-LIFE where YOU get to play as Gordon Freeman, a physics researchers who witnesses a freak accident in an Area 51 type facility. All hell breaks loose and YOU have to survive. No cut scenes. No initial story. No explanation. You where just there and you had to escape. Cue interactive characters that could follow you around, say a few things and shoot monsters - maps rich in objects that you could break - huge cavities in the ground where you could fall and smash into little bits. Aliens that appeared out of nowhere, scientists being dragged into openings screaming, freakish weapons and a crack squad of deadly commandoes chasing after you. "What's this!" we all said. "What has happened to running around an environment shooting bots to win the game by kill scores?" The day of the single player frag-fest had ended and the story driven first person shooter was born. Half-Life is responsible for all of that. Half-Life is like nothing you have ever played before. It was the first person shooter game of games, hands down, period. The game also contained an editor and soon the public was developing modifications of the game that other people could play. Counter-Strike, the biggest multiplayer game every played, is a direct result of the Half-Life initiative. Although the game was virtually faultless it did create one major problem. Valve became the Microsoft of the game world..... and it showed. As a stand alone game, Half-Life was 100% pure adrenaline. If you owned a PC and played games then you owned Half-Life. If you played games then you played Half-Life. If you didn't play Half-Life then didn't own a PC or you where in a coma. When you finished playing Half-Life you then played multiplayer Half-Life and when you played multiplayer Half-Life the world was never the same again. Multiplayer Half-Life has destroyed lives, educations, marriages and cost European parents more money in phone bills than they probably ever earned. It created an army of people who would play multiplayer Half-Life until the phone company cut them off. When this happened they got jobs where they could play multiplayer Half-Life at work. It was as simple of that. The DEATH of Half-Life occurred between 2000 and 2001. A new phantom hit the multiplayer world know as CHEATING. Half-Life addicts had become proficient in understanding the game's source code. Hacks where developed and made public. This ranged from aimbots that would automatically get a head shot every time, to wallhacks that would allow you to see through walls and server crashing software that would simply kill a multiplayer server mid-game. The hackers had two reasons for developing the cheats. (1) Valve had not released another new game in years living off the much dated Half-Life game earnings and (2) They wanted to give other games a fighting chance. Valve made matters worse by not coming to terms with these problems in time. Even after releasing new patches the Cheating issue was not solved, and when it was, hacks where out again. It became evident that Valve would have to start their work from the ground up again in order to solve this problem. Many 3rd party developers release anti-cheating software but these too where hacked and didn't solve the problem for much longer than two or three days. A lot of Half-Life players have been waiting since 2000 for this change. Many of us felt that Valve where simply cashing in on the game knowing that the cheaters had dominated the day. It didn't seem to bother them. They even failed to connect with software developers who made anti-cheating software. In one instance a very good anti-cheating software development team came to loggerheads with Valve who would not pay them to continue development in this very important area. It was all about the money. It is the feeling of this author that Valve did absolutely NOTHING to help the anti-cheating movement and since then Valve have earned the reputation of being selfish and not concerned with the realistic world of cheating that multi-players have to contend with. So I have not reviewed Half-Life 2. How can I? The game has not been released, but let the above statement stay fast. If HL2 combats cheating then it will rule - no matter what. Even if the single player mode does not live up to the same hype that the first one did (sequels rarely do!), then all Valve need to do is correct the cheating problem and we will have a winner on our hands. Counter-Strike will port to HL2 with the cheating problem solved and everyone will be happy again. If valve fail on the cheating issue yet again then the single player better be out of this world! Otherwise we are looking at another disappointing flop from Valve to address the important issues that game players have today. Role on HL2 and ANTI-CHEATING PROGRAMMING! (As an end note I was not surprised to find that Valve had yet again failed to address the public's concerns by not announcing the half-life delay until the last minute, especially when they had been asked about it. I hope that this is not a sign that Valve are about to repeat the same process of ignoring the public's concerns again. If so then we may expect a lot less from Valve that what the hype is making it out to be.)
Rating:
Summary: HL is the greatest game ever.
Review: I was fiends with a guy who had teh source code cuz he bought it off ebay for a package of skittles and some money. I then used busy-as-usual basic to write hacks for teh game, so when it comes out I will always win. I tehn used jabba-scribt to preload the AI which I now use to power teh internet. I got to the end when this big ape came out and tuched me, so gordon shouted no bad tuch bad tuch bad tuch. Dis game could have ben great but the valve computers in FRANCE where hacked by JEFFK!!! who tehn went to Jerry's house for some pie. Also open eh consold and type "say allboys" to get michael jackson mode. It takes you tot eh secret neverland level where you have to save mickaly colkin from the evil flying glove.
Rating:
Summary: What would we do without GORDON?
Review: I feel very strongly about this. The first half-life is so embedded into my psyche that the mere thought of a sequel is stroke inducing. I have had the priveledge of working with the BETA and i must say, other than the early-on problems with frame-rate production, that this game runs practically flawlessly. Yes, Valve is a very unpredictable company. But, we believe they will come through with this one. I have seen the projected system req. They are very low considering the beautiful graphics. You can get away with a geforce 3 and 256 meg of ram. However, like most games these days, expect a WHOLE lotta hard drive space to be reserved for this one. If you don't already have one, get a SOUNDBLASTER AUDIGY 2 for this. I have tried it with both the AUDIGY 1 & AUDIGY 2 and the extra features on AUDIGY 2 (some really unbelievable effects!) make it worth the purchase. This BETA is as clean and polished as any i've played. That must be a good sign for the game. Let's just hope VALVE doesn't have any more 'code' problems before its' next projected release. ADDED INFO :4/25/04 ---- The game is coming very soon. And, the updated ALPHA will be available shortly. Once I've gotten that up and running, I'll complete this review. They are being very tight lipped about this ALPHA version due to even MORE code problems. This time they were released out onto the internet. Or so it is rumored.
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