Rating: 
Summary: Above average
Review: A VERY interesting strategy guide for a game that admittedly has only been released unofficially, so to speak. Anyway for all those who want to read spoilers before the game, then you will find this walkthrough a great font of knowledge, containing some very cool facts that help illuminate some of the first game and help clear up some of Gordon's past. So yeah, if you can't wait for the full game, read this, reveals a much more complicated plot than the first game, with lots of twists and surprises, much more story-oriented (a bit on the level of Deus Ex in it's complexity)Fans of Half Life who are fed up with waiting for the game will love it, others might just want to take the patient approach and wait a few more months for the full official game release.
Rating:
Summary: Found this book very useful
Review: As I am yet to complete the game, referring to how the story is finished in Prima's strategy guide is very useful for me on a day to day basis. I extend my thanks to Prima in my hour of need! I don't know where I would be without the detailed maps and desciptions of enemy behaviour!!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read before playing - Use it to find what you missed
Review: As is to be expected with any review guide, Prima's Half-Life 2 Strategy Guide contains **alot** of spoilers. In fact, most every plot detail is outlined within these pages. If you are still playing Half-Life 2, have a look at the first several chapters (detailing your adversaries and how to dispatch them) and then put it aside, referring to it only when you are hopelessly stuck on a puzzle or an action sequence.
However, once you've gone through Half-Life 2, you should read to your hearts content. Prima does an exhaustive job of detailing every nook and cranny of the game - from each appearance of the G-Man to each public service announcement made by Dr. Breen, from each ammo cache to each interesting newspaper clipping tacked to a wall. Its a fount of information and one of the few FPS strategy guides worth owning. This will help you get your money's worth out of Half-Life 2.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide!
Review: First let me say that the HL2 Guide does have tons of spoilers in it. So if you really want to be surprised don't look at it until you get stuck. But having said that it is a great guide. Also it is in glorious full color.
The HL2 Guide is broken into five sections:
First is an overview of all the weapons in the game. Full color illustartions and good info.
The second is an overview of all the characters you will encounter. Again, full color illustrations and good info.
The third section is the real meat of the book and contains the walkthroughs of each mission. What makes this section so nice is that a great map of the level is provided, which is better than the ones they did for Doom3, and full color screen shots that take you step by step through each mission. In addition, great tips and other goodies are highlighted for each level. If you get stuck on a level this is the place to look. Also, it is a great read AFTER you finish a level to pick up some tips and maybe see a few things you might have missed. It also narrates the story so you can actually read through this section almost like a book.
The fourth section of the guide covers Counter-Strike.
Lastly the book includes all the cheat codes you could ever want.
Overall it is a very well done guide that will help you through a few tricky levels and has excellent production values.
Rating: 
Summary: WHY was this made NOW?
Review: i have no clue why they made a strategy guide without the actual GAME!!!!!! Come ON people you would actually buy a strategy guide without a game? you probably just want to look at the final boss obviously, not the MAPS, please, spare me the excuses.
Rating:
Summary: A+ !!!!!1
Review: Oh man, those biozeminades kept killing me... THAT IS UNTIL I got the official Prima Half-Life 2 Strategy Guide! I recommend this to everyone and their dogs; heck, their fishes too! If it helped me, then it can help you, too!
Rating:
Summary: awesomely helpfullness!
Review: Phew! That book really helped me past those nasty BIOZEMINADES! Man those were tough! But thanks to this book I finally finished that game.. Man, I wished that this game wasn't so hard an all. With all those physics it gets really confusing, like biozeminades in teh front combine in teh back an zombies from everywhere..
Rating:
Summary: Oh man! What a shocker!
Review: Thanks Prima for releasing your guide early! How else would I have found out that Gordon is actually an ALIEN before the game was released! and that G-man was trying to keep his identity secret so the government could actually use the aliens' greatest weapon against them! Man, what an ending! Saves me the trouble of actually having to buy and play the game to find out the story. Thanks for saving me a couple of bucks and a few months!
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece.
Review: The transition from interactive pixels to text is as seamless as ever in this gripping sequel to "Half-Life 1: Prima's Official Strategy Guide". I simply couldn't put it down. When the game actually comes out, I'll be better than ALL my friends!
Rating:
Summary: If you want a story, buy a novel
Review: The whole point of playing the game is to get the story slowly as you puzzle (and fight) your way throught it. Nobody should buy a strategy guide anytime, but certainly not before at least trying to play the game on their own. And with HL2 especially, there is free help from other gamers in online forums if you get stuck. This book is intended to be "acquisition therapy" for those of us impatiently waiting for the game itself. Plus, unless the guide is sponsored by the makers of HL2 (it does not appear to be), all of its advice is suspect. Valve has released very little information about HL2, so this strategy guide is likely just fan fiction.
| 
