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Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: -awesome for Half-Life and Half-Life 2 Fans!
-nothing for the rest
-detailed concept arts
-parts of the HL1 and HL2 story that are new to everybody
-foreword by Gabe Newell (the founder of VALVE)
-comments of all important people by VALVE
-Outtakes
-the beginning of Half-Life and the idea
-also Mods like Counter-Strike, Team-Fortness Classic and Day of Defeat
-Counter-Strike: Source
-hardcover!
-limited edition!
-making of -> the characters, the people who were acting for
-detailed photos of western europe which made it to the game
-example how modeling worked (on the antlions, bumpmapping etc.)
-outtaken parts of the storyline for example a different beginning...
All in one this is the ultimate book for Half-Life and Half-Life 2 fans! If you are not one don't buy this book!!!
Rating:
Summary: First
Review: First!
I think this will be a highly engrossing book. I highly recommend buying it. I recommend getting and playing HL2 even more. Bye, I'm off to wait for HL2 release (only 2 more days to go).
Rating:
Summary: A nice resource on the art and creation of Half-life 2
Review: I bought this book hours after I finished Half-Life 2, still excited about the world I'd just played through. It didn't disapoint. Not only does it have an ample amount of sketches (from Half-life 1 AND Half-life 2) and earlier/scrapped monster and level designs, it has commentary on nearly all of them from various staff-members. The book has information on the voice actors, level construction, some story samples passed around Valve as an example of the atmosphere they were trying to achieve, real-life architectual influences on the game and a few interesting tidbits on the world itself we never find out in the game. (For example, want to know a bit more about the mysterious Combine? Want to know what a fully-evolved headcrab looks like? Things like these are scattered around the book)If you're one of those people who wants to know "What changed from Valve's original vision for Half-life 2?" (and some of those changes are surprising and quite substantial) or "How did the artists and designers and coders work together?" or if you just enjoy seeing sketches and concept designs (which are always interesting to look at and in some cases, even beautiful) this is the perfect book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: I'm really a fan of concept art and i loved this book. It has a bunch of really high quality concept art. Most of the art is from half-life 2 but the book does contain some from the original half-life and counter-strike. The book has explanitions about most of the drawings and also includes some high-res scans of the new game. I would recommend this to anyone who likes concept art as well as all of the half-life fans out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Must-Have for Half-Life 2 Fanatics
Review: This coffeetable-type art book details the **artistic** creative process that brought Half-Life 2 to fruition. However, if you are expecting a behind-the-scenes expose about creation of the Source engine or the reasons why Half-Life 2 was delayed by nearly a year and a half, you will be sorely disappointed.
This book collects sketches, drawings, screenshots, script pages and personal statements about each by the artists behind this game. It talks about some of Valve's earlier visions before work on Half-Life consumed their offices. You'll get creative renderings of the evolution of most every adversary, friend, monster and location you'll come across in Half-Life 1 and 2, including bits and pieces that were removed from the games.
But be warned - there are spoilers in this book. If you haven't finished Half Life 2 yet, put this one aside until you do. Otherwise you might spoil the story for yourself.
If "four stars" seems too low, well....I was hoping to see more about the creation of Half Life 2's engine - "Source". Barely mentioned within these pages.
If you are as much of a fan of Half-Life 1 and 2 as I am, its a worthwhile purchase.
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