Check out our video review:
Half-Life 2 is one of the first games I remember getting around the time it launched. It released in three different packages or versions – Bronze, Silver, and Gold – which all came with different things. I was in high school and had no job or money at the time but a family member bought me a boxed copy. That was fine with me because it came with Counter-Strike: Source and that’s what I really wanted to play. I did attempt to play through Half-Life 2 at some point but never did beat it back then. I also had not beaten the first game at the time, either. But years later I decided to give them another shot. So I beat the first game and really enjoyed it and then attempted Half-Life 2 again and finally beat it.
Developed and published by Valve, Half-Life 2 was released for PC in November, 2004 and Xbox in November, 2005. It was also released as part of the compilation called The Orange Box in 2007 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Half-Life 2 was followed up by a short single level called Lost Coast, released in 2005, and the episodic sequels, Episode One and Episode Two, released in 2006 and 2007 respectively. For this review, I played through Half-Life 2 and Lost Coast for PC. Lost Coast is more or less a showcase for high-dynamic-range rendering which, at the time, had just been implemented into the Source engine. The level was originally designed to be part of the Highway 17 chapter of Half-Life 2 but was cut before release.
Set years after the events of the first game, the player once again assumes the role of theoretical physicist, Gordon Freeman, who is awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man. He learns that a multidimensional empire called the Combine have conquered Earth and implemented a brutal police state. Gordon arrives at City 17 and works with the resistance, helping to liberate the Earth from the Combine’s control.
When compared to the first game, Half-Life 2 feels much bigger. You spend a lot more time outdoors and the world building here is phenomenal. I think the developers did a great job at conveying what I would consider a kind of sci fi post-apocalyptic world. Urban environments feel gritty, rural areas feel more desolate and dead, buildings look run down, bombed out or partially destroyed, and debris, dead bodies, and blood can be found littered about. Just by looking around, it’s very clear that shit is pretty fucked up. I think Half-Life 2 conveys a compelling tone and atmosphere and I really enjoy the idea of a resistance rising up and fighting back, making for some awesome scenarios towards the end of the campaign. When all is said and done, the campaign has an epic kind of feel to it and it’s quite the adventure. It can take up to ten hours or longer to get through.
The campaign consists of multiple chapters with multiple levels per chapter. Much like the first game, levels are separated by load points and control is never taken away from the player to convey story beats. Everything is viewed from Gordon’s perspective and the story is advanced through dialogue and by seeing and listening to what’s going on around you, making for a very immersive experience. However, I feel the pacing isn’t as consistent as that of the first game, primarily due to the long interactions you have get through.
In the first game, most of the time, you can just keep pushing forward and many interactions are short. The campaign conveys a great sense of urgency and Gordon always needs to be on the move. There’s a few parts where you have to stop and actually wait for something or listen to a significant amount of dialogue before you can proceed. This a lot more common in Half-Life 2 and I feel it affects the pacing. It’s not really a huge problem but it can be a bit of a nuisance when you get into the flow of something and are making progress only to be stopped for an interaction that you can’t skip. Some of them are clearly the game introducing you to a new mechanic. And since control isn’t taken away – there’s no traditional cut scenes – you simply have to stand around and wait until you’re able to actually do something and/or progress. Another reason the pacing isn’t as consistent as that of the first game is because of certain gameplay elements and I’ll get to that in a bit.
Half-Life 2 does convey a great sense of scale. While the first game felt a little I would say tight and confined, Half-Life 2 gives you a lot more space and I would say the levels blend and flow together nicely, much like those in the first game. I feel the way the story is presented along with the excellent level design really help immerse the player into the world and narrative. There’s only one chapter that I feel doesn’t necessarily fit in seamlessly and that is the chapter, “We Don’t Go To Ravenholm…”. It features some of the most enjoyable environments in the game but I often think of it as the haunted house chapter. Set in the town of Ravenholm, this chapter conveys a much darker tone than the rest. I call it the haunted house chapter because it’s filled with headcrabs and zombies and leans very much into the horror genre, more than any other chapter, and as a result, it doesn’t fit in tonally with anything that comes before or after. It’s not really a negative thing but it does stand out.
You move from urban environments to canals and industrial looking areas before reaching Ravenholm. And these levels blend and flow nicely together geographically and tonally. Then you get to Ravenholm and it’s such an abrupt change in tone and atmosphere that it’s kind of jarring. Also, Ravenholm is basically a physics sandbox where you can use the Gravity Gun and traps to engage enemies in a variety of cool and interesting ways. While one of the big highlights of Half-Life 2 is the physics, the rest of the game doesn’t offer such an obvious sandbox for it like Ravenholm. So this chapter is very unique in terms of gameplay and tone and there’s nothing else quite like it so it stands out and doesn’t simply blend in as seamlessly as the rest.
Gordon eventually equips himself with the Mark V H.E.V. Suit which serves the same purpose as the suit in the first game except this suit uses one power source for the flashlight, sprinting, and oxygen supply. As indicated before, the big new thing here is the physics. You can move things around, launch things, bodies ragdoll, and you’ll have to solve some physics-based puzzles. Gordon will get his hands on a good variety of weapons and overall, I feel the gunplay is good. Weapons have good feedback, visual effects look good, blood will splatter on surfaces and crossbow bolts can impale foes. Seeing bodies ragdoll, fall, and go flying from explosions helps make the gunplay feel even more satisfying. One of my favorite weapons is the pulse rifle. I like the look, sound and feel of it, and it can also fire energy balls that will bounce around the environments and disintegrate any foes they touch.
Some enemies from Half-Life make an appearance here along with a whole new cast of foes. Vortigaunts have joined the human resistance so they’re no longer foes. The most common enemies you’ll face are the Combine forces which are humanoid in appearance. I can’t say the enemy AI is all that bright and I do think Half-Life 2 is less frustrating than the first game. Mainly because the enemies don’t seem to be as aggressive, plus Half-Life 2 gives you some cool new ways to engage them. Combine foes tend to run out into the open when it’s not ideal and often stand in position and just fire away, making them easy targets. They still put up a decent fight, at least on the Normal difficulty, but I can’t say I ever struggled with any encounter. Have I mentioned how much I hate Headcrabs? Well I do. I vehemently hate them. They’re annoying and seem to show up at the worst times. And Half-Life 2 introduces a new variant, the Poison Headcrab. If this fucker bites you, your health is immediately reduced to 1 but the H.E.V. Suit will administer an antidote that will slowly regenerate your health. In all honesty, Headcrabs are not hard to deal with. I’ve just come to really hate them.
Traditional firepower is not the only way to deal with threats in Half-Life 2. At a certain point in the campaign, Gordon acquires the Gravity Gun which I consider to be both a tool and weapon. It can fire an energy blast that will punt objects and damage enemies. It can also pick up or attract items and launch them. The Gravity Gun can be used to solve puzzles and defeat foes. The environments are filled with things like boxes, barrels, and other items that can be picked up and launched at foes. Another tool you acquire is Bug Bait. This thing allows you to call Antlions to you and command them to attack enemies, making it quite useful during a certain portion of the game.
One thing I really enjoy about Half-Life 2 is the scenarios the game puts you in. There will be numerous points in the campaign where you’ll fight alongside NPCs, you’ll pilot an airboat through canals as your being pursued by a chopper, you’ll get to take down multiple gunships, and you’ll set up automatic turrets to help you defend areas. Then there’s the Ravenholm chapter. As indicated earlier, it’s a like a physics sandbox where you can save a lot of ammo by just using the Gravity Gun. You can utilize traps and the various objects and hazards littered around the environments to fend off the Zombies and Headcrabs. One of my favorite chapters is Nova Prospekt. You fight your way through an abandoned prison with the help of Antlions. I found it to be very action-packed and exciting.
Other great chapters include Anticitizen One and Follow Freeman. You fight your way through City 17 and lead a battle at the Overwatch Nexus and you’ll often be accompanied by resistance fighters that you can command. They can get in your way which can prove to be annoying in tight spaces but they do prove to be somewhat helpful. You’ll fight through the streets and buildings, have to evade sniper fire at certain points, and you’ll eventually get to engage Striders which are giant three-legged arthropod-like assault units. These two chapters are where you really get into the resistance rising up stuff and the way it’s presented, seeing the resistance engage the Combine and Striders destroy and stomp through portions of the city, is all very well done and conveys a cool sense of war.
As fun as Half-Life 2 is, I do feel the best parts of it are found around the middle and end. Once you reach the Vortigaunt Camp and acquire the Bug Bait in the chapter Sandtraps, that’s when I feel the game starts to really pick up. Don’t get me wrong, many parts before that are fun, like Ravenholm for example, but as indicated before, I feel some gameplay elements bring down the pacing and those elements are found in the first half of the campaign. Half-Life 2 lets you drive vehicles and in my opinion these sequences go on for way too long. You get to pilot an airboat through canals and a buggy along a highway and coast. You’ll have to make stops to solve puzzles and engage foes from time to time but then it’s more driving and it’s not always exciting. That’s the problem. When you’re in the airboat and dodging missiles or the Chopper’s attacks or shooting the enemies that appear, that’s all good fun. But otherwise there’s not much to it and some of it just feels like padding. Same with the buggy levels. Except the most exciting action during these levels is when you stop to engage foes and help resistance fighters fend off Combine attacks. But in between these encounters is driving from A to B. There are some buildings and areas to explore where you’ll find pickups but I feel like the whole sequence drags on for too long.
Just like Half-Life, I feel the environments here are exceptionally well crafted and you will have to solve some puzzles to progress. The way the levels are designed, I feel there’s a sort of natural flow to environmental progression. The exception being Ravenholm as mentioned before. The chapter called Highway 17 is where the buggy is introduced and you can drive it all the way into the next chapter, Sandtraps where you’ll eventually be forced to abandon it and progress on foot. While I feel the Highway 17 chapter is a bit padded out, it was almost longer. The level Lost Coast was conceived to be a part of it. It’s a short level that took me around ten minutes to complete. You’ll move up cliffs and into a church and engage Combine forces before eventually facing off against a Chopper. It’s typical Half-Life 2 action and navigation. I feel it is enjoyable for what it is and kind of wish it was part of the Highway 17 chapter if only to add more exciting action to it. As mentioned earlier, the level was released separately and is more or less a showcase for the high-dynamic-range rendering. You can also play through it with developer commentary.
Visually, I think Half-Life 2 looks great and still holds up pretty well. The environments are really well detailed, the textures and models look good, and while some aspects look dated in today’s world, I think the presentation as aged gracefully so far and some elements of Lost Coast look better than what you see in vanilla Half-Life 2. Although, I think some of the lighting is overbright. As for the audio, the soundtrack features a lot of great tunes ranging from ambient to more intense stuff that kick in at certain points to help create certain moods and elevate tension for different scenarios and settings. The sound work is also great. From the Combine chatter to the sounds of weapons fire, it all sounds pretty good. I particularly enjoy the flatline sound effect heard when a Combine soldier is killed. I find it satisfying. On the technical side, I’m happy to say I did not encounter any issues.
I really enjoy Half-Life 2. I do think the first game is paced better but I enjoy all the new features of the sequel. In fact, I think the gameplay feels better and is more satisfying. I remember being really impressed by the physics stuff back in the day and I still enjoy it today. It adds an element of realism to the gameplay which works out well in the world of Half-Life since the games do a great job of immersing the player into the world through its world building and level design. I do feel the campaign doesn’t really pick up until you reach somewhere around the halfway point but when it gets going, it’s a lot of fun and then it seems like cool new situations and scenarios pop up around every corner. Exploration and puzzle solving is rewarding, the gunplay is solid, and the level design is amazing. Some chapters feel a bit padded but the good outweighs the bad and the gameplay and narrative remain compelling from beginning to end.
I would absolutely recommend Half-Life 2. It’s an amazing sequel to an amazing game. Another classic. You get a lot of bang for your buck and you can get it on Steam for pretty cheap nowadays. Not only that, the modding community surrounding it is huge and there’s a plethora of mods available ranging from audiovisual changes to gameplay changes. I think it’s one of the best first-person shooters of its generation and it still holds up really well. Definitely check it out.