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Home > Categories > Games & Puzzles > PC > Half-Life 2 review
The sequel to Half-Life, one of the most popular action games ever made, will feature the return of former Black Mesa research associate Gordon Freeman. In Half-Life 2, Freeman can expect to encounter several characters from the previous game, including Barney the security guard and the mysterious G-man, for whom Freeman now works. Freeman will also meet a new female character, Alyx, whose mother was killed during the events of the original game.
• Characters are powered by advanced skeletal animations and ragdoll physics, allowing them to be much more agile and negotiate more complex surroundings
• Character AI interactions change with context. Guards in a prison can use flanking maneuvers and support tactics to take on an alien threat or fashion weapons from whatever is at hand
• Bullets leave their mark on the world, objects, characters - everything
• The detailed particle system allows for dynamic smoke, fire and other effects filling every scene
• From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy
• Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial "muscles," human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence
• Source's shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story ® and Monster's, Inc. ®, creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game
System Specs
Required:
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
1.2GHz Processor
32Mb Accelerator Card
256Mb Ram
4.5GB Hard Drive Space
DirectX 7
Internet Connection Required
Recommended:
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
2.4GHz Processor
128Mb Accelerator Card
512Mb Ram
4.5GB Hard Drive Space
DirectX 9
Internet Connection Required
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Review by: bentf3602 (Bill)
Dated: 30th of April, 2009
Where to begin with this game, while the internet conection is an issue for some, once all installed, the game takes sometime to load, well it did on my pc, but the wait was worthwhile.
The game leads from the end of the first, it has the usual comedy with many thngs going wrong for poor Gordon Freeman. The graphics are great, and as usual the game plays as well as it can on your PC. All the game story is the real base behind, so great fisty cuffs, and HUGE gun battles and walking dead from start to finish. Over all I give the Half Life 2 platform an 'Awesome'.
Review by: black-kat (Dave)
Dated: 11th of April, 2005
Well here it is, the long awaited sequel to the original FPS blockbuster. And the question I hear everyone asking is, does it live up to expectation?
Well yes and no. I'll deal with the no first as I can hear alot of people crying out why...
No because of the need to have an internet connection and register your account online, while I realise this is an attempt by the developers to prevent piracy of their games this can prove to be a major turnaway for those few that either 'A' do not have an internet connection at home (and yes there are some out there), or 'B' their Gaming PC is not connected to the internet, means that this game is an immediate no-go.
But on the plus side this is the only major negative for this game. I do have a minor negative in that whlst my PC is above the Required Specs, and only just falls short of the Recommended Specs there is an unacceptably long lag in the load times for the various sections in the game, but thankfully I have heard that this is not the case when you have a bit more grunt behind you.
Overall the gaming enviroment has had a huge facelift. Whilst the original was stunning this is just mindblowing. Just about everything in the enviroment can be moved, pushed, pulled, picked up, thrown and destroyed. Very handy for when you start to get low on ammo (and yes it will happen, but thank god for the Gravity Gun and those saw blades)
The AI of the enemy is very impressive and at times it's hard to believe these are only being controlled by the PC, and the ragdoll physics of the bodies means no longer does a body hang out over a ledge with just it's foot resting on the ground and the rest being suspended in mid-air, they will fall down to the ground and with a very satisfying thump as well.
All in all this is a must have game for all those that loved the original (and who have an active internet connection on their PC).
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