Replaying: 'Half-Life 2'
If Citizen Kane were a video game and had a sequel, this would be it.
Published Oct. 6, 2009
One of the biggest slights against video games is that their stories are sub-par.
Although it’s true video game stories continually fall flat, there have been a few games that give us hope for the future of the medium. One such game is “Half-Life 2.”
First released in 1998, the original “Half-Life” was a revolutionary game. Its level of immersion and outstanding design nabbed it more than 50 game of the year awards from various media outlets, and its popularity has made it one of the best-selling PC games of all time.
More than five years later, “Half-Life 2” was released. Despite being unreasonably high, the sequel surpassed all expectations.
Once again dropped into the shoes of MIT graduate, brilliant scientist and silent protagonist Gordon Freeman, players are taken on an incredible journey to free humanity from the alien, yet strangely humanoid Combine.
The story is nothing if not thought-provoking. From the very start, players will wonder what the hell is going on when they are told to “wake up” by the mysterious G-Man.
Finding yourself on a short train ride (awesomely referencing the painfully long train ride of the original) to the capital, City 17, you’ll be expertly guided through the game’s different locales, each one of which will give you subtle clues as to the intentions of your oppressors.
One polarizing design choice developer Valve made was to always keep the player in Freeman’s point of view. There’s nary a cutscene to be found. Although this does keep the immersion to a maximum, being restricted to a single character creates gaps in the fantastic and fascinating story.
Furthering the effort to make players feel like a part of the world is the stellar voice acting, dialogue and animation. The characters are some of the most realistic of any game.
Although “Half-Life 2” is a first-person shooter, it feels more like an action-puzzle game. One of the greatest achievements of the title is its stunning physics.
Although early in the game, these physics are restricted to teeter-totter weight puzzles, about a third of the way into the game, you are introduced to one of the most revolutionary video game weapons ever: the Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator (also known as the “Gravity Gun”).
This weapon allows you to pick objects and move or shoot them. This is where puzzle solving becomes much more complex and really shows what the game can do.
Despite being a 5-year-old game, “Half-Life 2” still holds up well today. Two of its episodic expansions are already available with the third supposedly still having a chance to release late this year.
