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Too linear and too short

» Pros

Very polished looking game.
Graphics second to none.
Great sound.
Physics are fun.
Early parts of the game have great atmosphere.
Most believable real time characters I've seen.

» Cons

Very short game (10-15 hours)
Very linear game, with little scope to explore..
Bullets do virtually no damage to Gordon in medium difficulty.
Average AI.
Little enemy variety.

» Review

Half-Life 2 is a difficult game to review. On one hand it obviously has some outstanding qualities. It's graphics, although no longer as revolutionary as they would have been had the game been released Sept. 03, are clearly an evolutionary advance. The physics are fun to play with, but it is not leaps and bounds ahead of games like Far Cry and Doom 3.

HL2 starts by building a tremendous atmosphere of an oppressive state, with menacing soldiers on every corner. Sadly, as soon as you get a gun, these soldiers might as well be armed with water pistols. Their only advantage is to ambush in numbers.

Other than soldiers with various weapons, there isn't a great selection of enemies to speak of. The new leaping zombie is quite impressive, as are the antlions, although they only appear in short sections of the game.

The ending is very disappointing, as it has doesn't feel like an ending. It's obviously leading on to a next chapter. But even then it was underwhelming in its scale. It doesn't feel like much of an achievement to have completed the game.

The story itself is sparse. Most of the game is spent 'travelling', and during this journey time the plot itself does not advance greatly. There are a few of set piece events, but these don't affect anything other than getting through the section. I would say Far Cry had a more involving plot.

HL2 is very linear. In most sections of the game there is only one route you can take, and you are herded like a lobotomised sheep along that route. The old trick of locked doors of a slightly different colour is used a lot. It would have been nice to allow a little more exploration.

Overall, I would still recommend Half-Life 2. It is still fun. It is a very short game, but on the other hand, with its limited gameplay, if it had been longer it would have got boring.