Half Life 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, I won't go into the story. That has already been established via the PC game. What I want to review here is, how well did this make it's translation from PC to Xbox and is it worth if for those who have already played it on PC.

Well, everything you knew and loved in the PC is here, except for on-line multi-player mode. THAT is the one reason this game is rated 4. So, if you've already played the PC version, there is NO reason to pick up this version. However, if you're like me who has a PC that met the bare minimum requirements to play Half-Life 2 on, and you own an Xbox, you can be rest assured you will experience pretty much the same joy as the PC people, except for multiplayer. If you've never played Half-Life 2 before, you are missing out on the experience of a lifetime.

As far as other games converted to XBox from PC are concerned, this is hands-down the BEST conversion yet. Doom 3 from the PC was an awesome translation. The graphics and the atmosphere were excellent. Yet, as beautiful looking and sounding Doom 3 was, it still had a weak point - the story line. It just didn't grab you in and make you feel like you were part of the action. And, although you could interact with the environment, it felt more like it was "just there" rather than serving a purpose.

Enter Half-Life 2 on the PC. The game had a story; intrigue, action, suspense, awesome graphics, stupendous sound and an interactive environment that pulled you into the role of a one Gordan Freeman and made you feel like you were part of the action, not just a spectator. The interactive environment served a purpose rather than just some add-on that didn't really give anything back.

The physics engine, which made objects react to forces outside their control, made the game so believable. Bodies would land differently and behave as real dead bodies would. Swings would actually sway side to side rather than just forwards and backwards if you hit them the right way. The objects weren't just there for you to look at and play around with. Many held a purpose to help you further your advancement into the game. For example, in one section of the game, you have a large wall ahead of you and there's just no way to get your airboat over it because there's no ramp in place. But then, you discover that there's a steel grate floating in the water connect to a cage. You start putting floating barrels and canisters underneath the cage and all of a sudden, the steel grate begins to rise into a ramp!

Valve has worked hard on creating an engine for the Xbox that presents the entire PC Half-Life 2 environment on the Xbox with decreased load times! Valve has pulled off what would have appeared to be an impossible feat. Although a high-end PC will cream the Xbox version on looks alone, take into consideration that it would take a PC costing more than $1000 to give you what the Xbox version can do and that alone should tell you that this game is no slouch in looks, sound nor playability. This game is definitely in contention for the Xbox Game of the Year award. The streaming engine they wrote has really improved the game over its PC cousin in that respect.

The controls have mapped nicely to the console. Valve has taken what was a mouse-based game and converted it to the Xbox controller with amazing results. I daresay I think I can play the game BETTER on the Xbox than on the PC.

The D-pad is how you select weapons, just like Doom 3. However, Valve has gone a step further from what the Doom 3 game did. They have stacked the weapons so that you have access to ALL your weapons from the D-pad, not just 4 like in Doom 3. For example, press down once on the D-pad to access the crow bar. If you have the anti-gravity gun, press down again on the D-pad to select it. Press down again, and it cycles back to the crowbar. This works for all the weapons.

The left trigger is your secondary fire while the right trigger is the primary fire. Clicking down on the left analog stick makes you crouch, which clicking down on the right analog stick goes into zoom mode. Click again to get out of zoom. Now, this has caused me some grief in the middle of some intense battles, and believe me, there are some REALLY intense ones in this game. I've inadvertently clicked down on the right stick while trying to look around and fire when I've all of a sudden gone into zoom mode. You can't fire all of your weapons on that mode, so I've been opened to some attacks because of this until I've clicked out of zoom mode, but it's nothing major to cause me to not play the game. But, you can choose from different controller configurations, so you're not limited to the default layout.

You have up to 30 save-game slots to save the game at any time, which is nice compared to some other games that have "save points" (ahem, Halo 1 or 2 anyone?) Many say that it's the limits of the console that cause this, but Halo first came on the Xbox which already had a hard drive. So why didn't Bungy do it that way to begin with? Thank you Valve (and iD) for not copping out on the save game and giving us the option to save at anytime. BTW, I love Halo, so don't think I'm trying to bash it in anyway.

Sound wise, the 5.1 surround sound just immerses you SO deeply into the game, you forget you are in your living room/bedroom and instead find yourself drawn into the action. During the "We Don't Go To Ravenholm" chapter, which is homage to scary movies, I was so drawn into the game I didn't hear my dog come up behind me. When he bumped into me, I screamed and dropped the controller. That is how immersed I was into the game. This would NOT be possible without excellent sound, music, atmosphere, etc. The ambient sound effects really set the tone for each level.

Valve rewrote the engine to help stream between levels better and they have been able to decrease the loading times between levels to less than 10 seconds. This, along with everything else, attests to the quality work Valve has put into ensuring that this release of Half-Life 2 would allow those who don't have computers to experience what many have already had the pleasure of playing over a year ago. Graphically, you can't complain. This is the BEST looking Xbox game to date. The outside environments are awesome, while indoors can feel SO claustrophobic, you want to scream because you feel so closed in. Again, you ARE Gordan Freeman, not just a spectator.

It's a shame they couldn't give us an on-line mode and downloadable content. Since there is a new HL2 level out for the PC, it's a shame we won't get to see it on Xbox, unless they decide to release a NEW version (groan!) later on.

All in all, if you haven't played HL2 and/or don't have the PC power to play it, get this game. Otherwise, if you already have it or have a PC with enough oomph to run it, get the PC version.

In any case, this is a game to add to your collection.

Now, where did I put that crowbar?

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Product Description:
Half-Life 2 delivers a new level of realistic action and excitement. Players return to the world of Gordon Freeman, as he returns to the Black Mesa research facility. The aliens are pouring into our world, and Freeman becomes part of a resistance group to stop them. New weapons, new enemies and new characters are waiting -- along with major enhancements in animation, artificial intelligence and graphics.

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