Late to the Party: Half-Life 2

Platform: PC
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail

Late 2004 was a bit depressing. I'd spent a quite a bit of money on a new video card and memory for my computer and still couldn't get Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 to run to my satisfaction. I put both games on indefinite hold. Eventually the throb of my gamer's blue balls faded. And then World of Warcraft, a game that looks and runs great on pretty much any crap computer, came out and I never looked back.

Almost two years later I've got a new computer with the horsepower to revisit both games. I'm glad I waited.

Half-Life 2 is astoundingly good. The game feels like a combination of my two favorite Disneyland attractions -- the dark ride and the shooting gallery. Like Mr. Toads Wild Ride the game tells a story by moving you through space. You move from one scene to the next propelled by curiosity, the drive to survive and the search for weapons, heath and ammunition. The pacing of the game is remarkable considering the fact that loading screens break up the action. I admire the way Valve punctuates the moments between balls-out action set pieces with thoughtful puzzles. I love the God-like feeling that came over me when my gravity gun begins to work on flesh and blood. "So this is what it feels like to be a Jedi," I thought to myself as I flung guards over railings with the flick of my wrist. The game's finale, set in the Gilliam-esque interior of the towering Combine, is probably the easiest part of the game, but it was easily the most exhilarating.

Recommended