Half-Life 2 - PC

Specifications

About this product

Product Description Half-Life 2 takes the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original Half-Life and adds startling new realism and responsiveness. Welcome to a world where your presence affects everything else. From the physical environment to the behaviors and emotions of both friends and enemies, every move has a consequence. Enjoy the unique combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Characters can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand. Lush and realistic environments - objects obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity and buoyancy. System requirements: Windows, 700 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, DirectX 6.0 compatible graphics card/accelerator. Amazon.com In many ways, creating a sequel to Half-Life is an unenviable task. After all, the goal is to craft not just any ordinary game, but an improvement to a title that is widely considered to be the high water mark for first person shooters. Fortunately, Valve does not disappoint on their sophomore effort. Half-Life 2 picks up exactly where its predecessor leaves off, with gamers stepping once more into Gordon Freeman's HVAC suit as he awakes at some indeterminate time in the future, now apparently in the employ of the mysterious G-Man. Humanity has been sold out to alien forces, and your job is to escape their thrall and lead the resistance to victory. HL2 's key successes are in a few critical areas, the first of which is the new physics & graphics engine, called Source. People and objects fall, fly, tip over, float, and break in an extraordinarily realistic fashion, and in-game puzzles often require you to use simple applications of physics to progress. Second, an elaborate facial structure system coupled with excellent voice acting make for some of the most believably human NPCs in gaming history. This is no small thing; you will find yourself actually caring about the characters who surround you, even those that are normally regarded as cannon fodder. Third, the level design exhibits a subtle brilliance, which frequently fools you into feeling like you're making your way through an organic environment and not a forced linear path. These elements combine to form one of the most truly immersive experiences ever captured on a PC. This gaming bliss comes at a cost, however. If your computer isn't running the latest and greatest hardware, you may find yourself turning down a lot of the slick graphics to keep the machine from choking. Also, at the time of this writing the only two bundled multiplayer games are a barely updated version of Counter-Strike and HL2 DeathMatch . Counter-Strike: Source is every bit as fun as the original, but the DeathMatch is lackluster and contains only a handful of uninspired maps. Overall, Half-Life 2 is a smashing success, every bit worthy of the prestige and respect that the franchise has been awarded. This is absolutely a game that every computer gaming enthusiast is going to want to have in their collection. -- Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover Pros: Advanced graphics and physics system provide highly immersive experience Advanced graphics and physics system provide highly immersive experience Believable, expressive non-player characters Believable, expressive non-player characters Fun, realistic level design Cons:Requires a very fast computer to play with all bells & whistles on DeathMatch mode has few maps and is not terribly entertaining Fun, realistic level design Cons: Requires a very fast computer to play with all bells & whistles on Requires a very fast computer to play with all bells & whistles on DeathMatch mode has few maps and is not terribly entertaining DeathMatch mode has few maps and is not terribly entertaining From the Manufacturer By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around him, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him. The intense, real-time gameplay of Half-Life 2 is made possible only by Source, Valve's new proprietary engine technology. Source provides major enhancements in: Characters--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. Physics--From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy. Graphics--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. AI--Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand. See more