Valve’s Half-Life 2 is still highly regarded as a near-critic proof game. Its re-release as part of the Orange Box, along with Portal and Team Fortress 2, ensured that a second wave of fans were won over by this dystopian fantasy’s clever innovations with linear gameplay. The influence of Half-Life can be seen not only in Valve’s continuing successes both creatively and commercially (Steam anyone…?), but even Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 owes it an obvious debt (as can be seen even in the original short). All this praise for a humble shooter? Let’s dive in to find out why. 
“So, wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes.”
Plot & Characters 9/10: Protagonist Gordon Freeman is ‘inserted’ back into the plot of Half-Life following the disastrous events of the first game by the mysterious G-Man. Coming to in City 17, located somewhere in Eastern Europe and controlled by the alien empire known as the Combine, Freeman has reappeared decades after the Black Mesa incident and is now revered as a figurehead of the dwindling human revolutionary movement. Quisling Dr Wallace Breen has sold out humanity wholesale, the planet is being stripped of its resources and alien vermin (such as the persistent head-crabs) have overwhelmed the deserted city outskirts. Freeman encounters several colleagues from his former life, who encourage him to do his part to defeat the Combine and eventually storm the citadel. First though, there’s the small matter of surviving the wave after wave of Combine Overwatch soldiers, head-crab zombies and Ant-Lions.
Sound 8/10: The electronic soundtrack of Half-Life enlivens several brutal encounters, in particular a heart-pounding hovercraft chase sequence in the first section of the game when Freeman is still searching for the rebel base. But it’s the game’s atmospherics that stick in the memory. From the eerie head-crab zombie cries in Ravenholm, to the vertiginous, wind-swept underside of a bridge where Freeman must contend with Overwatch soldiers and gunships, the soundscape of this game is never less than totally immersive.
Graphics 8/10: The difficulty with recommending classic games like Fallout, or Planescape Torment to contemporary fans is that modern graphics often spoil players. Unable to see beyond the rigid isometric views to the narratives behind, some engaging storylines have a half-life of two years past their release date. This game was first released in 2004 and managed to impressively capture actual human facial expressions without a dip into the Uncanny Valley, all 
credit to Valve’s Source engine.
Gameplay 9/10: The groundbreaking use of physics in Half-Life 2 was not only part and parcel of the immersiveness of the game, but it also lends itself to many interesting ways of killing sundry opponents. The Ravenholm chapter in particular has Freeman enter rooms with numerous explosive barrels and saw blades scattered about, and him with a gravity gun to hand. What is a scientist surprisingly capable in a gunfight to do? The game even comes with a ‘Zombie Chopper’ achievement for beating the Ravenholm level using nothing but the gravity gun – certainly possible, but nothing feels better than shooting a zombie in the head with a shotgun.
Overall 9/10: Half-Life 2 is a classic of the genre that holds up years after its first release. It is a testament to how video games as a medium have achieved critical mass were a title can be returned to at any point after its release, which in effect is a handy definition of what a classic is. This game is to linear shooters what Watchmen was to superhero fist-fights.
Tags: comic booked, dystopia, Emmet OCuana, Gordon Freeman, Half-Life 2, Portal, Source, Team Fortress 2, The Orange Box, Throwback Thursday, Valve
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Written by Emmet OCuana
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