Half-Life 2

Time, Mr. Freeman? Is it really that time again?

Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist with an uncanny ability to survive major catastrophies, is thrown into a police state and finds himself leading the revolution.  It's time for humanity to take back Earth.

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 14 12 PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 9 6 4   7 0 0 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 4 3 7 0 5 0 6

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 9

At the end of the first Half-Life game, Gordon Freeman is trapped on a train car by the mysterious G-Man.  Half-Life 2 opens with the G-Man waking Freeman.  “Wake up, Mr. Freeman.  Wake up and… smell the ashes.”  It’s a creepy way to open a game, but it effectively communicates that this isn’t going to be a happy, peaceful setting.

This probably won't end well.

As Freeman’s cosmic prison fades out of view and a real train fades into view, a small taste of what the developers created is displayed.  Graffiti-covered stone walls, abandoned trains, and exhausted refugees convey the idea that City 17 is a place of supposed sanctuary in an otherwise hellish world.  The huge big-brother-like screens looping a “welcome” message from Dr. Breen, the city’s administrator, give the clear impression that you are just a pawn in a gigantic game of chess.

City 17 is a Soviet-esque city controlled by a brutal police force and an even more brutal military.  Citizens are selected almost at random to be “interrogated” or sent to Nova Prospekt, a prison notorious for taking prisoners but never releasing anyone.  But players will learn more about that later in the game.

Boarding trains in a fascist tyranny has some serious historical background.

As I said before, police brutality is rampant in this city.  The citizens are scared of the “Civil Protection” units and with good reason.  Civil Protection doesn’t need a reason to break down a front door and arrest all of a building’s occupants.  This is 1984 but to an even more insane degree.

When this game first came out it revolutionized the way that games are played.  It was the first game to include in-game cutscenes.  Players never leave the perspective of Gordon Freeman.  Even when other characters are discussing plot-related events, something which would usually result in a camera pan or a cutscene, Half-Life 2 gamers can wander around the room and interact with various objects.

There are one or two friendly faces in City 17.

The characters in this game aren’t just believable, they’re realistic.  At no time do you feel like “that person is doing something abnormal” or “they shouldn’t be acting like that”.  Every conversation, every action, every decision that the characters in this game make are logical and easy to explain given the circumstances under which the game takes place.  It’s the kind of thing that many games strive for but few manage to achieve.  This game (and its predecessor) took the video game industry from creating bland, storyless violence machines to full on interactive novels.

• Length - 6

Even when I was trying to rush through this game it still took me a good 7 hours to beat.  Any player that doesn’t know how to solve every problem or what doors to go in will easily have a 12 hour gameplay experience.  And while there are no bonuses or specific reasons to replay this game, I find it extremely easy to come back and replay the storyline again and again.

If you paid less than $30 for this game, you might as well be stealing it.  It’s definitely worth that much.

• Frustration Factor – 4

There were only a few minor issues that I had with this game.  Some of the “puzzles” were downright idiotic and the game didn’t give any indication as to how to solve them.  Players were forced to use their intuition (or a walkthrough) to find out what valve to turn or how to find the flotation devices hidden underwater.

That being said, there were few other real problems with this game.  Most of the time things are explained well and events happen that compel the player to naturally move in one particular direction.

One more thing to mention; there have been a few people who say that motion sickness can be a problem while playing Half-Life 2.  Valve has even mentioned this as a possible issue during gameplay.  They have suggested that a smaller field-of-view will be more likely to cause problems.  Switching to a true widescreen setting might solve some of these problems, but since I don't get motion sick from this game I have not been able to test the problem.

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 7

Since Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter, violence is present throughout the vast majority of the game.  The player can kill enemies with a variety of weapons from pistols and sub-machine guns to a crowbar.  A small splatter of blood comes from the enemy’s body when it is hit.

Crowbar to the face!

If the enemy is close to a wall, blood can sometimes appear on the wall as well.

You get the same effect with strawberry jam.

Gore is almost completely absent from the game.  However, large rotary blades can be used to slice headcrab zombies in half.

Pop goes the weasel.

The player will occasionally find burned or mutilated bodies.  These bodies are usually found in areas that have been deserted by people because of headcrab infestations.

This one's "well done".

Some rooms are filled with a lot of gore to indicate how much death went on over an extended period of time.

If this were real, she'd definitely react to the stench.

The player can also use some objects and traps to light zombies on fire.  The zombies will yell and walk towards the player while on fire before dying.

Who wants toast?

• Sexuality - 0

Sexuality is not a factor in this game.

• Substances - 0

The player can occasionally pick up health packs that are filled with some sort of green fluid.  The player never actually picks up the health packs and uses them, they just disappear when he walks over them.  As a result, substance use is not a factor in this game.

Am I supposed to drink it or inject it?

• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

• Mods - 4

The majority of the mods for Half-Life 2 are simple level redesigns.  Some of these redesigns actually create full custom campaigns.  They’re not of the same caliber as Half-Life 2 (very few include any sort of dialog or voice acting), but they’re still very interesting to play.

However, as with any modable games with female characters, there are some nudity mods.  Modders have created some reskins to give Alyx larger breasts, lacy underwear, and in some cases remove her clothes entirely.

These mods were not difficult to find but unless a player goes searching for them specifically it’s unlikely that they’ll be noticed.  I hardly ever play any of the Half-Life 2 mods, the game is awesome enough without them.

• Religion - 3

In the “Ravenholm” section the player meets a sort of mad priest named Father Grigori who helps the player escape the zombie-infested town.  Father Grigori constantly refers to the infested as his “congregation” and uses other religious terms.

He's a bit crazy.

Late in the “Ravenholm” section, the priest guides the player through a zombie-infested graveyard.  A number of the graves have crosses on them.

It's a subtle detail, but definitely helps communicate a message.

• Anti-Law - 7

The player is set in a world where the government violently puts down any rebellious behavior.  Citizens are beaten in the streets just to maintain the level of fear necessary to maintain order in an oppressive society.

Time to fight back...

The player ends up leading a rebellion against the government.  Throughout the entire game the player is fighting against the law enforcement.  Eventually the player violently overthrows the entire regime.

It's like pulling down Saddam's statue, except not.

However, while anti-law acts play a vital part in the storyline of this game, it should be noted that the law within City 17 is no longer just.  The game never makes the efforts of the rebellion seem questionable, and the only reason that the rebellion did not begin earlier was because there was no person physically able to resist the might of the Combine.

• Online Community - 0

While there is a Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, it is a separate program from this game.  Therefore, the online community is not a factor in this game.

• Extreme Sports - 5

In one section the player has to drive a dune buggy across a large bridge with train tracks.  The only path the player can take makes the player drive straight towards an oncoming train.  The player has to boost and swerve out of the way at the correct time or else the train will hit the player and crush him like a bug.

Go, go, GO!

As if driving past an oncoming train wasn’t dangerous enough, there are two times early in the game where the player will have to deal with full-sized trains on foot.  In one, the player will have to briefly outrun an oncoming train.

Train vs. crowbar. The battle of the century.

In the second, the player will have to jump onto the roof of a train and use it to get to the other side of a gap.

Somehow you'd think that a theoretical physicist would know that this is a bad idea.

The player will also have to drive an airboat throughout one long section of the game.  The airboat is basically used like some sort of hovercraft in that it has both air and land capabilities.  The player will have to make some pretty spectacular leaps with the airboat and will float safely down to the water without taking damage.

And I'm FREEEEEEEE...

The player will be chased by a fully-loaded attack helicopter throughout half of the airboat level.

In one section after the rebellion begins, Gordon and Alyx get to a destroyed bridge and need to find a way across.  Alyx scales the side of a building to get a better view.

But then how do you get back down?

• Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

• Miscellaneous - 6

Police Brutality

As was mentioned earlier, City 17 is a police state unlike any other.  The police will actively beat down any citizen that they notice just to maintain the violent, tyrannical order currently in place.  There are a number of times, especially early in the game, where citizens have clearly been beaten to death by the Civil Protection.

That will teach him not to litter.

Headcrab Zombies

One of the smaller enemies is known as a “headcrab”.  These weird bug-like creatures can jump on a human’s head and “couple”, which turns the human into a sort of zombie controlled by the headcrab.  The player even sees the process in action once in the game.

Nice hat.

There are three different types of headcrab zombies each with a different type of headcrab host.  Normal zombies are slow and weak, but the faster headcrabs are more like dogs that have the ability to climb up piping and leap high into the air.

There is also a sort of poisoned headcrab.  While the poisoned headcrab is unable to directly kill the player, if the player is bitten by a poisoned headcrab his health will go to 1.  Eventually the player’s HEV suit will administer an antidote to the toxin and his health will return back to its previous level.

Because you are a headcrab zombie!

The Combine deploys headcrab-filled missiles to make an area permanently unlivable.  Almost every area in the game that is infested with headcrabs will be devoid of human life.

Oh, hi!

Human Disfigurement

The Combine’s main law enforcement group, known in the game as the “trans-humans” is a species of “humans” that have been surgically modified to be physically superior to the citizenry of Earth.

Not exactly friendly.

The Combine also surgically modifies human prisoners and turns them into “stalkers”.  The stalkers are humanoid but have had their legs removed at the knee and arms removed at the elbow.  Metal pieces have replaced these parts.  The human’s face has also been removed and replaced with a metal plate.  It’s not very pretty at all.

That pathetic, naked stump of a thing used to be human.

Reproduction Suppression

One of the things that Dr. Breen mentions during his broadcasted “chats” is why the Combine uses the reproduction suppression device.  In short, the human population of Earth is prevented from reproducing so that the Combine can have direct control over their numbers.  The suppression device emanates from the Citadel.

Kidnapping

The Combine kidnaps the leader of the resistance, Eli Vance, and takes him to a sort of horrific version of a prison.

I would go nuts if I were stuck in that cage.

Later, Alyx Vance is also captured and taken to the Citadel.

It's like a party, but without the fun, music, dancing...

Nova Prospekt

The main “prison” for City 17 is more like a concentration camp than a prison.  Prisoners are kept in metal strait-jacket sized cages and kept on the walls of huge metal rooms.  The entire prison is cold, grey, and metallic.

The message of the Combine being cold, heartless, evil things is hard to miss in Nova Prospekt, but younger gamers might miss much of the significance of the location.