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Hλlf Life 2 (plus episodes 1 and 2):
I honestly believe the hype about this game was right. I may as well clump the game's little b*****d children together, as they seem to start and stop mere minutes after each other. Be warned. This review contains spoilers for those who haven't played Episodes 1 or 2.
To start off in the first game, the ever-famous G-Man, in all of his addicting creepiness, speaks to you. Not Gordon, YOU. As if it were actually you in Gordon's shoes. Creepy to know you're not the only one who knows this, isn't it? It catches you off guard when you first notice the quality of the graphics, which I doubt anyone notices until you find out you're on a train car- JUST LIKE IN THE FIRST GAME.
Anywho, off of the only-playing bit and onto the make of the main game itself. As an Xbox-original game, it would be considered a breakthrough in every way. The quality actually matches- as well as surpasses- many current-gen games in graphics, gameplay, sound, and story. And that's saying alot even compared to its "mini-me" additions as would commonly be found on Steam or in the Orange Box. [Steam? Valve? Orange Box? ... I have too much free brain space to actually think of stuff that makes sense.] But how about the 360 version? With it and its little clones running around next to each other in an odd game of Elimination Tag, only one thing seems... sub-par. That would be the graphics, no? Actually, the graphics are just a little more toned to the oh-so-eerie environments Gordon is unlucky enough to trudge through. Otherwise, they just have a few extra corners to spot. "The sounds? What about them?" - some random person I made up asking -because I can-.
They're copy/pasted except for the distinctively newer ones, like from the glowing antlion guard, the Zombines, and the Jalopy as it breaks down. [<-SPOILERS!!] Not much more to say. Although I'm sure that the sounds technician had fun making noises for the enemies.
Ooh! Funfun! Something to truly nitpick! The AI for the combine in ALL of the game installments. This is a true Run-of-the-Mill mistake. Many of them do NOT move more than five feet from their spawning point. Nor do they take cover. There are... Two exceptions for this. The first is the level Highway 17, I believe, where you must traverse under a massive bridge as well as a few bits around that point in the level. They actually run behind stuff. The programmers made a flaw in this, though. They just about randomized when the Combine shoot in those points. Very. Very. Sad. For those who for some reason only got as far as the Gravity Gun bit in the original installment, Half Life 2, and only want to play with stuff... BAD! BAD BAD BAD!! That is FAR from the best weapon! These points occur when you do have the actual superweapons, though one after the other. Crossbow, then Supergrav, or as I call them, Nails and Mr Ragdoll. Actually, they both happen right after you attain either of those weapons. However, I can't disagree more when it comes to the other two installments. They pull something much more pathetic. They attack your INVINCIBLE partner, Alyx [or barney in a very rare case], and do not move ONE SINGLE INCH.
However, this couldn't be more backwards for the non-combine enemies. They actually know that YOU'RE the mortal one and go after you. Zombine, Zombies, Antlions, Headcrabs-
"You can get crabs on your head? EWWW!!!" -Yet again the same person.
- and whatever else you fight except for Striders will go after you as if they were rabid dogs seeing an old cat they can't stand anymore. Very frustrating, but very fun. Saying a little when compared to the fun of most games nowadays, even though anyone who plays games like this will agree wholeheartedly.
Okay, I may as well just spill it for the oblivious and fun to tease and rally. Eli Vance dies at the very end of episode 2. Which will start a chain reaction to kill nearly every main character in the game. If episode 3 isn't out already, I will bet money that the villain in the first game, what'shisname, isn't dead, but Barney will be the next to go!
Portal:
Ahh, finally. Something truly fun and innovative. And I'm not joking. This game raised the bar for puzzles, platformers, graphics, ... pretty much every aspect of this game. It even truly splits the morons from the actually mentally-disabled people. I'll explain it like this. The morons know what to do for... relatively half of the tests [of which there are nineteen]. The rest of the game, they pretty much screw around in a few different rooms and take GLaDOS' random splurts of information and threats seriously. The mentally lacking group has no idea what to do, but has fun doing what they do. They comment on how GLaDOS sounds nice, coo at the "friendly" little reassuring turrets who have a... scary sense of knowing. Their phrases "It's not your fault", "I don't blame you", etc. for when they die, spot you, or lose sight of you sound almost... human. Eerily human. Well... human, or they have their own conscience and think you're doing that because [spoiler!] you could be mad that their "mother," as i would call her, tried to kill your character as well as all of Aperture Science's staff. Back to the subject I meant to stay on. The mentally-lacking appreciate all the niceness of the game and have fun and try at the same time.
Anywho... The designers made this game perfectly. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the game! NOTHING. Every bit of the graphics is smooth enough to look as though anything could be built the exact way it looks in the game.. The "Weighted Storage Cubes" is a bad example of this, but an example nonetheless. If you're lucky enough when you play the game to see one of the turrets, though, and not get killed in the process, you will see no corners in them when they're closed, and even their tiny turret barrels look round in-game.
Enough of the endearment. This game was built both for the programmers and the players. And they excelled at it. Let's leave it at that.
FINAL SPOILER: Aperture Science is going to be a massive part of the Half Life story!
