Review of Half life 2
In this review, i’ll give my thoughts of half life 2 - a video game i hold very dear to me. I’ve played it when i was a teen. Half life 2 is a sequel to half life 1. You can see the trailer here. I’ll try not to spoil too much.
Story and gameplay
Half life 2 is such a rare gem of a masterpiece. I was not just fighting against physical enemies. The game made me feel like I was fighting against myself - my despair, hopelessness, loneliness, fears, etc. I found myself agitated and fighting to find the strength to keep pressing on. For much of the game, I was alone with barely any idea of what to do. No one was there to help me. Seeing corpses along with ruined and abandoned buildings with hostile creatures attacking me made me feel like it was the apocalypse. I was left to figure out everything on my own. This is what made Half life 2 terrifying.
One aspect of the game that really stood out is how the story is simple but ambiguous. There are no cutscenes. Half life 2 doesn’t try to mimic films or many other games. The game doesn’t show you who Gordon Freeman is. Gordon doesn’t have dialogue. This lets you fill in the blanks of who he is in your mind. Essentially, you are Gordon Freeman. The game tells you just enough to keep you playing but not enough to get you to stop playing. You’re always wanting to find out more. The Gman sightings, dialogue, places, objects, etc. all let you piece together the story in subtle ways and help you theorize. This is pure gaming to me.
The story world is vast and well developed. The levels often filled me with desperation and fear as I struggled to figure out how to advance further without running into more enemies.
I love how simple and straightforward the gameplay is. Almost all of the weapons you’re given are already familiar to you. You can heal, recharge the HEV suit with HEV chargers, gather supplies, use a crowbar, and the gravity gun. What makes the gameplay so special is the dynamic combat. You’re fighting small creatures, squads, and large creatures in different scenarios. You’re forced to solve puzzles in some situations. Half life 2 is interesting as you can find out more info. about the game world by talking to civilians without it necessarily being a requirement.
Areas outside of city 17 are referenced as uninhabitable due to the toxic pollution in the air. That’s hair raising as you don’t know what kind of mutated monstrous creatures are lurking in the remains of human civilization if any.
Half life 2 became much darker than the first half life, pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable. Here are some deleted concepts to illustrate my point.
Originally, the game was to feature Eli's story of how he lost his wife at Black Mesa, how Gordon Freeman got hired at Black Mesa before half life 1, Judith's awareness of the G-Man, and its interest with Gordon.
The hydra is a deleted creature you were meant to fight. How you are expected to kill it especially with its thin form turns my blood cold. The hydra seems so intimidating.
Cremators were originally meant to patrol City 17 and burn citizens alive if they break the law. I wonder if any humanity is left in the cremators if any and how they work. I’m afraid and reluctant to find out.
The combine guard is a terrifying enemy. I’d hate to fight it alone. The camera attachment was the real head of the soldier. It is likely the man in the robotic suit was to be blind, his eyes seeming to have been somehow removed. Its said the face is the “organ of emotion.” Our eyes reveal and/or conceal the truth of who we are. The face is a canvas for emotional expressions. It would’ve been disturbing to look at its nonfunctioning human face while unaware of the direction its real "head" is looking at.
Children were to be featured as slaves that worked in factories in City 17 with Cremator heads permanently glued to their right hands.
The environment is one of the scariest features of the game. The imposing dark buildings make you dread what might be lurking in the shadows or behind its walls.
the city 17 uprising was probably my favorite part of game. I got to lead my own squad, work with the resistance, explore more of city 17 and Combine forces.
Characters
Almost all if not all of the game’s characters are memorable like Alyx Vance, Eli Vance, Barney, dog, etc. from their looks to their speech and personalities. Half life 2 has some of the most creative and terrifying creatures in gaming.
What made the Combine so terrifying is how similar the advisors are to parasites feeding off other species like humans. The advisors removed their reproductive organs, voices, personalities, everything that could cause soldiers to rebel against the Combine. I’m in utter shellshock at how much the advisors butchered humans and made them husks of their former selves. As cruel as the Combine are, you can’t call the advisors “evil.” They’re aliens trying to survive.
What makes the Combine more terrifying is how little we know about them. One can only imagine from what world the synths came from, who they were before they were enslaved by the Combine, and how the Combine conquered them. I dreaded the thought the human race was next. If the Combine succeed in ther plans, they’d bring the Combine overwatch to other worlds. The advisors in the game are larvae. I get chills thinking about what they would look like if they were full grown adults.
Combine buildings are disturbing because they’re robbed of all humanity. They seem more like scraps of metal strung together in heaps as if humanity were devolving back to a more primitive age.
Despite the Combine’s terrifying and grotesque nature, their designs are invigorating.
The headcrabs were some of the scariest enemies of the game. The fact headcrabs took over human hosts while they suffered barely alive was very unsettling especially when you lit them on fire. I’m not sure I want to know how the fast and poisonous headcrabs affected their hosts. What’s worse is even after you kill hosts, the headcrabs often survive and attack you quickly. Due to their small size and speed, its hard to kill them under pressure especially when they’re shrieking.
The antlions were probably the scariest enemies of the game to me. They’re burrowed underground so you can’t see them. When they come out, they come at you with such aggression and ferocity! They’re like rabid piranhas on a feeding frenzy!
One of the weaknesses of Half life 2 is Alyx. She felt somewhat mediocre. I loved her mostly quiet personality but felt she was underdeveloped. Yes, she had humor and concern for others which is good. Yes, she could fight and hack into security systems. However, i wish more time was spent on giving her more personality traits and a deeper backstory. Physically, she stood out more than say doctor Kleiner.
Themes
Half life 2 has dark themes. The themes of Half life 2 center on freedom hence the name Gordon freeman, what it means to be human, nature, and free will vs. determinism. Half life 2 shows us there are fates far worse than death like the loss of humanity. Symbolically, i felt the Combine overwatch forces represent humanity’s loss of connection with the world. We’ve become so immersed in tech. that we lost our humanity. I feel when the earth surrendered and joined the Combine out of self-preservation, they showed they had no concern for the community which was their ultimate downfall. Being human is more than just surviving or being barely alive as the zombies have shown players. If you can’t live with your own sense of autonomy and individuality, you’re not human. Another aspect of being human is the ability to create. The Combine overwhelmed humanity but eventually, humans used their own weapons and tech. against them. This is what sets humans apart from their enemies. When the resistance rebels against the Combine in city 17, especially seeing dog take out Combine soldiers by himself, i got emotional because the human race rediscovered and reclaimed its stolen identity. All of the game enemies are apparently pre-programmed to survive even if their actions are what we’d call “evil.” The game however calls into question our free will and hints we might be pre-programmed too. To some degree, you have free will but not completely. Gman was guiding your path all along. He could be predetermining everything you do and manipulating your actions. This explains why there are various Gman sightings in the game.
The soundtrack
The music of half life 2 is unlike any other music i’ve heard of before. The music doesn’t stick to one genre. Each distinct track makes the game much more tense and emotional while being catchy. The music isn’t shy to make its strong presence known. I can name tons of examples. When i put on the Hazard suit and the track “hazardous environments” starts playing, i felt scared. I couldn’t tell if i was hearing disturbing background noise or music. Either way, i felt i had to desperately teleport somewhere to escape from mysterious creatures who somehow became aware of who i was and were after me. After i take out a CP officer - the track “CP violation” starts playing. The music made me feel like i’ve just violated protocol and as a consequence, combine forces are trying to apprehend me like i was an animal. When i realized i was a fugitive and needed to be a one-man army to survive, my body ran as cold as ice. The rhythm and instruments sounded soullessly manufactured like the Combine.
When i get to a level where i ride fast in the airboat and fire with the combine’s own weapon, i felt unstoppable as well as empowered! I felt like i could fly. What mostly gave me those feelings was the energetic track “You’re not supposed to be here.”
When the music of Ravenholm starts playing, you’re filled with fear. I’m immediately reminded of that line from Dante’s inferno “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” I love how the music changes from techno style to a more classical one such as the Ravenholm original soundtrack. The soundtrack of Nova Prospekt was one of the scariest tracks in the game. The cries you hear sound like ghosts of tortured inmates who once dwelled there. The beats made you feel suspense as if your heart was beating faster than normal. Nova Prospekt felt worse than Alcatrez.
When the LG Orbifold track plays, it makes you intensely feel suspense in the heat of battle against striders and soldiers. You feel at any moment, you fear they’ll use their cannons against you and you’ll disintegrate in a flash so you desperately rush for cover by any means necessary.
The music you hear in the citadel is suspenseful, it could keep you awake at night! The environment and sounds make you feel like you’re in the deep sea!
Voice-acting
The voice acting was very well done, charming, and believable. The voice actress who played Alyx was so memorable and believable. When i think of Half life 2, I imagine her voice.
Summary
Overall, half life 2 is a solid game that will live on for generations. Its been so long since I last played it. When I listen to the soundtrack, remember the promos, gameplay, hear fan theories, see gameplay footage - I want to play the whole franchise all over again! Half life 2 is still just as fresh as it was when i first played it! I highly recommend you play Half life 2! I highly recommend you buy the physical copy of this game.
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