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Half-Life 2

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Half-Life 2 , stylized as HλLF-LIFE 2 , is a science fiction first-person shooter developed and published by Valve Corporation , and released on November 16, 2004, [1] following an extended development period of five years. The game garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 30 Game of the Year awards. It is included in The Orange Box for the Xbox 360 , PS3 , and PC. It was also included for the Original Xbox on November 17th 2005.

The game uses the Source engine , which includes a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine .

• 3.2 Combine
• 5 Development
• 7.1 Critical response
• 7.2.1 World records
• 7.3 Products
• 8.1 Source engine
• 8.2 Steam content delivery system
• 8.3.1 Subsequent releases
• 8.3.2 Ports
• 9.1 Sequels and prequel
• 10 Soundtrack
• 12 References
• 13.1 Official
• 13.2 Speedruns
• 13.3 General resources

Taking place in and around City 17 , nearly two decades [2] after the events of the first game, Half-Life 2 follows the scientist Gordon Freeman as he is thrust into an unfamiliar environment in which the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident has come to bear fully upon human society. Freeman is forced to battle against increasingly unfavorable odds in order to free Mankind from the Combine . In his struggle, he is joined by various allies, including fellow scientists, rebels, and friends (such as Alyx Vance) - all shocked to see him alive.

Characters [ ]

Alternate American cover, Alyx version.

Alternate American cover, G-Man version.

The Half-Life 2 series logo.

The Half-Life 2 series favicon.

• Gordon Freeman
• Barney Calhoun
• Judith Mossman
• Isaac Kleiner
• Father Grigori
• Vortigaunts
• Wallace Breen

Enemies [ ]

• Antlion Guard
• Fast Headcrab
• Fast Zombie
• Ichthyosaur
• Poison Headcrab
• Poison Zombie

Combine [ ]

• City Scanner
• Civil Protection
• Combine Advisor
• Combine Dropship
• Combine Gunship
• Hopper Mine
• Hunter-Chopper
• Mortar Synth
• Overwatch Elite
• Overwatch Sniper
• Overwatch Soldier
• Shield Scanner

Weapons [ ]

• Crowbar : The most iconic weapon of the series; a simple red crowbar that acts as a melee weapon which can be used to attack enemies or breakthrough various obstacles to continue throughout the game.
• USP Match : A semi-automatic 9mm handgun. The first ranged weapon acquired in the game.
• Emplacement Gun : Used by the Combine , this mounted pulse gun can be used to clear enemies quickly and efficiently; however, it cannot be taken by the player.
• MP7 (SMG1) : Fully automatic, this gun is used by both the Combine and the Resistance . It also possesses a secondary fire function that allows it to launch grenades.
• MK3A2 Grenade : A standard grenade that explodes a few seconds after being thrown.
• .357 Magnum ( Colt Python revolver ): Powerful and accurate, this gun will often kill enemies quickly at close range. However, the ammunition is scarce and it has a slower rate of fire.
• Ravenholm traps : Created by Father Grigori , these crafty traps can be used to kill zombies.
• Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator ( Gravity Gun ): Designed for handling hazardous materials, this weapon allows the user to pick up most objects, and optionally launch them into enemies. It is the second most iconic weapon, next to the crowbar.
• SPAS-12 : A powerful, pump-action shotgun that fires pellets in a cone pattern.
• Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle ( AR2 ): A pulse rifle developed by the Combine . Its secondary fire launches an Energy Ball that destroys enemies instantly and makes them fade into the air after the ball disappears.
• RPG : Fires a rocket-powered grenade that can be aimed using the attached laser. Effective for destroying airborne targets like Combine Gunships .
• Crossbow : A long-range weapon that fires red-hot steel rebar onto unsuspecting enemies. Whilst the projectile fired is very powerful, it is slow-moving and enemies will often move out of the way. The only sniper weapon featured in-game, the ammunition is less common, but it will usually kill less powerful enemies in a single shot.
• Bugbait : Collected from an Antlion Guard , these pods can be thrown to release pheromones, attracting Antlions which will kill any enemies nearby.
• Sentry Gun : Stationary automatic guns which destroy targets when they come near.
• Hopper Mine : Mines that explode when a target gets too near. Their name is derived from the fact they launch into the air before landing and exploding.

Development [ ]

The book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar , [3] and, against the developer's will, the leaked Beta from 2003 and its numerous files, revealed many of the game's original settings and actions that were cut down or removed entirely from the final game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a far darker game with far grittier artwork where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gases.

Half-Life 2 was also originally intended to be much more diverse in settings. Several City 17 levels at the start of the game and complete chapters from the second half of the game were completely removed and sometimes re-introduced in the subsequent Half-Life 2 episodes.

For more information about the cut content, see the following more elaborate articles:

• Half-Life 2 Beta
• Development of Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2 original storyline
• Weapons cut from Half-Life 2

Gameplay [ ]

Half-Life 2 plays similarly to its predecessor. The player navigates through a linear set of levels, fighting off transhuman troops known as the Combine as well as hostile alien creatures. Puzzles and sequences involving vehicles are interspersed throughout the game, breaking up stretches of on-foot combat and exploration.

Since Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter, the game world is always presented from Gordon Freeman's perspective, and the player is implicitly asked to place themselves in Gordon's shoes. A heads-up display at the bottom of the screen shows the player's health, energy, and ammunition status, while a toggle screen shows available weapons at the top. Health and energy can be replenished by picking up Medical Supplies and Energy Cells respectively, or by using wall-mounted Health Stations and Charging Devices .

The HEV Suit is a staple of Half-Life , making another appearance as the Mark V iteration, upgraded from the Mark IV version from the original Half-Life . The suit holds up to 100 Energy, which is depleted from damage, usually gunfire. The suit is recharged either through the use of energy cells or Charging Devices found throughout the game.

The player defeats enemies with an assortment of weapons . The game's available arsenal consists largely of modern-day weapons, primarily pistols, shotguns, and automatic weapons, though more elaborate devices are available, such as a crossbow that shoots hot metal rods, and Pheromone Pods that summon and direct Antlions . The Source engine's physics capabilities extend into combat via a special device called the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator , or Gravity Gun. Using this device, the player can pick up objects and either launch them at enemies or hold them in place to create a makeshift shield. The Gravity Gun can also perform a variety of non-combat functions, such as grabbing out-of-reach supplies, forming bridges across gaps, and flipping overturned vehicles.

Many puzzles utilize the game's physics engine. For example, one puzzle requires the player to either turn a seesaw-like lever into a ramp by placing cinder blocks at one end or to stack wooden crates to form a crude stairway. Puzzles are frequently solved with the Gravity Gun. One such puzzle has the player clear a highway by using the gravity gun to push numerous abandoned vehicles out of the way.

Reception [ ]

Half-Life 2 's public reception was overwhelmingly positive in terms of reviews, acclaim, and sales. It was critically acclaimed for advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence (AI), and physics. When sales figures were last announced, 12 million were sold at retail on PC and Xbox. [4] The Steam sales have not been revealed, but they may be around 15 million including retail and Steam. [5] The sales for Half-Life 2 have been relatively steady since its release. If Half-Life 2 eventually surpasses Half-Life in sales, it will take the title of the best-selling first-person shooter game to date.

Roughly 25 percent of all Half-Life 2 copies have been purchased using the Steam content delivery service; their exact number is between 750,000 and one million, depending on whether they are included in the figure of 6.5 million. [6] Overall, the Half-Life franchise, including Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat , has seen over 20 million sales. [7]

Critical response [ ]

Half-Life 2 has become and remains one of the most highly acclaimed video games in history. Most major game reviewers gave ratings within the 90-100% range. Half-Life 2 holds Metacritic's second-highest ranking and standing ("universal acclaim") among PC games with a score of 96, followed closely by Half-Life and The Orange Box (also with scores of 96). Maximum PC awarded Half-Life 2 an unprecedented 11 on their rating scale which peaks at 10, and named it the "best game ever made."

Individual reviews were almost universally glowing. Sources such as GameSpy, The Cincinnati Enquirer , and The New York Times have given perfect reviewing scores, and others such as PC Gamer and IGN gave near-perfect scores (it was one of only four games ever to get 96% from UK PC Gamer , the best score they have ever awarded, and the game is only one of two games ever to get a near-perfect score, 98%, from PC Gamer ), while the game became the fifth title to receive Edge magazine's ten-out-of-ten score. Critics who applauded the game cited the advanced graphics and physics along with the relatively low system requirements.

Very few reviewers gave Half-Life 2 lower than a nine out of ten ratings. One such critique was Netjak, a reviewing website known for its relative harshness, which gave Half-Life 2 a rating of 8.5. Several critics, including some that had given otherwise glowing reviews, complained about the required usage of Steam along with a difficult installation process.

Half-Life 2 earned over 35 Game of the Year awards, including Overall Game of the Year at IGN, GameSpot's Award for Best Shooter, GameSpot's Reader's Choice - PC Game of the Year Award, Game of the Year from The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and "Best Game" with the Game Developers Choice Awards, where it was also given various awards for technology, characters, and writing. The game also had a strong showing at the 2004 BAFTA Games Awards , picking up 6 awards, more than any other game that night, with awards including "Best Game" and "Best Online Game." Half-Life 2 also won "Game of the Decade" at Spike's 2012 Video Game Awards and was considered one of the best games of the decade by many different critics. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Video Game Canon ranks Half-Life 2 as one of the best games of all time. [16]

World records [ ]

Guinness World Records awarded Half-Life 2 the world record for the "Highest Rated Shooter by PC Gamer Magazine" in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008 . Other records awarded to the game in the book include, "First Game to Feature a Gravity Gun " and "First PC Game to Feature Developer Commentary".

Products [ ]

The popularity of Half-Life 2 and the Half-Life series has led way to an array of side products and collectibles. Valve offers Half-Life -related products such as plush Headcrabs , posters, clothing, and mousepads. [17]

Technical [ ]

Source engine [ ].

Doctor Breen's office at the top of the Citadel, showing the advanced lighting abilities of the Source engine

For Half-Life 2 , Valve developed a new game engine called the Source engine, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single-player and online environments.

Additionally, when coupled with Steam , the engine can be easily upgraded to include many new graphical technologies. One such example is High Dynamic Range Lighting , which Valve debuted as a free level called Half-Life 2: Lost Coast , which functions as a playable tech demo for the new technology.

Steam content delivery system [ ]

Integral to Half-Life 2 is the Steam content delivery system developed by Valve Software. All Half-Life 2 players are required to have Steam installed and a valid account in order to play. Steam allows customers to purchase games and other software straight from the developer and have it downloaded directly to their computer as well as receiving "micro-updates." These updates also make hacking the game harder to do and have thus far been somewhat successful in staving off cheats and playability for users with unauthorized copies . Steam can also be used for finding and playing multiplayer games through an integrated server browser and friends list, and game data can be backed up with a standard CD or DVD burner. Steam and a customer's purchased content can be downloaded onto any computer, as long as that account is only logged in at one location at a time.

The usage of Steam has not gone without controversy. Some users have reported numerous problems with Steam, sometimes being serious enough to prevent a reviewer from recommending a given title available on the service. In other cases, review scores have been lowered. Long download times, seemingly unnecessary updates, and verification checks are criticisms leveled by critics of the system's use for single-player games such as Half-Life 2 . Whether or not a customer intends to use any multiplayer features, the computer the game was installed on must have Steam and an Internet connection to verify the transaction.

Release and distribution [ ]

A 1GB portion of Half-Life 2 became available for pre-load through Steam on August 26, 2004. This meant that customers could begin to download encrypted game files to their computer before the game was released. When the game's release date arrived, customers were able to pay for the game through Steam, unlock the files on their hard drives and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the whole game to download. The pre-load period lasted for several weeks, with several subsequent portions of the game being made available, to ensure all customers had a chance to download the content before the game was released.

Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD (most initial U.S. "bare-bones" retail copies), and on DVD in several editions. Through Steam, Half-Life 2 had three packages that a customer could order. The basic version ("Bronze") includes only Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source , whereas the "Silver" and "Gold" (collector's edition) versions also include Half-Life: Source and Day of Defeat: Source (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine) as well as the right to download all previous games by Valve through Steam. The collector's edition/Gold version additionally includes merchandise such as a t-shirt, a strategy guide, and a CD containing the soundtrack used in Half-Life 2 . Both the disc and Steam versions require Steam to be installed and active for play.

Subsequent releases [ ]

A demo version with the file size of a single-CD was later made available in December 2004 at the website of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains part of the opening level of the game, and also part of the chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..." . In September 2005, Electronic Arts distributed the Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2 . Compared to the original CD-release of Half-Life 2 , the GOTY edition adds Half-Life: Source .

On December 22, 2005, Valve released a 64-bit version of the Source engine that takes advantage of AMD64 processor-based systems running a 64-bit version of the Windows operating system. This update, delivered via Steam, enabled Half-Life 2 and other Source-based games to run natively on AMD64 processors, bypassing the 32-bit emulator. Gabe Newell , one of the founders of Valve, stated that this is "an important step in the evolution of our game content and tools," and that the game benefits greatly from the update. [18] The response to the release varied: some users reported huge performance boosts, while technology site Techgage found several stability issues and no notable frame rate improvement. [19] 64-bit users have widely reported bizarre in-game errors including characters dropping dead, game script files not being pre-cached (i.e., loaded when first requested instead), map rules being bent by AI, and other glitches.

An Xbox port published by Electronic Arts was released on November 15, 2005. While subject to positive reception, critics cited its lack of multiplayer and frame-rate issues as problems, and the game received lower scores than its PC counterpart.

During Electronic Arts' summer press event on July 13, 2006, Gabe Newell announced that Half-Life 2 will ship on next-generation consoles (specifically, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) including episodes One and Two , Team Fortress 2 , and Portal . This five-game package would later be known as The Orange Box and was shipped to PC and Xbox 360 on October 10, 2007. The PlayStation 3 version was delayed and finally shipped on December 11, 2007. There were reports Valve was having troubles with the PlayStation 3 hardware and it shows with bouts of slowdown that are not seen on the Xbox 360 or PC versions.

Expansions [ ]

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast , showcasing Valve's HDR technology.

Since the release of Half-Life 2 , Valve has released an additional level and two additional expansion sequels. The level, Lost Coast , takes place between the chapters Highway 17 and Sandtraps and is primarily a showcase for High Dynamic Range imaging (HDR) technology.

Sequels and prequel [ ]

The sequels Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two take place shortly after the events of Half-Life 2 , with the player once again taking on the role of Gordon Freeman and with Alyx Vance playing a more prominent role and expanding the mysteries surrounding the G-Man and the Vortigaunts . Additionally, one further episode is set to be released in the future, dubbed Episode Three ; being the last expansion, "in a trilogy". [20] In an interview with Eurogamer, Gabe Newell revealed that the Half-Life 2 episodes are essentially Half-Life 3 . [21] He reasons that rather than force fans to wait another six years for a full sequel, Valve would release the game in episodic installments. [21] Newell admits that a more correct title for these episodes should have been " Half-Life 3: Episode One " and so forth, having referred to the episodes as Half-Life 3 repeatedly through the interview.

In November 2019 - fifteen years following Half-Life 2' s release, a prequel taking place in-between Half-Life and Half-Life 2 was revealed titled Half-Life: Alyx .

Since the release of the Source engine SDK , a large number of mods have been developed by the Half-Life 2 community. Mods vary in scale, from fan-created levels and weapons to partial conversions such as Half-Life 2 Substance and Smod (which modify the storyline and gameplay of the pre-existing game), and Garry's Mod (which allow the player to experiment with the physics system in a sandbox mode), to total conversions such as Dystopia or Empires , which transforms the game from a first-person shooter into a real-time strategy game. Some mods take place in the Half-Life universe; others in completely original settings; while some are tributes to other games, such as GoldenEye: Source , a recreation of GoldenEye 007 , or Resident Evil: Twilight , based on the Resident Evil series.

Soundtrack [ ]

References [ ].

• ↑ Half-Life 2 on Steam

• ↑ Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
• ↑ Half-Life 2 has sold 12 million as of February 2011 on Forbes
• ↑ Analysis: Valve's Lifetime Retail Sales For Half-Life, Counter-Strike Franchises by Chris Remo. Gamasutra.com
• ↑ Steam's Finances
• ↑ Valve Reveals New Details On Episode Two
• ↑ https://www.mycitizensnews.com/columns/the-top-video-games-of-2000-2009/
• ↑ https://www.destructoid.com/the-top-50-videogames-of-the-decade-10-1/
• ↑ https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/gamasutra-s-top-12-games-of-the-decade
• ↑ https://www.ign.com/wikis/best-of-the-decade/Overall_-_Games
• ↑ https://www.thepandemicacademic.com/post/the-top-50-games-2000-2009
• ↑ https://screenfellows.com/2017/11/best-video-games-2000s-part-2/
• ↑ https://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/the-12-most-incredible-games-of-the-decade-659755/2
• ↑ http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/01/revisiting-the-decade-in-video-games/1
• ↑ https://www.videogamecanon.com/
• ↑ The Valve Store
• ↑ VALVE UNVEILS 64-BIT SOURCE(TM) GAMING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED IN CONJUNCTION WITH AMD . Steam Powered . Retrieved on March 23, 2006.
• ↑ Review: Half-Life 2: 64-Bit - Reason to get excited? . Techgage . Retrieved on March 23, 2006.
• ↑ Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced . GameSpot . Retrieved on May 25, 2006.
• ↑ 21.0 21.1 Interview - Opening the Valve . Eurogamer . Retrieved on June 7, 2006.

External links [ ]

Official [ ].

Speedruns [ ]

• Half-Life 2 speedrun : speedrun video of the entire game without using shortcuts (03:02:54).
• Half-Life 2 done quick : speedrun video of the game finished as quickly as possible by using all possible shortcuts and exploits/tricks (01:42:18). A tricks, glitches and outtakes video is also available.
• Half-Life 2: DWaHMoV : speedrun video of the game finished as quickly as possible by using all possible shortcuts and exploits/tricks (01:32:25) An Audio Commentary video is also available.

General resources [ ]

• Valve Developer Community ; a wiki made by Valve to aid in the editing of Half-Life 2 .
• HL2Files : for Half-Life 2 modifications, maps, sound packs, videos and other downloads.
• Half-Life 2 mods and modding tutorials at Mod DB.
• sourceWiki : for Half-Life 2 mod developers.
• Planet Half-Life : a Half-Life/Half-Life 2 -related resource website including news, reviews, screenshots, etc.
• ValveTime.net : Comprehensive Half-Life /Steam centric website and large Half-Life 2 community.
• HLFallout.net : Another popular Half-Life 2 /Steam fansite with news, reviews, and screenshots.
• 2 The G-Man
• 3 Seven Hour War

The making of Half-Life 2: Valve takes us behind the scenes of its narrative masterpiece

Gabe Newell, Marc Laidlaw, and more sit down with Edge Magazine for a behind the scenes exploration of Half-Life 2

It's difficult to get anyone at Valve to tell you that Half-Life 2 was a great game. Its staff are quick to credit their competitors with a similar will for innovation, and are reticent to posit themselves as sole pioneers. Though they acknowledge the pile of awards the game has amassed, the column inches, the forums gushing with praise, none of this is an end in itself but feedback to be analysed, fuelling the continual effort to become better at what Valve already does and loves doing. 

"It helps if you don't have expectations that might make it hard to hear the reactions you are getting," says Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder and figurehead, when we ask if and when he knew the company had created something special. Such evasion would normally strike you as false modesty, but Valve is a company of unorthodox methods – a company without job titles run like a school for the gifted, a company with such a close commitment to its community that it reads every email, a company that, with the slow gestation of Steam, has become something of a saviour of PC gaming with seeming reluctance. 

Its decisions are often unfathomable, veering from The Orange Box's incredible value, through the endless care and attention given to the Team Fortress 2 community, to the more difficult proposition of selling two Left 4 Dead games in quick succession. Valve is outspoken and perhaps even eccentric, Newell's own proclamations on the "total disaster" of PS3 or on Microsoft 's indolent support of PC gaming provoking headlines. Externally, its catalogue may appear near-infallible – but these triumphs have been hard won. The original Half-Life was scrapped and revised over a period of 12 months before release. With its publisher threatening to drop marketing support shortly after the game hit shelves, Valve was not guaranteed to even recoup its investment until it persuaded Sierra to release a Game Of The Year edition. 

This feature first appeared in Edge Magazine #216. If you want more like it every month, delivered straight to your doorstop or your inbox, why not  subscribe to Edge here .

Half-Life 2's development was similarly rocky, most frequently waylaid by Valve's own towering aspirations – and perhaps this is why Newell is reluctant to sing its praises, even after the fact. Nothing is certain in game development, not even at Valve. Newell himself nixed the scheduled appearance of the game at E3 2002 when the proof-of-concept reel failed to blow him away (he had consciously distanced himself from the project in order to maintain an unbiased first viewing of it). Then the game missed its much-trumpeted September 30, 2003 ship date – a debacle which saw the company lose internal momentum as well as public face, and has solidified Newell's commitment to avoiding specific dates whenever possible. The disaster was shortly followed by a security scandal in which a German hacker leaked the not-even-nearly finished code, causing further dismay at a studio already spending $1 million per month to complete the game. 

Even as the final pieces fell into place, a legal battle with publisher Vivendi Universal Games threatened to scupper Valve's efforts. Originally, Valve had sued Vivendi, claiming the publisher had illegally distributed Counter-Strike licences to internet cafés. Vivendi's counter-suit was the thing of nightmares: Valve had not, Vivendi alleged, been diligent in finishing Half-Life 2; it felt that the creation of Steam undermined its right to publish Valve's games. 

There were worries that Vivendi would refuse to release Half-Life 2 until six months after it had gone gold. Vivendi relented and the courts ruled in the studio's favour – but it's proof that Valve's alchemical triumphs are the result of a little serendipity as well as perseverance and talent. It may have had the benefit of self-funding, its founders' ample reserves accumulated during the ascendency of Microsoft, but it took brass balls to see the making of Half-Life 2 through without compromise. Perhaps this is also why so few games have managed to surpass Half-Life 2's achievements. As Newell says, "Making games is hard, and every team has to pick their battles carefully." 

Creating one of the greats

Valve's chosen battle was simply to make the greatest PC game of all time. Its vectors of attack were multiple: skirmishes which saw the medium as a whole gain ground in the implementation of physics, develop new ways of telling stories in interactive spaces and, most fundamentally, aspire to a higher level of maturity. 

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Half-Life 2's characters are engaging both dramatically and in action: they are a tangible presence in the world which help or hinder the player directly. And the world itself, with its Eastern Bloc urban austerity and sense of abandon in its rural desolation, is a fictional construct considerably evolved from the first game's satirical shlock – a coherent place which, regardless of the player's narrow corridor of progress through it, never once fails to convince. "There was a period when the first-person genre was relegating the experience to that of a shooting gallery," Newell says. "There have been plenty of games that point to a much broader range of options – environment and character development, storytelling, gameplay, tone – and Half-Life 2 was part of that."

That part being the vanguard, presumably. But it wasn't that it got there first – Half-Life 2 isn't just an important iteration in the onward progress of the first-person shooter, it remains a high-water mark in many respects. At the time, the presence of the handheld physics toy, the gravity gun, was thought to be the most significant addition, but, even though Valve's brilliantly playful implementation was a great differentiator from games past, the physical manipulation of the environment was an inevitability in the industry, an advance born of the unstoppable sweep of technology. The game's aspiration of communicating a grown-up narrative, through engaging with its characters and setting, was as much a product of imagination as it was technology, and it is this credential which has proved much harder for other games to match. Even BioShock, with its smart meta-commentary on the freedom of the player, follows a little meekly in the footsteps of Half-Life 2, in which your nemesis mocks your popular calling as "The Free Man" and asks if you can really do anything but destroy. 

It is still, of course, a story about alien invasion, largely articulated through the exchange of gunfire. But Half-Life 2 showed, more profoundly than other shooters of its decade, that narrative wasn't just the backdrop to action, but spawned by a constant interplay with the 3D interactive space. The germ of this sophistication was evident in the game's predecessor, from its ostentatious scene-setting on the Black Mesa transit system, to Barney the security guard offering to buy you a beer after work. Although the scientists and guards were little more than props to be sucked into air vents or diced by haywire lasers, it was easy to anthropomorphise them. 

The game's laboratory environments, too, despite the occasional pools of glowing green gloop and whirling hi-tech gizmos, were conceived with the trappings of credible working places. Nonetheless, the earlier game underwent a more organic process of development than its sequel, as Valve found its feet as a developer and grew its team. This did not always create the kind of wholly coherent world that would be necessary for its sequel, particularly evident in the disparity between Chuck Jones' tendrils-and-talons monster design and Ted Backman's more adult, eerie creatures. Half Life 2 sees Backman's sense of uncanniness now pervading the entire project – an aesthetic unity that grew out of a new approach to production. 

"There was a large-scale difference between the two projects," Newell explains. "That meant there were organisational and process changes we had to make to accommodate that. Trees are organic, but there are reasons why they don't grow to be as tall as skyscrapers." 

"Making games is hard, and every team has to pick their battles carefully" Gabe Newell

The team was broken up into cabals, each working on separate areas – but this time art was applied to the levels after their essential geometry had been laid out, with the game's writer, Marc Laidlaw, ducking between groups to ensure everything fitted into the overall fiction. The result was the more cohesive sense of place and tone, which was vital to the projection of Half-Life 2's narrative, and which took a much darker turn than that of the original game. 

"This came naturally out of the design of the world," Laidlaw says. "There was no point at which we didn't see the universe as being essentially dark. As long as we were trapped in the confines of Black Mesa, we didn't have to deal with the world beyond those walls, but that didn't mean we pictured a positive, nurturing environment. When the world of Half-Life 2 started coming into focus, we tried to be consistent in tone – but this wasn't a matter of being selectively darker or more sophisticated. It simply meant we had to be vigilant about introducing elements that might inadvertently break the spell we were trying to cast." 

There were tonal aspects of Half-Life's world that needed to be reset, however. Although Dr Kleiner and his pet headcrab provide comic relief, HL2 is a much more consistently grim fiction, avoiding the more obvious satirical elements of Half-Life's sci-fi. "We found that satire or parody was too limiting as a fundamental principle for creating a universe rich with possibilities," Laidlaw says. 

The first Half-Life: Alyx trailer is the closest we're gonna get to Half-Life 3

Dr Breen, the human stooge of the oppressive Combine, could easily have been a caricatured tyrant, all monocles and Gestapo gloves – but instead his snake oil philosophy is presented in unsettlingly reasonable, measured terms. Even as Breen persuades the occupants of City 17 to reject their base instinct for procreation, his creed is never presented with tongue overtly in cheek. Equally, the casual black humour with which scientists were reduced to offal in the first game is replaced with a much sadder sense of macabre – there is little humour to be found in the cremated corpses lying in gnarled heaps beside derelict coastal buildings. The many and grisly ways in which the player is encouraged to dispatch zombies allows for grim amusement, but elsewhere the humble headcrab is used to tell poignant stories of failed resistance – and the demented wail of a zombie carrying a payload of poison headcrabs is surely one of the most chilling noises in video games. 

Did Valve always intend its sequels to mature with the game's audience? Surprisingly not, according to Newell. "That isn't something we think about except as part of each project needing to respect the fact that simply repeating the past isn't going to have the same impact now as it did then," he says. "I feel like we've gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I'd like, and it's something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on." And now, as the future players of Episode Three start having families and hitting middle age, what horrifies them more than anything else? "The death of their children," says Newell. "The fading of their own abilities."

Avoiding cliché

The maturity with which Valve approached its world can be seen not so much in the broad strokes of its plot but in the credible drawing of its environments – instilling a strong sense of place while compounding the game's bleak tone. Though the moonlit zombie-filled Ravenholm makes plenty of knowing nods to the horror genre, Half-Life 2 largely resists the more obvious opportunities to deploy cliché. The bold decision to scrub early ideas for a globe-trotting plot and concentrate the action in a nonspecific eastern European country provided Valve with a fresh and idiosyncratic palette. Nonetheless, the first designs for City 17 and the surrounding wasteland saw them endure the stormy night skies of Gothic horror. The former then had the air of Blade Runner – nocturnal, rain-swept and with the dense entanglement of old and new accelerating decay. Yet the crisp sallow daylight of the final game transforms the environments into something unlike any of its inspirations. The stately plazas of the eastern European city are beset by technology which seeks to order the world as it consumes it, quite apart from Blade Runner's depiction of entropy under flickering neon lights. The towering, angular Combine structures themselves have a fascistic flavour to them – but their alarming asymmetry, impossible distribution of mass and unknowable materials, dark and iridescent, mark them out as something entirely Other. 

The wasteland, too, sidestepped scorched-earth cliché and instead opted for a melancholic emptiness. The quiet wood buildings of the coast, like so many of the environments in Half-Life 2, hold stories that unravel as you explore, their hastily assembled possessions and broken makeshift barricades telling of the panic of the occupants' final few minutes. In cooperation with the player, the architecture of the levels themselves becomes narrator, guiding the player through little dramas that expand upon the world's fiction in bullet holes and spraypaint. Prior to Half-Life 2, environments had largely served as prettified backdrops: Quake 2's imposing metal halls and gantries had unsurprisingly little to say about life on Stroggos. Half-Life 2 championed a form of efficient, wordless storytelling that could only work in video games – a medium allowing for that explorative interaction with a 3D space. 

It's another boon of this mode of storytelling through the level's physical structure that you need never notice it. Though the coastal sections invite you to stop and wonder at the desolation, it's quite possible to screech through them in your buggy, bouncing from battle to battle. This is necessarily so: the game's successes elsewhere would have been for naught if it was a limp shooter. 

"We found that satire or parody was too limiting as a fundamental principle for creating a universe rich with possibilities" Marc Laidlaw

Half-Life 2's mechanics may feel out of place among the more weighty, embodied shooters of more recent times, but the actual pace of the game and structure of the firefights is still brilliantly conceived. Scripting describes many of these encounters, enemies popping up to harry you during your flight to Black Mesa East, but as the tables turn the player often finds himself engaging the enemy on his own terms. These are fascinating AI encounters: the Combine soldiers flank and probe your defences in ways that are credible yet defeatable. The tripodal Striders hunker down to peer under your cover and, in later episodes, acid-spitting antlions constantly shift their position around, just out of range – AI behaviour which is predictable enough to be countered by a little thought, but organic enough to never feel prescriptive or obvious, dangerous enough that each battle teeters on the limits of your control. 

Half-Life 2 manages a sense of ever-increasing empowerment by creating a constant see-saw between threat and your ability to overcome it: mounting the pulse cannon on to the airboat allows you to finally deal – violently, cathartically – with the chopper that has harassed you through City 17's canals; the gravity gun transforms the zombie menace into a grisly playground full of physics-enabled buzz saws and petrol canisters; the antlions go from being a lethal nuisance to your willing minions; and, of course, just when you think the game has stripped you of all your weaponry, it turns the gravity gun into a device of awesome power, able to rip the Combine consoles depicting Breen's face straight from the walls and toss them into a unit of soldiers. 

The dynamism of these battles has increased as the episodes have gone on, escalating through the frantic scraps with the dog-like Hunters to the climactic defence of White Forest at the end of Episode Two. But Valve has always been able to manipulate the width of the linear path the player takes. Along with the convincing world-building, it's that balance of moment-to-moment freedom with the urgent motivation to keep moving that prevents it from feeling as confined and claustrophobic as other corridor shooters. Momentum is driven either from behind, by pursuing forces, or by hanging eventual goals on the horizon – making your arrival there that much more significant.

The creation of Alyx

Valve's creatives are masters of understanding how drama can work in an interactive world, in a navigable 3D environment, from seeding narrative into the architecture to carefully guiding the player's eye towards details of significance. But Valve was also among the first developers to breathe life into the people who occupy the place. "We wanted to try our hand at adding real characters to the story, rather than caricatures," Laidlaw says. "Advances in animation, and the people we were luring in from the film industry, spurred us to try for a broader emotional range." Admittedly, Valve's approach to cutscenes has become more obtrusive as the drama it wishes to convey has grown more complex – players can opt out to a degree (Dr Kleiner's laboratory provides many distractions for those uninterested in the plight of Lamarr), but by and large you are confined while the dialogue plays out. Yet it's in your companionship with the characters outside these scenes that they grow on you the most – becoming active participants in the action. 

The technical advances have continued, but still only a small handful of video game buddies are as good company as Alyx; an even smaller number of female characters in games have been as appealing (and an even smaller number aren't Caucasian). Alyx is something of a video game Suffragette, to whose efforts the Elena Fishers of the world owe a debt. Certainly, there's a palpable frisson of love interest, but the highly capable, geeky Alyx is speaking to an entirely different audience – one for whom romantic aspirations have evolved beyond locating dad's Playboy stash. Was there ever any doubt at Valve about whether the audience was ready for a female role as something other than pixellated titillation?

"We never argued about Alyx," says Laidlaw. "In a lot of ways, the personality of the character in the game is just a refined version of our initial vision. Every discussion was about giving her more depth, more believability; we were all moving in the same direction from the start. Just as we wanted Gordon to be easily distinguishable from the typical video game heroes of the day, we wanted Alyx to stand apart from the video-babe clichés." 

"Every discussion was about giving her more depth, more believability; we were all moving in the same direction from the start" Marc Laidlaw

While Alyx and the supporting cast have aged well, going back to Half-Life 2 now, one of the few things that feels a little quaint is Freeman's inability to speak. Latter-day games, even shooters, either tend to impose vocalisations upon the protagonist or give the player some options for expression. But would Valve ever want Half-Life 2's hero to speak? "Gordon Freeman, whatever his strengths and weaknesses, is defined entirely by his design constraints," Laidlaw says. "Silence is the keystone of his character. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but fortunately there are plenty of games with talking protagonists. We don't have to turn Half-Life into one of those. 

That said, the 'strong, silent type' jokes are way past their expiration date. Even the very first and freshest one was slightly curdled." Newell seems more open to the idea. "We're not philosophically opposed to this," he says, "but we don't have good reasons to do it. Right now making your companions more interesting and compelling seems a more fruitful avenue to explore." But Newell's less enamoured by our suggestion that Gordon might one day get a greater sense of embodiment – to become more than a floating hand and crowbar: "We haven't had a reason to change that. Most of what I've seen to date has been gimmicky and is entertaining for just a minute or so." 

Despite such assurances to the contrary, we wonder if Valve's dogmatic insistence on producing episodes, rather than an outright sequel, has left it strapped to conventions that it would rather leave behind. But even if it resists any mechanical change for the upcoming Episode Three, the series will still stand as the high point of what the first-person shooter has achieved in terms of narrative and world-building, its aftershocks still rattling through any game that attempts to tell a story within a 3D space. But it's more than understanding how to use the medium: when we look back and smirk at how gaming's early days were bootstrapped by puerile fantasy and thoughtless violence, when the first-person shooter finally involves considerably more than just shooting, it will be Half-Life 2 to which everyone owes the debt.

This feature first appeared in  EDGE . For more excellent articles like the one you've just read, why not subscribe to the print or digital edition of EDGE Magazine at  MyFavouriteMagazines . 

Edge magazine was launched in 1993 with a mission to dig deep into the inner workings of the international videogame industry, quickly building a reputation for next-level analysis, features, interviews and reviews that holds fast nearly 30 years on. 

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• The Final Hours of Half-Life 2

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 is an article chronicling the development of Half-Life 2 . Written by Geoff Keighley who also authored The Final Hours of Half-Life (2000) and The Final Hours of Portal 2 (2011), it was published on November 12, 2004 on Gamespot. It provides exclusive information about the game's development, and is illustrated with photos of the development team, early screenshots, and concept art.

• 1.1.1 Club Zero
• 1.1.2 Gallery
• 1.2.1 A Bittersweet Goodbye
• 1.2.2 Wild Experimentation
• 1.2.3 The Hemoglobin
• 1.2.4 Zombie Basketball
• 1.2.5 Gallery
• 1.3.1 Oh My God
• 1.3.2 Try, Try Again
• 1.3.3 The Devil Is in the Details
• 1.3.4 The Cabals Move In
• 1.3.5 Gallery
• 1.4.1 The Sweater Falls Apart
• 1.4.2 Broken Promises
• 1.4.3 Gabe Comes Clean
• 1.4.4 On Top of the Rock
• 1.4.5 Gallery
• 1.5.1 Picking up the Pieces
• 1.5.2 Gallery
• 1.6.1 I'm Getting My Crowbar
• 1.6.2 Oh My God (Reprise)
• 1.6.3 The Home Stretch
• 1.6.4 Gallery
• 1.7.1 The Whack Heard Round the World
• 1.7.2 Gallery
• 2 External links

Contents [ edit ]

Images featured in the gallery sections are either taken directly from the article or replaced by higher-quality versions. Some of them appear only in the older versions of the article, viewable by using the Wayback Machine .

Part I: Shock and Awe [ edit ]

The first, introductory chapter begins with Geoff Keighley describing the day of March 21, 2003, when the decision was made by Gabe Newell to announce the release date of Half-Life 2 — September 30 of the same year — along with its upcoming public debut at E3 2003, declaring that the game would soon enter the final phase of development. The author of the article compares the challenges awaiting Valve that would have to be overcome before Half-Life 2' s release to the war in Iraq, which had begun on the same day.

Club Zero [ edit ]

Set 18 months later, on September 30, 2004, when Valve was preparing for the imminent release of Half-Life 2 ; with a scanner piñata having been hung in the morning, the development team gathered for one of the last status update meetings, in which members of the Club Zero, i.e. programmers whose levels are devoid of bugs, were to be reviewed. Keighley summarizes the struggles of the 84-person team over the five years of development, mentioning the pressure caused by Half-Life ' s success, and the disputes with Vivendi Universal Games, Half-Life 2 ' s publisher.

Gallery [ edit ]

Gabe Newell, Valve's founder and managing director.

Half-Life 2 is the sequel to Half-Life, which won more than 50 game of the year awards.

The scanner piñata hangs in the lobby of Valve Software's office building.

The Valve team prepares for the daily status update meeting.

Valve's David Speyrer (incorrectly referred to as David Sawyer in the article) checks the clock before heading to the 4 o'clock meeting.

Valve's Jess Cliffe envisions what it will be like to whack the scanner piñata.

Valve designers David Sawyer and programmer Josh Weier put the finishing touches on a level.

Part II: What's It Going to Take? [ edit ]

Starts off by chronicling the first few months of Half-Life 2 ' s development, which began in June 1999. It was decided by Valve that the game would not be a simple sequel, innovating the whole genre instead. With loads of money at their disposal, no outside pressure, and a sheer goal of creating a new, original experience, the team began by brainstorming and experimenting with various ideas. It was soon decided that Half-Life 2 would focus on an interactive environment, while expanding on the world and the characters. In order to reach their goal, Valve had to create a new engine.

A Bittersweet Goodbye [ edit ]

Depicts Mike Harrington 's departure from Valve.

Wild Experimentation [ edit ]

Summarizes the team's attempts at creating a realistic environment: Ken Birdwell 's goal of implementing believable animations for human characters, and Jay Stelly 's work on interaction-based physics system.

The Hemoglobin [ edit ]

Concerns Marc Laidlaw and efforts made by the team to continue the story of Half-Life and the way it was told, while setting the sequel in a different location.

Zombie Basketball [ edit ]

Fast-forward to mid-2001, describing the applications of the new physics engine discovered by the development team, the origins of the first test level for Half-Life 2 , and the beginning of the proof-of-concept reel creation process, during which Valve would build different levels showcasing various aspects of the game working together.

The original Half-Life, released in 1998.

Alyx Vance, one of the in-game characters created for Half-Life 2.

Physics-based gameplay, like using a radiator as a shield, was a design goal for the team.

Valve cofounder Mike Harrington.

Mike and Monica Harrington in front of their boat.

Valve's Ken Birdwell worked on new in-game character technology.

Birdwell's technology allows characters to express a wide range of emotions.

Ken Perlin's 'Face Demo' formed the basis for Valve's character technology.

Trespasser was an example of physics-based gameplay gone bad.

Valve writer Marc Laidlaw.

Gordon Freeman, the star of Half-Life 2.

Viktor Antonov, Valve’s art director.

Metal Gear Half-Life? This concept sketch for the original opening of Half-Life 2 shows a level reminiscent of the tanker sequence from Metal Gear Solid 2.

Marc Laidlaw wanted family relationships to play an important role in Half-Life 2.

An exclusive look at some of the physics traps considered for the Ravenholm section of City 17.

Outdoor combat sequences were brought to life with physics-based gameplay.

EXCLUSIVE: A never-before seen image from “Get Your Free TVs!” the first test level for Half-Life 2 created in 2001.

Part III: The E3 That Never Was [ edit ]

Begins by summarizing the team's work on the level reel in the first quarter of 2002, Newell's decision to distance himself from the development process of Half-Life 2 for a few months, and his work on Steam, as well as the presentation of said reel to Newell.

Oh My God [ edit ]

Describes Newell's reaction to the levels, his decision that Half-Life 2 would not appear at E2 2002, and the disappointment of the development team.

Try, Try Again [ edit ]

Depicts how Valve accepted the initial failure, and began working on the reel again during the summer of 2002, admitting the fact that the fans would have been disappointed if the existing levels had been shown to them. Keighley points out the similarities between the development of Half-Life and its sequel, noting that in the fall of 1997, the team was also made to scrap most of their work.

The Devil Is in the Details [ edit ]

Summarizes the improvements made to the reel.

The Cabals Move In [ edit ]

Describes the cabal system implemented during the development of Half-Life 2 (and its prequel), the level-creating process, the difficulties caused by the fact that the Source engine was being worked on alongside the game, and Newell's decision to ship Half-Life 2 on September 30, 2003.

In 2002, Gabe Newell let the rest of the team take the lead on Half-Life 2's development.

The first concept reel for the game featured the icebreaker Borealis.

The sequence in Kleiner's lab was too long and boring.

Striders were added to the proof of concept reel at the last minute.

During the summer of 2002 the team worked long hours to redo the proof of concept reel.

This antlion attack sequence was added to the September proof of concept.

Valve’s Jay Stelly was initially worried whether the September proof of concept would pass muster.

A strider attacks the City 17 sky bridge in the finished September 2002 proof of concept.

John Guthrie at work in his cabal.

Before designing levels the cabals worked on pencil drawings for level layout like these sequences for Ravenholm.

Potential story spoiler or just a concept thrown around during the development process? You be the judge.

Integrating vehicles into gameplay proved a challenge.

Orange maps were created for all the levels before the artists added textures.

Part IV: The Potemkin Village? [ edit ]

Starts off by depicting the E3 2003 presentation and the growing skepticism in the community regarding the September 30 release date.

The Sweater Falls Apart [ edit ]

Describes Valve's realization that the Half-Life 2 premiere would be delayed, noting the fact that no announcements were made to the public up until almost the very moment of the game's planned release.

Broken Promises [ edit ]

Depicts the lack of communication between Valve and the community during the summer of 2003, the eventual confirmation by Gabe on September 23 that the game would not be released in a week, and the disappointment of the fans.

Gabe Comes Clean [ edit ]

Includes Newell's explanation for the way Valve handled the Half-Life 2 release fiasco.

On Top of the Rock [ edit ]

Describes the day of September 30, 2003, when Newell had to attend a party on Alcatraz Island, rented out by ATI to celebrate the would-be release of Half-Life 2 .

The G-Man opened the E3 2003 demo of Half-Life 2.

The outside of the Half-Life 2 theater at E3 2003.

Competitors claimed that Valve’s City 17 was actually an elaborate façade.

FacePoser, the tool used to create the animated sequences, still wasn’t working well in the summer of 2003.

In the summer of 2003 the fans didn’t know if Half-Life 2 was really coming on September 30 or not.

Some devoted fans of Half-Life 2 created the game's logo out of soda cans.

The release date was so uncertain that one fan created a game of 'Half-Life 2 Release Date Twister'.

Gabe Newell finally comes out of hiding to discuss the missed release dates on the project.

The Half-Life 2 launch party was supposed to happen on Alcatraz Island.

Newell didn’t show any new Half-Life 2 gameplay on Alcatraz. But he did show this benchmark demo.

Part V: An Unthinkable Crime [ edit ]

Begins by detailing the day Gabe Newell discovered a security breach in Valve's servers, the subsequent release of the Half-Life 2 source code to the Internet by the hacker in early October 2003, the community reaction to the apparently unfinished state of the game, and the team's concerns about the future of the company.

Picking up the Pieces [ edit ]

Depicts the severe drop of morale in Valve, and Newell's attempts at keeping the development team focused on finishing the game.

After hearing of the Source code theft, fans made a poster parody of ' Pirates of the Carribean ' .

Osama Bin Leaker said the E3 demo of Half-Life 2, including this attack by a Hydra, was fake.

The team at Valve sits and discusses the code theft.

By the end of 2003 Half-Life 2 was finally starting to come together.

Part VI: Hello, Gabe [ edit ]

Starts off by outlining the progress made by the team in early 2004, and the improvement of relations between Valve and the community.

I'm Getting My Crowbar [ edit ]

Describes the day Newell established e-mail contact with the hacker, Valve's plans of bringing him to justice, and the eventual arrest.

Oh My God (Reprise) [ edit ]

Outlines how it became possible for the first time to play Half-Life 2 from the beginning to the end in March 2004, and the team's reaction to the progress made in the development of the game.

The Home Stretch [ edit ]

Depicts the atmosphere prevailing in Valve in late July, when Half-Life 2 was entering the final stages of development, and somewhat details the VU Games lawsuits.

By early 2004 tools like Hammer , the game’s editor, were getting easier to use.

An animator works on a sequence starring Alyx Vance.

The crowbar in Valve’s lobby. Newell almost wanted to use it against the hacker.

A sequence inside the engine room of the Borealis was cut from the game.

The game’s opening sequence now takes place inside a train station.

John Guthrie walks into the office in July 2004.

The 'Wall of Hearts' helps the team keep track of bug testing for the Coast section of the game.

Part VII: The Scanner Gets It [ edit ]

Begins by discussing the day of September 30, 2004, the imminent release of Half-Life 2 , and the future projects related to the game.

The Whack Heard Round the World [ edit ]

Describes the day of October 14, 2004, when the development process of Half-Life 2 officially ended, the celebrations involving whacking a scanner piñata, and the atmosphere of accomplishment prevailing in Valve, overshadowing all of the team's previous concerns.

One of the cabals loads up a near finished version of Half-Life 2.

John Guthrie and his cabal work on testing a release candidate.

The scanner piñata awaits its fate in Valve’s lobby.

A design cabal at Valve discuss one of the last remaining bugs.

A photo from a cell phone captures the moment of impact.

Newell surveys the damage from his first whack at the piñata.

The aftermath of Gabe’s piñata smashing.

Laidlaw takes his own whack at what’s left of the scanner.

External links [ edit ]

• The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 on Gamespot
• Safe articles
• Half-Life 2
• Development articles
• The Final Hours

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Half-Life 2

Half-life: alyx.

The Seven Hour War is lost. Earth has surrendered. The Black Mesa incident is a distant memory.

Reawakened from stasis in the occupied metropolis of City 17, Gordon Freeman is joined by Alyx Vance as he leads a desperate human resistance movement striking out against the Combine.

View Game on Steam

"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

Half-Life 2 features a thrilling campaign packed with unprecedented levels of immersive world-building, boundary-pushing physics, and exhilarating combat. Experience the landmark first-person shooter that “forged the framework for the next generation of games” (PC Gamer).

What's particularly impressive about the game running so well is that it does so without compromising any part of gameplay or design. Environments are complex, colorful, and highly detailed; AI is certainly impressive .

This is the game you have to buy. Do not finish reading this review, just run out and get it right now. This dystopia is beautifully realized… With expressive eyes and emotive faces, these people look far more real than those in any other game.

—The New York Times

The first time you see ribbed glass blurring the ominous shape of a soldier on the other side, or any time that you happen to be moving through water, you will see next-generation visuals implemented in a casual, capable manner .

Game of the Year

Best Shooter

PC Reader's Choice

–GDC Awards

–edge magazine.

Readers' Game of the Decade

–The Guardian

Game of the Decade

–Spike Video Game Awards

View on Steam