Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life, developed by Valve Software. It was released on November 16, 2004 to very positive reviews [1], following a protracted five-year development cycle during which the game's source code was leaked to the internet. The title featured the advanced Source game engine, coupled with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine, and was critically acclaimed for ground-breaking improvements in animation, graphics, A.I and physics. In the two months following its release, it sold over 1.7 million copies at retail, but sales over Valve's Steam content delivery system were not disclosed. [2]
The game was simultaneously released through Steam, CD-ROM (most initial US "bare-bones" retail copies), and on DVD-ROM in several editions. The basic version ("Bronze") only includes Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source, whereas the Silver and Gold ("collector's edition") versions also include Half-Life: Source (a port of the original Half-Life 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, and a strategy guide. Both the disc and Steam version require Steam to be installed and active for play, and new content is being released through Steam. An Xbox version is scheduled for an October 2005 release, published by EA Games. EA will also publish the "Game of the Year" edition of Half-Life 2.
A single-disc demo version was later made available in December at the web site of graphics card manufacturer ATI, who teamed up with Valve for the game.
Singleplayer
Half-Life backstory
The original Half-Life largely took place at a remote underground laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility. In the course of conducting an experiment, researchers at Black Mesa accidentally cause a "resonance cascade", opening a doorway to an alien world (Xen) and releasing a flood of strange and deadly creatures. The player takes the role of Gordon Freeman, one of the research scientists, guiding him in his attempt to escape the facility. Half-Life 2 picks up the story an indeterminate number of years after the Black Mesa incident in 'City 17', which seems to be located somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Plot
Template:Spoiler At the start of the game, the mysterious G-Man speaks to Gordon Freeman. Freeman then finds himself riding a train into City 17, unarmed and without his HEV suit. Details begin to slowly emerge: City 17 is under the rule of a totalitarian Administrator named Dr. Breen, the former administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Breen is merely a puppet ruler, however, carrying out the will of the aliens known as the Combine. It seems that the massive energy discharge caused by the "resonance cascade" was enough to attract the attention of the Combine. Soon after, they mounted a brutal assault on humanity in which the forces of Earth were completely overwhelmed in just seven hours (which is, appropriately enough, referred to as the Seven Hours War). The Combine now has near-absolute control of the entire planet, with only a few pockets of human resistance remaining. Dr. Breen enforces his rule (and, by extension, the Combine's rule) through armies of intimidating "Civil Protection" units (also called "Metropolice" or "Metrocops") and Combine soldiers (referred to as the Overwatch).
Chapters
The gameplay, like the first Half-Life, is divided into titled chapters:
- Point Insertion - Gordon arrives weaponless and with no HEV suit, meeting up with old friend Barney Calhoun from Black Mesa. Barney has infiltrated Civil Protection, for the resistance.
- A Red Letter Day - Gordon meets Alyx Vance (daughter of Dr. Eli Vance). Alyx takes him to Dr. Isaac Kleiner, Gordon's MIT mentor and Black Mesa colleague. Here Gordon is once again equipped with his trusty HEV suit. Dr. Kleiner attempts to teleport Gordon to Eli's laboratory, Black Mesa East, at the city's outskirts, but Dr. Kleiner's pet headcrab "Lamarr" wrecks the machine. Gordon must find another way to reach the lab.
- Route Kanal - While navigating the city's canals, Gordon finds resistance bases populated by both humans and Vortigaunts, who are now allies. After being helped through an underground railroad system, Gordon is provided an air boat, allowing him greater expediency.
- Water Hazard - The air boat is spotted by the Combine and pursued by a hunter-killer assault helicopter. At another resistance base, a Vortigaunt affixes a weapon to the craft capable of downing the helicopter.
- Black Mesa East - Gordon arrives at the lab and meets Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx gives him the weapon called the Gravity Gun and instructs on its use. Suddenly the lab is attacked by the Combine, forcing Gordon to escape along an old tunnel leading to Ravenholm.
- "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..." - Gordon quickly discovers why Ravenholm was abandoned: the town has been overrun with headcrabs and "zombies". Father Grigori, a slightly-insane priest and likely the last human resident of Ravenholm, helps him survive the deadly town and escorts him to an abandoned mine which eventually leads to the dockyards outside City 17.
- Highway 17 - Gordon finds another resistance base under assault by Combine troops. Alyx tells him that Eli has been captured and is being held in Nova Prospekt, an old maximum-security prison. Gordon travels the coast road in a dune buggy towards Nova Prospekt. The journey is made more difficult by the fact that it's spawning season for the insect-like antlions, which swarm the area.
- Sandtraps - Gordon arrives at the Lighthouse Point resistance base and must continue the journey to Nova Prospekt on foot. Antlions lie hidden underground, emerging to attack at the slightest vibration. Gordon must move across rocks and avoid the loose sand that alerts them. After narrowly defeating an enormous "Antlion Guard", Gordon is given bugbait: a gland filled with pheromones that pacifies the smaller Antlions.
- Nova Prospekt - Finally reaching the old prison, Gordon searches within for clues to Dr. Vance's whereabouts. The antlions' assistance helps to even the overwhelming odds against him.
- Entanglement - Gordon joins forces with Alyx again, and together they find both Eli and Dr. Judith Mossman, who is apparently a Combine agent. While distracted by a Combine assault, Mossman teleports herself and Eli into the Citadel, the Combine's base of operations. Gordon and Alyx barely manage to teleport themselves to Dr. Kleiner's lab before the teleporter explodes.
- Anticitizen One - A strange malfunction in the equipment has caused them to arrive at Dr. Kleiner's lab a week after they teleported. Meanwhile, Gordon's struggles against the Combine have brought new life to the resistance, plunging City 17 into chaos. Resistance fighters led by Gordon travel towards the Citadel to free Dr. Vance while Alyx helps Dr. Kleiner escape the lab.
- "Follow Freeman!" - After rescuing Barney, who has been pinned down by snipers, Gordon shuts down a suppressor field blocking access to the Citadel. A pack of incredibly powerful Combine war-machines, the Striders, attack until they are finally destroyed by RPG fire.
- Our Benefactors - Gordon enters the Citadel through an underground passage. Faced with a dead end, he is forced to enter a rail-driven containment apparatus. After a long trip through the Citadel, all his weapons are destroyed by a Dark Energy-powered "confiscation field". However, the Gravity Gun survives (probably due to its zero-point nature) and is made incredibly powerful. It can now manipulate organic matter, instantly killing Combine forces, and its lift strength is greatly increased. Armed with only the new Gravity Gun, Gordon wreaks havoc upon the Citadel until he is again faced with a dead end. Once more, the only way to progress is to voluntarily enter a containment apparatus.
- Dark Energy - The device brings him face-to-face with Dr. Breen, who takes the Gravity Gun while Gordon is immobilized. Dr. Judith Mossman is with Breen, and he summons Eli and Alyx, who are being held in similar devices. As Breen threatens Gordon, Judith finally turns against him: she had only "betrayed" the resistance to get an opportunity to infiltrate Breen's inner circle. He manages to escape and flees towards a huge teleporter that will take him to the Combine's world. Freed, Gordon and Alyx pursue him and destroy the teleporter, triggering a massive explosion.
Notes on the narrative
Two distinctive elements from the original Half-Life are preserved: Freeman never speaks, and the entire game is viewed through his eyes. Some players have complained about these holdovers, since they effectively limit how much of the backstory is explained. The lack of cutscenes mean that the player never sees what happens or has happened in Gordon's absence. Additionally, it would seem natural for Freeman to have a great deal of curiosity as to what has happened since the Black Mesa incident. Although these are certainly intentional devices on the part of Valve Software, some feel that it is very frustrating to only learn the story in small bits and pieces throughout the game. It could be said in Half-Life that the player's bewilderment is meant to mirror Gordon's during the chaotic events following the resonance cascade and alien invasion. By the opening of Half-Life 2, however, Gordon has proven that he can survive in a strange and hostile environment, and should therefore be at least somewhat more level-headed and inquisitive.
In any case, it's not clear to what extent Gordon exists as a separate character outside of the player's influence. Since the start of Half-Life, Valve have made sure that the player's and Gordon's experience are one and the same. Gordon may be nothing more than an empty vessel for someone else (i.e the player) to inhabit. Many of the Vortigaunts' enigmatic comments seem to indicate this, the most prominent being: "Far distant eyes look out through yours".
Adding to the sense of confusion is the fact that while most of Gordon's former coworkers from Black Mesa have visibly aged in the interim, Gordon has (presumably) not; however, only a few passing references are ever made regarding this. (The game never specifies how many years have passed between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, but it has been said by Valve to be close to 15 years). Fans have speculated that Gordon has been kept in stasis during his absence, and this is reinforced by the presence of a strange "interdimensional tram ride" that Gordon finds himself on at the end of both Half-Life games. Another cited explanation is that Gordon has been transferred using a "slow teleport", similar to the one discovered by the player at the end of the Nova Prospekt chapter.
The ending of Half-Life 2 is also very similar to that of the original: after completing a difficult task against overwhelming odds, Gordon is "extracted" by the G-Man, wielding incredible but unexplained powers. The player is smugly congratulated and told that further assignments should follow. The fate of many of the major characters, such as Alyx, Eli, and Judith, is unexplained. Very few, if any, of the questions raised by Half-Life are answered, and several new ones are presented. Some players have also complained that they expected more insight into the identity and nature of the G-Man. (These complaints, of course, only prove that the game's designers have successfully garnered interest in the series' continuation, whether through further sequels, or expansion packs such as the announced Half-Life 2: Aftermath.)
Setting
The general theme and setting of Half-Life 2 incorporates many distinctly Orwellian elements, along with at least several more concepts borrowed from other canonical works of dystopic or post-apocalyptic fiction. In what is now seen as characteristic style, these in-game details are left to the player to discover and consider, as opposed to being deliberately and overtly projected. These include:
- The use of Dr. Breen as a Big Brother-style figurehead for the Combine; in particular his frequent appearance on video-screens and posters across City 17
- The vast and intrusive Overwatch surveillance system plays a similar role to the ubiquitous telescreens in 1984
- Widely-distributed Combine propaganda, such as the "evolution" posters (ape to human to Combine) seen throughout Half-Life 2
- Citizens are forced to dress similarly and live in deprived conditions, all the while wary of a brutal police force
- A rigid social hierarchy, protected and facilitated by a set of rules demanding conformity and obedience, where interactions between humans, trans-humans, the Combine and Xen life-forms are strictly regulated, similar to the separation of Party workers and proles in 1984
- Loyalty to the Combine is encouraged by repeatedly stressing the hostile nature of the world outside City 17 ("it's safer here"), analogous to the demonisation of Eastasia and Eurasia by Oceania in 1984
- City and national identities have been stripped away: apart from the vaguely Eastern European feel, it is not clear where Half-Life 2 is set. Likewise, the city is known only as "City 17" - similar to the renaming of the United Kingdom as "Airstrip One" in 1984.
The actual environments in Half-Life 2 are varied, ranging from the Eastern European-styled City 17 and surrounding areas, to the massive Combine citadel. There is a general Eastern European "feel" present throughout the human-populated areas. It has been speculated that City 17 is based on Sofia, Bulgaria, the hometown of Half-Life 2's art director, Viktor Antonov. This is based on both City 17's general resemblance to Sofia, and the frequent appearance of Bulgarian words (written in Cyrillic characters) on signs and graffiti throughout the game (although some of them are words in other Slavic languages as well). One example is "цимент" ("cement") written across the top of a large building in Ravenholm; the only language that writes this particular word with the Cyrillic alphabet is Bulgarian. Many old cars scattered throughout the game are similar to ones commonly found in Eastern Europe, such as Moskvitch or Volga. Father Grigory has a name common to Eastern European countries and his accent is stereotypically Eastern European. Some believe that City 17 is actually a reference to the Soviet practice of naming secret closed cities with numbers.
Gameplay
Enemies
Many familiar enemies from Half-Life return in this game, such as the Headcrab, Barnacles, and Headcrab zombies, but the majority of the game is spent fighting the Combine, who wield large military forces against Gordon and the people of City 17. Also new to Half-Life 2 are Antlions, who act as both friend and foe during the game. There are also Striders which the Combine use to help suppress the resistance forces and patrol City 17.
Allies
Although Gordon battles through much of Half-Life 2 alone, like Half-Life he is assisted in several places by friendly allies. For the most part these are human members of the Resistance, but Gordon is also helped by vortigaunts and (as noted above) Antlions. At several key locations, Gordon also meets up with, and fights alongside, more significant NPCs like Alyx Vance, Barney Calhoun and Alyx's robot, Dog.
Weapons
Many of the weapons featured in Half-Life 2 were carried over from Half-Life, which include the crowbar, shotgun, .357 Magnum revolver, and rocket launcher, although new ones are introduced, such as the Combine's Pulse Rifle, resistance built crossbow, and pheropods. The main weapon used is the Gravity Gun, which can pick up and throw objects and also hurt small enemies from its blast.
Multiplayer
When Half-Life 2 was released, its only multiplayer component was Counter-Strike: Source. On November 30, 2004, Valve released the Half-Life 2 Deathmatch component (HL2DM) along with the full SDK as a free download to all Half-Life 2 owners.
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch currently has seven "official" maps, some of which are based on areas from the single-player game: "dm_overwatch", "dm_lockdown", "dm_steamlab", "dm_underpass", "dm_powerhouse", "dm_resistance" and "dm_runoff". "Dm_overwatch" is based on the single-player chapter "Follow Freeman!", while "dm_lockdown" is based on the Nova Prospekt chapter. "Dm_steamlab" is an original map loosely based on the Half-Life Deathmatch (HLDM) map "datacore", while "dm_runoff" was inspired by the popular HLDM map "dm_crossfire". Valve also ran a mapmaking contest within the community, announcing the winners in placement order as "dm_underpass", "dm_resistance", "dm_powerhouse" and "dm_avalon" as a honorable mention.
The map "dm_steamlab" was released on 17 February 2005, along with three new weapons: the Crowbar, the Stunstick and the S.L.A.M. The S.L.A.M. is a mine-like device, functioning in the same way as a proximity mine. It can be attached to walls, where it emits a laser beam which when broken will detonate the mine. S.L.A.M. mines can also be thrown and detonated at will by the player using the secondary fire. Both the Stunstick and Crowbar behave as they did in the single-player version of the game.
The goal of Deathmatch is for the player to kill as many other players as possible, using a variety of means. The player spawns with a gravity gun, pistol, sub-machine gun and grenades. All weapons aside from the pheropods (also known as bugbait) are available to be collected around the maps. Players can be killed by gunfire, explosions, or through contact with physics objects traveling at high speeds.
Some players have expressed disappointment in HL2DM, specifically concerning the gravity gun. The seven official maps for HL2DM are filled with objects which can be carried by the gravity gun, leading to their near-exclusive use. This is compounded by the damage these items can deal on contact with players, which is arguably far greater than any other conventional weapon. Instead of being deathmatch, some players argue, HL2DM is an exercise in "lifting and chucking." The counter to the incredible power of the Gravity Gun is the relatively slow speed of its projectiles; indeed, the argument is not dissimilar to abuse hurled at players who camp with sniper rifles or RPG's. It is common for a player to immediately blame some factor beyond his or her control for a defeat.
Building barricades is another deathmatch strategy that has proved controversial. By using the Gravity Gun to place large amounts of objects in chokepoints (such as stairs or tunnels) leading to strategically important locations, the player defending the barricade is given a huge advantage over his opponents. Dealing with the barricades themselves is simple enough, but the distraction they provide is enough to render a player highly vulnerable against opponents. For example, the most popular camping spot in "dm_overwatch" is near the actual overwatch, a Combine lookout post. This spot is easy to defend since players can block the only way leading to the overwatch with objects. This results in a stalemate in the favor of the camper, who can indefinitely "camp" the overwatch using a RPG that is conveniently placed nearby.
Cuts
Making-of book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar revealed many of the game's original settings and action that was cut down or removed entirely from the final game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a far darker game where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gasses. This quote from the book, from an early draft of the introductory sequence, gives a feel for what the game would have been like:
"Off to one side, you see another train hurtling through the dusk. It gives you some sense of the train you are riding. The nose of the engine car is protected by a huge deadly variant on a cow-catcher, a sharpened steel plough designed to shear through herds of whatever creatures might stray across the tracks or try to take the train head-on. Something that resembles the old Gargantua looms up from a fissure, lunging at the parallel train, and the engine slices right through the thing, leaving it in gory pieces on the track."
In addition, the coming about of Nova Prospekt is described: originally a small Combine rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland (the depot model remains in the game, visible from the beach and trash compactor) it grew and grew from a stopping-off point along the way to the destination itself.
Promotional shots and gameplay videos released before the game became available showed parts of these scenes, and also showed enemies which do not appear anywhere in the final game, such as a hydra-like enemy. The hydra was apparently cut because its AI proved troublesome: it looked great when attacking NPCs, but was boring and frustrating to fight yourself.
It remains unknown if the cut Half-Life 2 scenes will eventually be completed and released, or if they are lost forever. A removed section of the original Half-Life was eventually released as the Half-Life: Uplink demo; it is possible or even likely that removed sections of the sequel will be seen in additional episodes such as Half-Life 2: Aftermath.
Game engine
For Half-Life 2 Valve developed a new game engine called Source, which handles the game's visual, audio, and AI elements.
Additionally, when coupled with Steam, the engine can be easily upgraded to include many new graphical technologies. One such example is high dynamic range imaging, and Valve plans to release a free outdoor level based on Highway 17 featuring this technology, known as "Lost Coast". Perhaps in the future, other new graphical technologies will be released through Steam, either to increase performance, or visual quality.
Steam content delivery system
Integral to Half-Life 2 is the Steam content delivery system developed by Valve Software. This allows customers to purchase games (or any other software) straight from the developer and have it downloaded directly to their computer. This system also allows "micro updates" to games - games are continually updated and only the most recent version is allowed to be run. This makes it much harder to hack the game to introduce cheats or to play online with a free unauthorized copy. All users playing the single player game must also have an account on the Steam servers to do so. Steam can also be used for finding and playing multiplayer games and features an integrated server browser and friends list.
Users have had numerous problems with Steam, to the extent that the content delivery and multiplayer system is a well-marked part of the game, and is in some cases enough to prevent a reviewer from recommending the game. In other cases review scores have been lowered. Long download times and unnecessary updates and verification checks are criticisms leveled by critics of the system.
A 1 GB 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 was released in the shops, 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.
Controversies and criticisms
Half-Life 2 has been the subject of many problems and controversies both during and after development. See Half-Life 2 controversies and criticisms for a full list.
Mods and expansions
There are several mods developed by Half-Life 2 mod teams. These include partial conversions which allow players to manipulate the physics engine (Garry's Mod) or control Striders; mods which expand the story from different points of view; total conversions which introduce completely new settings; and multi-player mods. Several mods are listed in the article Half-Life 2 mods.
The Lost Coast
The Lost Coast is a showcase for the HDR technology which was added to the Source engine after the release of Half-Life 2. Also known as the ATI levels, this micro-expansion features a cut sequence fitting roughly in with the Highway 17 and Sandtraps chapters from Half-Life 2.
Half-Life 2: Aftermath
Half-Life 2: Aftermath is the first official expansion pack for Half-Life 2. It continues Gordon Freeman's story, and takes place shortly after the events of Half-Life 2.
See also
References
- "Half-Life 2 reviews for the PC". GameTab. June 5.
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External links
Official
Fansites/Communities
- Halflife2.Net - Largest Half-Life 2 Community
- HLFallout - A popular Half-Life 2 fansite.
- HL2 Central - One of the oldest Half-Life 2 fansites.
- HLForums.com - A popular Half Life related community along with Half Life related news.
Development Communities
- sourceWiki - For Half-Life 2 mod developers
- Half-Life 2 Wiki. A complete knowledge base and tutorial dump for Half-Life 2.
- Valve Developer Community - A wiki made by Valve to aid in the editing of Half-Life 2
Resources for Related Information
- interlopers.net A site that collects on tutorials for Hammer mapping as well as Texturing and other Source SDK related content.
- PC Gamer Blog - Half-Life 2 reviews.
- 17's Buddies - More than 10000 maps to download for HL, HL² and Mods.
Individual Articles
- Half-Life Saga Story Guide - A speculative timeline of the Half Life games' plot as a whole.
- The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 - Gamespot's pre-release story
- Pidgeon's guide - A guide for fun console commands that can be used in Half-Life 2.
- MobyGames' entry on Half Life 2
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