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 {{ref|reviews}}, following a protracted five-year development cycle during which the game's source code was leaked to the internet. The game utilizes 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 computer animation, computer graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) and physics. Since its release, the game has sold about 3 million copies so far {{ref|sales}}.

Gameplay

Half-Life 2s gameplay is broadly similar to that of the original. Players make their way through a linear series of levels, encountering both human troops and hostile alien wildlife. As in Half-Life, the gameplay is broken up with a series of puzzles; however this time the addition of physics-based puzzles are included. For example, one puzzle requires the player to turn a seesaw into a ramp by placing weights at one end.

Related Topics:
Wildlife - Seesaw

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The use of physics extends into the combat, where players are given a gravity gun. The gravity gun plays a crucial role throughout the game and allows players to pick up and throw objects at enemies, hold objects indefinitely for use as makeshift shields, it can be used to grab health and ammunition from out of reach places, return enemies' grenades or manipulate objects through Combine forcefield generators.

Related Topics:
Grenades - Combine forcefield generators

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Vehicles are another major gameplay addition. The player has the ability to drive two vehicles during the single player campaign; an air boat, which Gordon uses to navigate through the canal network, and a dune buggy which Gordon uses to get to Nova Prospekt. The air boat is initially unarmed, but is later mounted with a Combine machine gun from a downed Hunter-Chopper. The buggy is armed with a gauss gun similar to the one found in the original Half-Life.

Related Topics:
Vehicles - Air boat - Dune buggy - Hunter-Chopper - Gauss gun

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Characters and creatures

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 later Antlions, a species new to Half-Life 2 that are fiercely territorial and deadly insects that act as both friend and foe during the game. At several key locations, Gordon also meets up with, and fights alongside, more significant non-player characters like Alyx Vance, Barney Calhoun and Alyx's robot, Dog.

Related Topics:
Vortigaunt - Antlions - Non-player characters - Alyx Vance - Barney Calhoun - Dog

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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. Combine forces are varied and consist of modified humans, biomechanical machines, and robot weapons. There are also large, biomechanical, three legged tanks, similar to the classic Tripods found in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, but referred to by members of the human resistance as Striders which the Combine uses to help suppress the resistance forces and patrol City 17.

Related Topics:
Headcrab - Barnacles - Combine - Modified humans - Biomechanical machines - Robot weapons - Tripods - H. G. Wells - The War of the Worlds

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Weapons

Many of the weapons featured in Half-Life 2 are carried over from Half-Life, including the crowbar, SPAS-12 shotgun, .357 Magnum revolver, crossbow, and Rocket propelled grenade launcher. Several new ones are also introduced: the Combine pulse rifle, pheropods, and most significantly, the "Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator" (or gravity gun).

Related Topics:
Crowbar - SPAS-12 - Shotgun - .357 Magnum - Revolver - Crossbow - Rocket propelled grenade - Gravity gun

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Multiplayer

Half-Life 2 was released without a multiplayer component of the game and was instead packaged with '. This later changed on November 30, 2004 when Valve released the Half-Life 2: Deathmatch component (HL2DM) along with the full SDK as a free download to all Half-Life 2 owners.

Related Topics:
November 30 - 2004 - Deathmatch - SDK

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Like other deathmatch games, the aim is to kill as many other players as possible, using a variety of means, in either free-for-all or team matches. The player spawns with a gravity gun, a pistol, a sub-machine gun, and grenades. All weapons included in the single player portion of Half-Life 2, with the exception of the pheropod/bugbait, are available and scattered randomly around the maps. Players can be killed in a number of ways, including gunfire, explosions, or through contact with physics objects traveling at high speeds.

Related Topics:
Spawns - Gravity gun - Pistol - Sub-machine gun - Grenades - Pheropod/bugbait

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HL2DM's February 17th update is of particular note as it introducd a new map dm_steamlab and three new weapons that had been missing from the game previously, or cut before it shipped. The crowbar and the stunstick depending on the player model (Rebel or Combine); and the SLAM, or Selectable Lightweight Attack Munition, a real-world weapon which can either be thrown and detonated or planted on walls to produce a 'tripwire' laser which detonates the device when touched.

Related Topics:
February 17 - Crowbar - Stunstick - SLAM - Tripwire

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