{"id":2486,"date":"2013-03-08T16:26:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T16:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2013-03-08T16:26:58","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T16:26:58","slug":"my-top-100-11-half-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2486","title":{"rendered":"My Top 100: #11 – Half-Life 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2004<\/a>

2004 – Valve (PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Gordon Freeman can’t catch a break, can he?<\/p>\n

He miraculously repels an alien invasion by himself in the first game, and all he gets\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0lousy\u00a0“re-assignment”\u00a0after 20 years in stasis.\u00a0\u00a0He comes back to life in time for the events in the second game, in a world where humans are now friends with the same aliens he just did away with??\u00a0 What??<\/p>\n

All he wanted to do was show up for work, theorize the hell out of some physics, then go home.\u00a0\u00a0Bailing\u00a0the world out twice was not\u00a0a part of\u00a0his itinerary!<\/p>\n

Half-Life 2<\/em> isn’t all that different than the first one in terms of gameplay.\u00a0\u00a0You still start with next to nothing in your inventory, solve physics-based puzzles to proceed, working your way through one big, interconnected\u00a0area that brings you to all corners of the game world.<\/p>\n

City 17 seems\u00a0to have been\u00a0inspired by post-Chernobyl\u00a0Pripyat, except not nearly as abandoned.\u00a0 In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that the area surrounding the Citadel is one of the most alive and life-like\u00a0environments we’ve ever seen in gaming.<\/p>\n

I don’t talk about graphics much on this blog, because they’ve never really been all that important to me.\u00a0 Still, the graphics in this game blew my mind.\u00a0 The lighting is just right, and it\u00a0manages\u00a0to complement the characters’ fear and anxiety\u00a0quite nicely.\u00a0 Whether\u00a0I was\u00a0fending off hordes of Combine forces in broad daylight or taking a hovercraft ride\u00a0at sunset, I was always awestruck at how good the game looked.\u00a0 Even on the original Xbox, which was my first experience with the game, it looked amazing.<\/p>\n

The game has some pretty epic gunfights, but the true beauty of Half-Life 2<\/em> lies in the puzzles it throws at you.\u00a0 Though you can use the Gravity Gun to pick up almost anything\u00a0to use\u00a0as a weapon, it also helps\u00a0you through some\u00a0of the predicaments Gordon finds himself in.\u00a0 Near the end of the game, it becomes even more powerful, and you can really wreak some havoc within the walls of the Citadel.<\/p>\n

I can’t sit here and\u00a0describe everything that makes Half-Life 2<\/em> and its two episodic sequels so great.\u00a0 All I can do is encourage anyone and everyone to go out and play it.\u00a0\u00a0The Orange Box<\/em> has all three Half-Life 2<\/em> games, along with Portal<\/em> and Team Fortress 2 <\/em>on one disc!\u00a0 Do it up!<\/p>\n

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