I finished Half Life 2... my impressions

[Fibre Optix]

Well i finished HL2 on Normal. Took me a week. (I have a full time job)

It surpassed my expectaions and was dissapointing at times.

First off, HL2 is the best FPS IMO. Graphics are stunning, gameplay is great fun. The puzzels in the levels range from easy to medium, nothing you can't handle. The physics are incredible. The whole enviorment in the game really puts you in this Freeman Sci-Fi world. Pat on the back to Valve.

The one thing that I found dissapointing was the A.I. Not that it sucked but I guess I expected more from the hype. I found the soldiers to have a C+ level of interaction and intellegence. I'd be pointing a RPG at him, and he still ran directly at me. A couple of instances a Combine cop would be 2 feet away with his back to me while his buddies across the street were shooting me.

Level design. Again I was probably expecting a more open layout rather than linear. Multiple routes with thier own uniqe challenges. Like Far Cry. But again it does'nt suck.

The end. The end of this game does suck. It just does not feel like an end to a game. They do leave things open for Part 3 I guess but it just does'nt have a good ending. XIII was a great example of how to end a game yet leave some stuff open for a sequel.

Mabey they should have ended it with a fade to a celebration with the citizens of City 17.... then do a Matrix bullet time freeze and the G-man does his thing then ZAP everything goes back to normal.. the camera goes from the ground to Earths atomosphere where a large ship is approaching earth.... I'm getting of topic. Bottom line is the end sucks.

Steam installation was a pain in the ***.

A multiplayer that utilized the characters from the game would have been a cool feature. Not so much deathmatch but more along the lines of what call of duty did with all the different types of multiplayer modes. However, mabey with all the physics and stuff it would have been to hard.

Finally WHY DO I NEED THE CD IN THE DRIVE TO PLAY CS:Source???? that drives me nuts.

All in all the negatives are minor. HL2 is a great game and very worth 50 bucks. The only other game that might come close is Far Cry.

[Force Flow]

I agree wiht you on the good points, as well as the AI and the disappointing ending.

With all the hype about the AI a couple of years before, I expected it to be a little better. I kept tripping of the characters who were "helping" me.