Go through the nearest downed forcefield and equip your submachine gun. Then use the alternative fire to launch some grenades at the four Combine on the floor. Try to kill the elite as quickly as possible. Go along the balcony and take up a position on the stairs overlooking the exit hallway. Another wave of about six Combine is coming. Use the AR2 to take them out. You might want to use the alternative fire to speed things up if you are wounded. The elites usually drop a replacement anyway.
Go through the cleared hallway, but use the gravity gun to pick up the three hoppers spread throughout the hall. Then use the two chargers to refill your suit energy and your health. Go to the security console ahead and then let Barney open the gate to the roof. Head upstairs and watch out for a turret about halfway up. I suggest you just sprint up the stairs and use the gravity gun. It shouldn’t even have time to activate if you are fast enough. Keep going up and then kill the two Combine on the upper levels. The shotgun is just right for this short range. Then exit to the roof.
Use the AR2 to take out the three Combine on the first part of the roof. Make a note of the box of rockets near the entrance. Then kill the elite and lone solider on the other side of the roof. Go over to the closed gate by the two chargers and wait for the music to change and the gunship to swing in over the horizon. Say goodbye to your squad, since they are effectively cannon fodder for the time being.
Clearing the Roof
Run back to the first box of rockets and make a note of the ample cover. The container and the rocket box will provide cover from three directions and the nearby air conditioner on the roof will give you cover from behind. That’s more than enough to kill this gunship. It will usually make clockwise circles around the rooftop. The best time to fire is when it’s over the courtyard, since it will usually focus on supporting the striders below. Score five good shots without getting killed and you’re done. Grab more rockets and go back to the locked gate.
Heal up as best as you can while you wait for a dropship to leave three Combine on the other side of the gate. Stay behind cover to avoid it’s minigun fire. The Combine will open the gate as part of a counterattack in a minute. Make sure you grab one of the hoppers and leave it as a gift. Go onto the next rooftop and go to the locked gate by the bridge. Press the button to start the extension. Just stay crouched for now and break open the supply crates nearby. You should get a full squad with AR2s about this time, so the eventual assault won’t be too tough. Once the gate opens, the Combine in the last guardhouse will start charging.
This appears to be a fairly aggressive spawn point. I believe I killed roughly 15 Combine and 4 elites in my assault. There’s no real secret. Just cross the bridge and hit them with everything that you have. Try to send an energy ball from the AR2 through the door or the window. It should bounce around and vaporize most of them. Also use the crossbow, the rockets, and just about anything else you have to punch through and get past the point. Start going down the steps once you break through.
Crossing the Courtyard
A rebel will approach once you reach the bottom. It seems that you’ll need to fight your way across the courtyard again and kill the four striders harassing the rebels. There’s no true strategy that’s perfect, since the striders are using their AI to pick targets depending on the flow of the battle. You’ll need a mixture of luck and skill. Your goal is ultimately to get to the box of rockets on the other side of the courtyard. The rockets are in a good position with lots of cover to aid in your fight against those striders. That said, it is a little random. I’ve seen the rebels basically knock out 2 striders on their own while I was crossing. I’ve also seem them all get killed in the first minute.
Regardless, go forward and take cover behind that outcropping with the ladder. Use it for cover and get three solid shots on the first strider. Then wait until it fires at any of the other rebels and run for the bank’s main steps. You can use the disabled Combine troop carrier if you need more cover on the way. At the top of the steps, there may be dead rebels with their rocket launcher. If they’re already dead, then pick up their rocket launchers and try to take out the first strider. If they are still alive then you should probably just run past them. It’s not worth waiting for them to die. Your goal is to drop into the crater at the bottom of the steps and get into the pipe. Wait here until the strider directly above the pipe’s exit isn’t looking.
You need to burst out and run to the bunker in the center of the courtyard. Go out and in between it’s legs. Then turn around and go up the incline. The bunker is on the right. There are always dead rebels in here with several rocket launchers. Use the cover of the bunker and the supply of rockets to try and kill the strider that was watching over the pipe. Be careful, since it can use its heavy cannon to blow pieces of the bunker away. When it’s dead or after you’re out of rockets, get ready to make the last run.
Taking Out the Striders
You need to go a bit past the blue container to get to the box of rockets. There isn’t a perfect way. The rebels should be in full force on the balcony to cover you though. Run past the container and go behind the wall of rubble to the left. The box is in clear view below. The rebels above should also drop a whole bunch of supplies down when you reach the box. Kill any of the remaining striders from this position of cover. You should be able to duck out and fire at the striders from behind. If you start to take fire, then just take cover behind the rubble. If you moved quickly, then they should still be fighting all of the rebels. Just keep firing until they all go down.
Look past the blue container to see the end of the street. A gate will open and more Combine will start coming out. Feel free to use the rockets against them while you still have an infinite source. Once you thin out the wave of five that come, charge in and kill the remaining few with your magnum or the crowbar. Once you get past the shields, look to the left for a stairway down to another area.
This post is part of the series: Half-Life 2 Walkthrough – Chapter 11: Follow Freeman
The final part of the battle for City 17 is in action. You’ll have to regroup with Barney, get past some snipers, raid an enemy stronghold, and get into a huge battle with striders as you rush to the Citadel. If you need any help with your fight against the Combine, then look here.
(Redirected from Half life 2)
Half-Life 2
Developer(s)
Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)
Valve Corporation
Artist(s)
Viktor Antonov
Writer(s)
Marc Laidlaw
Composer(s)
Kelly Bailey
Series
Half-Life
Engine
Source
Platform(s)
Release
Microsoft Windows
WW: November 16, 2004
XboxXbox 360
NA: October 10, 2007
EU: October 19, 2007
AU: October 25, 2007
PlayStation 3
NA: December 11, 2007
EU: December 14, 2007
AU: December 20, 2007
Mac OS XLinux
WW: May 9, 2013
Android
Genre(s)
First-person shooter
Mode(s)
Single-player
Half-Life 2 (stylized as HλLF-LIFE2) is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to 1998's Half-Life and was released in November 2004 following a five-year $40 million development. During development, a substantial part of the project was leaked and distributed on the Internet. The game was developed alongside Valve's Steam software and the Source engine.
Taking place some years after the events of Half-Life, protagonist Gordon Freeman is awakened by the enigmatic G-Man to find the world has been taken over by the alien Combine. Joined by allies including resistance fighter Alyx Vance, Gordon searches for a way to free humanity using a variety of weapons, including the object-manipulating Gravity Gun. All retail copies of the game, as well as all initial digital versions, were bundled with Counter-Strike: Source, which some game journalists referred to as part of Half-Life 2's 'multiplayer component.'[1]
Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards its advanced physics, animation, sound, AI, graphics, and narrative, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time. The game won 39 'Game of the Year' awards and the title of 'Game of the Decade' at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, in addition to sales of 12 million copies by 2011. It was followed by two episodic sequels: Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007).
3Development
4Release
6Reception
Gameplay[edit]
A screenshot of the player engaging a group of antlions with a pulse rifle. Along the bottom of the screen, the player's health, suit charge level, and their ammunition are displayed.
Like its predecessor, Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter broken into several chapters, permanently casting the player as protagonist Gordon Freeman. The sequel has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. The player also starts without items, slowly building up their arsenal over the course of the game. Despite the game's mainly linear nature, much effort was put into making exploration rewarding and interesting; many optional areas can be missed or avoided.
A diverse set of enemies is present, which usually require being approached with different tactics: some coordinate in groups to out-maneuver or out-position the player; others, such as the Manhack, fly directly at the player through small openings and tight corridors. Others use predictable but powerful attacks, while others hide before swiftly attacking the player. Gordon can kill most enemies with his weapons, or make use of indirect means, exploiting environmental hazards such as explosive pressurized canisters, gas fires or improvised traps. For some portions of the game, Gordon can be joined by up to four armed Resistance soldiers or medics, and can send his team further from him or call them back.
Many of the game's new features utilize its detailed physics simulation. Two sections of the game involve driving vehicles. Instead of button-orientated puzzles from Half-Life, environmental puzzles are also introduced with makeshift mechanical systems, revolving around the player's new ability to pick up, move, and place objects. Solutions involve objects' physical properties, such as shape, weight, and buoyancy. For example; In chapter three, 'Route Kanal', the player is required to stack cinder blocks on a makeshift see-saw ramp to proceed over a wall. Alternatively, the player can build a crude staircase with the blocks, so the puzzle may be solved in multiple ways.
Part-way through the game, Gordon acquires the Gravity Gun, which allows him to draw distant objects towards himself or forcefully push them away, as well as the ability to manipulate larger and heavier objects that he cannot control without the weapon. These abilities are required to solve puzzles later in the game, and can also be used to great effect in combat, as any non-static object within proximity to the player has the potential to be used as a makeshift defense, such as a file cabinet, or a deadly projectile, such as a gasoline can or buzzsaw blade.
The game never separates the player with pre-rendered cutscenes or events; the story proceeds via exposition from other characters and in-world events, and the player is able to control Gordon for the entirety of the game. Much of the backstory to the game is simply alluded to, or told through the environment.
Plot[edit]
Some years after Gordon Freeman and other scientists accidentally opened a portal to a dimension of hostile aliens at the Black Mesa Research Facility, Freeman is awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man.[2][3] The portal attracted the attention of the Combine, a technologically superior multidimensional empire which conquered Earth in seven hours. The Combine have implemented a brutal police state by biologically assimilating humans and other species, and preventing humans from breeding via a 'suppression field'. The G-Man inserts Gordon into a train arriving at City 17, site of the Combine Citadel, where Dr. Wallace Breen, the former Black Mesa administrator who negotiated Earth's surrender, governs as the Combine's puppet ruler.[4]
After eluding Combine forces, Gordon joins resistance members including Barney Calhoun, a former Black Mesa security guard working undercover as a Combine police officer; Dr. Eli Vance, former Black Mesa scientist and leader of the resistance; Alyx Vance, Eli's daughter; and Dr. Kleiner, an eccentric Black Mesa scientist. After a failed attempt to teleport to the resistance base, Black Mesa East, from Kleiner's makeshift laboratory, Gordon progresses on foot through the city's canal system. He obtains an airboat and battles his way to Black Mesa East, several miles from the city.[5][6]
Gordon is reintroduced to Eli and meets another resistance scientist, Dr. Judith Mossman.[7] Alyx introduces Gordon to her pet robot D0g and gives him a 'gravity gun', an instrument which can manipulate large objects. Black Mesa East comes under Combine attack, and Eli and Mossman are taken to Nova Prospekt, a Combine prison. Separated from Alyx, Gordon detours through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm, assisted by its last survivor, Father Grigori. Escaping the town, Gordon discovers a resistance outpost, and uses a customized dune buggy to travel a crumbling coastal road to Nova Prospekt, encountering Combine patrols and helping the resistance fend off raids.
Gordon lays siege to Nova Prospekt by using pheromone pods to command the hordes of alien antlions that infest the coast. He reunites with Alyx in the prison and they locate Eli, but discover that Mossman is a Combine informant. Before they can stop her, Mossman teleports herself and Eli back to City 17's Citadel. The Combine teleporter explodes as Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.
Returning to Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed; during their absence, the resistance had fully mobilized against the Combine.[8] In battle, Alyx is captured by the Combine and taken to the Citadel; Gordon fights his way inside with the aid of D0g and Barney.[9] Gordon is then caught in a Combine 'confiscation chamber' that destroys all his weapons except the gravity gun, which is inadvertently supercharged by the forcefield, allowing Gordon to fight his way up the Citadel.
Gordon is eventually captured in a Combine transport pod and taken to Breen's office, where he and Mossman are waiting with Eli and Alyx in captivity. Breen explains his plans to further conquer humanity with the Combine, contrary to what he told Mossman.[10] Angered, Mossman frees Gordon, Alyx, and Eli before Breen can teleport them off-world. Breen tries to escape through a portal, but Gordon destroys the portal reactor with the gravity gun. Just before the Citadel is destroyed in an ensuing explosion, time is frozen. The G-Man reappears, praising Gordon for his actions in City 17. Making vague mention of 'offers for [Gordon's] services', the G-Man places him back into stasis.[11]
Development[edit]
A square in City 17, showing the Source engine's lighting and shadow effects
For Half-Life 2, Valve developed a new game engine, Source, 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 further interactivity.[12] When coupled with Steam, it becomes easy to roll out new features. One such example is high dynamic range rendering, which Valve first demonstrated in a free downloadable level called Lost Coast for owners of Half-Life 2.[13] Several other games use the Source engine, including Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source, both of which were also developed by Valve.[14]
Many elements were cut from the game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a darker game with grittier art direction, where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gases. Many environments were changed during development as well. City 17 was to resemble Industrial New York as opposed to the retail release's Soviet Europe influence (designer Viktor Antonov said to have been inspired by his childhood in Sofia under communist Bulgaria)[15] and Nova Prospekt was originally intended to be a small Combine rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland. Eventually, Nova Prospekt grew from a stopping-off point along the way to the destination itself.[16]
Leak[edit]
Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 in May 2003, where it won several awards for best in show. Originally scheduled for release in September 2003, it was delayed in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network.[17] The network was accessed through a null session connection to a server owned by Tangis, which was hosted in Valve's network, and a subsequent upload of an ASP shell. This resulted in the leak of the Half-Life 2source code and many other files including maps, models and a playable early version of the game in early September 2003.[18] On October 2, 2003, Valve CEO Gabe Newell publicly revealed on Half-Life fan forums[19] the events that Valve experienced around the time of the leak, and asked users to help find the perpetrators.
In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI had arrested several people suspected of involvement in the leak.[20] Valve claimed it was leaked by a German black-hat hacker named Axel 'Ago' Gembe. After the leak, Gembe had contacted Newell through email (also providing an unreleased document planning the E3 events).[21] Newell kept corresponding with Gembe, and Gembe was led to believe that Valve wanted to employ him as an in-house security auditor. He was to be offered a flight to the US and was to be arrested on arrival by the FBI. When the German government became aware of the plan, Gembe was arrested in Germany instead, and put on trial for the leak as well as other computer crimes in November 2006, such as the creation of Agobot, a highly successful trojan virus which harvested users' data.[22][23][24] At the trial in November 2006 in Germany, Gembe was sentenced to two years' probation. The judge took into account such factors as Gembe's difficult childhood and the fact that he was taking steps to improve his situation.[23]
Release[edit]
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'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 entire 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.[25]
Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD, 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 (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine). The collector's edition/'Gold' version additionally includes merchandise, such as a T-shirt, a strategy guide and CD containing the soundtrack used in Half-Life 2. Both the disc and Steam versions require Steam to be installed and active for play to occur.[26] The retail copies of the game came in two versions, standard and Collector's Edition; these had identical content to the 'Bronze' and 'Gold' packages respectively.[27]
A demo version with the file size of a single CD was later made available in December 2004 at the web site of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains a portion of two chapters: Point Insertion and 'We Don't Go To Ravenholm..'. This demo is currently available on Steam. 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 Game of the Year edition also includes Half-Life: Source.[28]Mass effect 2 coalesced mods.
Cyber café dispute[edit]
On September 20, 2004, GameSpot reported that Sierra's parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, was in a legal battle with Valve over the distribution of Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés. Cyber cafés are important for the Asian PC gaming market where PC and broadband penetration per capita are much lower (except Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan).[29]
According to Vivendi Universal Games, the distribution contract they signed with Valve included cyber cafés. This would mean that only Vivendi Universal Games could distribute Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés — not Valve through the Steam system. On November 29, 2004, Judge Thomas S. Zilly, of U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington, ruled that Vivendi Universal Games and its affiliates are not authorized to distribute (directly or indirectly) Valve games through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties' current publishing agreement. In addition, Judge Zilly ruled in favor of the Valve motion regarding the contractual limitation of liability, allowing Valve to recover copyright damages for any infringement as allowed by law without regard to the publishing agreement's limitation of liability clause.[30]
On April 29, 2005, the two parties announced a settlement agreement. Vivendi Universal Games would cease distributing all retail packaged versions of Valve games by August 31, 2005. Vivendi Universal Games also was to notify distributors and cyber cafés that had been licensed by Vivendi Universal Games that only Valve had the authority to distribute cyber café licenses, and hence their licenses were revoked and switched to Valve's.[31]
Ports and updates[edit]
On December 22, 2005, Valve released a 64-bit version of the Source game engine for x86-64 processor-based systems running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows Vista x64, or Windows Server 2008 x64. This update, delivered via Steam, enabled Half-Life 2 and other Source-based games to run natively on 64-bit processors, bypassing the 32-bit compatibility layer. 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.[32] 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.[33] At the time of release, 64-bit users 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.[34][35]
Valve partnered with Taito to release Half-Life 2: Survivor, an arcade game version of the game for the Japanese market in 2006.[36][37] During Electronic Arts' summer press event on July 13, 2006, Gabe Newell announced that Half-Life 2 would ship on next-generation consoles (specifically, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) along with episodes One and Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal[38] in a package called The Orange Box. The Windows version was released on October 10, 2007, as both a retail boxed copy, and as a download available through Valve's Steam service. The Xbox 360 version was also released on October 10, 2007. A PlayStation 3 version was released on December 11, 2007.[39]
On May 26, 2010, Half-Life 2, along with Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two, was released for Mac OS X.[40]Portal was made available for the platform on May 13, 2010, and despite the notable absence of Team Fortress 2 on the platform, Valve began selling The Orange Box for OS X on May 26, 2010. OS X support for Team Fortress 2 was added on June 10, 2010, completing the package.[41] In May 2013, Valve released a beta update to Half-Life 2 which included support for the Oculus Riftvirtual reality headset, with a full release of the feature coming later that year in June.[42]
An NVIDIA Shield-exclusive port for Android was released on May 12, 2014.[43]
Soundtrack[edit]
The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2
Soundtrack album by
Released
2004
Recorded
1997−2003
Genre
Electronic,[44]ambient[44]
Length
60:18
Album ratings
Review scores
Source
Rating
IGN
7/10[44]
Purchasers of the Gold Package[45] of the game were given (among other things) a CD soundtrack, titled The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2, containing nearly all the music from the game, along with three bonus tracks. This CD was available for separate purchase via the Valve online store. The soundtrack was re-released in 2014 for use in Steam Music.[46]
Tracks 15, 16, 18 and 42 are bonus tracks that are exclusive to the CD soundtrack. Many of the tracks were retitled and carried over from the Half-Life soundtrack; the names in parentheses are the original titles. Tracks 34, 41, and 42 are remixes. The composer of the soundtrack is Kelly Bailey.[47][48]
'Something Secret Steers Us (Nuclear Mission Jam)'
02:00
41.
'Triple Entanglement (Sirens in the Distance)'
01:30
42.
'Biozeminade Fragment (Alien Shock)'
00:30
43.
'Lambda Core (Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar)'
01:44
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator
Score
Metacritic
96/100 (PC)[49] 90/100 (Xbox)[50]
Review scores
Publication
Score
AllGame
[51]
Edge
10/10 (PC)[52]
Eurogamer
10/10 (PC)[53] 9/10 (Xbox)[54]
GamePro
(PC)[55]
GameSpot
9.2/10 (PC)[56]
GameSpy
[57]
GamesRadar+
[58]
IGN
9.7/10 (PC)[59]
Maximum PC
11/10[60]
PC Gamer (US)
98%[61]
VideoGamer.com
10/10[62]
The Cincinnati Enquirer
[63]
The New York Times
Positive[64]
Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim upon release, gaining an aggregated score of 96/100 on Metacritic.[49] Sources, such as GameSpy,[57]The Cincinnati Enquirer,[63]The New York Times,[64] and VideoGamer.com,[62] have given perfect reviewing scores, and others, such as PC Gamer,[61]IGN,[59]GamesRadar,[58] and Eurogamer,[53][54] gave near-perfect scores, while the game became the fifth title to receive Edge magazine's ten-out-of-ten score.[52] Critics who applauded the game cited the advanced graphics and physics.[55][64]Maximum PC awarded Half-Life 2 an exaggerated, unprecedented 11 on their rating scale which normally peaks at 10, calling it 'the best game ever made'.[60]
In the United States, Half-Life 2's computer version sold 680,000 copies and earned $34.3 million by August 2006. It was the country's 17th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006.[65] It received a 'Platinum' sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[66] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[67]Forbes reported on February 9, 2011 that the game had sold 12 million copies worldwide.[68]
In a review of The Orange Box, IGN stated that although Half-Life 2 has already been released through other mediums, the game itself is still enjoyable on a console. They also noted that the physics of Half-Life 2 are very impressive despite being a console title. However, it was noted that the graphics on the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 were not as impressive as when the title was released on the PC.[69] GameSpot's review of The Orange Box noticed that the content of both the Xbox 360 releases, and PlayStation 3 releases were exactly alike, the only issue with the PlayStation 3 version was that it had noticeable frame-rate hiccups. GameSpot continued to say that the frame rates issues were only minor but some consider them to be a significant irritation.[56]
Several critics, including some that had given positive reviews, complained about the required usage of the program Steam, the requirement to create an account, register the products, and permanently lock them to the account before being allowed to play, along with installation difficulties and lack of support.[64]
The editors of Computer Gaming World nominated Half-Life 2 for their 2004 'Single-Player Shooter of the Year' and overall 'Game of the Year' awards, although it lost to Painkiller and World of Warcraft, respectively. They wrote, 'Half-Life 2, everyone's default pick to win this year, is indeed a fantastic roller coaster of a ride, not as great as the original but still leagues above most other shooters.'[70]
Awards[edit]
Half-Life 2 earned 39 Game of the Year awards,[71] 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. Edge magazine awarded Half Life 2 with its top honor of the year with the award for Best Game, as well as awards for Innovation and Visual Design. The game also had a strong showing at the 2004 British Academy Video Games Awards, picking up six awards, more than any other game that night, with awards including 'Best Game' and 'Best Online and Multiplayer.'[72]Computer Games Magazine named Half-Life 2 the fourth-best computer game of 2004. The editors call it 'a masterful single-player experience that plays a constant game of one-upmanship with itself.' It won the magazine's 'Best Technology' and 'Best Writing' awards, and was a runner-up in the 'Best Sound Effects', 'Best AI' and 'Best Voice Acting' categories.[73]
Guinness World Records awarded Half-Life 2 the world record for 'Highest Rated Shooter by PC Gamer Magazine' in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. Other records awarded the game in the book include, 'Largest Digital Distribution Channel' for Valve's Steam service, 'First Game to Feature a Gravity Gun', and 'First PC Game to Feature Developer Commentary'.[74] In 2009, Game Informer put Half-Life 2 5th on their list of 'The Top 200 Games of All Time', saying that 'With Half-Life 2, Valve redefined the way first-person shooters were created'.[75]
Half-Life 2 was selected by readers of The Guardian as the best game of the decade, with praise given especially to the environment design throughout the game. According to the newspaper, it 'pushed the envelope for the genre, and set a new high watermark for FPS narrative'. One author commented: 'Half-Life 2 always felt like the European arthouse answer to the Hollywood bluster of Halo and Call of Duty'.[76]Half-Life 2 won Crispy Gamer's Game of the Decade[77] tournament style poll. It also won Reviews on the Run's,[78] IGN's[79] Best Game of the Decade and Spike Video Game Awards 2012 Game of the Decade.[80]
Mods[edit]
Since the release of the Source engine SDK, a large number of modifications (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 Rock 24, Half-Life 2 Substance and SMOD (which modify the storyline and gameplay of the pre-existing game), SourceForts and Garry's Mod (which allow the player to experiment with the physics system in a sandbox mode), to total conversions such as Black Mesa, Dystopia, Zombie Master or Iron Grip: The Oppression, the last of which transforms the game from a first-person shooter into a real-time strategy game.[81][82] Some mods take place in the Half-Life universe; others in completely original settings. Many more mods are still in development, including Lift, The Myriad, Operation Black Mesa, and the episodic single-player mod Minerva.[83] Several multiplayer mods, such as Pirates, Vikings and Knights II, a predominately sword-fighting game; Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, which focuses on realistic modern infantry combat; and Jailbreak Source have been opened to the public as a beta.[84][85] As part of its community support, Valve announced in September 2008 that several mods, with more planned in the future, were being integrated into the Steamworks program, allowing the mods to make full use of Steam's distribution and update capabilities.[86]
Sequels[edit]
Since the release of Half-Life 2, Valve Corporation has released an additional level and two additional 'expansion' sequels. The level, released as Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, was meant to take place between the levels 'Highway 17' and 'Sandtraps'.[87] It serves primarily as a showcase for high-dynamic-range rendering (HDR) technology. The first expansion sequel, Half-Life 2: Episode One, takes place immediately after the events of Half-Life 2, with the player taking on the role of Gordon Freeman once again and with Alyx Vance playing a more prominent role. Download driver printer canon ip2770. Half-Life 2: Episode Two continues directly from the ending of Episode One, with Alyx and Gordon making their way to White Forest Missile base, a hideout of the resistance. A third episode is set to be released in the future, completing an intended trilogy.[88] In a June 2006 interview with Eurogamer, Gabe Newell revealed that the Half-Life 2 'episodes' are essentially Half-Life 3.[89] He reasons that rather than force fans to wait another six years for a full sequel, Valve Corporation would release the game in episodic installments.[89] Newell stated that a more accurate title for these episodes would have been 'Half-Life 3: Episode One' and so forth, having referred to the episodes as Half-Life 3 repeatedly throughout the interview.[89] In a May 2011 interview with Develop, Newell stated that the episodic model had been replaced by even shorter development cycles and continuous updates via Steam.[90]
References[edit]
^Thorsen, Tor. 'Valve readying Half-Life 2 bundles; Counter-Strike: Source available next week.' Gamespot. September 29, 2004.
^Bell, Joe Grant (1998-11-25). Half-Life: Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games. ISBN978-0-7615-1360-5.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 1: Point Insertion. The G-Man: [at the start of the game, over a psychedelic series of images calling back to Half-Life and forward to the final chapters] Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman. Rise and..shine. Not that I wish..to imply that you have been sleeping on..the job. No one is more deserving of a rest, and all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until..well..let's just say your hour has come again. [..] The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference..in the world. So, wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and..smell the ashes..
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 5: Black Mesa East. Dr. Eli Vance: [when Gordon looks at a board of news clippings involving the Seven Hour War] Doctor Breen. He's the administrator of this whole, vile business now. He ended the Seven Hours War by managing the Earth's..surrender. The Combine rewarded him with power.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 2: 'A Red Letter Day'. Isaac Kleiner: What do you mean, 'he's not there'?! / Eli Vance: He didn't come through! / Dr. Kleiner: Then..where is he?! / Eli: [noticing Gordon just outside of the window] Behind you. / Dr. Kleiner: [turns] AH! / Eli: Shut it down, shut it down! / Dr. Kleiner: Gordon! You must get out of here! RUN! / Barney Calhoun: Get down outta sight! I'll come find you!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 2: 'A Red Letter Day'. Barney: Hey, Gordon! The Citadel's on full alert, I've never seen it lit up like that! Get out of City 17 as fast as you can, Gordon! Take the old canals, right? They'll take you to Eli's place. It's a dangerous route, bu there's a whole network of refugees, and they'll help you if they can. I'd come with you, but I've gotta look after Doctor Kleiner. Oh, and before I forget--[picks up a crowbar]—I think you dropped this back at Black Mesa! [drops the crowbar to Gordon] Good luck out there, buddy! You're gonna need it.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 5: Black Mesa East. Dr. Eli Vance: Now, let's see: the last time I saw you, I sent you up for help after the resonance cascade. Heh, I never though it would take you this long to get back to me!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 9a: Entanglement. Isaac Kleiner: [shocked] Alyx? Gordon?! My god, how did you two get here? And when? / Alyx Vance: Uh, are you okay? / Dr. Kleiner: My dear, I had given up all hope of ever seeing you again! / Alyx Vance: [to Gordon] I was afraid we might not make it, either.. [to Kleiner] I think the teleport exploded just as we were going out. / Dr. Kleiner: Indeed it did, and the repercussions were felt for miles, but..that was over a week ago!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 11: 'Follow Freeman!'. Barney: And if you see Dr. Breen, tell him I said, 'F*** [D0g drops the strut with a resounding crash.] you!'
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 13: Dark Energy. Dr. Breen: Having both of you in my keeping ensures I can dictate the terms of any bargain I care to make with the Combine.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 13: Dark Energy. G-Man: Time, Doctor Freeman? Is it really that..time again? It seems as if you only just arrived. ['walks out' from the explosion] You have done a great deal in a small time..span. You've done so well, in fact, that I've received some interesting offers for your services. Ordinarily, I wouldn't contemplate them, but these are extra..ordinary times. Rather than offer you the illusion of free choice [like last time], I will take the liberty of choosing for you..if and when your time comes around again. / [The G-Man extracts Gordon from the Citadel and re-enters the 'black void' from the beginning of the game.] / G-Man: I..do apologize for what must seem to you an 'arbitrary imposition', Dr. Freeman. I trust it will all make sense to you in the course of..well, I'm really not at liberty to say. In the meantime..this is where I get off.[smiles, then walks away]
^Fudge, James (2004-03-25). 'Havok's Half-Life 2 Marketing Campaign'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^Surette, Tim (2005-10-27). 'Half-Life 2 finds Lost Coast'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^Tang, Lee Yu (2005-12-29). 'Impressive add-on to Day of Defeat'. New Straits Times.
^Antonov, Viktor (February 2019). 'Viktor Antonov, directeur artistique et concepteur visuel de jeux vidéo'. L'1nterview n°2 (Interview). Interviewed by Pierre Gaultier. Paris. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
^Hodgson, David (2004). Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. Prima Games. ISBN978-0-7615-4364-0.
^'Half Life 2 Source-Code Leak Delays Debut'. TechNewsWorld. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
^'Playable Version of Half-Life 2 Stolen'. CNN Money. 2003-10-07. Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
^'I need the assistance of the community'. 2003-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
^'Phatbot man linked with Half-Life 2 leak'. play.tm. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
^Parkin, Simon (2011-02-21). 'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2 - The story behind the $250 million robbery'. www.eurogamer.net. Archived from the original on 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
^ ab'How Legal Codes Can Hinder Hacker Cases — WSJ.com'. Wall Street Journal Online. Archived from the original on 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
^Hacker Hitmen - Cyber Attacks Used to Be for Thrill Seekers. Now They're About Money.Archived 2006-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
^Adams, David (2004-08-18). 'Gabe Newell on CS: Source, HL2 Preloads'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^Autrijve, Rainier Van (2004-10-06). 'Blow Off Some Steam and Pre-Order Half-Life 2 (PC)'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^Thorsen, Tor. 'Valve readying Half-Life 2 bundles; Counter-Strike: Source available next week.' Gamespot. September 29, 2004.
^'Half-Life 2 Demo now available'. ATI. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve vs. Vivendi dogfight heats up in US District Court'. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'Half-Life 2 maker wins legal case'. BBC. 2004-11-30. Archived from the original on 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve cyber café program'. Archived from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
^'Valve unveils 64-bit source (TM) gaming technology developed in conjunction with'. Steam Powered. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2006.
^Williams, Rob. 'Review: Half-Life 2: 64-Bit — Reason to get excited?'. Techgage. Archived from the original on 2006-11-16. Retrieved 2006-03-23.
^'Latest Steam Update — Half-Life 2 x64 Broken'. PlanetAMD64. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'A Bunch of Finger Pointing'. Half-Life 2: Episode One Error Reports. Valve Developer Community. 2006-06-04. Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'Half-Life 2 to hit Japanese arcades'. GameSpot. November 29, 2005. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
^Gantayat, Anoop (February 17, 2006). 'AOU 2006: Half-Life 2 Survivor Debuts'. IGN. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
^Thorson, Tor (2006-08-24). 'Half-Life 2: Episode Two pushed to 2007?'. GameSpot. CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Orange Box packs action, value'. USA Today. 2007-10-18. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve to Deliver Steam & Source on the Mac'. Valve Corporation. 2010-03-08. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
^'Valve updates TF2 with Mac support'. Valve Corporation. Archived from the original on 2010-12-15.
^Blagdon, Jeff (May 10, 2013). 'Valve gives 'Half-Life 2' official Oculus Rift support'. Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
^Salov, Vlav (May 12, 2014). ''Half-Life 2' and 'Portal' arrive on Android, but only for the Shield'. The Verge. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
^ abc'IGN Review of Half-Life 2 Soundtrack'. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
^'Half Life 2 Packages Revealed - IGN'. 2013-09-27.
^'Introducing the Steam Music Player'. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^'Kelly Bailey – Half-Life 2 Soundtrack'. Discogs. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^'Half-Life ² – Kelly Bailey'. Last.fm. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ ab'Half-Life 2'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Half-Life 2 (Xbox)'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
^Hoogland, Mark. 'Half Life 2 Review'. AllGame. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
^ ab'Reviews Database'. Edge Online. Archived from the original on 2007-04-29. Retrieved September 3, 2006.
^ abKristan Reed (18 November 2004). 'Half-Life 2 PC Review'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
^ abKristan Reed (21 November 2005). 'Half-Life 2 Xbox Review'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 - Australian Review (Reviews)'. GamePro. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved May 21, 2006.
^ abOcampo, Jason (2007-12-12). 'The Orange Box Review for PlayStation 3'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 review'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 28, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ abJohn Brandon (18 December 2007). 'Half-Life 2 Review'. GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on May 24, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 Review'(PDF). Maximum PC. January 2005. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
^ ab'Half-Life 2'. PC Gamer: 48. December 2004.
^ abRobert Dick (14 December 2004). 'Half-Life 2' Review'. VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2: A Tech Masterpiece'. Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on March 16, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ abcdHerold, Charles (2004-11-25). 'A Big Sequel That's Worthy of Its Lineage'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^Edge Staff (August 25, 2006). 'The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century'. Edge. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
^'ELSPA Sales Awards: Platinum'. Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009.
^Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). 'ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017.
^Chiang, Oliver (2011-02-28). 'The Master of Online Mayhem'. Forbes. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13.
^Goldstein, Hilary (2007-10-09). 'The Orange Box Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
^Editors of CGW (March 2005). '2004 Games of the Year'. Computer Gaming World (249): 56–67.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^'Valve Awards'. Valve Corporation. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Half-Life 2 sweeps Bafta awards'. BBC News. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on November 13, 2005. Retrieved May 22, 2006.
^Staff (March 2005). 'The Best of 2004; The 14th Annual Computer Games Awards'. Computer Games Magazine (172): 48–56.
^Snow, Blake (2008-01-28). 'Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition comes Mar. 11'. GamePro. Archived from the original on 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^The Game Informer staff (December 2009). 'The Top 200 Games of All Time'. Game Informer (200): 44–79. ISSN1067-6392. OCLC27315596.
^Stuart, Keith (2009-12-17). 'The Gamesblog 50 games of the Noughties: number one'. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
^'Game of the Decade: Championship Round'. CrispyGamer. 2009-12-11. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
^'Best Games of 2004'. Reviewsontherun. Retrieved 2010-04-05.[permanent dead link]'Video Game Awards'. December 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-12-23.
^'Best Games Overall'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^'Backstage with Game of the Decade and Game of the Year Winners'. Spike. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
^Young, Tom (2006-01-27). 'Source Forts'. Planet Half-Life. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^Francis, Tom (2006-12-19). 'Garry's Mod Review'. PC Gamer. CVG. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^PC Zone Staff (2006-08-08). 'Half-Life 2 Minerva mod'. CVG. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
^Rogers, Thomas (2008-02-18). 'Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II Beta 2.0'. Planet Half-Life. Archived from the original on 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^'Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat'. Insurgency Team. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2008.
^'Steam News Update Friday, September 26, 2008'. Steam. Valve Corporation. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
^Tom Bramwell (8 February 2005). 'HL2 DM, CS Source, HL2 Single-Player Updates Soon'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
^'Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 25, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
^ abc'Interview — Opening the Valve'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
^'The Valve manifesto, interview by Develop'. Develop. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
External links[edit]
Listen to this article (info/dl)
This audio file was created from a revision of the article 'Half-Life 2' dated 2006-12-22, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Half-Life 2 (2004)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Half-Life_2&oldid=904081413'
This article would greatly benefit from the addition of more images.
To illustrate the article you can add one or more relevant images or upload them from canonical / official sources. For more instructions visit Help:Images.
Strider
General information
Type
Affiliation
Individual information
Health
5 (Easy), 7 (Normal and Hard) RPG hits
10 (Easy), 14 (Normal and Hard) Energy Ball hits
Attacks / Weapons
Game information
Designed by
Ted Backman (concept art)
Bill Fletcher (animations)[2]
Entity name
'Oh my God.. Striders really tore the hell out of this place..'
―Alyx Vance[src]
The Strider is a large three-legged CombineSynth. Introduced in Half-Life 2, they serve as the Combine's main heavy ground assault unit.
Overview
Striders are capable of pursuing hostiles in both confined streets and open plazas, even crouching down to fire at enemies who seek cover under overhangs or in bombed-out buildings.
The Strider's body is covered in a smooth brown carapace or exoskeleton. On the 'head' of the Strider is a rapid-firing pulse cannon, with a heavier warp cannon suspended below. The three long legs of the Strider are tipped with sharp spikes and a rosette of finer, hair-like spines.
While walking about or attacking, Striders produce many different vocalizations, such as growls, groans, whoops, and howls; when killed, they let out a mournful cry. In addition, Striders will leak a yellow substance when their interior is damaged, and their carapace contains a large, somewhat human-looking brain.
Application
Individual Striders are often used to patrol off-limits streets in City 17 and to provide heavy support for groups of soldiers. However, in full-scale military combat, Striders are used instead as heavy artillery to destroy all structures in an area as a means of removing all entrenched hostile forces. Striders fit both roles well due to their various weapons and remarkable maneuverability on even the harshest terrain (considering they are tripods, and extremely large). Despite their height, Striders can crawl through tunnels to chase enemy combatants and 'dig' through underground obstacles using their warp cannon.
In wilderness areas, Striders are often accompanied by Hunters which act as escorts to destroy smaller targets. During the Combine offensive against White Forest, Striders are used to destroy the outer buildings surrounding the Resistance base, including the Magnusson Device teleporters.
Striders may also be transported to and from combat zones by Combine Dropships. When being transported, they will fold their legs into a compact shape that allows them to be carried.
Weaponry
Striders are armed with two ranged weapons. The first is an anti-personnel pulse cannon mounted on the front of the Strider's carapace. The second (and by far the more powerful) weapon is a warp cannon mounted on the Strider's belly under the pulse cannon. This cannon not only causes scenic destruction but also inflicts massive splash damage that will vaporize anything in proximity to the area of impact. Prior to the warp cannon's discharge, a thin blue laser indicates where the Strider is aiming at and the space around the weapon becomes warped, bending light as the cannon charges. They are strong enough to kick vehicles into the air. Besides using ranged weapons, Striders can impale targets with their long legs, any target that is impaled will die instantly, if they come too close. When a target is impaled while still on their legs, the Strider will swing its legs to 'drop' the target's corpse.
In Half-Life 2, the Strider's pulse cannon does a large amount of damage - approximately 20 to 30 per shot. However, it is programmed to only hit with the last few shots, giving the player time to seek cover. In Episode One, the Strider's pulse cannon is far more accurate and has a faster (but variable) rate of fire, but in order to balance gameplay, inflicts a fraction of the damage (approximately 5 to 10).
Appearances
Half-Life 2
In Half-Life 2, the Strider is first glimpsed walking along a barred street with a City Scanner sometime after leaving the Trainstation Plaza.
The Strider is seen again much later in the game, during the chapter 'Follow Freeman!', during the Overwatch Nexus battle. There Gordon must defeat several Striders, helped by other Rebels, firing with their RPGs from the ground and the rooftops. Soon after, a Strider confronts Gordon who tries to hide in a building. This is where the Strider is seen working with Shield Scanners that always reveal Freeman's presence to the tripod wherever he tries to hide.
Right after that building, Gordon finds himself into another battle and must defeat Combine soldiers and Striders with other Rebels. After defeating all Striders, Gordon reunites with Barney and Dog and enters the Citadel.
Within the Citadel, Freeman sees walking Striders ready to be released on the field, and fights one with the dark energy gravity gun sometime later.
Half-Life 2: Episode One
In Episode One, the first Striders can be seen walking through the Citadel to an unknown location, not noticing the two characters. Not long after, Gordon and Alyx see a damaged Dropship carrying a Strider arriving just beneath them, only to crash a few seconds later.
Another Strider is seen when they leave - at last - the City 17 Underground and see that Kleiner has taken over the Breencast network. There a Strider is seen from afar walking among rubble and does not notice them.
Later at the Technical Trainstation, a Strider and several Overwatch Soldiers attempt to prevent Gordon and Alyx from leaving the city, the Strider acting as the game's final boss. The player will be required to defeat this Strider with an RPG. After successfully defeating it, Gordon and Alyx finally leave City 17 via train.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
In Episode Two, Striders are first seen among a Combine convoy walking to White Forest.
Some time after, at a short distance from White Forest, Gordon and Alyx's way are barred by an apparently dead Strider. It wakes up and rises to its feet, leaving the characters in a dangerously vulnerable situation, but Dog emerges from the treeline and jumps at it from high ground. A spectacular battle ensues, ending when Dog tears the plates off the Strider's head to access its vulnerable internals, and forcibly removes the creature's brain.
Striders are last seen during the White Forest battle, where they threaten the rocket's launch, aided by Hunters. To defeat them, Freeman must use the Magnusson Device, or Strider Buster, introduced by Arne Magnusson. It is a specially designed bomb intended to be flung at the Strider's main body with the Gravity Gun whereupon it attaches itself through the means of conductive spikes, after which it can then be detonated by firing on it with a conventional firearm. The detonation of a single properly employed Strider Buster is sufficient enough to destroy a Strider. During the battle, the Striders destroy many of the surrounding buildings. After Freeman has taken them all down with the Strider Busters and the help of the other Rebels, the rocket can be successfully launched into space.
Tactics
Striders tend to follow specific patrol routes when tasked with defending a certain area, making them fairly easy to avoid. However Shield Scanners sometimes accompany them, functioning as spotters for the Strider, searching inside buildings and other places of concealment for targets the tripod would otherwise be unable to see. However this symbiont behavior between the two Synths is only seen after the Overwatch Nexus battle.
Due to their incredibly high damage output and pinpoint accuracy on their last few hits, cover plays an extremely important role while fighting Striders. Often, instead of fighting in the open, one is much less likely to die while only running out of cover when running to another spot or when launching a rocket. However, in Episode One and Episode Two, the damage is lowered but taking cover is still important.
Striders will often use their warp cannon when the target is behind cover. Therefore, the player should leave cover immediately after the sound is heard.
Striders are often rather unaware of their opponents - this is most obvious during the battle outside the Overwatch Nexus. This can be exploited to avoid a lengthy and hazardous battle against many partially avoidable Striders, since when only one or two Striders remain, they can be bypassed.
After the Magnusson Device, the most powerful weapon against Striders, the RPG is the most efficient weapon, as its rockets do the most damage, though it takes 5 rockets just to kill one in Easy mode. Grenades, MP7 grenades, and Energy Balls do about half the damage of a rocket. Unlike Gunships, Striders tend to ignore all projectiles launched at them, focusing on attacking the player instead.
Using the Magnusson Device against a Strider is not advised until all nearby Hunters are defeated, as they will fire at the device as soon as they see it.
On harder difficulties, Striders tend to duck flying rockets, which should be anticipated when firing.
In some cases, one or more Striders usually have to be destroyed in order to make further progress in the game, often acting as 'bosses'. If the player doesn't follow this order in Half-Life 2, the Strider will fire their warp cannon directly at the player.
Behind the scenes
Valve's Bill Fletcher used a giraffe/gorilla combo as animation reference for the Strider. He wanted the creature to capture the gracefulness of a giraffe and stomp and lead with its elbows like a gorilla when it walks, to convey a simian power.[2]
At some point in Half-Life 2’s development, the Strider was white, like the Combine Super Soldier, the Combine Assassin or the Overwatch Elite.[2]
Early concepts depict the Strider with different heads, such as one only consisting of a cannon.[2]
Several early iterations also bore miscellaneous markings, notably a maroon circle with a 'Z' or a lightning bolt in the middle, and some sort of L with a small dot in the opposite angle.[2]
It was originally to be met in the Coast levels, at least near the Air Exchange.[2]
According to one of the concept art pictures featured in Raising the Bar, the Strider's current design was already defined as early as in 2001 (as seen in the date in Ted Backman's signature).[2]
As seen in the Half-Life 2 Beta source code, the Hopwire Grenade was originally to be the weapon of choice against Striders,[3] replaced in Episode Two by the Magnusson Device. This is confirmed in the Episode Two commentary, in which Valve's Joshua Weier states that the Magnusson Device 'started life as a Half-Life 2 weapon called the Hopwire'.[4]
As seen in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta, it was at some point possible for the player to assault Striders, ride them and take their gun after killing them. Noclipping to the Strider's head, then pressing the Use key results in the player seeing through the creature's eyes. At that point the only thing to do to free oneself is to kill the creature, for instance with the RPG (as the only way to kill a Strider in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta is by standing inside its head), or reload the game. When killing it, the Strider collapses, releasing the player. At that point, the red ERROR model appears. When walking through it, the player acquires the Immolator. This suggests the Immolator acts here as a placeholder for the Strider's warp cannon, and that resuing it was at some point considered, a role that the Combine Guard Gun was already filling. As a side note, the Immolator worldmodel exists and should appear instead of the ERROR model.
The Strider appears in two E3 maps, 'e3_strider' and 'e3_c17_02'. In the first map, several Striders were to chase gas mask Rebels through ruined streets, and one of the Striders was to destroy an arch building.[5] In the other map, more recent, similar events were to occur, with a tram passing by in the middle of the road. The reused arch building was also to be destroyed the same way. Parts of 'e3_c17_02' were reused in 'd3_c17_07' (the arch building) and 'd3_c17_13' (the street, the tram tracks and the shelter).
The Strider is an indirect successor to the Combine Super Soldier.[2]
The cut Combine Guard Gun is a similar weapon to the Strider's cannon (it was also to be used against Striders, according to the leaked game source code); the cut Vortex Hopwire also produces similar effects. The cut Black Hole Gun, originally designed for Quiver, is also similar.
In the Episode Two commentary, information is given about the spectacular battle between Dog and the Strider:
According to Valve's Ken Birdwell, the Strider for that sequence was custom built and, with big parts of it being ripped off and 'goo' being spewed everywhere, was used as a test bed for new modeling technology and Valve's new particle system introduced in Episode Two. He further adds that with their episodic process, a lot of new technology comes online throughout development. Since any new technology takes a year or more to really work out all the bugs, they like to look for isolated areas - like this one - where they can test out new things without risking all the things they already know work. They did the same thing with HDR in Lost Coast; once they are sure they did not break anything, they can move the features back into general use. Since this consider the Strider has worked out really well in that sequence, it will be the new Strider as they move forward, and they will be applying what they have learned to any new monsters in Episode Three.[4]
Bill Fletcher adds that their main goal with that scene was to create 'a cinematic battle of the titans', Dog vs. a Strider. While they were excited with the early implementations, it became obvious that players were uncertain of their role in the scene. Originally the confrontation built slowly with Dog squaring off against the Strider, but having such a slow beginning proved problematic. It looked good in the Episode Two trailer, but did not play well in the game. Instead of the slow build, the team decided to send Dog straight into action. He makes a grand entrance, jumps on the Strider and the fight begins. The quick start helps to grab the players attention instead of giving them too much time to worry about what they should be doing.[4]
According to John Guthrie, the massive Strider battle near White Forest was in production longer than any other map in Episode Two. Tuning it required many, many months of testing and iteration to address playtest feedback, and this was complicated by the fact that every time the team playtested, they saw individuals adopt completely different approaches to defeating the Striders. Some threw logs at Hunters; others relied on their Rebel companions to kill them. Some players never sprinted, while others never used the car. They tried to keep supporting all the different strategies that occurred to players, so that their experiments with tactics would be rewarding rather than frustrating. Meanwhile, they had to make sure the Strider and Hunter behaviors were consistent, and balance the experience so that it would be a satisfying game experience for all different play styles at every skill level.[4]
According to a comment section in Half-Life 2's source code, the Strider originally had a bug where its pulse cannon's damage per shot to NPCs was based directly on the ammo capacity (15), when it was assumed that original damage was 8. This was fixed in an update and finally fixed in Episode One. When shipping The Orange Box, the Strider's ammo was changed to 15 for Half-Life 2 and 5 for Episode Two.[6]
Trivia
The only way to spawn a Strider via the console is to activate 'noclip', going up to at least the creature's height, and typing into the console 'give npc_strider'. It will not use its warp cannon and will only walk if the target moves out of its line of sight and if the map has the necessary node structure.
Striders closely resemble the 'tripods' described in H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, especially the warping cannon, which is very similar to the Heat-Ray from the aforementioned novel. Earlier Strider concept art further exemplifies the similarities.
The accuracy and rate of fire of the Strider's pulse turret was increased in Episode One, but has decreased damage.
The Strider has a strange method of firing with its pulse cannon, a variation of walking (that is, firing at a point near a target and slowly aiming towards it). It seems that when it focuses on a particular enemy, it fires a long string of shots: the first ones do not hit, but unless the enemy goes behind cover, the last few will always hit. However, this has been removed in Episode One, notably in the final Strider battle.
An Orange Box Achievement, 'Giant Killer', requires surviving the Strider battle at the end of the Half-Life 2 chapter 'Follow Freeman!'. The Episode Two Achievements are 'Neighborhood Watch' and 'Defensive of the Armament'. They involve saving all the buildings outside White Forest and preventing the Striders from reaching the base, respectively.
Gunships and Striders bear the same logo on their back and head, respectively. This logo was on the back of the Overwatch Soldier's old skin (in white) and can also be seen on the shoulder of one of the Combine Synth Elite Soldier versions. Its meaning and whether it is a Combine logo or not or if it proves a closer relation between the Gunship and the Strider are unknown.
The Strider is referred to as 'he', not 'it' by Valve employees.[2][4]
If Gordon fails to defeat all the Striders attacking White Forest, the last one will destroy the antenna in a single shot. Afterwards, the message 'The rocket has been destroyed - Magnusson's misgivings about the Freeman are completely justified. - The game now ends' is shown, and the game reloads.
If a player playing Half Life 2 uses cheat codes and fires a rocket at the Strider which walks past the opening square in City 17, the rocket will harm the Strider - however it will turn towards the player and glare for a moment before moving on. This also applies in Episode One after the underground.
Knowing the Strider's offensive capabilities, they may have been used by the Combine during the Seven Hour War, possibly a more heavily armoured variation.
In Half-Life 2 and its Episodes, Striders never use their legs to kill the player. However, if played in Garry's Mod, and the player gets too close, they will kill using their long legs (only the Striders that's spawned by the map, not the ones spawned by the players).
This ability is shown and used during part of E3 2003.
Gallery
Concept art
nntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Studies of different heads.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_heads.jpg','title':'Strider heads.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_heads.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/b/b5/Strider_early4.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007112307&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Early Strider, with the head only consisting of a cannon.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_early4.jpg','title':'Strider early4.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_early4.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/5/56/Strider_early2.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007111012&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Ditto, showing a cream-white body with red markings.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_early2.jpg','title':'Strider early2.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_early2.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/a/a5/Strider_early1.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007111031&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Ditto.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_early1.jpg','title':'Strider early1.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_early1.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/8/81/Strider_early3.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007111016&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Another study with the body and the head clearly divided.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_early3.jpg','title':'Strider early3.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_early3.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/7/7f/Strider_early5.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007113611&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Concept very similar to the final version, dated 2001.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_early5.jpg','title':'Strider early5.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_early5.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/4/41/Strider_head_symbol_rtb.svg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100327181421&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Head symbol featured in the previous image, and the third of the gallery.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_head_symbol_rtb.svg','title':'Strider head symbol rtb.svg','dbKey':'Strider_head_symbol_rtb.svg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/9/9c/Gordon_Antlions_Striders_coast.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091206093621&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Gordon battling Antlions and Striders somewhere on the Coast.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Gordon_Antlions_Striders_coast.jpg','title':'Gordon Antlions Striders coast.jpg','dbKey':'Gordon_Antlions_Striders_coast.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/c/c5/Dog_vs_Strider_poster.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091012135145&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Dog vs. Strider promotional poster.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Dog_vs_Strider_poster.jpg','title':'Dog vs Strider poster.jpg','dbKey':'Dog_vs_Strider_poster.jpg'}]'>
Screenshots
Pre-release
nntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider in the ongoing battle at the foot of the Skyscraper</a>, Vertigo version.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Sky_walk0013.jpg','title':'Sky walk0013.jpg','dbKey':'Sky_walk0013.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/e/e0/HL2_Beta_Strider.png/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20150420161459&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider original model in Half-Life 2 Beta.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:HL2_Beta_Strider.png','title':'HL2 Beta Strider.png','dbKey':'HL2_Beta_Strider.png'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/d/d1/Strider_arch_oicw.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007114011&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider attacking the player in e3_strider</code>, as seen in the first Half-Life</i> trailer.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_arch_oicw.jpg','title':'Strider arch oicw.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_arch_oicw.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/9/93/E3_strider_ride.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091202235946&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Riding a Strider in the map e3_strider</code>.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:E3_strider_ride.jpg','title':'E3 strider ride.jpg','dbKey':'E3_strider_ride.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/e/e9/E3_strider_immolator_error.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091202235945&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'The Immolator worldmodel error after killing a Strider in the map e3_strider</code>.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:E3_strider_immolator_error.jpg','title':'E3 strider immolator error.jpg','dbKey':'E3_strider_immolator_error.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/8/81/E3_strider_immolator.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091202235946&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Getting and testing the Immolator in the map e3_strider</code>.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:E3_strider_immolator.jpg','title':'E3 strider immolator.jpg','dbKey':'E3_strider_immolator.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/5/5b/End_strider.png/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20120621171015&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Texture found in the playable Half-Life 2</i> Beta files, based on a Strider screenshot, originally used for the WC mappack maps 'e3_end</code>' and 'hazard01</code>'.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:End_strider.png','title':'End strider.png','dbKey':'End_strider.png'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/a/a0/0000000309.1920x1080.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20130512181739&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Early screenshot of Strider at Technical Trainstation</a> in Episode One.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:0000000309.1920x1080.jpg','title':'0000000309.1920x1080.jpg','dbKey':'0000000309.1920x1080.jpg'}]'>Skyscraper, Vertigo version.'>e3_strider, as seen in the first Half-Life trailer.'>e3_strider.'>e3_strider.'>e3_strider.'>Half-Life 2 Beta files, based on a Strider screenshot, originally used for the WC mappack maps 'e3_end' and 'hazard01'.'>Technical Trainstation in Episode One.'>
Half-Life 2
nntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Head logo.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_logo.png','title':'Strider logo.png','dbKey':'Strider_logo.png'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/8/8f/Combine_strider_standing.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20090606153856&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Model render.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Combine_strider_standing.jpg','title':'Combine strider standing.jpg','dbKey':'Combine_strider_standing.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/7/75/Strider_pulse_cannon.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100330153801&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Detail of the Strider's pulse cannon.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_pulse_cannon.jpg','title':'Strider pulse cannon.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_pulse_cannon.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/9/96/Strider_warp_cannon.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100330153802&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Detail of the Strider's warp cannon.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_warp_cannon.jpg','title':'Strider warp cannon.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_warp_cannon.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/d/d9/Strider_hit.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20090714142009&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider being hit by bullets.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_hit.jpg','title':'Strider hit.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_hit.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/3/32/Strider_fire.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20090714142022&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider firing.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_fire.jpg','title':'Strider fire.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_fire.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/0/02/D3_citadel_040291.JPG/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20090804110458&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider and Combine soldiers attacking Freeman in the Citadel.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:D3_citadel_040291.JPG','title':'D3 citadel 040291.JPG','dbKey':'D3_citadel_040291.JPG'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/0/08/Hl2_beat_c1713striderstandoff.png/revision/latest/fixed-aspect-ratio-down/width/240/height/240?cb=20090826184250&fill=transparent&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'The 'Giant Killer' Achievement logo.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Hl2_beat_c1713striderstandoff.png','title':'Hl2 beat c1713striderstandoff.png','dbKey':'Hl2_beat_c1713striderstandoff.png'}]'>
Episode One
nntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'The Strider looking for Gordon at the Technical Trainstation</a>.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Ep1_c17_060005.JPG','title':'Ep1 c17 060005.JPG','dbKey':'Ep1_c17_060005.JPG'}]'>Technical Trainstation.'>
Episode Two
nntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Dog challenging the Strider in the Episode Two</i> trailer.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Dog_challenge_strider_legs.jpg','title':'Dog challenge strider legs.jpg','dbKey':'Dog_challenge_strider_legs.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/f/f7/Ep2_outland_convoy.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100331133440&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Combine convoy in the Outlands</a>, among them Striders.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Ep2_outland_convoy.jpg','title':'Ep2 outland convoy.jpg','dbKey':'Ep2_outland_convoy.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/b/b9/Ep2_outland_05004406.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100223175310&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Detail of an Advisor Platform</a>, with a Strider on the left.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Ep2_outland_05004406.jpg','title':'Ep2 outland 05004406.jpg','dbKey':'Ep2_outland_05004406.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/1/1e/Magnade_training2.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007090833&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Dead Strider used for Magnusson Device training at White Forest.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Magnade_training2.jpg','title':'Magnade training2.jpg','dbKey':'Magnade_training2.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/e/e9/Magnade_training_view.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091007090641&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Ditto.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Magnade_training_view.jpg','title':'Magnade training view.jpg','dbKey':'Magnade_training_view.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/9/98/Episode2-strider.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100427144852&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider during the White Forest battle in the second Episode Two</i> teaser.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Episode2-strider.jpg','title':'Episode2-strider.jpg','dbKey':'Episode2-strider.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/c/c0/Strider_about_to_fire_trailer.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20100427145932&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider about to fire on the lodge near White Forest in the Episode Two</i> trailer, distorting the view around it.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_about_to_fire_trailer.jpg','title':'Strider about to fire trailer.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_about_to_fire_trailer.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/2/2e/StriderBusterKill.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20090116062417&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'A Strider being destroyed by a Strider Buster.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:StriderBusterKill.jpg','title':'StriderBusterKill.jpg','dbKey':'StriderBusterKill.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/3/31/White_forest_fail.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091208165301&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider destroying White Forest's antenna if Gordon fails to defeat all the Striders.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:White_forest_fail.jpg','title':'White forest fail.jpg','dbKey':'White_forest_fail.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/f/ff/StriderBusterPlans.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20081212153634&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'The written instructions on how to use the Magnusson Device against a Strider.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:StriderBusterPlans.jpg','title':'StriderBusterPlans.jpg','dbKey':'StriderBusterPlans.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/b/b9/Strider_inside.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091202184715&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Inside the Strider ripped open by Dog, with the brain visible.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_inside.jpg','title':'Strider inside.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_inside.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/5/52/Strider_brain_model.jpg/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20091202184715&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Strider brain model.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Strider_brain_model.jpg','title':'Strider brain model.jpg','dbKey':'Strider_brain_model.jpg'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/5/53/Ep2_beat_outland12_nobuildingsdestroyed.png/revision/latest/fixed-aspect-ratio-down/width/240/height/240?cb=20090826184210&fill=transparent&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Neighborhood Watch' Achievement logo.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Ep2_beat_outland12_nobuildingsdestroyed.png','title':'Ep2 beat outland12 nobuildingsdestroyed.png','dbKey':'Ep2_beat_outland12_nobuildingsdestroyed.png'},{'thumbUrl':'https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/7/7e/Ep2_beat_game.png/revision/latest/fixed-aspect-ratio-down/width/240/height/240?cb=20090826184207&fill=transparent&path-prefix=en','thumbHtml':'nnnntnttnntntnntntnntntnnn</picture>nntntnntnntnnn</a>nn','caption':'Defensive of the Armament' Achievement logo.','linkHref':'/wiki/File:Ep2_beat_game.png','title':'Ep2 beat game.png','dbKey':'Ep2_beat_game.png'}]'>Episode Two trailer.'>the Outlands, among them Striders.'>Advisor Platform, with a Strider on the left.'>Episode Two teaser.'>Episode Two trailer, distorting the view around it.'>
Battery · Breencast · Charger · Citadel Core · Citadel · Barricade · Binoculars · Bunker · Camera · Cell · Confiscation Field · Dark Energy · Depot · Dispenser · Door lock · Dr. Breen's Private Reserve · Elevator · Emergency flare · Emitter · Energy Ball · Field Bridge · Force Field · Heavy Door · Interface · Light · Medkit · Memory Replacement · Monitor · Overwatch Voice · Power Generator · Restrictor · Security Door · Smart Barrier · Supply Crate · Suppression Field · Teleportation · Television · The Terminal · Vehicles · Watchtower
Locations
APC garage · Citadel · Citadel Core · City 8 · City 11 · City 12 · City 13 · City 14 · City 15 · City 16 · City 17 · City 24 · City 27 · City 17 Trainstation · Combine Overworld · Depot · Gate 5 · Nova Prospekt · Overwatch Nexus · Technical Trainstation
This patch fixes a few things with the big public release. Please update to this version.
Many servers out there should already be on this version.
Enjoy
Rovastar
Change Log ----------
Initial - 2.9 - 20/JUL/2007 ---------------------
Fixed crash on changelevel where all players were saved and an invalid index returned.
Fixed server crash due to rogue console message accessing uninitialised string.
Fixed server crash due to invalid object accessed for its origin during standoff behaviour.
Fixed server crash due to invalid Active weapon object when checking for visible weapon.
Fixed server crash due to invalid follow target when trying to retrieve its origin.
Fixed client crash at end of Trainstation/Lighthouse when FF Scoreboard is displayed.
Ravenholm 12 - moved spawn points to avoid spawning in ground.
Ravenholm 22 - enabled motion on cupboards blocking secret entrance, changed mass so they are easier to move.
Half-Life 2
Developer(s)
Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)
Valve Corporation
Artist(s)
Viktor Antonov
Writer(s)
Marc Laidlaw
Composer(s)
Kelly Bailey
Series
Half-Life
Engine
Source
Platform(s)
Release
Microsoft Windows
WW: November 16, 2004
XboxXbox 360
NA: October 10, 2007
EU: October 19, 2007
AU: October 25, 2007
PlayStation 3
NA: December 11, 2007
EU: December 14, 2007
AU: December 20, 2007
Mac OS XLinux
WW: May 9, 2013
Android
Genre(s)
First-person shooter
Mode(s)
Single-player
Half-Life 2 (stylized as HλLF-LIFE2) is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to 1998's Half-Life and was released in November 2004 following a five-year $40 million development. During development, a substantial part of the project was leaked and distributed on the Internet. The game was developed alongside Valve's Steam software and the Source engine.
Taking place some years after the events of Half-Life, protagonist Gordon Freeman is awakened by the enigmatic G-Man to find the world has been taken over by the alien Combine. Joined by allies including resistance fighter Alyx Vance, Gordon searches for a way to free humanity using a variety of weapons, including the object-manipulating Gravity Gun. All retail copies of the game, as well as all initial digital versions, were bundled with Counter-Strike: Source, which some game journalists referred to as part of Half-Life 2's 'multiplayer component.'[1]
Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards its advanced physics, animation, sound, AI, graphics, and narrative, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time. The game won 39 'Game of the Year' awards and the title of 'Game of the Decade' at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, in addition to sales of 12 million copies by 2011. It was followed by two episodic sequels: Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007).
3Development
4Release
6Reception
Gameplay[edit]
A screenshot of the player engaging a group of antlions with a pulse rifle. Along the bottom of the screen, the player's health, suit charge level, and their ammunition are displayed.
Like its predecessor, Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter broken into several chapters, permanently casting the player as protagonist Gordon Freeman. The sequel has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. The player also starts without items, slowly building up their arsenal over the course of the game. Despite the game's mainly linear nature, much effort was put into making exploration rewarding and interesting; many optional areas can be missed or avoided.
A diverse set of enemies is present, which usually require being approached with different tactics: some coordinate in groups to out-maneuver or out-position the player; others, such as the Manhack, fly directly at the player through small openings and tight corridors. Others use predictable but powerful attacks, while others hide before swiftly attacking the player. Gordon can kill most enemies with his weapons, or make use of indirect means, exploiting environmental hazards such as explosive pressurized canisters, gas fires or improvised traps. For some portions of the game, Gordon can be joined by up to four armed Resistance soldiers or medics, and can send his team further from him or call them back.
Many of the game's new features utilize its detailed physics simulation. Two sections of the game involve driving vehicles. Instead of button-orientated puzzles from Half-Life, environmental puzzles are also introduced with makeshift mechanical systems, revolving around the player's new ability to pick up, move, and place objects. Solutions involve objects' physical properties, such as shape, weight, and buoyancy. For example; In chapter three, 'Route Kanal', the player is required to stack cinder blocks on a makeshift see-saw ramp to proceed over a wall. Alternatively, the player can build a crude staircase with the blocks, so the puzzle may be solved in multiple ways.
Part-way through the game, Gordon acquires the Gravity Gun, which allows him to draw distant objects towards himself or forcefully push them away, as well as the ability to manipulate larger and heavier objects that he cannot control without the weapon. These abilities are required to solve puzzles later in the game, and can also be used to great effect in combat, as any non-static object within proximity to the player has the potential to be used as a makeshift defense, such as a file cabinet, or a deadly projectile, such as a gasoline can or buzzsaw blade.
The game never separates the player with pre-rendered cutscenes or events; the story proceeds via exposition from other characters and in-world events, and the player is able to control Gordon for the entirety of the game. Much of the backstory to the game is simply alluded to, or told through the environment.
Plot[edit]
Some years after Gordon Freeman and other scientists accidentally opened a portal to a dimension of hostile aliens at the Black Mesa Research Facility, Freeman is awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man.[2][3] The portal attracted the attention of the Combine, a technologically superior multidimensional empire which conquered Earth in seven hours. The Combine have implemented a brutal police state by biologically assimilating humans and other species, and preventing humans from breeding via a 'suppression field'. The G-Man inserts Gordon into a train arriving at City 17, site of the Combine Citadel, where Dr. Wallace Breen, the former Black Mesa administrator who negotiated Earth's surrender, governs as the Combine's puppet ruler.[4]
After eluding Combine forces, Gordon joins resistance members including Barney Calhoun, a former Black Mesa security guard working undercover as a Combine police officer; Dr. Eli Vance, former Black Mesa scientist and leader of the resistance; Alyx Vance, Eli's daughter; and Dr. Kleiner, an eccentric Black Mesa scientist. After a failed attempt to teleport to the resistance base, Black Mesa East, from Kleiner's makeshift laboratory, Gordon progresses on foot through the city's canal system. He obtains an airboat and battles his way to Black Mesa East, several miles from the city.[5][6]
Gordon is reintroduced to Eli and meets another resistance scientist, Dr. Judith Mossman.[7] Alyx introduces Gordon to her pet robot D0g and gives him a 'gravity gun', an instrument which can manipulate large objects. Black Mesa East comes under Combine attack, and Eli and Mossman are taken to Nova Prospekt, a Combine prison. Separated from Alyx, Gordon detours through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm, assisted by its last survivor, Father Grigori. Escaping the town, Gordon discovers a resistance outpost, and uses a customized dune buggy to travel a crumbling coastal road to Nova Prospekt, encountering Combine patrols and helping the resistance fend off raids.
Gordon lays siege to Nova Prospekt by using pheromone pods to command the hordes of alien antlions that infest the coast. He reunites with Alyx in the prison and they locate Eli, but discover that Mossman is a Combine informant. Before they can stop her, Mossman teleports herself and Eli back to City 17's Citadel. The Combine teleporter explodes as Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.
Returning to Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed; during their absence, the resistance had fully mobilized against the Combine.[8] In battle, Alyx is captured by the Combine and taken to the Citadel; Gordon fights his way inside with the aid of D0g and Barney.[9] Gordon is then caught in a Combine 'confiscation chamber' that destroys all his weapons except the gravity gun, which is inadvertently supercharged by the forcefield, allowing Gordon to fight his way up the Citadel.
Gordon is eventually captured in a Combine transport pod and taken to Breen's office, where he and Mossman are waiting with Eli and Alyx in captivity. Breen explains his plans to further conquer humanity with the Combine, contrary to what he told Mossman.[10] Angered, Mossman frees Gordon, Alyx, and Eli before Breen can teleport them off-world. Breen tries to escape through a portal, but Gordon destroys the portal reactor with the gravity gun. Just before the Citadel is destroyed in an ensuing explosion, time is frozen. The G-Man reappears, praising Gordon for his actions in City 17. Making vague mention of 'offers for [Gordon's] services', the G-Man places him back into stasis.[11]
Half Life 2 Follow Freeman Crash Videos
Development[edit]
A square in City 17, showing the Source engine's lighting and shadow effects
For Half-Life 2, Valve developed a new game engine, Source, 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 further interactivity.[12] When coupled with Steam, it becomes easy to roll out new features. One such example is high dynamic range rendering, which Valve first demonstrated in a free downloadable level called Lost Coast for owners of Half-Life 2.[13] Several other games use the Source engine, including Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source, both of which were also developed by Valve.[14]
Many elements were cut from the game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a darker game with grittier art direction, where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gases. Many environments were changed during development as well. City 17 was to resemble Industrial New York as opposed to the retail release's Soviet Europe influence (designer Viktor Antonov said to have been inspired by his childhood in Sofia under communist Bulgaria)[15] and Nova Prospekt was originally intended to be a small Combine rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland. Eventually, Nova Prospekt grew from a stopping-off point along the way to the destination itself.[16]
Leak[edit]
Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 in May 2003, where it won several awards for best in show. Originally scheduled for release in September 2003, it was delayed in the wake of the cracking of Valve's internal network.[17] The network was accessed through a null session connection to a server owned by Tangis, which was hosted in Valve's network, and a subsequent upload of an ASP shell. This resulted in the leak of the Half-Life 2source code and many other files including maps, models and a playable early version of the game in early September 2003.[18] On October 2, 2003, Valve CEO Gabe Newell publicly revealed on Half-Life fan forums[19] the events that Valve experienced around the time of the leak, and asked users to help find the perpetrators.
In June 2004, Valve Software announced in a press release that the FBI had arrested several people suspected of involvement in the leak.[20] Valve claimed it was leaked by a German black-hat hacker named Axel 'Ago' Gembe. After the leak, Gembe had contacted Newell through email (also providing an unreleased document planning the E3 events).[21] Newell kept corresponding with Gembe, and Gembe was led to believe that Valve wanted to employ him as an in-house security auditor. He was to be offered a flight to the US and was to be arrested on arrival by the FBI. When the German government became aware of the plan, Gembe was arrested in Germany instead, and put on trial for the leak as well as other computer crimes in November 2006, such as the creation of Agobot, a highly successful trojan virus which harvested users' data.[22][23][24] At the trial in November 2006 in Germany, Gembe was sentenced to two years' probation. The judge took into account such factors as Gembe's difficult childhood and the fact that he was taking steps to improve his situation.[23]
Release[edit]
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'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 entire 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.[25]
Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD, 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 (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine). The collector's edition/'Gold' version additionally includes merchandise, such as a T-shirt, a strategy guide and CD containing the soundtrack used in Half-Life 2. Both the disc and Steam versions require Steam to be installed and active for play to occur.[26] The retail copies of the game came in two versions, standard and Collector's Edition; these had identical content to the 'Bronze' and 'Gold' packages respectively.[27]
A demo version with the file size of a single CD was later made available in December 2004 at the web site of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains a portion of two chapters: Point Insertion and 'We Don't Go To Ravenholm..'. This demo is currently available on Steam. 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 Game of the Year edition also includes Half-Life: Source.[28]
Cyber café dispute[edit]
On September 20, 2004, GameSpot reported that Sierra's parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, was in a legal battle with Valve over the distribution of Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés. Cyber cafés are important for the Asian PC gaming market where PC and broadband penetration per capita are much lower (except Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan).[29]
According to Vivendi Universal Games, the distribution contract they signed with Valve included cyber cafés. This would mean that only Vivendi Universal Games could distribute Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés — not Valve through the Steam system. On November 29, 2004, Judge Thomas S. Zilly, of U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington, ruled that Vivendi Universal Games and its affiliates are not authorized to distribute (directly or indirectly) Valve games through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties' current publishing agreement. In addition, Judge Zilly ruled in favor of the Valve motion regarding the contractual limitation of liability, allowing Valve to recover copyright damages for any infringement as allowed by law without regard to the publishing agreement's limitation of liability clause.[30]
On April 29, 2005, the two parties announced a settlement agreement. Vivendi Universal Games would cease distributing all retail packaged versions of Valve games by August 31, 2005. Vivendi Universal Games also was to notify distributors and cyber cafés that had been licensed by Vivendi Universal Games that only Valve had the authority to distribute cyber café licenses, and hence their licenses were revoked and switched to Valve's.[31]
Ports and updates[edit]
On December 22, 2005, Valve released a 64-bit version of the Source game engine for x86-64 processor-based systems running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows Vista x64, or Windows Server 2008 x64. This update, delivered via Steam, enabled Half-Life 2 and other Source-based games to run natively on 64-bit processors, bypassing the 32-bit compatibility layer. 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.[32] 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.[33] At the time of release, 64-bit users 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.[34][35]
Valve partnered with Taito to release Half-Life 2: Survivor, an arcade game version of the game for the Japanese market in 2006.[36][37] During Electronic Arts' summer press event on July 13, 2006, Gabe Newell announced that Half-Life 2 would ship on next-generation consoles (specifically, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) along with episodes One and Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal[38] in a package called The Orange Box. The Windows version was released on October 10, 2007, as both a retail boxed copy, and as a download available through Valve's Steam service. The Xbox 360 version was also released on October 10, 2007. A PlayStation 3 version was released on December 11, 2007.[39]
On May 26, 2010, Half-Life 2, along with Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two, was released for Mac OS X.[40]Portal was made available for the platform on May 13, 2010, and despite the notable absence of Team Fortress 2 on the platform, Valve began selling The Orange Box for OS X on May 26, 2010. OS X support for Team Fortress 2 was added on June 10, 2010, completing the package.[41] In May 2013, Valve released a beta update to Half-Life 2 which included support for the Oculus Riftvirtual reality headset, with a full release of the feature coming later that year in June.[42]
An NVIDIA Shield-exclusive port for Android was released on May 12, 2014.[43]
Soundtrack[edit]
The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2
Soundtrack album by
Released
2004
Recorded
1997−2003
Genre
Electronic,[44]ambient[44]
Length
60:18
Album ratings
Review scores
Source
Rating
IGN
7/10[44]
Purchasers of the Gold Package[45] of the game were given (among other things) a CD soundtrack, titled The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2, containing nearly all the music from the game, along with three bonus tracks. This CD was available for separate purchase via the Valve online store. The soundtrack was re-released in 2014 for use in Steam Music.[46]
Tracks 15, 16, 18 and 42 are bonus tracks that are exclusive to the CD soundtrack. Many of the tracks were retitled and carried over from the Half-Life soundtrack; the names in parentheses are the original titles. Tracks 34, 41, and 42 are remixes. The composer of the soundtrack is Kelly Bailey.[47][48]
'Something Secret Steers Us (Nuclear Mission Jam)'
02:00
41.
'Triple Entanglement (Sirens in the Distance)'
01:30
42.
'Biozeminade Fragment (Alien Shock)'
00:30
43.
'Lambda Core (Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar)'
01:44
Reception[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator
Score
Metacritic
96/100 (PC)[49] 90/100 (Xbox)[50]
Review scores
Publication
Score
AllGame
[51]
Edge
10/10 (PC)[52]
Eurogamer
10/10 (PC)[53] 9/10 (Xbox)[54]
GamePro
(PC)[55]
GameSpot
9.2/10 (PC)[56]
GameSpy
[57]
GamesRadar+
[58]
IGN
9.7/10 (PC)[59]
Maximum PC
11/10[60]
PC Gamer (US)
98%[61]
VideoGamer.com
10/10[62]
The Cincinnati Enquirer
[63]
The New York Times
Positive[64]
Half-Life 2 received critical acclaim upon release, gaining an aggregated score of 96/100 on Metacritic.[49] Sources, such as GameSpy,[57]The Cincinnati Enquirer,[63]The New York Times,[64] and VideoGamer.com,[62] have given perfect reviewing scores, and others, such as PC Gamer,[61]IGN,[59]GamesRadar,[58] and Eurogamer,[53][54] gave near-perfect scores, while the game became the fifth title to receive Edge magazine's ten-out-of-ten score.[52] Critics who applauded the game cited the advanced graphics and physics.[55][64]Maximum PC awarded Half-Life 2 an exaggerated, unprecedented 11 on their rating scale which normally peaks at 10, calling it 'the best game ever made'.[60]
In the United States, Half-Life 2's computer version sold 680,000 copies and earned $34.3 million by August 2006. It was the country's 17th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006.[65] It received a 'Platinum' sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[66] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[67]Forbes reported on February 9, 2011 that the game had sold 12 million copies worldwide.[68]
In a review of The Orange Box, IGN stated that although Half-Life 2 has already been released through other mediums, the game itself is still enjoyable on a console. They also noted that the physics of Half-Life 2 are very impressive despite being a console title. However, it was noted that the graphics on the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 were not as impressive as when the title was released on the PC.[69] GameSpot's review of The Orange Box noticed that the content of both the Xbox 360 releases, and PlayStation 3 releases were exactly alike, the only issue with the PlayStation 3 version was that it had noticeable frame-rate hiccups. GameSpot continued to say that the frame rates issues were only minor but some consider them to be a significant irritation.[56]
Several critics, including some that had given positive reviews, complained about the required usage of the program Steam, the requirement to create an account, register the products, and permanently lock them to the account before being allowed to play, along with installation difficulties and lack of support.[64]
The editors of Computer Gaming World nominated Half-Life 2 for their 2004 'Single-Player Shooter of the Year' and overall 'Game of the Year' awards, although it lost to Painkiller and World of Warcraft, respectively. They wrote, 'Half-Life 2, everyone's default pick to win this year, is indeed a fantastic roller coaster of a ride, not as great as the original but still leagues above most other shooters.'[70]
Awards[edit]
Half-Life 2 earned 39 Game of the Year awards,[71] 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. Edge magazine awarded Half Life 2 with its top honor of the year with the award for Best Game, as well as awards for Innovation and Visual Design. The game also had a strong showing at the 2004 British Academy Video Games Awards, picking up six awards, more than any other game that night, with awards including 'Best Game' and 'Best Online and Multiplayer.'[72]Computer Games Magazine named Half-Life 2 the fourth-best computer game of 2004. The editors call it 'a masterful single-player experience that plays a constant game of one-upmanship with itself.' It won the magazine's 'Best Technology' and 'Best Writing' awards, and was a runner-up in the 'Best Sound Effects', 'Best AI' and 'Best Voice Acting' categories.[73]
Guinness World Records awarded Half-Life 2 the world record for 'Highest Rated Shooter by PC Gamer Magazine' in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. Other records awarded the game in the book include, 'Largest Digital Distribution Channel' for Valve's Steam service, 'First Game to Feature a Gravity Gun', and 'First PC Game to Feature Developer Commentary'.[74] In 2009, Game Informer put Half-Life 2 5th on their list of 'The Top 200 Games of All Time', saying that 'With Half-Life 2, Valve redefined the way first-person shooters were created'.[75]
Half-Life 2 was selected by readers of The Guardian as the best game of the decade, with praise given especially to the environment design throughout the game. According to the newspaper, it 'pushed the envelope for the genre, and set a new high watermark for FPS narrative'. One author commented: 'Half-Life 2 always felt like the European arthouse answer to the Hollywood bluster of Halo and Call of Duty'.[76]Half-Life 2 won Crispy Gamer's Game of the Decade[77] tournament style poll. It also won Reviews on the Run's,[78] IGN's[79] Best Game of the Decade and Spike Video Game Awards 2012 Game of the Decade.[80]
Mods[edit]
Since the release of the Source engine SDK, a large number of modifications (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 Rock 24, Half-Life 2 Substance and SMOD (which modify the storyline and gameplay of the pre-existing game), SourceForts and Garry's Mod (which allow the player to experiment with the physics system in a sandbox mode), to total conversions such as Black Mesa, Dystopia, Zombie Master or Iron Grip: The Oppression, the last of which transforms the game from a first-person shooter into a real-time strategy game.[81][82] Some mods take place in the Half-Life universe; others in completely original settings. Many more mods are still in development, including Lift, The Myriad, Operation Black Mesa, and the episodic single-player mod Minerva.[83] Several multiplayer mods, such as Pirates, Vikings and Knights II, a predominately sword-fighting game; Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, which focuses on realistic modern infantry combat; and Jailbreak Source have been opened to the public as a beta.[84][85] As part of its community support, Valve announced in September 2008 that several mods, with more planned in the future, were being integrated into the Steamworks program, allowing the mods to make full use of Steam's distribution and update capabilities.[86]
Sequels[edit]
Since the release of Half-Life 2, Valve Corporation has released an additional level and two additional 'expansion' sequels. The level, released as Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, was meant to take place between the levels 'Highway 17' and 'Sandtraps'.[87] It serves primarily as a showcase for high-dynamic-range rendering (HDR) technology. The first expansion sequel, Half-Life 2: Episode One, takes place immediately after the events of Half-Life 2, with the player taking on the role of Gordon Freeman once again and with Alyx Vance playing a more prominent role. Half-Life 2: Episode Two continues directly from the ending of Episode One, with Alyx and Gordon making their way to White Forest Missile base, a hideout of the resistance. A third episode is set to be released in the future, completing an intended trilogy.[88] In a June 2006 interview with Eurogamer, Gabe Newell revealed that the Half-Life 2 'episodes' are essentially Half-Life 3.[89] He reasons that rather than force fans to wait another six years for a full sequel, Valve Corporation would release the game in episodic installments.[89] Newell stated that a more accurate title for these episodes would have been 'Half-Life 3: Episode One' and so forth, having referred to the episodes as Half-Life 3 repeatedly throughout the interview.[89] In a May 2011 interview with Develop, Newell stated that the episodic model had been replaced by even shorter development cycles and continuous updates via Steam.[90]
References[edit]
^Thorsen, Tor. 'Valve readying Half-Life 2 bundles; Counter-Strike: Source available next week.' Gamespot. September 29, 2004.
^Bell, Joe Grant (1998-11-25). Half-Life: Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games. ISBN978-0-7615-1360-5.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 1: Point Insertion. The G-Man: [at the start of the game, over a psychedelic series of images calling back to Half-Life and forward to the final chapters] Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman. Rise and..shine. Not that I wish..to imply that you have been sleeping on..the job. No one is more deserving of a rest, and all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until..well..let's just say your hour has come again. [..] The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference..in the world. So, wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and..smell the ashes..
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 5: Black Mesa East. Dr. Eli Vance: [when Gordon looks at a board of news clippings involving the Seven Hour War] Doctor Breen. He's the administrator of this whole, vile business now. He ended the Seven Hours War by managing the Earth's..surrender. The Combine rewarded him with power.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 2: 'A Red Letter Day'. Isaac Kleiner: What do you mean, 'he's not there'?! / Eli Vance: He didn't come through! / Dr. Kleiner: Then..where is he?! / Eli: [noticing Gordon just outside of the window] Behind you. / Dr. Kleiner: [turns] AH! / Eli: Shut it down, shut it down! / Dr. Kleiner: Gordon! You must get out of here! RUN! / Barney Calhoun: Get down outta sight! I'll come find you!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 2: 'A Red Letter Day'. Barney: Hey, Gordon! The Citadel's on full alert, I've never seen it lit up like that! Get out of City 17 as fast as you can, Gordon! Take the old canals, right? They'll take you to Eli's place. It's a dangerous route, bu there's a whole network of refugees, and they'll help you if they can. I'd come with you, but I've gotta look after Doctor Kleiner. Oh, and before I forget--[picks up a crowbar]—I think you dropped this back at Black Mesa! [drops the crowbar to Gordon] Good luck out there, buddy! You're gonna need it.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 5: Black Mesa East. Dr. Eli Vance: Now, let's see: the last time I saw you, I sent you up for help after the resonance cascade. Heh, I never though it would take you this long to get back to me!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 9a: Entanglement. Isaac Kleiner: [shocked] Alyx? Gordon?! My god, how did you two get here? And when? / Alyx Vance: Uh, are you okay? / Dr. Kleiner: My dear, I had given up all hope of ever seeing you again! / Alyx Vance: [to Gordon] I was afraid we might not make it, either.. [to Kleiner] I think the teleport exploded just as we were going out. / Dr. Kleiner: Indeed it did, and the repercussions were felt for miles, but..that was over a week ago!
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 11: 'Follow Freeman!'. Barney: And if you see Dr. Breen, tell him I said, 'F*** [D0g drops the strut with a resounding crash.] you!'
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 13: Dark Energy. Dr. Breen: Having both of you in my keeping ensures I can dictate the terms of any bargain I care to make with the Combine.
^Valve Corporation (2004-11-16). Half-Life 2. Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X. Valve Corporation. Level/area: Chapter 13: Dark Energy. G-Man: Time, Doctor Freeman? Is it really that..time again? It seems as if you only just arrived. ['walks out' from the explosion] You have done a great deal in a small time..span. You've done so well, in fact, that I've received some interesting offers for your services. Ordinarily, I wouldn't contemplate them, but these are extra..ordinary times. Rather than offer you the illusion of free choice [like last time], I will take the liberty of choosing for you..if and when your time comes around again. / [The G-Man extracts Gordon from the Citadel and re-enters the 'black void' from the beginning of the game.] / G-Man: I..do apologize for what must seem to you an 'arbitrary imposition', Dr. Freeman. I trust it will all make sense to you in the course of..well, I'm really not at liberty to say. In the meantime..this is where I get off.[smiles, then walks away]
^Fudge, James (2004-03-25). 'Havok's Half-Life 2 Marketing Campaign'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^Surette, Tim (2005-10-27). 'Half-Life 2 finds Lost Coast'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^Tang, Lee Yu (2005-12-29). 'Impressive add-on to Day of Defeat'. New Straits Times.
^Antonov, Viktor (February 2019). 'Viktor Antonov, directeur artistique et concepteur visuel de jeux vidéo'. L'1nterview n°2 (Interview). Interviewed by Pierre Gaultier. Paris. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
^Hodgson, David (2004). Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. Prima Games. ISBN978-0-7615-4364-0.
^'Half Life 2 Source-Code Leak Delays Debut'. TechNewsWorld. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
^'Playable Version of Half-Life 2 Stolen'. CNN Money. 2003-10-07. Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
^'I need the assistance of the community'. 2003-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
^'Phatbot man linked with Half-Life 2 leak'. play.tm. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
^Parkin, Simon (2011-02-21). 'The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2 - The story behind the $250 million robbery'. www.eurogamer.net. Archived from the original on 2013-08-30. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
^ ab'How Legal Codes Can Hinder Hacker Cases — WSJ.com'. Wall Street Journal Online. Archived from the original on 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
^Hacker Hitmen - Cyber Attacks Used to Be for Thrill Seekers. Now They're About Money.Archived 2006-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
^Adams, David (2004-08-18). 'Gabe Newell on CS: Source, HL2 Preloads'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^Autrijve, Rainier Van (2004-10-06). 'Blow Off Some Steam and Pre-Order Half-Life 2 (PC)'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^Thorsen, Tor. 'Valve readying Half-Life 2 bundles; Counter-Strike: Source available next week.' Gamespot. September 29, 2004.
^'Half-Life 2 Demo now available'. ATI. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve vs. Vivendi dogfight heats up in US District Court'. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'Half-Life 2 maker wins legal case'. BBC. 2004-11-30. Archived from the original on 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve cyber café program'. Archived from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
^'Valve unveils 64-bit source (TM) gaming technology developed in conjunction with'. Steam Powered. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010. Retrieved March 23, 2006.
^Williams, Rob. 'Review: Half-Life 2: 64-Bit — Reason to get excited?'. Techgage. Archived from the original on 2006-11-16. Retrieved 2006-03-23.
^'Latest Steam Update — Half-Life 2 x64 Broken'. PlanetAMD64. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'A Bunch of Finger Pointing'. Half-Life 2: Episode One Error Reports. Valve Developer Community. 2006-06-04. Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
^'Half-Life 2 to hit Japanese arcades'. GameSpot. November 29, 2005. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
^Gantayat, Anoop (February 17, 2006). 'AOU 2006: Half-Life 2 Survivor Debuts'. IGN. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
^Thorson, Tor (2006-08-24). 'Half-Life 2: Episode Two pushed to 2007?'. GameSpot. CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Orange Box packs action, value'. USA Today. 2007-10-18. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
^'Valve to Deliver Steam & Source on the Mac'. Valve Corporation. 2010-03-08. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
^'Valve updates TF2 with Mac support'. Valve Corporation. Archived from the original on 2010-12-15.
^Blagdon, Jeff (May 10, 2013). 'Valve gives 'Half-Life 2' official Oculus Rift support'. Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
^Salov, Vlav (May 12, 2014). ''Half-Life 2' and 'Portal' arrive on Android, but only for the Shield'. The Verge. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
^ abc'IGN Review of Half-Life 2 Soundtrack'. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
^'Half Life 2 Packages Revealed - IGN'. 2013-09-27.
^'Introducing the Steam Music Player'. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
^'Kelly Bailey – Half-Life 2 Soundtrack'. Discogs. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^'Half-Life ² – Kelly Bailey'. Last.fm. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ ab'Half-Life 2'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Half-Life 2 (Xbox)'. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
^Hoogland, Mark. 'Half Life 2 Review'. AllGame. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
^ ab'Reviews Database'. Edge Online. Archived from the original on 2007-04-29. Retrieved September 3, 2006.
^ abKristan Reed (18 November 2004). 'Half-Life 2 PC Review'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
^ abKristan Reed (21 November 2005). 'Half-Life 2 Xbox Review'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 - Australian Review (Reviews)'. GamePro. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved May 21, 2006.
^ abOcampo, Jason (2007-12-12). 'The Orange Box Review for PlayStation 3'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 review'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 28, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ abJohn Brandon (18 December 2007). 'Half-Life 2 Review'. GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on May 24, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ ab'Half-Life 2 Review'(PDF). Maximum PC. January 2005. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
^ ab'Half-Life 2'. PC Gamer: 48. December 2004.
^ abRobert Dick (14 December 2004). 'Half-Life 2' Review'. VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
^ ab'Half-Life 2: A Tech Masterpiece'. Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on March 16, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^ abcdHerold, Charles (2004-11-25). 'A Big Sequel That's Worthy of Its Lineage'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
^Edge Staff (August 25, 2006). 'The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century'. Edge. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
^'ELSPA Sales Awards: Platinum'. Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009.
^Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). 'ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017.
^Chiang, Oliver (2011-02-28). 'The Master of Online Mayhem'. Forbes. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13.
^Goldstein, Hilary (2007-10-09). 'The Orange Box Review'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-04-18. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
^Editors of CGW (March 2005). '2004 Games of the Year'. Computer Gaming World (249): 56–67.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
^'Valve Awards'. Valve Corporation. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
^'Half-Life 2 sweeps Bafta awards'. BBC News. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on November 13, 2005. Retrieved May 22, 2006.
^Staff (March 2005). 'The Best of 2004; The 14th Annual Computer Games Awards'. Computer Games Magazine (172): 48–56.
^Snow, Blake (2008-01-28). 'Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition comes Mar. 11'. GamePro. Archived from the original on 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
^The Game Informer staff (December 2009). 'The Top 200 Games of All Time'. Game Informer (200): 44–79. ISSN1067-6392. OCLC27315596.
^Stuart, Keith (2009-12-17). 'The Gamesblog 50 games of the Noughties: number one'. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
^'Game of the Decade: Championship Round'. CrispyGamer. 2009-12-11. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
^'Best Games of 2004'. Reviewsontherun. Retrieved 2010-04-05.[permanent dead link]'Video Game Awards'. December 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-12-23.
^'Best Games Overall'. IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^'Backstage with Game of the Decade and Game of the Year Winners'. Spike. 7 December 2012. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
^Young, Tom (2006-01-27). 'Source Forts'. Planet Half-Life. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^Francis, Tom (2006-12-19). 'Garry's Mod Review'. PC Gamer. CVG. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^PC Zone Staff (2006-08-08). 'Half-Life 2 Minerva mod'. CVG. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
^Rogers, Thomas (2008-02-18). 'Pirates, Vikings, & Knights II Beta 2.0'. Planet Half-Life. Archived from the original on 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
^'Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat'. Insurgency Team. Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2008.
^'Steam News Update Friday, September 26, 2008'. Steam. Valve Corporation. 2008-09-26. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
^Tom Bramwell (8 February 2005). 'HL2 DM, CS Source, HL2 Single-Player Updates Soon'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
^'Half-Life 2: Episode One gold, Two dated, Three announced'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 25, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
^ abc'Interview — Opening the Valve'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
^'The Valve manifesto, interview by Develop'. Develop. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
External links[edit]
Listen to this article (info/dl)
This audio file was created from a revision of the article 'Half-Life 2' dated 2006-12-22, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Half-Life 2 (2004)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Half-Life_2&oldid=904081413'
