I was surprised how the game combines so many different styles - first you start out in a bleak future-world reminiscent of "1984" and you join the resistance to fight the fascist ruling. Apart from Steam (the worst idea ever conceived by any gaming company) "HL2" delivers non-stop. The irony is that the game has made its way online anyway while people such as myself who purchased it often experience troubles with Steam because if you forget your password, or someone else uses it before you, you have to buy another copy of the game and they won't just replace the password itself. I was on a 2001 PC with outdated specs and had dial-up - Steam (which is a major pain and the only downside to this game) takes forever to download mandatory updates and "decryption" files in an effort to cut back on Internet piracy. When I first got the game I couldn't play it. And with the advancements in technology since the first game, "Half-Life 2" takes advantage of this to its fullest. Valve - as they first did with the original "Half-Life" - provides similar scenes of plotting and character dialogue, but you never leave the POV of Dr.
Curiously enough "Doom 3" received more attention for blending cinema with gaming but I think "Half-Life 2" did so much better - there aren't cheesy cut-away scenes such as there are in "Doom 3" (which was still a fine game) and you actually feel like you ARE in an alternate reality. Its plot is better than 90% of action films today and it seamlessly blends realism with science-fiction. This is the game that will blow away those of us who always thought games were simplistic. There will always be the classic arcade games and the great Mario games for NES - but "Half-Life 2" takes gaming into a new dimension. For someone such as myself, who had taken a long hiatus from gaming, this was a refreshing revolution of the medium. "Half-Life 2" really elevates videogames to a new art form.
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