I was considering buying Half-life 2, but the reviews on Amazon.co.uk have made me think twice,

Things like:

"OK, now onto the bad points: the gameplay is lacklustre and offers absolutely nothing new over any 3rd person game released in the past year"

"I kid you not, the game is so predictable and boring in parts, I almost fell asleep."

Is this true? I wasn't a fan of the original Half-life (got bored of it very quickly),I never really got into the whole Counter Strike thing either, not to mention my wireless internet connection on my gaming computer is somewhat intermittent and unpredictable. Can you play HL2 single player without an internet connection?

I got sucked into the Doom3 hype too, bought it quite soon after release and was disapointed with the gameplay.

Is Half-life 2 just another one of a long list of linear 3d shooters?

What good things has it got going for it?

AMD Athlon XP2200+
Aero7 lite
512mb Crucial pc2700
Abit NF7-s V2.0
80GB Seagate SATA
120GB Seagate SATA
Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb
Benq FP767-12 17" 12ms
SB live 5.1 Digital

You are required to have an internet connection to play Half-Life. It takes very long (hours for me) to download all the updates on dial-up. You are forced to download all updates before playing. It is a high-security thing so that people who loaned the legal copy from a friend don't just simply "install and download the crack" and are good to go. Half-Life 2 is dang near impossible to crack.

My friend, you should learn to download demos and read reliable reviews before buying a game. Hopefully you have a fast internet connection. I too was sucked into the hype of Doom 3. Luckily , though i got my hands on a copy of the demo and discovered 2 things: great graphics and horrible gameplay.

I bought Half-Life knowing that it was going to be a good game. here are the specs in short:

cons: -short, about 12-15 hours for me
-comparitevly worse plot then Half-Life 1
-enemy AI did not live up to expectations
-some do not like the feel of the early weapons you aquire (it takes a while before you get a good, accurate rifle)

pros: +way better gameplay then Doom 3, a genuinely fun shooter n +i like Half-Life 2 better than the first (i only played 1 level of the first)
+arguably the best-looking shooter out there (kinda liked the water in FarCry)
+plot is very engaging regardless
+CS:S for free

You can download the demo from www.gamespot.com, the best thing about this game though i think is that it comes with Counter Strike: Source. I didn't really like this at first but then i grew to really love it. CSS has updated graphics engine that runs very fast on a Ti4200 and looks great. CSS was designed around gameplay and started life as a mod.

My recommendation: i'd say that Half-Life 2 is A GREAT BUY!!

Also i forgot to mention that as in all shooters the later levels get a little boring but gain interest later on, though this trait is not as strong as it was with FarCry.

i've never been a big 1st person shooter either (my earliest gaming experiences started with Kings Quest VII, the whole Myst series, Obsidian, Angel Devoid, etc.). However, I thoroughly loved Far Cry for it's storyline and graphics, and the 1st person shooter genre has grown on me a bit. I can still see how Doom 3 would be boring, because i've played the demo and it really is just shooting stuff. Half Life 2, however, is much more. There's a lotta stuff to figure out (gaining access to areas via explosions, box stacking, and the use of this huge magnetic crane just to name a few). And the storyline is awesome so far too (i have yet to beat it).

I'd recommend it.

Half-Lide 2 is insane, definityl worth the buy

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1024 Hyper X Mb
eVGA 6800 GT

Half-Life 2 is one of the best PC games I've ever played

CS Tip #1 - Don't try to shoot with a knife

just finished playing it on medium difficulty
I thought Farcry was the best FPS ever
but sorry

Half Life 2 is the best so far....

Far Cry, Doom 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, Grand Prix 4

HL2 is no better than the first (shorter actually). So the eye and ear candy has been improved. Apart from that HF2 has the same crappy loose movement/control, the same linear gameplay, the same overkill of trigger initiated attacking A.I. and for the most part the same music (pathetic). The only thing going for HL2 is the quality of the visuals and effects. In some parts of the game, its almost cinematic. However, the game suffers gameplay problems, like stupid freindly A.I. No steath or very little opportunity to kill from long-range. Nevertheless, when compared with what else there is in the market, the game still manages to entertain. If you don't need the lasted and greatest, then wait a year or two for the price to fall. Then you can pick up HF2 for 19.99.