Half-Life for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

Half-Life is a truly wonderful game. Simple proof: Nearly TEN years after its release, with a sequel already come and gone and an entire new generation of console gaming well on its way, Half-Life is still a game that I would happily take the time to play, leaving my beautiful 360 sitting sad and unused.

Half-Life is an extremely immersive first person experience. Part shooter and part platformer, the game places the player in the role of Gordon Freedman, an MIT Physicist working in a huge laboratory when something goes horribly wrong. The player spends most of the game navigating and solving simple puzzles in a fairly linear scientific lab environment, killing aliens and rescuing stranded scientists and security guards. These NPCs often help the player by opening secure doors and providing backup during fire fights.

So much of this games reminds me of aspects of current FPSs: The light on the gun with the diminishing battery (Quake 4), the strange alien weapons (Prey), a spooky guy who makes appearances in the background (F.E.A.R.), etc. Half-Life's targeting system, however, is unlike any of the more recent FPSs that I can think of, and it definitely takes some getting used to. The default control scheme for the game is so terribly strange that I would recommend making HUGE changes through the options menu (eg. targeting with L1, jumping with X, etc.).

The only real downside of the game is the graphics; they are terrible by today's standards. The platformer aspects of the game are, as with all first person such games, difficult. Jumping around on moving blocks is just hard when you can't see the entire character. Still, it is decidedly better than the recent Call of Juarez, which also made a stab at having platformer moments in a first person game.

All in all a great game! I would pay $35 bucks for this game. It's fairly long, very enjoyable, and if you can forget the graphics, a next gen experience. A perfect rent!!