Wow, yes one word describes this game perfectly. Wow. (No, not world of warcraft, ya losers). Well, here's another game I picked up not long ago and I am greatly impressed. Once again Gordon Freeman must kick some serious a** no matter how nerdy he may look, cause nerdy people can kill too.

Okay let's start this badboy.

Graphics: Oh sweet deities how you've blessed us. Half-life 2 has some of the greatest graphics around with great texture and coloring. The facial renders are simply something to gawk at alone then the look of the levels are magnificent as well. The over all ambiance of the levels, lighting, and design all tie into make one visual masterpiece.

Sound: Music ties in well with it's own ambiance. There's hardly a dull moment in this game as you can kept on edge or in the perfect state of peace from the sounds. But not only is the music great but the voice overs, gun effects and other sound effects are simply the best they can get.

Design: One thing I love about this game is that it all ties in. There's no going from one level to another, it's just all one big map. And if you do go from one level to another it's by teleporters which if you recall in HL1 caused this whole mess. But level designs, vehicle designs, items and characters are all done with such care and attetion it makes the game pleasing.

Control: Controling is fairly simple as it follows the basic and proven friendly feature of the "WASD" control style as is with most FPS' on PC. So nothing to complicated.

Gameplay: There's many ways to go about your current objective so there's not limitation to this game. Go guns blazing or use the conservative route and use cover, it doesn't matter, you're still going to own some combine a**. But one thing I must touch on which really makes this game, is it's pshyics engine. Virtually everything in the game can be moved or picked up as they have weight properties allowing gordon to pick up items and throw them. This feature makes way for many puzzles in the game which require alot of thought at times.

Overall: This game is a must have for anyone with a decent computer as it's one of the greatest games on the market. The only drawback is the requirement of having an internet connection to play it as it's from the steam network, but hey. Atleast installation's only five discs instead of playing the game off of twenty.

Personal Rating: 9.5/10