Half-Life 2

I had the opportunity to watch The Empire Strikes Back again recently and it's a bit odd to think about how that must have seemed at the time as a followup to Star Wars. It opens on a snowy planet effectively lined with trenches and neither Cloud City nor Dagobah feel like a repeat of Tattooine. There are new ships, new Force powers, new aliens. It would presumably have been easy to just retread familiar territory but they decided to try something new and different. By doing that, they retroactively add to the world of the original to make something that feels three-dimensional. Half-Life 2 is a sequel like that. 

Despite the fact I've loved the original Half-Life for a long time and have deeply enjoyed every other Valve game I've played, a part of me has always been worried that Half-Life 2 was just an artifact of its time, a "great for 2004" game that's been left in the dust by modern releases. I was wrong. This game rules.

The main menu seems to change based on where you are in the game, which is a nice touch.

The fact it must have been "great for 2004" also makes me appreciate it even more. Tossing explosive barrels at enemies, catching grenades and throwing them back, hiding behind boxes for cover, there's a dynamism to this game that's still very fun to engage with. Sure, Havok may seem commonplace nowadays but in 2004? At a time when I was only playing PS2 platformers and racing games? It would have seemed revolutionary. City 17 (on modern hardware, to be fair) is still visually striking, and despite the fact that models and textures may not be as high-fidelity as recent releases, there's a certain grit and texture to this world that still feels immersive in 2022.

That grit, too, speaks to another interesting thing about this game. On a surface level at least, it's very different from the first game. The original Half-Life is about a scientist fighting aliens, and then soldiers,  (and then ninjas, and then more aliens) through sterile science labs and canyons, while this followup is a much more urban affair. It feels Star Wars-y, in a way, but only in that it feels like it's pulling from some of the same wartime inspirations as that.

It feels distinct. Valve could have easily made something with a similar aesthetic to the first game (and, thinking about it, 2007's Portal may as well be set in Black Mesa) but they wanted to make something that would stand on its own apart from the first game and they certainly succeeded.

Even with all of that, it's still Half-Life. Kleiner and Barney are here as stand-ins for the scientists and guards you'd run into in Black Mesa, you still have your crowbar and your HEV suit. And there are lots and lots of headcrabs in vents. 

For a long time I've assumed Half-Life 2 was a completely separate thing from the original. Maybe due to my time with other Source games (and lots and lots of Garry's Mod videos) I had expected Half-Life 2 to be something grander and wider in scope than it actually was, while it was sort of just more Half-Life. 

I know it must sound like I'm contradicting myself by praising it for trying new things while recognizing it's more of the same, but it strikes an excellent balance between the two that I feel very few sequels, be they movies or games or whatever, manage to.

It's also just really really good. I feel like that can't be overstated. Each level has some sort of new mechanic or gimmick or thing to grab your attention. You might be driving an airboat down a river dodging missiles one minute and sneaking around a ghost town filled with zombies less than an hour later. You'll have friendly aliens on one mission and rebel soldiers backing you up on the next. There's always something new, something inventive, something fun to sink your teeth into.

I plan to play both Episodes (and Lost Coast, probably) in the near future and I imagine I'll have some thoughts on those, though I'm not expecting anything radically different mechanically.

I suppose I just want to end this by saying I probably should have played this game a long time ago. It's so good.