Half-Life 2
From Free net encyclopedia
| Half-Life 2 {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Valve Corporation {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | Image:Map projection-Eckert IV.png November 16, 2004 (Steam) Image:Flag of the United States.svg November 16, 2004 (Windows) Image:European flag.svg November 25, 2004 (Windows) Image:Flag of Australia.svg December 21, 2004 (Windows) Image:Flag of the United States.svg November 15, 2005 (Xbox) |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | PC Windows, Xbox {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life, developed by Valve Corporation. It was released on November 16, 2004 to very positive reviews,<ref name="reviews">Template:Cite web</ref> following a protracted five-year development cycle during which the game's source code was leaked to the Internet. Taking place in the fictional City 17 sometime in the near future, Half-Life 2 follows scientist Gordon Freeman and the events that happen around him. The game uses the Source game engine, coupled with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine. The game has been critically acclaimed for advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) and physics, although it is controversial among many people for the introduction of Valve's Steam content delivery service. Since its release, the game has sold over four million copies.<ref name="sales">Template:Cite web</ref> Steam sales account for 25 percent of overall sales; their exact number is between 750,000 and one million depending on whether they are included in the figure of four million.<ref name="steamsales">Template:Cite web</ref>
Contents |
Story
Plot
The original Half-Life, released on November 20, 1998, takes place largely at a remote underground laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility. During an experiment, researchers at Black Mesa accidentally cause a "resonance cascade," opening a portal to an alien world called Xen and releasing a flood of strange and deadly creatures. The player takes the role of Gordon Freeman, one of the research scientists, guiding him in his attempt to escape the facility while wearing the Hazardous EnVironment (HEV) suit. At the end of the game Gordon is "extracted" by a mysterious figure colloquially known as the G-Man who offers him employment.
Half-Life 2 picks up the story in City 17 and assumes the player took the G-Man up on his offer in the previous game. The time is an indeterminate number of years after the Black Mesa Incident. Sources are conflicting about this intermission of years - a story fragment written by author Marc Laidlaw for the development team puts the intermission at ten years<ref name="raisebar">Template:Cite book</ref>, while Half-Life 2: Episode One's website puts this intermission as "nearly two decades" after the end of the original game. [1]
At the start of the game, the G-Man speaks to Gordon Freeman as part of a hallucination, telling him that his "time has come." Freeman then finds himself riding a train into City 17, unarmed and without his HEV suit. Details begin to slowly emerge: City 17 (as well as the rest of the world) is under the rule of a totalitarian administrator named Doctor Breen, the former administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility in Half-Life. However, Breen is merely a puppet ruler who is carrying out the will of the alien rulers known as the Combine. It seems that the events of Half-Life were enough to attract the attention of the Combine, who soon mounted their brutal assault on humanity in which the forces of Earth were completely overwhelmed in the Seven Hour War. The Combine now has near-absolute control of the entire planet, with only a few pockets of human resistance remaining. Doctor Breen enforces his rule (and, by extension, the Combine's rule) through armies of intimidating Civil Protection units (also called "Metropolice" or "Metrocops") and Combine soldiers (referred to as the Overwatch).
Chapter sequence
- Chapter 1: Point Insertion
- Chapter 2: "A Red Letter Day"
- Chapter 3: Route Kanal
- Chapter 4: Water Hazard
- Chapter 5: Black Mesa East
- Chapter 6: "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..."
- Chapter 7: Highway 17
- Chapter 8: Sandtraps
- Chapter 9: Nova Prospekt
- Chapter 9a: Entanglement
- Chapter 10: Anticitizen One
- Chapter 11: "Follow Freeman!"
- Chapter 12: Our Benefactors
- Chapter 13: Dark Energy
- Chapter 14: Credits
Image:Breen1HL2.jpg Once Gordon gets off the train, he eventually meets up with his old friend Barney Calhoun from Black Mesa who now has infiltrated the Civil Protection for the resistance. Barney shows Gordon the way to reach Doctor Isaac Kleiner's lab, but along the way, the Civil Protection detects Gordon and he has to flee. Surrounded and stunned by the Civil Protection, Gordon is rescued by Alyx Vance, the daughter of Doctor Eli Vance, and is taken to Doctor Kleiner's lab. After Gordon is outfitted with his trusty HEV suit (which has been upgraded to a Mark V), Doctor Kleiner attempts to teleport Alyx and Gordon to Black Mesa East, where Alyx's father is waiting. Although Alyx makes it to her father's lab, Doctor Kleiner's debeaked pet headcrab Lamarr interrupts the teleporter in mid-sequence, briefly transporting Gordon to the office of Doctor Breen twice, among several other locations. He then ends up outside Kleiner's lab, where Barney gives Gordon his old crowbar. The entire city is on high alert for Gordon, and Barney tells him to take the canals to get to Eli's lab.
Gordon then navigates the city's canals, being chased by Civil Protection and finding small resistance bases populated by both humans and Vortigaunts, who are now allies. After being helped through an underground railroad system, Gordon is provided an air boat, allowing him greater expediency. However, the air boat is soon spotted by the Combine and relentlessly pursued by a hunter-chopper assault helicopter. At another resistance base, a Vortigaunt affixes a weapon to the craft capable of downing the helicopter, which Gordon eventually does.
Gordon then arrives at Black Mesa East and meets Doctor Judith Mossman. Alyx gives him a tool originally developed for handling hazardous materials called the Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator (also known as the gravity gun) and instructs Gordon on its use while also introducing Dog, Alyx's pet robot. In the middle of playing "fetch," the lab is attacked by the Combine, forcing Gordon to escape along an old tunnel leading to Ravenholm. Alyx and the rest stay behind.
Image:Antlions1HL2.jpg Gordon quickly discovers why Ravenholm was abandoned; the town was shelled by the Combine, causing Ravenholm to be overrun with headcrabs and zombies. Father Grigori, a slightly-insane priest and likely the last human resident of Ravenholm, helps him survive the deadly town and escorts him to an abandoned mine which eventually leads to the dockyards outside City 17. Gordon then finds another resistance base under assault by Combine troops. Through a transmission, Alyx tells him that Eli has been captured and is being held in Nova Prospekt, an old maximum-security prison, now a factory where the Combine creates Overwatch Soldiers and Stalkers. Gordon travels the coast road in a dune buggy, helping down a Combine gunship after meeting Colonel Odessa Cubbage at another resistance base, who gives him an RPG launcher. After battling small pockets of Combine soldiers along the road, Gordon finally arrives at the Lighthouse Point resistance base and must continue the journey to Nova Prospekt on foot following a large-scale skirmish between the Combine and his allies in the resistance. The journey is made more difficult because it's spawning season for the insect-like Antlions, which swarm the area and are hidden underground, emerging to attack at the slightest footstep. After defeating an enormous Antlion Guard, a Vortigaunt gives Gordon pheropods (aka pheromone grenades or bugbait): a gland filled with pheromones that pacify the smaller Antlions and allow Gordon to command them.
Finally reaching the old prison, Gordon searches within for clues to Doctor Vance's whereabouts. The Antlions' assistance helps to even the overwhelming odds against him.
Gordon joins forces with Alyx again, and together they find both Eli and Doctor Judith Mossman, the latter found to be a Combine spy. The four meet at a Combine teleportation room, preparing to return to Kleiner's lab. While Gordon and Alyx are distracted by an alarm set off by Mossman, however, she teleports herself and Eli into the Citadel, the Combine's base of operations. Gordon and Alyx barely manage to teleport themselves to Doctor Kleiner's lab before the teleporter explodes, but a strange malfunction in the equipment has caused them to arrive at Doctor Kleiner's lab a week after they teleported. Meanwhile, Gordon's struggles against the Combine have brought new life to the resistance, plunging City 17 into chaos. Resistance fighters led by Gordon travel towards the Citadel to free Doctor Vance while Alyx helps Doctor Kleiner escape the lab. Later, Alyx briefly rejoins and accompanies Gordon in a battle to disable a Combine power generator, but she is subsequently knocked out and captured by Combine forces. Gordon is then forced to travel through an abandoned industrial complex to reach Barney.
Image:City17HL2.jpg After rescuing Barney, who has been pinned down by snipers, Gordon shuts down a suppression device blocking access to the Citadel. A pack of powerful Combine war-machines, the Striders, attack until they are finally destroyed by RPG fire.
Gordon enters the Citadel through an underground passage. Faced with a dead end, he is forced to enter a rail-driven containment apparatus. After a long trip through the Citadel, all his weapons are destroyed by a Dark energy-powered "confiscation field." However, the strange technology of the gravity gun absorbs the energy from the beam and shorts it out. It can now manipulate organic matter, instantly killing Combine forces, destroying their weapons and its lift strength is greatly increased, enabling Gordon to lift huge metal objects as easily as wooden planks. Armed with only the new gravity gun, Gordon wreaks havoc upon the Citadel until he is again faced with a dead end. Once more, the only way to progress is to voluntarily enter a containment apparatus, which brings him face-to-face with Doctor Breen, who takes the gravity gun while Gordon is immobilized. Doctor Judith Mossman is with Breen, and he summons Eli and Alyx, who are being held in similar devices. As Breen threatens the Vances, Judith finally turns against him: she had only "betrayed" the resistance for an opportunity to infiltrate Breen's inner circle. Breen manages to escape, and flees towards a huge "Dark Energy Reactor" at the top of the Citadel, which will teleport him away from Earth. Gordon and Alyx pursue him, and Gordon destroys the reactor, both to depower the Citadel and to prevent Breen's escape. This triggers a massive explosion, in which Breen appears to be killed, and Alyx and Gordon are imperiled; however, the G-Man seemingly "stops time," saving Gordon from the ensuing blast, leaving Alyx behind, and placing him once again into stasis.
Narration
Throughout the entire game, Freeman never speaks, and the action is viewed through his eyes only (i.e., there are no cut scenes).
There has been some complaint<ref name="gamespot">Template:Cite web</ref> about these narrative holdovers from Half-Life, since they effectively limit how much of the backstory is explained. Due to the lack of cut scenes, the player never directly sees what has happened in Gordon's absence. Additionally, it would seem natural for Freeman to have a great deal of curiosity as to what has happened since the Black Mesa Incident (however NPCs do shed some backstory after certain triggers, see below). In Half-Life it could be said that the player's bewilderment mirrors Gordon's during the chaotic events following the resonance cascade and alien invasion. By the opening of Half-Life 2; however, Gordon has proven that he can survive in strange and hostile environments, and should therefore be at least somewhat more level-headed and inquisitive.
In any case, it's not clear to what extent Gordon exists as a separate character outside of the player's influence. Since the start of Half-Life, Valve has made sure that the player's and Gordon's experience are one and the same. Gordon may be nothing more than an empty vessel for someone else (i.e., the player) to inhabit. However, during the scene in Eli's lab, investigation of certain props (most notably the newspaper board) triggers Eli to give some explanation to their meaning and history, thus indicating that Gordon presents emotions that the NPCs can detect. These minor events may have been included to mirror the player's possible sense of curiosity, thus further merging the identities of Gordon and the player. Some of the All-Knowing Vortigaunt's enigmatic comments in the game seem to indicate this concurent-identity phenomenon, the most prominent being: Template:Cquote
Adding to the sense of mystery is the fact that while most of Gordon's former co-workers from Black Mesa have visibly aged in the interim, Gordon has (presumably) not; however, only a few passing references are ever made regarding this. The game never specifies how many years have passed between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, but a story fragment written by Marc Laidlaw (featured in Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar) describes the transition as being a full ten years. However it could be longer, as there are no pre-adolescent children in the game, which would require at least 15+ years for those born during the portal storms to mature by the time of the games events (also, Alyx is clearly at least 18, and the picture in Eli's lab, taken before the Black Mesa Incident, shows her as a toddler). Fans have speculated that Gordon has been kept in stasis during his absence, and this is reinforced by the presence of a strange "inter-dimensional tram ride" that Gordon finds himself on at the end of both Half-Life games, and the G-Man's repeated emphasis of the word time. In addition, Doctor Breen states that Gordon has been "in a state that precluded further development of covert skills." Another cited explanation is that Gordon has been transferred using a "slow teleport," similar to the one discovered by the player at the end of the Nova Prospekt chapter, or otherwise sent forward in time. According to the Half-Life 2: Episode One story page, the G-Man kept Gordon "in stasis far from Earth, thought, and time itself" for "nearly two decades."
The ending of Half-Life 2 is also very similar to that of the original: after completing a difficult task against seemingly overwhelming odds, Gordon is "extracted" by the G-Man, wielding incredible but unexplained powers. The player is smugly congratulated and told that further assignments should follow. The fate of many of the major characters, such as Alyx, Eli, and Judith, go unexplained. Very few, if any, of the questions raised by Half-Life are answered, and instead several new ones are presented. The identity and nature of the G-Man remains undisclosed.
Setting
Image:Metrocop GScott.jpg The environments in Half-Life 2 are varied, ranging from the Eastern European-styled City 17 and surrounding areas, to the massive Combine citadel. There is a general Eastern European "feel" present throughout the human-populated areas, and several hints indicate that City 17 is based on Sofia, Bulgaria, the hometown of the art director of Half-Life 2, Viktor Antonov. City 17 has both a general resemblance to Sofia as well as frequent appearance of Bulgarian words (written in the Cyrillic alphabet) on signs and graffiti throughout the game (although some of these are words in other Slavic languages as well). One clear example is "цимент" ("cement") written across the top of some large buildings in Ravenholm and City 17 - the only language that spells this word in this way, using the Cyrillic alphabet, is Bulgarian. Many old cars scattered throughout the game are similar to ones commonly found in Eastern Europe, such as Moskvitchs and Volgas. Also, during the game, Gordon comes to a Resistance settlement called "New Little Odessa." Odessa is a major city located on the coast of Ukraine, approximately 500 miles from Sofia.
A prominent character encountered in play, Father Grigori, has a name common to Eastern European countries and an accent that is stereotypically Eastern European. The naming of City 17 itself is similar to the Soviet practice of numbering secret closed cities rather than naming them. However, in addition to incorporating Eastern European elements, examples of Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish and French influences also exist, suggesting that the setting is something of a montage of European locations.
Gameplay
Image:Half-Life 2.jpg Half-Life 2's gameplay is broadly similar to that of the original. Players make their way through a linear series of levels, encountering both human troops and hostile alien wildlife. As in Half-Life, the gameplay is broken up with a series of puzzles; however, this time the addition of physics-based puzzles are included. For example, one puzzle requires the player to turn a seesaw-like lever into a ramp by placing cinder blocks at one end.
The use of physics extends into combat in the form of the gravity gun. This unique weapon plays a crucial function throughout the game, granting the player an unprecedented amount of creativity in its use, such as picking up and throwing objects at enemies, holding objects indefinitely for use as makeshift shields, grabbing health and ammunition from out of reach places, returning enemies' grenades, and building makeshift bridges or manipulate objects through Combine forcefield generators.
Vehicles are another major gameplay addition. The player has the ability to drive two vehicles during the single player campaign; an air boat, which Gordon uses to navigate through the canal network, and a dune buggy which Gordon uses to get to Nova Prospekt. The air boat is initially unarmed, but is later mounted with a Combine weapon from a downed hunter-chopper. The buggy is armed with a Gauss Gun similar to the one found in the original Half-Life.
The game also integrates tutorial-like tasks in the storyline itself (but no longer includes separate tutorial levels featured in the original) to allow familiarization of the game's mechanics and weapons for players as they go; several such examples include an early incident in game where a Civil Protection unit orders the player to "pick up" a tin can and "throw it" in the trash can, and Alyx Vance's introduction of the gravity gun at Black Mesa East.
Characters and creatures
Image:ManhacksHL2.jpg Although Gordon battles through much of Half-Life 2 alone, like Half-Life he is assisted in several places by friendly allies. For the most part these are human members of the Resistance, but Gordon is also helped by Vortigaunts and later Antlions. This latter insectoid species is new to Half-Life 2 and is encountered first as a fiercely territorial foe, but is later co-opted into acting as an abundant and obedient ally. At several key locations, Gordon also meets up with, and fights alongside, more significant non-player characters like Alyx Vance, Barney Calhoun and Alyx's robot, Dog.
Many familiar enemies from Half-Life return in this game, such as Headcrabs, Barnacles, and Headcrab zombies, but the majority of the game is spent fighting the Combine, who wield large military forces against Gordon and the people of City 17. Combine forces are varied and consist of modified humans, biomechanical machines, and robot weapons. There are also large, biomechanical, tripod war machines, similar to the classic Tripods found in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. These are referred to by members of the human resistance as Striders which the Combine uses to help suppress the resistance forces and patrol City 17.
Weapons
Template:Main Many of the weapons featured in Half-Life 2 are carried over from Half-Life, including the crowbar for mêlée fighting, the conventional firearms of the SPAS-12 shotgun, .357 Magnum revolver, crossbow, and rocket propelled grenade launcher as well as the Gauss Gun experimental particle weapon. Several new ones are also introduced: the Combine pulse rifle, pheropods who grant control over Antlions, and most significantly, the "Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator" (or Gravity Gun).
Multiplayer
Half-Life 2 was released without a multiplayer component of the game and was instead packaged with Counter-Strike: Source. This later changed on November 30, 2004 when Valve released the Half-Life 2: Deathmatch component (HL2DM) along with the full SDK as a free download to all Half-Life 2 owners.
Like other deathmatch games, the aim is to kill as many other players as possible, using a variety of means, in either free-for-all or team matches. The player spawns with a gravity gun, a pistol, a sub-machine gun, and grenades. All weapons included in the single player portion of Half-Life 2, with the exception of the pheropod/bugbait, are available and scattered randomly around the maps. Players can be killed in a number of ways, including gunfire, explosions, or through contact with physics objects traveling at high speeds. The physics elements of the game are of particular note as they help to make the gameplay more dynamic and interesting as the layout of the levels frequently change due to the physics objects being moved about.
HL2DM's February 17th update is of particular note as it introduced a new map dm_steamlab and three new weapons that had been missing from the game previously, or cut before it shipped. The crowbar and the stunstick depending on the player model (Rebel or Combine); and the SLAM, or Selectable Lightweight Attack Munition, a real-world weapon which can either be thrown and detonated or planted on walls to produce a "tripwire" laser which detonates the device when touched.
| Name | Release date | Author | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| dm_lockdown | Nov. 30 2004 | Valve (Adrian Finol) | Nova Prospekt |
| dm_overwatch | Nov. 30 2004 | Valve (Adrian Finol) | City 17 (Follow Freeman!) |
| dm_steamlab | Feb. 17 2005 | Valve (Jess Cliffe) | Concrete laboratory |
| dm_powerhouse | Apr. 13 2005 | Third-party (Michael Schulz) | Generic Industrial |
| dm_resistance | Apr. 13 2005 | Third-party (Jonathan Linker) | "Bodies" from Blood |
| dm_underpass | Apr. 13 2005 | Third-party (Scott M Jordan) | City 17 railway |
| dm_runoff | Apr. 25 2005 | Valve (Jess Cliffe) | Water Hazard |
Technical
Game engine
Template:Main Image:Half-Life 2 Dr Breen Office.jpg For Half-Life 2, Valve developed a new game engine called the Source engine, which handles the game's visual, audio, and artificial intelligence (AI) elements. The Source engine comes packaged with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine that allows for an extra dimension of interactivity in both single player and online environments.
Additionally, when coupled with Steam, the engine can be easily upgraded to include many new graphical technologies. One such example is high dynamic range imaging, which Valve released as a 15-minute free outdoor level called Lost Coast.
Steam content delivery system
Template:Main Image:Steam3beta.PNG Integral to Half-Life 2 is the Steam content delivery system developed by Valve Corporation. All users playing the single player or multiplayer game are required to have Steam installed and an account with Steam to play. The accounts allow customers to purchase games and other software straight from the developer and have it downloaded directly to their computer, in addition to having their games updated with "micro updates." These updates also make hacking the game harder to do and has thus far been somewhat successful in staving off cheats and playability for users with unauthorized copies. Steam can also be used for finding and playing multiplayer games through an integrated server browser and friends list, and game data can be backed up with a standard CD or DVD burner. Lastly, Steam and a customer's purchased content can be downloaded onto any computer, as long as that account is only logged in at one location at a time.
Users have had numerous problems with Steam, sometimes being enough to prevent a reviewer from recommending a given title available on the service. In other cases, review scores have been lowered. Long download times, seemingly unnecessary updates, and verification checks are criticisms levelled by critics of the system's use for single player games such as Half-Life 2. Whether or not a customer intends to use any multiplayer features, the computer the game was installed on must have Steam and an Internet connection to verify the transaction.
The Steam distribution system was required to be upgraded after the massive popularity of Half-Life 2 resulted in Steam's declining performance accommodating 4.5 million registered connections.Template:Fact
Release and distribution
A 1 gigabyte portion of Half-Life 2 became available for pre-load through Steam on August 26, 2004. This meant that customers could begin to download encrypted game files to their computer before the game was released. When the game's release date arrived, customers were able to pay for the game through Steam, unlock the files on their hard drives and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the whole game to download. The pre-load period lasted for several weeks, with several subsequent portions of the game being made available, to ensure all customers had a chance to download the content before the game was released.
Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD (most initial U.S. "bare-bones" retail copies), and on DVD in several editions. Through Steam, Half-Life 2 had three packages that a customer could order. The basic version ("Bronze") includes only Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source, whereas the "Silver" and "Gold" (collector's edition) versions also include Half-Life: Source and Day of Defeat: Source (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine) as well as the right to download all previous games by Valve through Steam. The collector's edition/Gold version additionally includes merchandise such as a t-shirt, and a strategy guide. Both the disc and Steam version require Steam to be installed and active for play.
A demo version with the file size of a single-CD was later made available in December 2004 at the web site of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains part of the opening level of the game, and also part of the chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm." In September 2005, Electronic Arts distributed the Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2. Compared to the original CD-release of Half-Life 2, the GOTY edition adds Half-Life: Source.
On December 22 2005, Valve released a 64-bit version of the Source game engine that takes advantage of AMD64 processor-based systems with 64-bit version of Windows Operating System. This update, delivered via Steam, enables Half-Life and other Source-based games to run natively on AMD64 processors, bypassing the 32-bit emulator. According to Gabe Newell, this is "an important step in the evolution of our game content and tools," and the game benefits greatly from the update.<ref name="amd64">Template:Cite web</ref> The response to the release varied: some users reported huge performance boots, while technology site Techgage found several stability problems and no noticeable framerate improvement.<ref name="techgage">Template:Cite web</ref> 64-Bit users have widely reported bizarre in-game errors including characters dropping dead, game script files not being pre-cached (i.e., loaded when first requested instead), map rules being bent by AI, and other glitches.
An Xbox version published by Electronic Arts was released on November 15, 2005 but does not feature any multiplayer components. Additionally, next generation console ports of the game (specifically the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution) were said to be under consideration in 2003, but no official announcement has been made regarding the ports to date.<ref name="nextgen">Template:Cite web</ref>
Mods and expansions
Image:Hl2 lostcoast menu.jpg Template:Main articles Since the release of Half-Life 2, Valve has announced plans to release an additional level and an expansion pack. The level, "Lost Coast," takes place between the levels "Highway 17" and "Sandtraps" and is primarily a showcase for high dynamic range imaging (HDR) technology. The expansion pack, Half-Life 2: Episode One will take place shortly after the events of Half-Life 2, with the player taking on the role of Gordon Freeman once again. Alyx Vance will also play a more prominent role.
Since the release of the Source engine SDK, a large number of mods have been developed by the Half-Life 2 community. Mods vary in scale, from fan-created levels and weapons, to partial conversions such as Garry's Mod which allow the player to experiment with the physics system in a sandbox mode, to total conversions such as Dystopia or Iron Grip, that transforms the game from a first-person shooter into a real-time strategy game. Some mods take place in the Half-Life universe; others in completely original settings; while some are tributes to other games, such as GoldenEye: Source, a recreation of GoldenEye 007, or Resident Evil: Twilight. Many more mods are still in development, including NeoTokyo and the commercially-built but still free and unlicensed Realms of Valhallon: Age of Campaigns.
Valve's Half-Life: Source was a direct conversion of the original game to the Source engine. Black Mesa, originally named Black Mesa: Source, is an unofficial mod under development which takes the more ambitious route of attempting to fully recreate the original Half-Life from the ground up using improved graphical assets and effects, while maintaining the original storyline and level design.
Cuts from the game
The book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar<ref name="raisebar" /> revealed many of the game's original settings and action that were cut down or removed entirely from the final game. Half-Life 2 was originally intended to be a far darker game where the Combine were more obviously draining the oceans for minerals and replacing the atmosphere with noxious, murky gasses. This quote from the book, from an early draft of the introductory sequence, gives a feel for what the game would have been like: Template:Cquote
In addition, the evolution of Nova Prospekt is described: originally as a small Combine rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland (the depot model remains in the game, visible from the beach and trash compactor) it grew and grew from a stopping-off point along the way to the destination itself.
Promotional shots and gameplay videos released before the game became available showed parts of these scenes, and also showed enemies that do not appear anywhere in the final game, such as the "Hydra," a massive, gelatinous, translucent, neon-blue creature that lived in the sewers. It was planned as a massive bulk far below the city with tentacles that would reach up and spear through enemies, including Combine soldiers. The Hydra was apparently cut because its AI proved troublesome: while impressive when attacking NPCs, it was less interesting and frustrating for players to fight.
Image:HalfLife2 CrematorHead.jpg Other enemies cut from the game included Combine assassins (whose AI was salvaged to form the Fast Zombie), various Synths and Combine soldiers. There was also a planned creature called the Cremator who would clean the streets of bodies after a skirmish with a massive flamethrower, which would double as a weapon when the Cremator would become an enemy. The Cremator's head would eventually be featured in Eli's lab in Black Mesa East, encased in a jar of formaldehyde, which Eli will make comments about when the player nears the jar and views it.
The game was originally intended to be much more diverse in settings. Parts of the book detail how Gordon would fight alongside characters such as Odessa Cubbage, albeit under a different name and in a different place, as well as fighting together with Colonel Vance - a character that was later merged with Eli to become Doctor Eli Vance - and Vance's forces. Originally, Eli and Alyx Vance had no relation, and Eli's lab was originally intended to resemble a form of scrapyard and town in a cave than a better equipped laboratory within a hydroelectric power station.
The original journey for the player, as mentioned in Raising the Bar, details the following stages:
- The player meeting Samuel, a character of African descent, on the Wasteland Train. Samuel's character model would eventually be used for a nameless train passenger at the start of the storyline of the final version. In addition, the train ride was originally planned to be much longer, and allowed players to view the wastelands outside the New City (the original name for City 17).
- The player meeting Barney and Kleiner in the New City.
- Encounter with Eli (aka "Eli Maxwell" in the beta version of Half-Life 2) and Dog in "Scrapyard" (Eli's lab), notably without mention of Alyx Vance or Doctor Judith Mossman (aka "Elaine Mossman" in the beta version of Half-Life 2)
- Encounter with Alyx in "Wasteland." At one stage, Gordon takes another train ride which ends in a crash and he is met by Alyx in the desert. Alyx was intended to be a much tougher character and mention is made in Marc Laidlaw's scripts of her using an array of weapons, including grenades.
- Encounter with Captain Vance in the "Air Conditioner" (aka AirEx). This was a planned section of the game involving a massive scale attack on a Combine building. The Air Conditioner was a massive dome that literally drained Earth of its oxygen. Captain Vance - Alyx's father, but not linked to Eli - was one of the few surviving military leaders and was leading an assault on the building, and Gordon and Alyx join the fight after their journey there on foot.
- Encounter with Owen on the Borealis. The Borealis was a science ship that was, in some versions of the planned game, stranded in the ocean. Owen, sometimes named Odell, was the engineer of the original ship and leader of a group of rebels. His model was later re-used for that of Odessa Cubbage. After the battle fought with Captain Vance, Gordon travels on foot to the Borealis, which in turn takes him across the ocean bay.
- Encounter with Doctor Mossman in the "Kraken." The Kraken was either a stranded science ship, locked in ice or beached in the shallow depths of a nearly dried ocean, or a rebel base of sorts. Judith Mossman met the player here for a period of time before Gordon leaves, on foot, and advances through a Combine Weather Control Complex.
- Consul confrontation in the Citadel. After battling through the Weather Control Complex, the player would board "Flight C-130" and travel back across the ocean towards the New City. Here he would either land at or fight into the Citadel to confront the Consul. The Consul was the origin of Doctor Breen's character and his model went through several different incarnations. (Flight C-130 was intended to crash into a building called "Vert")
Other cuts from the game included a drivable personal water craft and additional weapons. Weapons cut included the OICW seen in an E3 demonstration video and two different models of the Gravity Gun or Physgun, which is seen in another E3 video, also depicting a level cut from Ravenholm, dubbed "Traptown."
The E3 video also shows that at some point in the game's development it was also possible to shoot any gun while using the HEV suit's zoom function and that the player could discard weapons, indicating they could only carry a specified amount of firearms at a time.
It remains unknown if most of the cut Half-Life 2 scenes will eventually be completed and released, or if they are lost forever. A removed section of the original Half-Life was eventually released as the Half-Life: Uplink demo; a similar situation was in place with the HDR technology demo, Lost Coast, which was based on a scene that was cut from the sequel. It is possible or even likely that more removed sections of HL2 will be seen in expansion packs such as Half-Life 2: Episode One.
Soundtrack
All listed tracks have been composed by Kelly Bailey. Purchasers of the collector's edition of the game were given (among other things) a CD soundtrack containing nearly all the music from the game, along with three bonus tracks. This CD is not available for separate purchase.
(Note: Many of the tracks were retitled and carried over from the Half-Life soundtrack; The names in parentheses are the original titles. Tracks 32, 34 and 42 are remixes.)
Tracks 16, 18 and 42 are bonus tracks that are exclusive to the CD soundtrack. Tracks 44 to 51 are tracks from the game that did not appear on the soundtrack CD.
|
|
|
Further reading
- Half-Life 2 controversies and criticisms
- Half-Life 2 mods
- List of weapons in Half-Life 2
- List of humanoid and synthetic Combine in Half-Life 2
- List of Combine combat technology in Half-Life 2
- List of Combine non-combat technology in Half-Life 2
References
<references />
External links
Official
Major fansites/communities
- Halflife2.Net - Large Half-Life 2 community.
- Planet Half-Life - Large community for everything Half-Life-related.
- HLFallout - A popular Half-Life 2 fansite.
- Template:Dmoz.
Development communities
- Valve Developer Community - A wiki made by Valve to aid in the editing of Half-Life 2.
- Half-Life 2 mods and modding tutorials at Mod DB.
- sourceWiki - For Half-Life 2 mod developers.
- HL2World Knowledge Base - A complete knowledge base and tutorial dump for Half-Life 2.
- Wavelength - A tutorial/community website with more in depth tutorials on Half-Life/Half-Life 2 editing.
Related resources
- interlopers.net A site that collects tutorials for Hammer mapping as well as texturing and other Source SDK-related content.
- VisualWalkthroughs.com - Screenshot-based Half-Life 2 walkthrough.
- 3DBuzz - Offers several free video tutorials on how to use the Hammer editor.
- Vaksa.net - Sets of 3D rendered PNG and ICO icons to replace the default Valve set.
Individual articles
- Pidgeon's guide - A guide for console commands that can be used in Half-Life 2.
- Half-Life 2 tweak guide at TweakGuides.com.
- MobyGames' entry on Half-Life 2.
- Half-Life 2: Under The Surface - NTSC-uk examines Half-Life 2.
Template:Half-Lifecs:Half-Life 2 da:Half-Life 2 de:Half-Life fi:Half-Life 2 fr:Half-Life 2 he:Half-Life 2 it:Half-Life 2 ja:ハーフライフ2 nl:Half-Life 2 pl:Half-Life 2 pt:Half-Life 2 ru:Half-Life 2 sv:Half-Life 2 tr:Half-Life 2 zh:半条命2