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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.
Half-Life 2
Universal acclaim
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 77 votes
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Game Info
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Valve Software
Genre(s): First-Person Shooter, Action
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Summary
By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around him, from the physical environment to the behaviors -- even the emotions -- of both friends and enemies. The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people -- people he cares about -- are counting on him.
Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central
Also On The Web: GameSpot Hands-On
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
GameSpy
Some may find the story too obtuse, while others might take the route of PC graphical snobbery, but rest assured that there is no other like Half-Life 2 for the Xbox, which has now become my all-time favorite title for the system, and a massively strong contender for the Xbox game of the year.
Read Full Review >Maxim Online
Same invigorating missions, same tight controls, same relentless action, and same trigger-happy scientist in a one-man war against our alien overlords.
Read Full Review >Gamestyle
Real 'bullet-time' isn't ballet; it's no-holds carnage that ends with a radio-transmitted flatline. It's one man making a difference; it's one game making a noise. Half-Life 2 is all that - and more.
Read Full Review >Gamezilla!
If you are passionate about your games then you cannot afford to miss what is arguably one of the three best Xbox titles ever made. Get it now.
Read Full Review >Gamer's Hell
Half-Life 2 has impeccable style, an unrivalled elegance, and a frighteningly realistic aesthetic that no other game can even attempt to rival.
Read Full Review >BonusStage
If you’ve got an Xbox and want a superb gaming experience that will have you glued to your seat, sweaty palms and all for a solid 15-20 hours, absolutely buy Half-Life 2, no questions asked.
Read Full Review >Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)
The graphics, albeit at a lower resolution (and with the occasional low frame rate) than the PC version, still make City 17 feel like a real place - not just a collection of videogame levels. [GamesMaster]
Read Full Review >Stuff
The game is surprisingly rock-solid on the Xbox. The controls are on point. The game is full of well-crafted fight-or-flight moments. It's without a doubt one of the finest first-person shooters ever made.
Read Full Review >Game Over Online
Everything, from the brutal police state of the city, to the rundown tenements, to the ugly toxic sludge, to the gleaming sci-fi labs, looks beautiful. The textures are rich and sharp, bricks actually look like bricks and wood looks like wood.
Read Full Review >TeamXbox
I can easily say that I had just as much fun playing through the game on the Xbox as I first did on the PC, and probably even more so due to my personal preference of the controller over the keyboard.
Read Full Review >IGN
The story itself is worth of great praise, but the way it's implemented into the gameplay, along with the amazingly fresh missions that all blend into one another, make this easily one of the best games on Xbox this year, if not the best.
Read Full Review >Worth Playing
Even when compared to the available titles in the X360 library, HL2 blows most of them out of the water, thanks to its story, presentation and overall enjoyable cinematic quality.
Read Full Review >Xbox World Australia
A 15-20 hour masterpiece that, once finished, will have you turning around and starting right back at the start again!
Read Full Review >Electronic Gaming Monthly
Going from mouse and keyboard to gamepad is always a hairy transition, but developer Valve did it perfectly--HL2 controls extremely well with the Xbox pad.
Read Full Review >Into Liquid Sky
The story and scenario presentation is more than enough to keep you playing through Half-life 2.
Read Full Review >Boomtown
Valve has worked wonders translating this game over to Xbox. For Xbox owners who've not tackled the PC original, this is a must-buy game.
Read Full Review >Play Magazine
The world is compelling in its visual completeness, serving up an inescapable web of despair, loneliness and isolation. [Jan 2006, p.38]
Games Radar
Long story short, Half-Life 2 is a must-buy, and our strongest choice for that one, last Xbox game to pick up before switching over to Xbox 360.
Read Full Review >PALGN
One of the finest games of this generation and one of the best single player FPS’s ever created.
Read Full Review >Loaded Inc
The omission of a multi-player option is also baffling when you consider that Counter-Strike: Source was bundled free with last years PC version. These minor gripes, however, do little to detract from the sheer joy you will experience in playing the game.
Read Full Review >Eurogamer
As a single-player experience, even in its slightly compromised state, it's easily one of the most intensely enjoyable console shooters there's ever been.
Read Full Review >Yahoo! Games
For console-only gamers, Valve's masterpiece is the definition of innovation and an unequivocal must-buy.
Read Full Review >GamePro
Aside from a few tiny changes, Half-Life 2 on the Xbox is the PC game, right down to the last spattered droplets of alien blood. Half-Life 2's graphics set new standards for the Xbox, blowing right past heavyweights like "Doom 3" and "Halo 2."
Read Full Review >Computer and Video Games
You'll be hard pressed to find a more intelligent, involving and entertaining game on Xbox today - it even gives "Halo" a run for its money. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]
Read Full Review >Cheat Code Central
The character models are excellent with amazing facial expressions that include "tells." You can't always be sure that what people are saying to you because there is a level of body language that can be interpreted.
Read Full Review >Pelit (Finland)
One of the best games for Xbox: good missions, excellent story and puzzles. The biggest and perhaps the only problem is the inconsistent framerate. [Jan 2006]
Official Xbox Magazine
For a lack of extras and generally lower quality visuals, anyone who played Half-Life 2 on the PC won't have any need to pick this up. [Holiday 2005, p.88]
Gamer 2.0
Fortunately, the game looks fantastic, better than most everything else on consoles, but the framerate takes some serious toles during some of the more graphically intense moments in the game and it almost makes it unbearable to play at some points. But other than that, the game looks, sounds, and plays amazingly.
Read Full Review >GameSpot
A bit underwhelming. Yes, it's a fairly solid translation of one of the better first-person shooters of recent years, but it also lacks the extensive multiplayer and mod-making features of its PC cousin.
Read Full Review >Xequted
We can't recommend Half-Life 2 if you already own it on PC because nothing has been added to warrant it buying it.
Read Full Review >GamerFeed
The gunplay and unique physics have been perfectly recreated and the game is still one of the best that you'll play, but the inferior hardware means that none of it looks nearly as good as it does on the PC, and some unsightly frame rate hiccups mar the ocular experience.
Read Full Review >Game Informer
The inconsistent framerate and lack of visual splendor are compromises we all expected with this conversion, but the load times are insufferable. [Dec 2005, p.182]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Toby K gave it a3:
although this game has gamers everywhere lining up in single file to get on there knees I found it dull, uninspired, confusing, dull and repetitive. the much touted physics gameplay did nothing for me, because they kept on doing the same 3 or 4 tricks, primarily involving stacking objects up or using a see-saw. by todays standards the source engine is prehistoric, with dreadful graphical capabilities, the worst interface in human history and peculiar bugs, amongst which my favourite was the sheer ease it took to make objects spaz out and fly all over the place spinning and warping for no reason and the equal ease it took to get something stuck in the world geometry. the infuriating way that valve attempted constantly to make me care about the irritatingly revered mute scientist Gordon Freeman and his clichéd crowbar antics showed up the writing staff, whilst the uninspired environments and irritatingly awful AI combined to make this one of my gaming lows. Frankly I dont understand why it has such high accord: it is one of my least favourite games. the one satisfying aspect of the gameplay is the actual killing, specifically of zombies. it is the most satisfying thing in te world to seperate a zombie's torso from his legs with a shard metal disc.
AnonymousCritic Anon gave it a6:
Overall Half-Life 2 is nothing special. Probably one of the most overrated games ever. So what makes Half-Life 2 such a normal game? Let us look at the story. While there are definitly some interesting concepts and ideas behind the game, the game isn't that full of background storytelling parts. Here and there are some hints. But nothing more. The main story of the game self is a typical snitcher story, mixed with a typical story about resistance against an evil power. The side characters aren't really convincing. Dr. Kleiner has become the typical crazy professor. You won't get that "This my colleague"-feeling from Half-Life 1 anymore. Alyx is supposed to be your sidekick / girlfriend. Most of her appereances in the game just seem to be forced. Dog seems to be one of these characters you'll mostly find in Disney movies. You know what I mean? The kind of cute looking characters, which are mostly put into Disney movies in order to entertain smaller children watching the movie. Now let's get to the gameplay: You'll have various different weapons, have the possibility to drive some vehicles and fight trough a variety of maps. Now where's the problem? The weapons are not very innovative. Most of them were just taken from Half-Life 1 and were getting new skins. But one of the most popular Half-Life 1 weapons, the Gauss gun was even removed. The Gravity Gun is fun to use for the first time. But it get's pretty old very fast. Especially since it's use is mostly limited on close-combat as well as on the availability of physical objects near you. The game has some puzzles in which the Gravity Gun helps. But overall these puzzles are all too simple. You don't get a feeling of joy after you solved one of the puzzles. There are no rewards for them available. The only reason you are doing the puzzles is in order to progress in the game. But there's no other motivation behind them. The vehicles chases are definitly fun but also too long. All you do is rushing trough some very nice and detailled looking industrial and costal areas while clearing the map from every enemy you see. Walking through these levels makes you feel like more could have been done with them. And now let us get about the enemies. Overall the range of enemies in Half-Life 2 is quite short. You will mostly end up making a genocide on Combines, with the difference that the skin changes the more you progress. While Headcrabs and Zombies make again an appearence in the game, the game lacks of completely new NPCs. What happened with the other Xen monsters which were teleported to earth? Why not more different Combine soldiers? Overall Half-Life 2 is a nice game, but it's not innovative, there's nothing real new in it which you didn't saw anywhere before. There was definitly some huge potential in the game, but it feels like the developers didn't followed a clear concept as they made the game. The source engine delivers great graphics and physics and is a nice platform for various kind of mods and machinimas.
Brent V gave it an8:
I need to say that Half-Life 2 Does not have many flaws. It's original counter part (HL1) is superior, but not by much. Half-Life 2 Did as well as it could for an XBOX game but it just didn't live up to the original PC HL2. The fram rate is horrible too. It will run from 30-9 FPS. I strongly think that Valve should have just waited for the XBOX 360. I love Valve, but every once in a while they make horrible choices (Half-Life 1 HD pack incompatible with other model packs: HL2 not on 360: Left 4 Dead delayed) however, the love I have for this game is so high. There is nothing wrong with this game, but the XBOX just cant handle Half-Life 2 that well. They should have made it for 360 and I know that they have it on the orange box but they had to still compress it to fit 5 games on one disc. It runs great but a standalone port (before the OB) would have ran much better.
Dorian G gave it a10:
Practically flawless. Thrilling gunplay, genuinely puzzling puzzles, a cast made up entirely of likable characters and a fantastic sense of immersion.
Gautam M gave it a10:
Ok.Now that I am done going crazy over the concept of HL2 I am finally going to write about it.I am an avid gamer,both PC and the consoles.To be very frank I am more of the casual gaming crowd although I have thoroughly enjoyed the more "challenging' titles like Advance wars,Castlevania,Warcraft,AOE and Pro Evolution Soccer.My favourite games before this one were GOW series,PES series,RE series,Syphon filter series etc.As you can see I am a big third person action fan.I have played the original HL and HL:BS and CS and enjoyed them but never really was a FPS person till i played HL2.This game takes all the elements of every game,mixes them up with some brilliant innovation and makes an almost ethereal work of art that has to be played to be believed.I cant stop playing it.It is the most fun and intense game i have EVER played.the physics engine ROCKS.the gravity gun is like a paintbrush in the hand of an adept artist,there are so many things you can do with it.I dont even need to comment on the graphics.JAW DROPPING!!I cant really say more than what has already been said.I love this game with a vengeance.This will go down as the greatest game ver made!!Play it to believe it.
William T. gave it an8:
A great game to play on you beloved 'Box. The controls suffer from some degree of PC to Console, but it's still fun nevertheless.
Marc D. gave it a9:
The only issue I can nitpick about this game is the conclusion. The finale leaves alot to desired and sets the player up for one hell of an anxious wait. If you're lucky enough to be playing it now though...Episode 1 AND 2 is packaged with The Orange Box, thus making this complaint null and void. So you're probably asking...'any other reason why I might not want to get this game?' No. No no no no no. Enjoy gaming at it's finest now.
