Half Life²: Day 1 | Valve | Windows | 2004

Finally! Only 21 years after release, I'm getting around to playing one of the formerly most anticipated games and one of the most revered games in history. Valve had an uphill battle on their hands to follow-up on Half-Life. It's nearly always a difficult second album, particularly when the first completely subverted players' expectations about what a First Person Shooter could be after DOOM and Quake. I'll say this off the bat - I enjoy the Source engine, and I think the graphics still look great. If all new games looked this good, I'd be happy. I'll also say that, whilst the enemy variety is pretty minimal early doors, the Combine's AI is pretty damn good, coupled with level design that makes combat engaging (the antithesis of how it was in Phantom Fury, which tried so hard to be this game and failed miserably). I like how the pistol is a good weapon in its own right as well, rather than being a deliberately underpowered, slow, "oh shit I've got no other weapons available" option. Suffice it to say, with Day One*, we're off to a very strong start. *In case you weren't aware, Valve coded the HL² maps with d1, d2, and d3 prefixes. So that's how I've structured these videos. ~~~~~~~~~~ CHAPTERS 00:00:00 POINT INSERTION 00:01:03 "Welcome to City 17" 00:22:36 "A RED LETTER DAY" 00:36:50 ROUTE KANAL 01:57:47 WATER HAZARD 03:35:03 BLACK MESA EAST 03:50:27 "WE DON'T GO TO RAVENHOLM..." ~~~~~~~~~~ Check out my Twitch channel at   / grimreaperwithalawnmower