Others use predictable but powerful attacks, while others hide before swiftly attacking the player. Ī diverse set of enemies is present, which usually require being approached with different tactics: some coordinate in groups to out-maneuver or out-position the player others, such as the Manhack, fly directly at the player through small openings and tight corridors. While the game is mainly linear, effort was put into making exploration rewarding and interesting many optional areas can be missed or avoided. The player starts without items and widens their arsenal over the course of the game. It has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems (though with fewer overall weapons) and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter (FPS) in which players control Gordon Freeman. Along the bottom of the screen, the player's health, suit charge level, and their ammunition is displayed. ( January 2024) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī screenshot of the player engaging a group of antlions with a pulse rifle. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. In 2020, after canceling Episode Three and several further Half-Life projects, Valve released a prequel, Half-Life: Alyx. Half-Life 2 was followed by the free extra level Lost Coast (2005) and the episodic sequels Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007). It was ported to Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, macOS and Linux. It won 39 Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the best games ever made. Half-Life 2 was released on Steam on November 16, 2004. A year before its release, an unfinished version was stolen by a hacker and published online, which damaged the team’s morale and slowed their work. They failed to meet the release date, leading to fan backlash. Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003 with a release date of September of that year. They also developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and animations. They integrated Havok, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the sense of presence and create new gameplay. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. Development lasted five years and cost US$40 million.
Half-Life 2 was created using Valve's Source game engine, which was developed simultaneously.
The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the alien Combine empire. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds new features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation.