Specifications

JANUARY 2005 MAXIMUMPC 45
Why Half-Life 2 is a masterpiece of game design!
The secrets that propel the game to new heights!
What the game will look like on YOUR hardware!
Tweaks to optimize the game—
for
speed
or
beauty!
The first 11 verdict in Maximum PC history!
Months before its release, a
top-secret source gained us access
to Half-Life 2, ensuring we’d get a
chance to play it before 99 percent of
the gaming populace. Our take? It’s
the best game we’ve ever played. But
with Half-Life 2, Valve has created not
just an exquisite gaming experience;
the designers have also concocted
a technically sophisticated universe
where every single object behaves
in a realistic manner consistent with
all other objects in the world.
Read on to find out how they did it.
Maximum PC
STORY
The Source engine draws projected
shadows, like many other games, but
then uses a supersampling antialias-
ing technique to draw the edges as
smooth as buttah.
The Strider shown here walks via an
advanced technique known as inverse
kinematics—the same technique real-
world robots use to walk!
BY WILL SMITH
M
onths
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a
y
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d
.
B
u
t
ing tec
hniq
ue to dra
w the edges as
smooth as but
tah.
smooth as but
tah.
The Strider sho
wn here w
alks via an
adv
anced tec
hniq
ue kno
wn as in
v
er
se
kinematics—the same tec
hniq
ue real-
w
orld r
obots use to w
alk!