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JANUARY 2005 MAXIMUMPC 51

you figure out how to kill the monster, then

you perform the same action again and

again. Realizing the ground-breaking nature

of this shift, the game’s designers have cre-

ated a constant progression of varying situ-

ations that will challenge your reactive skills

and occasionally make you laugh out loud

at how much fun the gravity gun is to use.

We can’t wait to see home movies of this

baby in action.

Still, the game has some ever-so-minor

problems. Along the way you team up with

fellow resistance fighters who fight alongside

you against the Combine, and they tend to

follow you much too closely. If you wander

into a tight hallway and have to turn around

they are always right behind you, block-

ing your path. The Overwatch soldiers also

bugged us a bit by not always reacting to

the grenades we tossed. Maybe they know

something we don’t, but it punctured our

suspension of disbelief. It’s puzzling—in the

original Half-Life, grunts would either run for

cover or throw grenades back, but here they

will occasionally just stand there until the

grenade explodes.

In the end though, these nitpicks are just

small annoyances and don’t detract from

the overall experience. In fact, despite these

little flaws, Half-Life 2 ranks an unprece-

dented, off-the-charts 11 verdict with a Kick

Ass award because it’s the best game we’ve

ever played. Period. The story is gripping,

the tension is palpable, the action is almost

non-stop, and the presentation is superb.

Not only does it innovate on many different

levels, but it’s also massively entertaining

for the entire ride. We won’t spoil anything

for you, but there’s a “thing” in this game

that will literally be remembered as the

coolest gaming moment ever.

During the development of

Half-Life

2, Valve’s internal goal was to create “the

best PC game of all time.” Mission accom-

plished. Call us fanboys, but after you

experience it yourself, you’ll be one too.

—JOSH NOREM

If you want to know more about the

development of Half-Life 2, check out

the book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar by

David SJ Hodgson. It delves deep into

the thinking behind the game’s design,

and shows in loving detail how Valve

built this impressive sequel. Here are

a few choice tidbits we borrowed from

the book.

After deciding to base the game in

an Eastern European-like city, Valve

decided on fall as the game’s season.

The developers studied weather maps

of actual European cities to accurately

emulate the sun’s position in the sky at

all times.

The actor who performs the voice of

Security Guard Barney Calhoun is also

responsible for the voice of the G-man.

The gravity gun was originally built

as a tool to explore physics-based

gameplay, and eventually evolved into

an armament that could be used for

both offense and defense.

Towards the end of development,

Valve brought in Bay Raitt,

who worked on the facial animation

system for Gollum in the Lord of the

Rings trilogy. Raitt helped Valve

improve the game’s facial-expression

and lip-sync systems.

Pay attention to the radio commands

between the Overwatch soldiers—they

are real-life police call signs.

INSIDER SECRETS

ABOUT HALF-LIFE 2’S

DEVELOPMENT

Throughout

the game

you meet up

with other

resistance

fighters, and

eventually

lead them

into battle.

Though

they have a

tendency to

follow too

closely, they

are great at

giving you

ammo when

you need it.

The node-based scripting allows for impromptu

events. For example, when you look at this bul-

letin board in the game, the NPCs around you

start talking about the articles on the board.

Everything, especially the Gravity Gun.

HEADCRAB

PANTSCRAB

Allies sometimes bunch up around you.

$50, www.half-life.com

MAXIMUMPC

VERDICT