Half Life 2 - An Inside Look By Chris Clark

In the fall of 1998 the world of computer gaming was blown away by a groundbreaking new first-person shooter: HALF LIFE. Created by a virtually unknown company, this game rose to win several awards and fixate itself in a spot on the list of most played online computer games of all time. Now, nearly five years later, Half Life 2 is finally well underway and expected on sale soon.

This raises a number of questions. How is it different from the original? What makes it better? Has Gordon lost the goatee, or is he possibly now sporting a soul patch or a Fu Man Chu? A full length trailer and a few interviews here and there have revealed precious little information to a world full of greedy, salivating gamers.

Thus, to help ease this tension, the Reality Syndicate team proudly broke into Valve and made off with plenty of alpha software of the new game. Sure, it may set back production a few months, but it was worth it! Now, ladies and gentlemen, take a look at what's coming in Half Life 2!

· Drastically Improved Graphics

Our first screenshot (click the picture for a full view) from HL2 comes from within a hotel of City 17, the mysterious locale for the entire game. Note the smooth, clean, almost photographic nature of the surroundings. One impressive aspect of this game is that the world is fully interactive—anything you see, you can use. In this particular chapter we donned the silly bell hop uniform to sneak into a hotel room. We also used the phone on the desk to make some long distance calls and stubbed our digital toe on the chair as we left (losing us two points of health, unfortunately).

Also, notice the new HUD. The stylish blue added a sleek new feel. The old values are all there (health, ammunition, and suit power), yet there's a mysterious fourth value that we never figured out. It fluctuated the entire game, dropping to zero once it reached 100. Someone suggested it might be a coin collection system a la Super Mario Brothers. As absurd as this sounds for such a game as Half Life 2, oddly this was the most viable explanation we could come up with.

· Bizarre Locales and Weapons

As we explored and delved deeper into the game, we were shocked at what we found. With eight weapons categories that boast a total of 47 different tools of destruction, you'll wonder more than ever how the hell Gordon lugs all that stuff around. In this screenshot we strolled into a street festival in City 17 and laid waste to a hoard of alien craft-peddlers with blasts from our railgun-style piece.

Once the street festival was significantly destroyed (the amateur propane tank craftsman was a controller in disguise, so his stand had to go), we used our special magnetic field alteration device to fling cars around for a while. Here's a tip for when you play though... although it sounds fun (and is, really) the G-man was none too pleased and we quickly found ourselves cleaning up bullsquid droppings in the Xen Fauna Laboratories.

· Recognizable Faces

Yes, that's Little Richard. About a quarter of the way through the game a benefit concert was announced with him as the headlining act, taking place in the City 17 Official Public Gathering Arena. Instructions handed down from the G-man informed us to sneak into the concert as a heavily, heavily armed security guard and assassinate the singer before his performance was complete. Supposedly Little Richard was an offspring of Nihilanth gaining power by nurturing a following of Earthlings through music and gaudy clothing.

Other famous faces included in the game:

• Yoko Ono
• Stephen Hawking
• Donny Osmond (Marie was curiously absent)
• The Olsen Twins

Also, notice how Gordon's hands have switched sides. Just another nifty feature at your control!

· 100% Interactivity

So, like we stated in the first section, the world of City 17 is fully interactive. What does that mean in the full scope of the game? Basically, your first category of weapons is the Random Objects category. Gordon can hold seven things here, and that entails anything he can find. As you play, you discard objects you don't need and keep the useful ones. Fortunately, the menu automatically sorts the objects in order of usefulness. For example, in this screenshot we are caring:

• A Katana Blade
• A Basketball
• A Meat Cleaver
• A Hammer
• A Ham Sandwich
• A Motorola Cell Phone (with 500 anytime minutes per month!)
• A Laserjet Printer (that was unfortunately low on toner)

The usefulness of the weapons is obvious, but why the basketball ranked so high we don't know. Personally, I thought there was a side plot with Kareem Abdul Jabar (Gordon encounters him a few times in the subway), though we never experienced it.

Another feature alongside this is the built-in descriptions of the objects in your inventory. In this screenshot we're viewing the description of the ham sandwich just prior to using it. Although we were expecting Gordon to eat it and maybe gain some health, he merely threw it down the hall. Once it landed on the floor and five seconds had passed, we could no longer retrieve it. It was too dirty.

I guess we'll never know what the ham sandwich was meant for.

Well, that's all Valve would let us get away with short of filing criminal charges. They're awfully lenient!

So, to further stave off your raving anticipation of this game, we at the Syndicate have a few suggestions: Try playing through the original fifty three times back to back. Use alcohol to induce a coma that might just end when the game hits the shelves. Or, occupy yourself with a shiny object or piece of string.

Good luck keeping sane, and enjoy Half Life 2 upon its upcoming release!

-Chris Clark

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