Just finished Half-Life 2 and...

[Barozi]

DarkD said:
Basically think of it this way, HL2 at the time was a year late and still managed to hold its own graphically for almost a year after its release. HL2 was the first to incorporate physics of any kind up to that point. I don't even think doom 3 which came out a year later was up to par in that respect with HL2. Same with lip syncing and computer AI. It broke the record for pretty much every aspect of gaming at that point. Every graphically impressive thing reviewers take note of in todays gaming market was started by HL2 and HL1 as well.

Until HL2 I think the only thing I remember the AIs in games doing was follow and shoot with the occassional grenade thrown in. Physics was a completely new term which almost no one ever even heard of up until HL2.

Well I think you got something mixed up here.

Doom 3 came out before Half-Life 2 and I think that Far Cry which came out before those two games was more technically advanced in graphics and AI.
But HL2 was definitely up there with the best.