Taken from http://www.gamesradar.com/best-games-ever/ at rank 12


Hitting in 2004, Half-Life 2 instantly made every previous advancement in the rapidly accelerating FPS genre look like a total joke. The Source Engine brought stunning graphic and lighting effects which, combined with H-L 2’s gorgeously idiosyncratic production design and amazing facial animation, created a living world generations ahead of anything we’d experienced before.

And then there was the physics model. With a heavily modified version of Havok running within Source, Half-Life 2 didn’t simply look like no game before it, it felt completely different too. The groundbreaking interactive design of the first Half-Life suddenly looked stiff and lifeless compared to H-L 2’s free-flowing, organic environmental manipulation. And of course, that led to the Gravity Gun, the most inspired and important weapon and tool yet to hit FPS.

But all this talk of technical achievement misses what really makes Half-Life 2 so special. The narrative journey, characters and sense of attachment to its world are what really stick with you. Here, we’re talking about the best written, best acted and most wonderfully human characters and story in all of games. Nuanced, layered, immaculately paced, and with the ability to fire up the emotions just as much, if not more, than the pulse rate, Valve’s clever decision to eschew cut-scenes in favor of constant first-person exploration and playable narrative means that you’re never pulled out of it for a second.

I really dislike this game getting so much praise for those stupid physics, the game is not even better than the first one, the gameplay is very limited, puzzles were annoying due to physics, and the rest is just a corridor/checkpoint based FPS
It doesnt stand a chance against Metroid prime

What story?? The protaginist says a total of nothing. Zero. Zip. F all. As I'm playing all I could see is that aliens had taken over (combine) and there was a resistance to stop them. You join the resistance and take out the top guy at the end. Then a mystery guy in a suit says some random stuff that makes no sense. That's it. That is the story. It's cliche and forgetable. 

Most of it is a corridor crawl. Oh a few physics puzzles. Big woop. Physics and graphics don't make a game. The post you state sums it up is nonsense. As I have said time & again, what is this great story exactly? Hell, it doesn't even come close to the storylines of many RPG's and frankly is on par with Halo. 

Half-Life 2 and Metroid Prime are BOTH worthy nominees for game of the decade :)

I was there in 2004 and there was no revolution
just upgraded physics , thats all, gameplay wise is a lame game

Im not against checkpoint/corridor based games actually, i really enjoyed the Conduit
you cant compare this gme to Metroid prime, its just unfair and laughable, Metroid is way more complex and interesting

and yet Warcraft 3 is the game from that decade that I'm still playing...

No my beef is that the game as a whole is completely forgetable. Because people voted for something it makes their choice correct? 

You haven't delt with any of my qualms. What story? It's moving from point a->b->c->d. Nothing more, nothing less. A good story would be something like FFVII or FFX. How about SotC - the character says nothing, but it is infinately more memorable then HL2 which is nothing more then a generic FPS. Halo was a far better game which was considerably more revolutionary - melee, quick access grenades, decent vehicles, weapon limit, recharging health.

Why is HL2 not forgetable? What exactly makes the story so good or the game so memorable? The characters are not human. Alyx is a joke - develops a liking for a guy who says nothing. Playing on the virgin-geek factor much? It's just the "cool" thing to worship HL2. 

dont compare these 2 games its a different genre

as i said in a previouse post the gravity gun is the only praise i got for HL2 and even so it gets boring after finishing the not so long campagne.

Kijesta64
True its so unfair, Prime has so many more gameplay elements it isnt funny, Half life pales in comparison
Im not saying its a bad game, its just very overrated

2000-2010 decade? Then fair enough.

Why have a 2000-2010 game vote in 2012?