Half-Life 2 is a masterpiece, or at least almost it is. But it's not for me cos I feel the setting is depressing. I like lots of bad and negative stuff, but HL2's post-apocalyptic future industrial setting is depressing in a bad way. Reminds me of cold-war Eastern Bloc.

Of course it's a typo....

Nice to see you posted a constuctive comment about HL2's polycount rather than a pedantic reply....

Oh, that's done on purpose.  They were going for an Eastern European feel.

HL2 was a fantastic game.  I actually really liked the ending... and feel the episodes kinda ruined it (by removing a perfect bookend to the beginning)... but we'll see how Episode 3 turns out.

How dare you say Halo in the same breath as Half Life 2.  Halo was repetitive and boring compared to HL2.

Half-Life 2 wasn't the revolutionary one, Half-Life 1 was.  At the time, FPS stories typically involved a slight bit of text at the end of the level that nobody paid attention too.  Half Life created an entire world that you were a part of... you start off on a train to work, not randomly dropped off in a maze full of demons/zombies/aliens/nazi's/whatever.

Scripted events, where you would enter a room and then something would occur... that was revolutionary at the time. It might not be, now... but you have to remember what FPS's were like in 1998.  And it was all done through the eyes of Gordon Freeman.

Half-Life 2 didn't introduce these, it used the same concepts as the first one.  But overall, the game (I felt) was improved, the gravity gun addition was incredible, the variety of levels, physics puzzles, was amazing.  The only real complaint about the game is that it's completely 100% linear... but... so what.  Not all games have to be non-linear. 

HL2 is awesome for its atmosphere.
This is how video games' stories should be done. Not pretend to be movies, with long cutscenes, not pretend to be novels, with walls of text, just pure atmosphere, a world that tells its story just by surrounding you.

LOL! I didnt intend to be pedantic. I seriously wondered if you were talking about some kind of STALKER or Crysis mod who would borrow from the other game.

Killzone 2 has moments where you fully lose control of your character (being pulled up a wall) or your point of view is moved away (to look at a passing tank.) Half Life 2 never does this. Much like real life, if you're not looking in a certain direction, you can miss something amazing happening for a split second. While trapped in the teleportation device near the start of the game for example, you can simply stare at the floor if you want and miss the entire spectacle.

The same 'up to the player' game design exists when the player encounters puzzles. Unlike other FPS games where a particular weapon is presented to the player to achieve a specific task and the NPC's continue to shout and rant until you do, HL2 offers very little in the way of obvious clues or suggestions from NPC's how to pass by the next puzzle/barrier. This forces the player to carefully study his surroundings and apply logic to the situation, further engrossing him in the scene.

HL2 is also played, for the most part, at the speed at which you decide to progress. There's no on-the-rails moments or grenade spamming if you decide to hang back and not push forward. While it might not offer full freedom to the player, it's less restricting then most FPS in this regard. Especially taking into consideration the large sections of exploration and lulls in the fighting.

As for making a connection with the character, if he's mute it's hard to either hate or love him. You simply accept that he exists and that because he doesn't speak, he must be judged, therefore, by his actions alone. Which are yours to control.

The scripted reactions to your behaviour like "come along gordon" if you're lagging behind or "gordon stop that!" if you break something or hit them, further lend credit to the overall idea that your personality is shining through Gordon. You are Gordon.

While I respect your opinion...but Halo 1 when it came out in 2001 was anything but boring.

The game introduced so many new things like open/non corridor battles, regen shields,  vehicle combat, coop... that it even to this day feels very fresh and playable. Not many games from that time feel right when played today...try playing Unreal or Soldier of Fortune. 

Yes it had some pacing issues in the middle but combined with the fact it had amazing AI, very smooth gunplay and you could have coop with a buddy any time...I believe Halo 1 should be considered the best FPS single player campaign until HL2 came out.

the purpose of the source engine isnt poly count. Its the scalability of the engine.