The shooting genre has never been one to be able to show off innovative and astounding features as they have become monotonous and stereotypical. However, this has not been the case for the Half Life series and when HL2 released it truly felt like one of the greatest experiences ever.
Half Life 2 was more than just a shooter. Valve created an atmosphere that put you in the forefront of a revolution from a corrupt and authoritarian government to provide great character and story development. But this game shined the most with is ever dynamic gameplay setup which for shooters is almost unheard of. Half Life 2 continuously changed the mold of a shooter with every level you entered.
Half Life 2 is more than just a shootem up. It is a well thought out and polished story that forces a gamer to use every item and different environment setups to accomplish your task. Half Life 2 may indeed be the best shooter ever created and potentially one of the greatest games ever created. There is nothing like it then and even today there is not much that compares. Valve set a new standard for every shooter game and really gaming in general with this masterpiece.
In this thread talk about your likes and dislikes of the game, whether it deserves its critical acclaim, and general things about the game. Personally this is the best shooter I have ever played with not too many contenders. It was one of hte most atmosphere games I have played and kept me coming for more every time. I always like to call it the "zelda of shooters" because nothing stayed the same in the game and you felt like you were on an epic adventure. Great job Valve.
