Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2
Mac OS X Linux Android
Release	November 16, 2004 Windows WW: November 16, 2004 Xbox NA: November 15, 2005 EU: November 18, 2005 Xbox 360 NA: October 10, 2007 EU: October 19, 2007 AU: October 25, 2007 PlayStation 3 NA: December 11, 2007 EU: December 14, 2007 AU: December 20, 2007 Mac OS X WW: May 26, 2010 Linux WW: May 9, 2013 Android WW: May 12, 2014
Single-player

Half-Life 2 is a 2004

Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds new features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine

, an interplanetary alien empire.

Half-Life 2 was created using Valve's Source game engine, which was developed simultaneously. Development lasted five years and cost US$40 million. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. They integrated Havok, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the sense of presence and create new gameplay. They also developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and animations.

Valve announced Half-Life 2 at

E3 2003

with a release date of September of that year. They failed to meet the release date, leading to fan backlash. A year before its release, an unfinished version was stolen by a hacker and published online, which damaged the team’s morale and slowed their work.

Half-Life 2 was released on Steam on November 16, 2004. It won 39

best games ever made. It was ported to Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, macOS and Linux. By 2011, it had sold 12 million copies. Half-Life 2 was followed by the free extra level Lost Coast (2005) and the episodic sequels Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007). In 2020, after canceling Episode Three and several further Half-Life projects, Valve released a prequel, Half-Life: Alyx

Gameplay

antlions

with a Pulse-Rifle/AR2. Along the bottom of the screen, the player's health, suit charge level, and their ammunition is displayed.

Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter (FPS) in which players control Gordon Freeman. It has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems (though with fewer overall weapons) and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. The player starts without items and widens their arsenal over the course of the game. While the game is mainly linear, effort was put into making exploration rewarding and interesting; many optional areas can be missed or avoided.^[1]

A diverse set of enemies is present, which usually require being approached with different tactics: some coordinate in groups to out-maneuver or out-position the player; others, such as the Manhack, fly directly at the player through small openings and tight corridors.^[2] Others use predictable but powerful attacks, while others hide before swiftly attacking the player. Gordon can kill most enemies with his weapons, or make use of indirect means, exploiting environmental hazards such as explosive pressurized canisters, gas fires or improvised traps. In chapters ten and eleven, Gordon can be joined by up to four armed Resistance soldiers or medics and can send his team further from him or call them back.

Many of the features use the Source engine's detailed physics simulation. Two sections of the game involve driving vehicles. Instead of button-oriented puzzles from Half-Life, environmental puzzles are also introduced with makeshift mechanical systems, revolving around the player's new ability to pick up, move, and place objects. Solutions involve objects' physical properties, such as shape, weight, and buoyancy. For example; In chapter three, "Route Kanal", the player is required to stack cinder blocks on a makeshift see-saw ramp to proceed over a wall. Alternatively, the player can build a crude staircase with the blocks, so the puzzle may be solved in multiple ways.

Part-way through the game, Gordon acquires the

Gravity Gun

, which allows him to draw distant objects towards himself or forcefully push them away, as well as the ability to manipulate larger and heavier objects which he otherwise cannot control. These abilities are required to solve puzzles later in the game. They can also be used in combat, to throw heavy objects at enemies or to shield themselves from gunfire.

The game never separates the player with pre-rendered cutscenes or events; the story proceeds via exposition from other characters and in-world events, and the player can control Gordon for the entirety of the game. Most of the backstory to the game is simply alluded to or told through the environment. Even tutorials are mostly placed in the environment or in dialogue. The few pop-ups that appear inform the player only of keyboard bindings for actions.

Plot

After the

Black Mesa East, Gordon is accidentally, briefly teleported to the Citadel office of Dr. Wallace Breen (Robert Culp), the Combine’s puppet ruler of Earth, alerting Dr. Breen to Gordon’s presence. Gordon is subsequently forced to progress to the base using the city's canal system, navigating it on an airboat

Upon his arrival at Black Mesa East, Gordon reunites with

Nova Prospekt

, where Eli and Judith are being held. He breaks into the prison and reunites with Alyx. They locate Eli and discover that Judith is a Combine spy. Before they can stop her, Judith teleports herself and Eli to the Citadel. The teleporter explodes moments after Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.

Returning to Dr. Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed, during which time the Resistance has launched a full-scale armed rebellion against the Combine. Aided by Barney and Dog, Gordon fights his way inside the Citadel. He makes some progress in climbing the tower before he is captured and taken in a transport pod to Dr. Breen’s private office, near the tower’s apex, where he and Judith are waiting with Eli and Alyx as captives. Dr. Breen reveals that he intends to use his captives as leverage during negotiations with the Combine, which contradicts what he had previously told Judith.[3] Angered, Judith frees the three captives before Dr. Breen can teleport them off-world. Dr. Breen attempts to escape using a teleporter on the Citadel’s roof, but Gordon destroys the Citadel's reactor using the Gravity Gun, causing Dr. Breen to fall into the abyss, although it is uncertain if he had died as a result. Just as the reactor explodes, the G-Man reappears and freezes time, praising Gordon’s actions and placing him back into stasis.

Development

Development of Half-Life 2 began in June 1999, six months after the release of the original Half-Life. It was developed by a team of 82.^[4] With voice actors included, this number is 100.^[5]^[6] Valve's president, Gabe Newell, wanted to redefine the FPS genre, saying: "Why spend four years of your life building something that isn't innovative and is basically pointless? If Half-Life 2 isn't viewed as the best PC game of all time, it's going to completely bum out most of the guys on this team."^[4] Newell gave his team no deadline and a "virtually unlimited" budget, promising to fund the project himself if necessary.^[4] They used Valve's new in-house game engine, Source, developed simultaneously.^[4]

Setting and characters

Whereas Half-Life was set in a single location, the Black Mesa research facility, Valve wanted "a much more epic and global feel" for the sequel. One concept had the player teleporting between planets, which was discarded as it would make continuity between levels difficult. At the suggestion of the art director,

Nova Prospekt was conceived as a small rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland and grew from a stopping-off point to the destination itself.^[7]^{[page needed}

]

After observing how players had connected to minor characters in Half-Life, the team developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and realistic animation. The animator Ken Birdwell studied the work of psychologist Paul Ekman, who had researched how facial muscles express emotion.^[4] The writer Marc Laidlaw created family relationships between the characters, saying as it was a "basic dramatic unit everyone understands" rarely used in games.^[4]

Physics and design

The team integrated the

Havok physics engine, which simulates real-world physics,^[8] to reinforce the player's sense of presence and create new gameplay.^[4] To experiment, the team created a minigame, Zombie Basketball, in which players used a physics-manipulating gun to throw zombies through hoops.^[4] In mid-2001, to test the engine, Valve built a street war between rioting citizens and police, featuring tanks, Molotov cocktails, hand-to-hand fighting, and looting. The designer John Guthrie described it as "an early attempt at getting something – anything – in the game that used non-player characters and physics".^[4]

In late 2001, Valve began creating a

E3 2002.^[4] For several months, Newell let the team work without his input so he could provide unbiased feedback, and focused on developing Steam, Valve's upcoming digital distribution service. The team presented the showreel to Newell, showcasing physics, environments such as the Borealis, and a dialogue-heavy scene with the scientist character Dr. Kleiner. Newell felt the showreel did not adequately show how the physics would affect gameplay and that the Kleiner scene was overlong. Reflecting on the feedback, Laidlaw said: "The dramatic scenes with the characters are important, but they have to be in service of the interactivity and gameplay."^[4]

In September 2002, the team completed a second showreel, featuring a buggy race along the City 17 coast, an encounter with headcrabs on a pier, an alien strider attacking the city, and a greatly shortened Kleiner sequence. In October, Newell told the team they would announce Half-Life 2 at E3 2003 and release it by the end of the year.[4] As with the original Half-Life, the team split into "cabals" working on different levels. Designers created levels using placeholder shapes and surfaces, which then were worked on by the artists.^[4]

Announcement and delay

Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003, with demonstrations of the characters, animation and physics. The reaction was positive, and the game won the E3 Game of the Show award.^[9] Newell also announced a release date of September 30, 2003, hoping this would motivate the team. They worked long hours to meet the deadline, but by July it was clear they would miss it. Rumors spread of a delay. On September 23, Valve released a statement targeting a release for the holiday season, leading to fan backlash.^[4]

Newell had been hesitant to announce a delay without a new release date. He said later: "We were paralyzed. We knew we weren't going to make the date we promised, and that was going to be a huge fiasco and really embarrassing. But we didn't have a new date to give people either."

graphics card manufacturer ATI had arranged a promotional event on Alcatraz Island to coincide with the planned release of Half-Life 2. Unable to pull out of the event, Newell gave a prepared speech, demonstrated the Source engine, and left without addressing questions.^[4]

Leak and final months

On September 19, the Half-Life 2

FBI to invite Gembe to a fake job interview, planning to have him arrested in the United States; however, police arrested him in Germany.^[10] In November 2006, Gembe was sentenced to three years' probation.^[10]

In 2004, the Valve staff returned after Christmas to long hours, stressful working conditions, and no guarantee that the game, which was costing $1 million a month to develop, would be finished soon. However, Newell felt that progress was speeding up, with the team producing about three hours of gameplay per month. In March, they created the first version playable from start to finish and stopped production for a week to play through the game. Major changes by this point included the cutting of the Borealis, the replacement of the jet ski with a hovercraft, and introducing the physics-manipulating gravity gun earlier in the game. Feedback was positive across the company. Newell recalled: "The fact that you could go from one end of the game to the other was a really big thing for us. Then we knew it just had to get better – but it was all there."

playtesting, Half-Life 2 was completed on October 13, 2004.^[4]

Release

Valve made a 1 GB portion of Half-Life 2 available for download in an encrypted format through Steam on August 26, 2004. On the day of release, Steam customers were able to pay, unlock the files, and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the game to download.

Vivendi Universal Games through their Sierra Entertainment subsidiary.^[12]

Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD, and on DVD in several editions. Through Steam, Half-Life 2 had three packages that a customer could order. The basic version ("Bronze") includes only Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source, whereas the "Silver" and "Gold" (collector's edition) versions also include

Half-Life: Source (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine). The collector's edition/"Gold" version additionally includes merchandise, such as a baseball cap, a strategy guide and CD containing the soundtrack used in Half-Life 2. Both the disc and Steam versions require Steam to be installed and active for play to occur.^[13] The retail copies of the game came in two versions, standard and Collector's Edition. The Collector's Edition differed from the physical items in the "Gold" edition, and included a T-shirt and sample of the Prima strategy guide.^[14]

demo version with the file size of a single CD was made available in December 2004 at the website of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains a portion of two chapters: Point Insertion and "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...". In September 2005, Electronic Arts distributed the Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2. Compared to the original CD-release of Half-Life 2, the Game of the Year edition also includes Half-Life: Source.^[15]

The soundtrack was written by Kelly Bailey. The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2, containing most of the music from Half-Life 2 and many tracks from the original Half-Life, was included with the Half-Life 2 "Gold" edition and sold separately from Valve's online store.^[16] Valve released a deathmatch mode in 2004.^[17] In 2022, fans discovered that the texture used for a corpse model originated from a real photograph of a corpse published in a medical textbook on treating burns, leading to criticism.^[18]^[19]