"Wake up, Mr. Freeman"... The screen flickers back to life, and there's a guy in a dark grey suit making an offer you can't refuse - and that means the Half-Life saga continues. The previous game was an instant classic, but it got slammed for lacking darkness, a fantastical world of ZEN, a secondary storyline, and cookie-cutter character models. Meanwhile, the competition wasn't sleeping. Ion Storm dropped two parts of the anti-utopia Deus Ex in no time. Rebellion Development and Monolith, two years apart, brought their own takes on the epic showdown between aliens and hunters. With Gray Matter's push, Agent BJ Blaskowicz went undercover to the now-truly three-dimensional SS in Wolfenstein Castle. It was only a matter of time before the anonymous guy forgot about a character like Dr. Freeman, already considering Half-Life a must-have for Counter-Strike, existing solely for the engine. With the start of the 21st century, the FPS genre had another resurgence, where even games like Unreal 2, which were above average, flew under my radar - and thousands of other users. But Valve was ready for the big changes.

2004 was a landmark year for the big three first-person shooters - Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and Far Cry. Valve, Id Software, and Crytek's creations showcased innovative graphics engines with massive capabilities, just around the time the computer press started hyping up Gordon Freeman's improved portrait and his new partner, Alyx Vance, promising a level of cinematic quality we'd never seen before. Of course, the beta version had leaked to testers in 2003, so the most impatient folks could get a sneak peek at the graphics and functionality of Half-Life 2 before the official release. But those were scattered maps that didn't give away the plot. The real showstopper was the storyline.

Gordon wakes up to a familiar face

One of the most iconic game developers, Marc Laidlaw, is behind the Half-Life 2 script, which he also worked on for the first part. The original Half-Life was a typical sci-fi action game. A research facility called Black Mesa had an incident that led to hostile creatures from the world of Xen breaching Earth's defenses. To contain the damage and cover up the catastrophe, special forces were sent to the facility. Young theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman had to fight on two fronts, taking down monsters and protecting his scientist colleagues from the military. And then, in a classic sci-fi move, he had to travel to the enemy's home world to take down the source of the threat. It was an interesting premise, but the next time around, players demanded something entirely different. They wanted detailed character portraits, a more realistic setting, more dialogue that built up the dramatic atmosphere, and a catastrophe that had global consequences. That's exactly what Half-Life 2 delivers, set in a dystopian future where the portal storms from Black Mesa continue to wreak havoc, the local fauna has been altered by the Xen creatures, and an alien alliance called The Combine has taken over, with a puppet leader in the form of Dr. Breen, a former Black Mesa employee.

I've played through Half-Life 2 multiple times, including the Episodes. The first impression it made on me was strong, and I still feel the same way today. From the very start, the player is immersed in a crushing atmosphere as they arrive at City 17 by train. The place is a mess. Combine soldiers, their faces hidden behind gas masks, subject new arrivals to a grueling screening process, throwing them into interrogation cells for any sign of disobedience. A single misstep earns you a jolt from an electric baton. On the big screen, Dr. Breen is spinning a tale of a utopian future for humanity, courtesy of the Combine. But a chance encounter between Freeman and his old friend, Barney Calhoun, a former Black Mesa security guard who's now working undercover for the Combine, saves the scientist from a fate worse than death. It's likely that there were other Resistance members lurking on the platform, who quickly directed Freeman to Barney.

The train carriage filled with gloomy people in identical blue uniforms

The once-beautiful, now rundown train station in City 17. The desolate atmosphere is complete with dripping walls, murky windows, rows of barbed wire, and scattered trash.

Sunshine bunny with glassy eyes. Plastic world has won. Oh, my defense!

Our old buddy Barney

The game's atmosphere is largely thanks to designer Victor Antonov, who chose Eastern Europe as the setting. Levels were designed with the architecture of Bulgaria and other 'Eastern Bloc' countries in mind. You'll see buildings in the classical, modern, and late constructivist styles, as well as panel apartments and industrial sites. Antonov's created environment also influenced the story. The surviving scientists from the 'Black Mesa' complex, located on the border with New Mexico (a mesa, by the way, is a type of mountain with a flat top, which you might've seen on the first Half-Life's skybox), established a secret organization called 'Eastern Black Mesa' in Europe, which opposes the invasion from other worlds. Their base is located in the basement of an abandoned power plant on a river near City 17, protected by a dam and steep hills.

The train station area is probably the most recognizable location in the game

The only high-tech thing that comes to mind is that annoying flying scanner that's always reporting on civilians' movements.

Panel apartments make up the bulk of the residential areas

The landscapes sometimes remind me of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Wherever 'Eastern Black Mesa' is hiding.

I've gotta say, the alien structures are straight out of this world - literally. They're these massive, dark blue metal monstrosities that just keep growing and spreading, consuming everything in their path. And the craziest part? The outer sections are actually moving, shattering anything that gets in their way. Take the Citadel in the middle of the city, or the Nova Prospect prison complex - they're like nothing I've ever seen before.

The Citadel

What used to be an admin building, now a Nucleus Patrol hub

Hey, citizen!

NPCs in Half-Life 2 are divided into a few categories.

1) Citizens - aka, the oppressed. These are the people who get to live in City 17, but only if they wear the same clothes and do the dirty work for the Combine. They're basically zombies, but with a bad haircut. And if you think that's bad, the Citizen Defense Forces are like the city's own personal Gestapo, tasked with keeping the peace and crushing any dissent.

Raiding apartments

The meager lives of City 17's residents

2) Rebels. These are the folks who actually care about humanity and want to save us from ourselves. Some of them live in the city, pretending to be Citizens (like Barney Calhoun), while others are out in the ruins, fighting against the Combine and its monstrous creations. Dr. Kleiner's got a teleporter that lets him zip in and out of the city, and Eli Vance is leading the charge with his 'Eastern Black Mesa' crew. His daughter, Alyx, is a total rockstar, solving puzzles and saving the day wherever she goes.

Eli Vance - the same prof from the first Half-Life who sent Gordon on a wild goose chase after that resonance cascade. His new 3D model even has wrinkles on his forehead, thanks to that innovative facial animation tech from back in the day

Me and Alix

Regular Resistance members

3) Synths - the Alliance's minions, created using alien biotechnology. Soldiers, scavengers, elite infantry have human bodies, ravaged by cybernetic implants, missing organs, altered metabolism. Striders - combat machines that look like giant spiders, equipped with a cybernetic brain that can be pulled in with a gravifle like an inorganic object. Stormtroopers - flying units that resemble insects with a propeller. What's interesting is that stormtroopers and striders, despite being machines, still have primitive feelings. They let out a siren when they take damage. And also, Dr. Brin, escaping from the rebels, communicates with an alien creature through a monitor, resembling the head of a stormtrooper.

You'll encounter Alliance soldiers more often than anyone

Elite infantry look like the stormtroopers from Star Wars in their white armored suits

It's missing only Emperor Palpatine

On the other hand, the Alliance's stormtrooper is a large flying synth, combining the qualities of a dragonfly and a helicopter

Spider-like striders are the most resilient opponents in the game. I just love disassembling them!

4) Vortigons - the green, three-fingered humanoids you've already met in the first Half-Life. They can generate electricity. After being freed from the Nihilanth's grasp, they're super grateful to Dr. Freeman, which is why they always give him a shout-out when you meet them. Due to the portal storms, they've spread all over the world, even living in sewer tunnels with radioactive waste. Some of them joined the Resistance and in the 'Eastern Black Mesa' they're showing off their computer skills and lab equipment. Those who got caught by the Combine, though, are back to being slaves. At the start of the game, you can spot a vortigon sweeping the platform on the train station under the watchful eye of a G-Man.

A free vortigon living in a radioactive pipe

5) Fauna. Headcrabs are back from the first Half-Life too. These little jumpers attach themselves to your head and turn you into a zombie. In Half-Life 2, there are three types: the regular, fast, and poisonous (black) ones. Regular headcrabs are vortigons' snacks, and the Combine uses them as a projectile to take out the Resistance. The other two types are probably mutations. The headcrab rockets are a real hoot, though - it's hilarious to see the confused crabs crawling out of the burning wreckage and looking around for someone to attack. You can take them out with a crowbar without wasting ammo. I think it'd be way scarier if they launched manhackers or a stalker instead.

Headcrabs are a real pain in the neck - but tell that to Dr. Kleiner

Launching headcrabs is a blast. Unlike snarks, they'll follow you anywhere

6) G-Man. I have to ask, where would you even put a guy in a business suit who can materialize anywhere, walk through walls, and stop time? Even when he shows up in the middle of a firefight on a balcony of a destroyed building, his tie is spotless. I've even wondered if G-Man is some kind of dark manifestation of Gordon Freeman's psyche, unleashed after he defeated Nihilanth.

Time stands still for G-Man

KITCHEN COMBO
System requirements were pretty moderate even back when the game came out. A standard P-IV or AMD Athlon with 256-512 MB of RAM and a halfway decent video card could handle Half-Life 2 at 1024x768. Those same rigs, upgraded to 1 GB of RAM and a DirectX 9 video card with at least 256 MB, could easily run the game at 1920x1080. Half-Life 2 still runs on any modern computer, even the super-budget ones, which is why it's still so popular.

The crossbow in Freeman's arsenal made its debut in the first Half-Life, and it's just as effective in the second

Enemy AI has gotten a lot better - they'll even bring you ammo and medics will patch you up

The robot is so powerful it can lift up the alien structure, clearing the way to the Citadel

My interest in Half-Life 2 never faded, thanks to the numerous sequels and spin-offs that followed, like Episodes 1 and 2, Portal, Alyx, Black Mesa, and so on. Half-Life 2 was actually one of the first games to really take off on Steam. Well, not exactly. Back in the day, before 2008 (and even into the early 2010s in some parts of the world), a lot of gamers didn't even think about Steam – they saw it as some kind of imposed feature. On low-end machines, every megabyte of RAM counted, so we'd try to strip out as many resident programs, clients, antivirus software, and launchers as possible. Our home internet was basically ADSL with a paltry few gigabytes of data per month. It was more cost-effective to pool our money and buy the official boxed version from a computer store. Despite my lukewarm feelings towards this classic, when I'd read the teasers in Game Country, I'd know that another 'pop hit' was on the horizon. Memes from Half-Life 2 quickly became ingrained in our culture. "Ah, the old road to Ravenholm! We haven't been down that way in ages!" "I ate them! They're nothing like crabs!" "The right person in the wrong place can turn the world upside down."

After the first Half-Life, Gordon never got used to the close-quarters combat

On the other hand, the gravitational gun in the game makes you want to pull something towards you in real life. A similar skill is developed after using the kinesis module in Dead Space and the Atomic Heart gloves.

The Alliance's energy field-enhanced gravitational gun becomes a super-weapon that scatters enemies in all directions. Too bad this feature only appears towards the end of the game

I've got to say, it's awesome that Gordon Freeman can now officially control vehicles in the game. My allies hook me up with an aeroglider and an open-top buggy.

The glider's ready to roll - time to hit the road

I love cruising around on it with the wind in my hair, but the enemies are gonna try to ruin the party

The helicopter's just a split second away from getting shot down

The buggy's straight out of a Mad Max movie

Not all roadblocks get taken out by the car - you'll need to find the key for some of 'em

I've gotta say, even the enemy's tanks like to roll around in style, using their tech. The Combine APC is basically their go-to ground transport. Unfortunately, without some mods, Freeman can't get his hands on one. But even in the enemy's hands, these APCs are pretty meh. They only move around in scripted scenes, and they're lucky if they get off a few shots per game. Most of the time, they're just decoration. On Highway 17, one of the APCs is hooked up to a pole, powering the force field. You can take it out with a grav-pulse, and it'll break the connection. It's kinda weird that these things are so light, though. I mean, a grav-pulse can't even budge a standard truck, let alone a semi or a pile of scrap metal. I like to take out the Combine's APCs by pushing them off a cliff. You can also try sneaking up on the enemy with a grav-pulse and crushing them with a nearby tank. But that usually happens by accident when things get crazy and you're running low on grenades.

APC with crew

You'll see these things all over the place throughout the game, but they rarely actually do anything.

The air transports - which I'm pretty sure are synthetics - have got some serious grip on those containers with soldiers inside. Unlike helicopters and synth-planes, these transports are basically untouchable. But you can try to shake them loose by crashing the container. That's about it, though.

Ally transport in flight. It's got its front claws wrapped around the container, and what looks like some kind of rocket engines on the back

These transports don't have any guns of their own, but the one on the container they're carrying does. Still, it's best to steer clear of their fire.

These are the only kind of aircraft you can see landing.

One of the things that really stands out about the trains in Half-Life 2 is their design. They look like they're made from some kind of alien metal, like they're competing with the old war trains from World War I in terms of style. The only trains that move on both the regular rail lines and inside the Citadel are these ones. Meanwhile, regular civilians are stuck with the old trains from the mid-20th century.

The rail network is basically one of the last remnants of the old infrastructure

HOME - PLANET EARTH
The developers of Half-Life 2 did a great job of minimizing the number of corridor levels and showing off as much open space as possible, creating a sense of grandeur. Compared to the first Half-Life, the levels are 16 times larger in each dimension and 64 times larger overall. Of course, the graphics aren't exactly realistic, and our computers aren't infinitely powerful, so some of the objects might look a bit simplified. But the locations are still pretty impressive.

Take the historic district with the train station and monument in City 17, for example. It's like they're building skyscrapers out of metal and mirrored glass right now. Almost every city has its own Citadel in the middle of the historic district, sometimes even multiple ones.

The massive arched bridge over the bay, shaking as the trains go by - it's a real downer now. The abandoned mining town of Ravenholm, where you can find plenty of delicious headcrabs. The black ones are especially prized, but you have to cook them just right. Only Father Grigori knows how to survive in a sea of zombies roaming the streets.

The rusting ships in the desert where the ocean used to be. The old Ladas and Moskviches abandoned in the middle of the road. The old theater posters with Meyerhold's name on them. The old playground in the backyard and the doll left in the non-functional elevator. The destruction of this once-thriving world hits you harder than a disaster at some abstract research facility in New Mexico. The lab, the lab, it's all just a lab. They had the aliens from Xen there before Freeman, although an alternative perspective suggests that Freeman is living in a simulation modeling different disaster scenarios.

The bridge is one of the most atmospheric places in the game

Walking on it is full of dangers, but it's worth it

The cityscape is pretty depressing. Peeling walls, empty canals littered with toxic waste, and abandoned machinery just lying around

Ravenholm is a heart-wrenching and terrifying place all at once

Gravity guns and circular saw blades - that's how you take down hordes of zombies

Roofs might seem safer, but they're not much better - zombies can still get to you

Grigori, the father, is the most colorful character - a true example of spirit

Valve did everything right to make this game an instant classic, from the well-prepared marketing campaign to the massive game world. I've got to give them credit - the levels are expertly designed, the story's believable, the tech is diverse, and the music by Kelly Bailey is dynamic and changes with the scenario

The teleportation process is shown in all its glory, not just a quick 'teleport in, teleport out' like in most games back then

Even a simple puzzle like setting up batteries to unlock the gate on the road is a great touch

Falling machines are zombie traps

The Havok physics engine tackles a lot of object property issues. For example, you need to push those floating barrels into the ramp, and then they'll launch the trampoline for the hovercraft.

The crane becomes a formidable weapon, taking out enemies with a single container hit

The Citadel's equipment is straight out of a cyberpunk movie. Brin's teleporter is just a few seconds away from being destroyed

WHAT'S NOT SO HOT?
One of the main selling points of Half-Life was improved facial animation. The program takes into account the position of 34 points that control the character's expression. To help developers, there's a pretty powerful tool called FacePoser. However, Alyx Vance's facial expressions look weird. It's like a rubber mask that's been stretched too far. The best facial animations are on Brin, Barney, Kleiner, and Eli, but Alyx looks like a puppet. Even the regular NPCs express more emotions. But Alyx's body animation is top-notch. Remember how she climbs up the downspout like a cat, takes down a few enemies, and runs to open doors? That's some next-level realism. Gordon Freeman, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick. When he's driving the buggy, you can't see his legs - just empty pedals. Nobody's holding onto the hovercraft or buggy for dear life. If Half-Life 1 had a third-person view option, you'd need to create custom mods to get Gordon to look human in HL2.

Alyx's face looks better in stills than in motion

Now check out Brin, Judith, and Eli. You don't need words to understand their emotions

There are some rough edges on the map, though. Check out that turn on the road – the lighting and shadows are actually pretty well done.

Occasionally, the AI gets a little wonky. Like, I've had the Strider just walking back and forth, refusing to blast through the wall I need to get past. I've had to reload from the last save in the tunnel and climb back up to the roof. Don't get me wrong, these little hiccups don't take away from the sheer scope of the game.

City 17 from a distance

FRIDAY, FREEMAN, MUST LIVE!
That's what you get with a game like Half-Life 2 – it's a whole era, not just a game. And this year, it's celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The game's still getting updates and new content. Even after the release of the second part, Gordon Freeman's popularity only grew. The developers have done a great job of tying together old and new characters with a cohesive story, making it still fun to play through the original, Blue Shift, HL2, and the Episodes. I've played all the games in the series, and I still recommend them. Half-Life 2 gets a perfect score from me!

My review of the first Half-Life