Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I stopped keeping time after 2am so I can't be sure what hour it is, nor can I tell you when I ran out of the cannister of Malt Balls and Peanut M&M's I brought as supplementation. What I can tell you however (in the humble opinion of a dedicated PC gamer for 15 years), is that Half Life 2 is the the most mind blowing game I've ever played. I was at E3 with my pyscho gaming buddy cleaning the Pizza flavored drool off his chin when we got a preview of HL2. Like most, I counted the days, cursed Valve and Sierra for delay after delay, put all my faith and hope into Doom 3, was underwhelmed, went back to playing Desert Combat...basically went insane with anticipation. In the brief moments before firing up HL2 for the first time, I was hopeful, but expecting to be dissapointed. And I was. Really, no multi-player! I'm one of those that have an absolute allergy to single-player games. Small beads of angry sweat began to form on my back... But I soldiered on, and in: 10 minutes I was impressed, at 30 minutes I was completely immersed, at 1 hour chills were running up and down my spine, and occasional girlish yelps of horror began emanating from my pitch dark office... ...by the third hour I came to the conclusion that HL2 was/is the most impressive game software I've ever had the privilege of living in. Some highlights: 1. The engine is truly revolutionary. Doom 3 has a darn good engine, HL2 in my opinion is vastly better. Indoor AND outdoor environments are near photo-realistic (I have a 3.2GHZ w/ 1GB RAM), the physics are jaw-dropping AND deeply integrated into the play of the game, texture and lighting, faces, water, you name it, this engine is now The Standard. 2. Vehicles. Well, not only do they have them, they're really fun to operate (or be chased by as the case may be). 3. The Gravity Gun. This weapon comes later in the game, and in my humble opinion, is easily the most fun weapon I've ever used. Picking up and throwing items, using it to activate latent elements of the environment (often as weapons) is unbelievably fun. Which brings me to: 4. Humor. This game has some really funny moments. I almost busted a gut when I ran out of heavy/sharp things to fire at zombified creatures that were teaming up on me in close quarters. I desperately pulled over a large can of paint, fired, and splattered huge gobs of white paint all over their (now more upset) faces. I died, but I died laughing. And finally: 5. Immersion. The screams were obvious signs of immersion, but beyond that, I noticed myself making facial expressions of anger, empathy, anticipation...all throughout the game I found myself genuinely caring. That's a first for me. I really could go on and on, but I can't, literally, I fear that dawn isn't far from my window and I'd like to pretend that I myself won't be a zombie tomorrow. Enjoy, Christian Hunter Santa Barbara, California