Half-Life 2 Preview

By Kristan Reed Published 23 April, 2003

The original game had a decent Half-Life, and this one looks like it might too...

I wonder what you'll be doing on September 30th. If you're even near a PC, we'd wager you'll be spending every waking moment swishing a crowbar joyously at hordes of leaping headcrabs in Half-Life 2. At bloody last.

We're not even supposed to know about this game yet, but, aaaah the hilarious joys of print mag exclusives. You see the thing that most softcos haven't quite worked out yet is that plugging leaks on the wonderful Interweb is like trying to use a sieve as a bucket, and so over the last 24 hours the net has been alive with news of possibly the most eagerly awaited first person shooter of all time. Actually, make that the most eagerly-awaited game of all time if those hastily scanned in screenshots are anything to go by.

Unforeseen Consequences

'Half-Life 2' Screenshot 1

I feel like chicken tonight!

The key piece of speculation to squash is that moneybags Microsoft hasn't managed to secure the game as an Xbox exclusive, which is understandable when you consider that Half-Life has sold seven and a half million copies worldwide on the PC, and just 500,000 to console owners with the PS2 conversion. Valve knows where its core audience lies, and appreciates that the game will sell just as well on PC as it would on Xbox – and without the inherent restrictions of console development. This, along with Doom III, looks like being the killer app the PC needs to restore its flagging fortunes after a long period of console dominance. Surely any gamer with a pulse would gladly upgrade their PC to run a game that looks as good as Half-Life 2?

Taking place sometime after the events of the bizarre ending of Half-Life, the sequel is set in City 17, a fictional Eastern European location that has been overrun by an invading horde of spindly-legged aliens. Valve has been deliberately tight lipped on the storyline so far, preferring to blether on about the technical side and its "Proof Of Concept" project, but from the various articles we've seen so far, its apparent that the game will be set across 12 chapters, with each said to provide three to four hours of gameplay in each area.

What we have managed to glean is that players will (obviously) take control of ginger beardy research scientist Gordon Freeman, who is now working for The G-Man – the sinister suited guy with the briefcase that offered you a job at the conclusion of the first game. You get to partner with a non playable female, by the name of Alyx Vance, and it would seem that you're battling against the alien hordes again in a kind of War Of The Worlds meets The Tripods scenario. Beyond that, nobody outside Valve's inner circle knows anything more, but that's undoubtedly a good thing. If there was one thing that was utterly superb about the original, it was the element of surprise and suspense from not knowing what was going on, or what was going to happen next.

Surface Tension

'Half-Life 2' Screenshot 2

Permission to be slightly excited.

We're happy to report that Mark Laidlaw is once again the man responsible for the subtle seamless narrative, and in the June edition of PC Gamer in the US he commented: "[While] making Half-Life, we learned a lot about telling a story in the narrative mode. The goal of our scripting techniques is to keep the player immersed in the story, completely caught up in the events as they unfold."

But the excellent set pieces will apparently be much more interactive this time around: "Many times in Half-Life, it was fairly obvious that you were witnessing a scripted sequence. A good example is the falling elevator sequence at the beginning of the game, which happens the same way every time. [In HL2] we've used our tried and true devices as springboards for jumping into new kinds of scripting where the borders between scripted and unscripted aren't so obvious, Laidlaw revealed in PC Gamer (US)."

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, meanwhile, preferred to focus almost solely on the game's technical prowess, and in the similar article in Computer Games magazine he commented: "Because of the sales of the first game and the amount of fan and critical support, we have a rare opportunity to do something dramatic with Half-Life 2. We could have come out with Half-Life 2 pretty quickly and said 'Here's more of the same' but we thought we'd take time out to figure out what we though were the interesting opportunities in terms of technology." Hurrah for that – if only Core had thought to do the same thing with the Tomb Raider series, eh?

Lambda Core

'Half-Life 2' Screenshot 3

I don't know what you're smiling about. Tripod aliens invading Eastern Europe and you've got time to look gorgeous?

The team only locked down the game's proprietary 'Source' engine back in September last year. Given that the original was based on fairly ageing, albeit heavily modified Quake engine technology, it's good to see Valve has at least opted for its own technology this time around, and even more surprising that it has seemingly pulled it off with a degree of panache lacking in so many me-too first person shooters clogging up the release schedules.

The various interviews that we've seen go to great lengths to blether on about how the character models look like they have real flesh now, and how great the eyeball animation is, but we're sure that most of you are savvy enough to have tracked all of these articles down already.

Wading through the often quite tedious talk of real-time luminescence, floating dust particles and diffused and specular bump mapping, there are – praise be – some interesting titbits: notably the way that physical properties are said to have a direct influence on gameplay.

Residue Proceeding

'Half-Life 2' Screenshot 4

The level of detail would have been the stuff of dreams a few years ago.

Rather like an interesting advancement of the GeoMod technology first shown off to limited effect in Red Faction, Half-Life 2 allows you to destroy and modify parts of the levels. For example, wooden supports holding up a pile of pipes can be shot out to crush the enemy below, while objects such as boxes, chairs or even a metal grate can be picked up and used as shields or thrown – useful when trying to outwit those dreaded sentry guns.

As ever, the usual claims of advanced AI have also been bandied about, and Valve's Jay Stelly was only to happy to oblige (again, in PC Gamer US): "One of the best things about our AI is that it understands context. NPCs use information about the world and the story to help choose appropriate behaviour."

Human NPCs will behave far more realistically, according to Stelly in the same article: "Ally characters have different dialogue depending on the current setting and the player's current actions. They know about interesting things in the world to notice or even point out to the player." The Barney character also won't be such a headless chicken this time: "In Half-Life Barney always ran into a fight all guns blazing. In Half-Life 2 he behaves very differently."

Interloper

'Half-Life 2' Screenshot 5

Fry me a liver...

'But what about multiplayer and the mod community?' some of you will doubtlessly be asking. "We have a lot of confidence that we're building a platform for mod authors that's going to be much more robust than [Half-Life's]," said Newell, in PC Gamer. But apart from blathering on about how easy it will be to impressively texture the environment, Valve was not forthcoming with further details.

Most of you with a PC will probably be on the one hand drooling at the extremely delicious screenshots and looking forward to all this advanced AI, but on the other fearing the game's technical requirements will be a world away from your current set up.

Rather fortunately, Valve has set the base minimum at PIII 700, with a DX6-compatible graphics card, although God help you if you're thinking of doing the game any justice at that level. A rather more realistic 'optimal' target has been set at a GeForce 4-equipped P4, which by the time the game comes out shouldn't equate to a ridiculous outlay for those poor buggers faced with an upgrade. We still bitterly recall paying £1,500 for a 486 DX2 66Mhz in 1994, so don't even think about bitching about the cost of PCs now, ok. You don't know you're born sometimes.

Anomalous Materials

Interestingly, the game will be the first major videogame release that players will be able to download direct from the developer, with Valve's wonky Steam system being employed to allow you to avoid that tiresome visit to your local store. Apparently retailers won't miss out, with negotiations underway to allow them to host Steam servers. Let's hope it sorts out the system by the time the game hits, or it could end up being one of the biggest farces in gaming history.

Regardless, to say we're looking forward to Half-Life 2 is the understatement of the year. If Valve can deliver on the promises it is making, and the game plays vaguely close to as good as the screenshots hint, we're all in for one hell of a treat come September 30th.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (80) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MaTTy_P #1 9 years ago

    oooooooooooooo SHHHmmmoken.

  • krudster #2 9 years ago

    Has anyone managed to pick up a print mag in Europe carrying details on HL2 yet?

  • UncleLou #3 9 years ago

    Lol! Excellent article that shows how to make a lot out of nothing (well, a few scans and the odd forum comment)!

  • krudster #4 9 years ago

    Thanks! And some nice chaps who are good at scanning!

  • Khab #5 9 years ago

    Will try today. :)

  • UncleLou #6 9 years ago

    Btw, this is about the first time in years I take developer's talk about improved AI seriously.

  • Fizzy #7 9 years ago

    Damn that giant alien things looks cool! Can't wait. Oh why couldnt this come out earlier in the summer instead of when term will start again! :

  • Whizzo #8 9 years ago

    Some very naughty scans are available here. It includes the text of the mags as well and some of the stuff sounds really, really good! :-)

  • lost_soul #9 9 years ago

    Has the Half Life 2 announcement been as big a surprise to people in the gaming industry as it has to the gaming public?

    I mean, we all knew it was going to happen, but this year, with no build up?

    It's almost like walking into GAME on Friday and finding Duke Nukem Forever on sale.

  • Whizzo #10 9 years ago

    It's almost like walking into GAME on Friday and finding Duke Nukem Forever on sale.

    That's a likely as finding Lord Lucan in the queue in front of you with Team Fortress 2 in his hands...

    It does seem to have caught everyone off guard, first the crowbar teaser Edge had and now this flood of stuff. Good, make the game then hype something you can show rather than promise the Earth every year and don't have anything to show for it.

  • krudster #11 9 years ago

    I was actually told last Jan/Feb that HL2 was going to be shown at E3 LAST year, and broke the story in CTW, but the no-show kind of meant the story seemed to be just a rumour. It did come as a surprise though, but the biggest surprise is no-one knows who the publisher is yet!

  • krudster #12 9 years ago

    Well done Whizzo, that's where we sourced our info.

  • Whizzo #13 9 years ago

    It's nice to see the info is getting around! Perhaps the NDA ending on the 28th could be dropped it's a tad silly now.

  • ShekkyBoy #14 9 years ago

    Realistic breast movements? Cor..

  • lost_soul #15 9 years ago

    There's going to be a lot of pissed of magazine editors out there.
    They get the biggest gaming exclusive of the last couple of years and it gets leaked 2 weeks before their rags go on sale!

    I really am excited about this, Doom3 I'm interested in because it'll show off the technology we'll be seeing in games for the next few years, but I'm not particulary bothered about playing the game itself.

  • Nemesis #16 9 years ago

    /Moonswalks across thread/ Shaaaaaaaamon. /does some more dancing/

    Sep 30th is a Tuesday....I bet they make us UK monkeys wait until the Friday. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be drawn into getting all excited, but DAMN I'm excited. Someone get me some ice. Quickly now.

    Ooooh. The only time you'll hear the gaming community being enthusiastic about getting a repeat dose of crabs.

  • Whizzo #17 9 years ago

    There's going to be a lot of pissed of magazine editors out there.

    One of the mags, not sure which one, has at least hit the newstands of America, the other has just fallen foul of early subscriber copies. Ho hum there's plenty of people who'll pick copies up to actually get a decent look I suppose.

    Anyway isn't print supposed to be dead! :-P

  • JohnBye #18 9 years ago

    "Taking place sometime after the events of the bizarre ending of Half-Life, the sequel is set in City 17, a fictional Eastern European location that has been overrun by an invading horde of spindly-legged aliens"

    Er .. this all sounds strangely familiar... *coughs*

  • pjmaybe #19 9 years ago

    Amazing how the "in game" shots look absolutely nothing like the grainy "Starship trooper alien through the jail cell bars" shot though, innit.

    Peej

  • LaundroMat #20 9 years ago

    What with Valve's commitment to the mod community, wouldn't it be an interesting first to let people develop mods for the PC as well as for the XBox? Theoretcially, such a thing could be done. I think.
    Or maybe they could just watch as the PC mod community develops, and then pick the best ones out, adapt them to the Box, and then offer them via a Live update.

    On publishers: I guess Valve's in a very luxurious position now. The publishers'll be coming out of the Valve offices with their pants way below thier knees.

  • BradlayLaw #21 9 years ago

    I'm kinda pissed. I was all up for giving up on Windows forever and getting a nice PPC970 powermac when it came time for my next upgrade but now I have to get a new pc :(

  • Nemesis #22 9 years ago

    Or maybe they could just watch as the PC mod community develops, and then pick the best ones out, adapt them to the Box, and then offer them via a Live update.

    Or maybe they'll wrap 'em up in a new box and sell it seperately. *cough* DoD *cough*

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #23 9 years ago

    I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have a publisher yet, or at least it didn't until fairly recently. Valve could afford to do it by themselves and they'll get a cushy deal now - probably even cushier than if they had signed up with someone at the peak of HL mania.

    Remember the original HL is about 5 years old and think of how various publishers fortunes have risen and fallen since then... much smarter to sit and wait till the game is nearly finished and then let the fight commence. My money's on Activision, though.

  • UncleLou #24 9 years ago

    Now just imagine no publisher wants it...heh.

  • FWB #25 9 years ago

    You want an engine? Check this out.

  • pjmaybe #26 9 years ago

    "The publishers'll be coming out of the Valve offices with their pants way below thier knees."

    My money's on Billy Gates walking in there, smashing the place up and making everything Xbox exclusive thereon in....simpsons stylee.

    Peej

  • Merefield #27 9 years ago

    "you're so money!"

    Haha, gotta love "Swingers"!

  • krudster #28 9 years ago

    Yesterday...all my troubles seemed so far away...

    Yes, I DID go to see Paul "Fab Wacky Thumbs Aloft" Macca the other night.

    I'm so money...

  • Tyronne #29 9 years ago

    Thing is that now that HL2 is but 5 months away....is this the engine that will power team fortress 2 and is that only a few months away as well ?

  • bluebird #30 9 years ago

    Amazing how the "in game" shots look absolutely nothing like the grainy "Starship trooper alien through the jail cell bars" shot though, innit.

    I wondered about that too, but the gun you're holding in the grainy pic is also in some of the other pics, and it's held exactly the same way. So it seems it's all in-game after all. Nice :-)

  • prettyboytim #31 9 years ago

    Interesting that it's being distributed via shops and their Steam system. They're gonna need servers from God Himself to be able to handle the load though - they already got fucked over by a simple CounterStrike update. Just think about how many people will be hitting their servers an 0:01am on the 30th...

    On the other hand, it does mean that us Eurogamers won't have to wait for the boxed version to hit our shores...

  • pjmaybe #32 9 years ago

    "I wondered about that too, but the gun you're holding in the grainy pic is also in some of the other pics, and it's held exactly the same way. So it seems it's all in-game after all. Nice :-)"

    Not necessarily. It's probably an ad, just a nice bit of photochopping methinks.

    Peej

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #33 9 years ago

    If you take a look at the shots on the back of the Half-Life retail box, they really don't look much like what you actually see in-game either, so it would make sense to take much of what you see at the moment with a pinch of salt.

  • pjmaybe #34 9 years ago

    Zactumundo...don't believe what you see until you see it, and even then don't believe it because you're probably just sitting in a tube somewhere being used as a battery by a superior alien race anyway.

    Peej

  • Rusta #35 9 years ago

    mummy

  • Merefield #36 9 years ago

    ooooh, like a world in a world in a world?...deep

  • krudster #37 9 years ago

    Mind you, that DX2 66 was with a soundblaster 16, double speed CD Rom, 8MB Ram, 2MB Graphics card. 15" monitor...all of those things were top dollar back then. I spent months shopping around, so if I was ripped off, then something was amiss. Even a 4MB memory chip was about £100 back then.

  • krudster #38 9 years ago

    I'm quite certain this will come to Xbox, but not for a good few months after PC.

  • StixxUK #39 9 years ago

    And who wants to wait months?

    Hell, I don't even want to wait minutes[ when it comes to this game.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 18:49

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #40 9 years ago

    Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like installing HL again and giving it a good play through with all this news of the sequel?

  • krudster #41 9 years ago

    Damned right. I'm thinking of doing exactly this tonight.

  • Whizzo #42 9 years ago

    Yep I think being a ginger beardie with an MP5 could be fun again, time to get the discs...

  • UncleLou #43 9 years ago

    feel like installing HL again

    Er, no. I guess I'd just be disappointed. Besides, about 30 games of mine have somehow disappeared while I was moving house. I guess HL was one of them. Not sure though.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 19:00

  • Dabs #44 9 years ago

    Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like installing HL again and giving it a good play through with all this news of the sequel?

    Way ahead of you there mousey. Currently deep down in Blast Pit. And I've been playing through saving as many people as possible. At one point in Office Complex, I had 4 Scientists and 4 Barney's all standing in the same area. :-)

  • Whizzo #45 9 years ago

    Ah there's the klaxon sound test as I install it again, Sierra did some strange stuff in their installers at times. Obviously having it trash the root directory of where you installed the unpatched version of HL was probably the least funny one...

  • Moonbender #46 9 years ago

    Um, I'm not complaining, but curious: isn't this feature violating a couple of copyrights? Or did you ask PC Gamer US and CGW US for those scans? :o

  • UncleLou #47 9 years ago

    Moonbender, look for krudster's comment here :-)

  • Kronos #48 9 years ago

    As Valve have handled the development of this themselves and not farmed it out to another firm I am reasonably assured that it will verily kick arse.
    They have obviously learnt alot from doing the first half-life.

  • Moonbender #49 9 years ago

    Ah, I see. Ts ts, piracy endorsement on EG? ;) Thanks Lou!

  • krudster #50 9 years ago

    We may well have to pull the scans, but hopefully we'll have real ones very shortly after. We need to show the idiots that be that technology has rendered print mags fairly redundant at breaking news - especially in such a visual media as gaming.

  • LaundroMat #51 9 years ago

    True. 'Tis time print magazines learn how to properly write a mag, and spend the month they have in writing deeply researched and interesting articles (instead of outdated news, gossip and silly features).

  • #52 9 years ago

    revolution yay

  • Nemesis #53 9 years ago

    Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like installing HL again and giving it a good play through with all this news of the sequel?

    You're damn right! Patches here I come. 1.7.0.0.1. or something stupid. Nice format fellas!

  • Whizzo #54 9 years ago

    Remember to install the high-def pack from Blue Shift if you have it, the characters look so much better with it installed.

  • pendle #55 9 years ago

    "Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like installing HL again and giving it a good play through with all this news of the sequel?"

    I didn't actually, but now, for some reason, I really want to! ;D

    I can't wait for HL2, it'll be brilliant.

  • Dirtbox #56 9 years ago

    Eurogamer are so going to get a C&D letter from some poncey law firm :)
    But will you pull the article or claim fair use?
    /nudge nudge

    No they won't :)

  • crashVoodoo #57 9 years ago

    /install the high-def pack from Blue Shift/

    really? might go and aquire ... should be about 50p now eh?

  • pjmaybe #58 9 years ago

    "We may well have to pull the scans, but hopefully we'll have real ones very shortly after. We need to show the idiots that be that technology has rendered print mags fairly redundant at breaking news - especially in such a visual media as gaming."

    Well said that man! Let's face it, I doubt anyone would even BOTHER with the mags if it wasn't for the demo disks and the odd exclusive here and there.
    I certainly wouldn't - haven't bought a PC mag for AEONS

    peej

  • FWB #59 9 years ago

    I haven't bought a PC mag in... I really can't remember how long ago it was. Probably 7-8 years. I have no plans to buy one ever again. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.

  • UncleLou #60 9 years ago

    Well, I buy one once in a while, just for the demos and due to my lack of broadband. I have the impression though they're a bit better than the English mags which I see at the kiosk here. They seem to consist of just a lot of pics and ads.

  • Nemesis #61 9 years ago

    Haven't picked up a PC mag in years. I just have the Xbox mag for the covermounts and the odd Nintendo mag if my kids want the stickers.

    /stern look from Otto/

    OK. Sorry.

  • Moonbender #62 9 years ago

    Same here. I've bought maybe five games mags total, two of them US PC Gamers for the novelty of having an English-language magazine lying around.

    Then again, non-gaming PC mags are all right. I don't buy them, but I do get supplied by them by my father who buys them obsessively. If I was on my own, I might buy one which is especially good. Compared to games mags, good hardware and general computing mags just have a lot more substance. Consequently, there are gaming websites in abundance, but there are like three good hardware reviewing sites.

    Edit: Oh um no offense to the EuroGamer staff intended. But in-depth hardware reviewing needs a degree and a tech laboratory, games reviewing required good taste and a computer. Please don't kill me?
    Edited by 1 at 24/04/03 @ 11:11

  • krudster #63 9 years ago

    Games reviewing is also fun. Hardware reviewing would make me want to kill myself.

  • Nemesis #64 9 years ago

    Why when they do hardware reviews do we have to suffer about 20 pages of graphs? Especially video cards. It's just so.............DULL. I did one week of hardware comparisons and stuff and that was it for me. Sod that.

  • Moonbender #65 9 years ago

    Nemesis: Because you read the wrong magazines. Graphs can be useful, but more often than not they're just a way to fill space when you have nothing useful to say.

  • Nemesis #66 9 years ago

    Nemesis: Because you read the wrong magazines.

    No, they do this online! Anyhow, don't read print mags, that's so..........last century ;-)

  • Moonbender #67 9 years ago

    Valve's Gabe Newell in an article on CNN money: "After we finish the announcement process for Half-Life 2, we will provide an update on Team Fortress 2."

  • #68 9 years ago

    of course it is.. gets them more money, probably.

  • DasFx #69 9 years ago

    EDGE magazine.....nuff said

  • #70 9 years ago

    You forgot the part where you say they suck!

  • Errol #71 9 years ago

    HL2 counterstrike first !

  • Errol #72 9 years ago

    Excellent 12 page (yes 12) preview of HL2 in this months edition of Pc ZONE.

  • sam_spade #73 9 years ago

    Mate, it was amazing at the time. I haven't played it recently but I'd say it would still hold its own against the current crop.

    Also, get your hands on System Shock 2 and Deus Ex while you're down at the shop.

    All of them are on budget now anyway.

  • Ginger #74 9 years ago

    I'm replaying half life on difficult, and it's a bloody nightmare. Excellent fun though. If any of you are worried that it's not gonna be as good as the first time, then just fire it up and give it a go.

  • Ginger #75 9 years ago

    I'm replaying half life on difficult, and it's a bloody nightmare. Excellent fun though. If any of you are worried that it's not gonna be as good as the first time, then just fire it up and give it a go.

  • Ginger #76 9 years ago

    I'm replaying half life on difficult, and it's a bloody nightmare. Excellent fun though. If any of you are worried that it's not gonna be as good as the first time, then just fire it up and give it a go.

  • Ginger #77 9 years ago

    I'm replaying half life on difficult, and it's a bloody nightmare. Excellent fun though. If any of you are worried that it's not gonna be as good as the first time, then just fire it up and give it a go.

  • Ginger #78 9 years ago

    I'm replaying half life on difficult, and it's a bloody nightmare. Excellent fun though. If any of you are worried that it's not gonna be as good as the first time, then just fire it up and give it a go.

  • Nemesis #79 9 years ago

    Oh no. Invasion of the OCD Clan.

    /clicks button again/

    /clicks button again/

  • Errol #80 9 years ago

    Half-life = excellent fun for the money.

  • FWB #81 9 years ago

    Freemen's got me sussed.

    Thanks for having the time to come by and point it out. :)

  • FunkySpider #82 9 years ago

    wow gonna be good engine well see were the gameplay takes us but the best news for uber geeks like me is that the Half-Life 2 SDK come out like a month before the game! Very very happy :)

  • Peter454 #83 8 years ago

    Half-Life Radio (http://www.halfliferadi o.com) recently interviewed Gabe Newell a couple days ago. The transcription of the entire interview is now posted on Half-Life Source (http://www.halflifesou rce.com).

    Interivew: http://www.halflifesource.com/forums/showthrea d.php?&threadid=2774