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I remember when I bought Half Life 2. I came home with the DVD and some 4 hours later, it was finally installed. I was not pleased. Before, I had refused to use Steam: Valve forced us to use Steam by moving all servers away from WON - I was a die hard Counter-Strike fan, playing in a guild that died a week after the move. Half the members suddenly could no longer play CS at appropriate framerates, or there were lag spikes, or their PC just couldn't handle the extra load needed by Steam.

So, when it took 4 hours to unlock the game over Steam (not to mention it swallowing 2 of my Half Life 1 CD keys) I was not pleased. It was a bad start for what people called "the best game ever".

My overal impression of HL2 was a positive one but really not the "OMG best game EVA" reaction that many airheads had. I appreciated the thought put into the gaming world. I loved the design and feel of the setting. The engine was beautiful and smooth and there weren't many bugs.

Still, there were some crucial problems that bugged me. Having played STALKER a few months ago, and having replayed HL2 after that time, only highlighted this nagging feeling. HL2 is linear, scripted and, as a result, predictable. Everything happens because you trigger flags. If you stay where you are, nothing will happen. Remember the intro that saw you rushing through houses to escape? Just stay in the room and the combine won't enter.

Now, I know few of you have played Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth, but it had a similar scene. You were in a hotel room and had to get away: lock doors behind you, rush across roof tops and no, they didn't wait for you to jump out of the window. If you were too slow, you were dead. THAT is how an escape scene should be done.

And it's all this weak scripting that bugs me in HL2. Trigger after trigger after trigger makes the world feel incredibly artificial. Linear level design that is so painfully obvious that you want to scream "GIVE ME FREEDOM". I'm not asking for an open world. I'm asking to give you at least 2 or 3 ways to reach the same point. Give us room for our personal strategy! I feel like I'm a doll being played by Valve. I'm not playing a game, the game is playing ME.

Several great set pieces, an engaging story and some wonderful locations don't really make up for all this because it's so lazy of Valve not to be bothered to add at least *some* freedom (aside from picking the weapon you want - although Valve even manipulates you into using specific weapons because there's no ammo for others to use).

Highway 17 is my favorite map because it's the only one where the linear nature of the game can be effectively disguised because, well, you're walking along a highway. But a huge city which has exactly one route through buildings? Come ON. A city is about the best way to allow for multiple routs to an objective.

Episode 1 takes all of HL2's flaws and magnifies them. Half the game is spent in the dark so you constantly run out of battery power for your flashlight and the other half you run through the city, through buildings, where there's always just one way in and one way out. Yawn. None of the amazing out-door areas were added - why did they go for the worst of HL2? Not only that but there's respawning zombies whenever you turn off your light - then they suddenly respawn out of nowhere, even if you're in a room with only one entrance. Cheap, very cheap Valve.

All this seems very negative and it is - it should be. My frustration comes from a game that could have kicked ASS but instead felt like you were tied to a track and simply had to point & shoot when the game told you so. Please Valve, gamers want freedom, they want some room to be clever and approach a situation the way THEY want to. They don't want to be held by the hand, they don't want every fight to be heavily scripted. Please: look at STALKER. Learn from it!

HL2: 8/10
HL EP1: 6/10