It's crazy to think that Half Life 2 is coming up on 19 years old this year. It is old enough to drink in some regions. Half Life 2 is probably one of the best aged games of all time, most games, after a while, start to age poorly, there are very few games that are completely immune to the passage of time. But there are some, these games age like a fine wine, but Half Life 2 is the best example of a game that has only gotten better with age. It is honestly incredible the world Valve managed to craft, it is extremely deep and intricate and quite frankly, it is still fucking great! Without further Adieu, I'll get into why it has aged like a fine wine.
Story
The story of Half Life 2 continues directly after the story of Half Life 1, with Theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman being brought out of stasis by the mysterious G-man. The opening speech is still haunting to this day, with himself being partially see-through with background images of environments you will soon be shooting and or bludgeoning your way through. His speech states that, "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world, so wake up Mr Freeman, wake up and smell the ashes". And with that you are thrown into the world of Half Life 2. Seeing that the world has been taken over by the evil alien race called the Combine. The Combine are outright explained, but their intentions and actions are told via environmental story telling, which is something Valve were the forerunners of. I am not going to go into any detail on the story as it is a game everyone should play sooooo.....
Gameplay
The gameplay of Half Life is pretty standard for an FPS game, shooting baddies, shooting zombies, shooting slightly differently coloured baddies., and maybe throw in some physics based puzzles, and also some driving levels for good measure. Gotta keep the player's attention somehow, or they might close the game down and go back to whatever copy pasted Call of Duty clone shooter they've been playing. I mean there are some less good thing about the gameplay, the enemies are hit scan for example. Meaning that if you are in their line of sight, they are going to hit you and you are going to lose health and possibly die. But this can easily be remedied by mod like MMod to give the game actual bullet ballistics. Plus mods are really easy to install. The weapons are also extremely diverse. You can get everything from Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Rifles, RPGs, Grenades and a literally alien ballsack. All of these have their place in the arsenal as they have situations that they excel in. The Pulse Rifle for example, good for medium to long range, lots of ammo in later levels. Or the Shotgun, good for close range and will guarantee a kill if you aim just right. The crossbow for long range combat. All of these weapons have their place in the arsenal. The gameplay is probably one of the parts that has aged the least well, but it still hold up somewhat.
Graphics
The graphics are the only part that have aged poorly about this game. Even on high setting the textures look like Valve threw some dirt at a concrete wall and taking a picture of it. The game is carried by the Models which still look amazing, the lighting is also just as good as modern games as there are real time shadows and reflections on guns like the Magnum revolver. The fire and particle effects are still ok, but if you're gonna play through this, I recommend using MMod to give the game nicer textures and the same fire and explosion effects from Black Mesa. But MMod isn't a must, unlike some games coming out today where you need at least 27 mods to make the game actually somewhat decent. All in all Half Life 2's graphics have held up pretty well for the most part.
Conclusion
Half Life 2 is still an incredible game all these years later, it is quite cheap, extremely well optimised, can run on a literal potato, and all in all is a game that every self respecting gamer should play. I think it is pretty self explanatory why I gave this game a 10. I'll sign off with a question. Why the hell haven't you played Half Life 2 yet? and if you already have, go replay it, then replay it again, and maybe one more time for good measure.