What was Half Life 2 about?

[HighCalibreHooch]

HL2 was a very enjoyable game but I'm not sure what it was about, exactly. The theme seemed to be cripped from the Cole's notes for 1984. Did I miss something?

What's your thoughts on the story?

[On another note, from all the reviews I read, I did not see anyone bring this up, yet everyone and their dog complained about Doom III's 'thin story.' Having played both, I think singling out Doom III is unfair.]

 

[Farmer]

Did you ever play Half Life 1? The story just expands upon the mysterious nature of HL1, answering some questions, but bringing out tons more.

So, if you havn't played HL1, I can understand how you would be completely lost with HL2's story.

This oughta clear things up:

http://fragfiles.org/~hlstory/

It isn't straight from Valve, but it is concluded from Valve stuff (the HL book, both HL games) and it makes a whole lot of sense.

 

[HighCalibreHooch]

Originally posted by: Farmer
Did you ever play Half Life 1?

oh yeah, it was excellent also, but I suppose better because the story and player's motivation was much clearer.

 

[Farmer]

I guess. Not really, though.

** SPOILERS **


HL1: You work at a lab for the govt., present day. Your lab gets invaded by aliens because of some catastrophic experiment gone wrong, the USMC comes in after you. Kill USMC and aliens, goto Xen, kill main alien, get 'hired' by G-man.

HL2: Start working for G-man, find yourself in a Orwellian state, work to overthrow that state, kill Combine, destroy Combine HQ's reactor. Now, the ending isn't stated, but its assumed that humanity is freed. You don't really know because G-man puts you into that stasis.

I guess the difference is that the events in HL1 feel accidental, while HL2 seems to be entirely pre-planned.

So really, Half-Life can really be termed as "the Adventures of Gordon Freeman and his employment with G-man."

Of course, the real mystery is "Who is G-man" and "Who is Gordon Freeman?"

 

[DefRef]

I've always viewed both games as simulations designed to test Gordon (you) for your suitability for mercenary duty and the G-Man is like your agent. The fact that he's always popping up observing you and comments about how others will be interested in acquiring your services leads to this conclusion.