Half-Life 2 plus Episodes 1-2.

Half-Life is a classic game that everyone should play and the 2004 follow-up is of the same caliber. Half-Life 2 and episodes 1-2 are probably some of my favorite games.

Half-Life 2 picks up after the events in the original Half-Life and stars one of my favorite video game heroes, Dr. Gordon Freeman.  Gordon "wakes up" on a train making its way into a city known as "City 17."  There are some mysterious masked characters directing Gordon and other humans.  It feels like they are being herded, almost like cattle. A man on a large screen urges co-operation.  Gordon advances through the checkpoints but is pulled aside by a soldier for special screening.  On the way into a side room, Gordon witnesses other humans being tortured.  Things look pretty bleak.  As Gordon enters the room and prepares for the worst, the soldier shuts off the surveillance and reveals himself to be none other than Barney, a former security guard (and main character in Half-Life add-on Blue Shift).  Barney directs Gordon to escape through a secret passage and make his way to a secret hideout being run by a human resistance group.  You navigate Gordon through a few courtyards and buildings getting a good picture of the type of oppression that is happening in the city.  Once you arrive at the secret location you are let into a lab run by a former Black Mesa scientist, Dr. Breen.  You're also introduced to Alyx Vance, the daughter of another of Gordon's former colleagues and a dedicated member of the human resistance.  It is here that you learn that Earth has been taken over by an alien eace known as the "Combine."  Humanity has been reduced to prisoners under the control of this insidious alien group.

The gameplay is very similar to that from Half-Life, a first-person shooter featuring guns but also the signature Gordon Freeman weapon, the crowbar.  You shoot your way through hordes of Combine soldiers, navigating an engaging story that is well narrated.  You also must figure out physics based puzzles to advance.  One fun aspect of Half-Life 2 is vehicle based travel.  You get to pilot an airboat and outrun Combine gunships as they try to mow you down.  In the later episodes there are dune buggies and a car to drive.  It's not really finesse driving, but it's fun to elude the Combine.

Gordon and Alyx gun down some Combine baddies.

 Half-Life 2 also introduces a fun, new signature weapon to the series; the gravity gun.  The gravity gun can be used to pick up and shoot objects at enemies.  There is nothing like mowing down a Combine soldier with a speeding toliet.  The gravity gun can also be used to pull objects to Gordon--health kits and ammo located on high edges can easily be utilized.

The narrative in Half-Life 2 is very engaging.  Gordon becomes a key figure in the human resistance against the Combine and works together with a cast of characters (even some former enemies in the form of aliens) to defeat them.  Alyx, Dog, and many others play an important role in this series of games.

After the success of Half-Life 2, Valve promised to release 3 smaller "episodes" that would expand on the story from Half-Life 2.  Two episodes were released, but the third has never happened.  It's quite a disappointment to fans of the series, but we can always dream that someday the third episode will become a reality.