Silverturtle-1 Reviews

Half-Life 2 (2004 Video Game)

Half-Life 2 is a truly superb game that nearly anyone will undoubtedly enjoy.

[14 July 2005]

H A L F – L I F E 2 Review

Half-Life 2 is the superb sequel to 1998's critically acclaimed Half-Life. The sequel sticks very close to the blueprints set by the original, but also surpasses it in nearly every way. The game has its fair share of problems, but these are overshadowed by the game's many, many strong points. Basically, I can't think of a game I could recommend more than Half-Life 2.

STORY: 9.5/10 The game starts you off at the train station of City 17; where it becomes very clear that something is not right. You have obviously been placed here by the G-Man for a reason, but as of now, you don't know that reason. In the beginning of the game, you have no means of defense for yourself, so the Combine, an alien force of some kind, can attack you however they please. But this just gives you more of an incentive to get your payback; and you shall get that payback very soon. The story itself is good and intriguing. You will be captivated from the very beginning to the end. The only problem with it is that the game leaves a bit too many questions unanswered. The ending is a little bit too much of a cliffhanger. There is a positive aspect to this, though. It means that Valve will almost certainly make a sequel. It would have also been nice to have even more run-ins with the game's excellent characters, as they were very memorable. Overall, though, the story is truly great.

SOUND: 9.0/10 Half-Life 2's sound is not the game's strongest point, but that's not to say that it is bad. In fact, the sound in the game is anything but. The voice acting in the game is top-notch, and you will surely be impressed by it. The characters in the game have a very nice script and deliver their lines very well. The sound effects in the game are also, for the most part, exceptional. The weapons pack a very punchy sound and are very nice. The soundtrack in the game isn't around all that much, but when it is, it is very apparent. It only plays about a dozen times during the game, but it makes those moments very memorable. The soundtrack itself, though, is only pretty good. It just doesn't seem all that fitting, but it is nice none-the-less. There are also same sound glitches every now and then, but they are not too bad. All in all, the sound in the game is very, very good.

GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10 Even if everything else in the game was great, if the gameplay wasn't good, the game wouldn't be good. But gameplay is another place where Half-Life 2 stands above the rest. In most ways, the gameplay of Half-Life 2 isn't revolutionary or innovative, but it sure is fun. The amount of variety in the game is also pretty impressive. The most interesting item in the game is the Gravity Gun. You are able to pick up objects and throw them, both in combat and in use for the game's several puzzles. The puzzles in the game are pretty simple, but are a nice change of pace. It would have been nice to see some more puzzles in the later stages of the game, though. There are also two rather lengthy sequences in the game that involve vehicles. The vehicles in the game are a little awkward to drive, but are, however, fun. The weapons are pretty well balanced, for the most part. The only real balancing issues are that the pistol can be a little too useful at times, and the last weapon given to you in the game feels very overpowered. You will go up against a variety of enemies in the game, from the menacing Combine soldiers, to zombies, to antlions. The Combine are the most advanced enemies in the game, from an artificial intelligence standpoint. The zombies just tend to lumber over to you pretty slowly. The artificial intelligence in the game is great. The game's length is also more than satisfactory; coming in at close to 20 hours for the average player. There are three different difficulty levels to choose from in the game; easy, normal, and hard. Easy will definitely be too simple for the vast majority of players, but hard should suit even the better players. You will be fighting alone for most of the game, but in the later stages you will sometimes have allies. The allies in the game are not as helpful as you might have hoped, but they are still a nice gameplay addition.

GRAPHICS: 10/10 From a technological standpoint, Half-Life 2 stands above all else. The graphics in the game are truly stunning, and are some of the best, if not the best, graphics out there. Everything from facial animation, to shadowing, to textures is astounding. The game also holds up at an impressive frame rate, even on older computers. The art direction in the game is also a sight to behold. Everything about the game conveys the look that was intended; and the result is nothing short of spectacular. All the explosions in the game are also great. Lighting and shadowing is also beautifully mastered in the game. The superb facial animations truly bring the characters to life like no other game has been able to do. But what is even more amazing than Half-Life 2's graphics, is its incredible use of physics. Graphically, the game is virtually unsurpassed.

MULTIPLAYER: 9.5/10 Originally, Half-Life 2 shipped with only Counter Strike: Source; but was soon updated with a death match mode. The better of the two is easily Counter Strike: Source, although Half-Life 2: death match is better than you might expect. Counter Strike: Source is just a graphically updated version of the hit game Counter Strike.

Overall Score:

9.6

out of ten.

War of the Worlds (2005)

War of the Worlds is amazing at times, yet slightly flawed at other times.

[8/10 · 2 July 2005]

(Review contains no spoilers)

War of the Worlds is based on the 19th century novel of the same name. Back in the late 1800s, The War of the Worlds novel was considered by many to be a groundbreaking story of when aliens invaded Earth. H.G. Wells was the first person to publish a book about an alien invasion and the story seemed to put an ominous fear in our minds. Ever since then people have been fascinated by the thought of aliens coming to Earth; whether they may be benign in nature, as shown in 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, or menacing and bent on destruction of the human race, as shown in countless other films like 1996's Independence Day. But The War of the Worlds was always the one that started it all. In 1938, radio announcer Orson Welles spread panic through the nation when he read on the air a special version of the original novel. He presented it in such a realistic and believable manner that everyone who listened to only part of the broadcast was fooled and thought that the Earth was actually being invaded by Martians. As you might imagine, people went running rampantly through the streets. And then in 1953, the first film based on the original novel was made; it was simply titled The War of the Worlds.

And now, in the year 2005, another film is being made based upon the original novel. This time it is set in modern times and is meant to be a very realistic story on an extremely personal level. The film succeeds on many levels, but may also leave you wanting more or wishing they would have just fixed this one thing in other areas.

The film has some pretty awe-inspiring moments in it, but these moments are bogged down by mistakes that could have been easily corrected with some more production time. The film started filming 7 months ago, and it is quite apparent in many parts of the movie. For example, the design of the aliens is especially uninspired and lacks originality. Despite looking very cool, the same can be said about the tripods. It would have been nice to see more original material in the movie, rather than just reusing the same artwork designs that were in previous alien invasion stories. Although goofs almost never bother me, there is one very apparent mistake in the movie that was surprisingly overlooked by the crew. There are also little things throughout the movie that aren't necessarily goofs, but to put them any other way might be stretching it a little too much. The people that Ray meets along the way also seemed overly informed and things like that detract significantly from the experience.

The acting in the movie is actually very well done. Tom Cruise fits the part of Ray surprisingly well. All the other roles in the film are all done very nicely as well. Some might feel that Dakota Fanning overdoes the screaming when playing Rachel, but I thought it helped with the feeling of realism. There are other touches in the film that try to make it feel more realistic; with one of the more noticeable ones being the feeling of a hand-held camera in some of the earlier scenes. This works so well in making the movie feel like a documentary that it would have been nice to have seen this used more throughout the film; primarily toward the end. There is also impressive use of extras in the film.

There is a scene somewhat near the end of the film that takes place in the basement of an old house. The beginning of the scene is handled quite well. But after a while, you kind of get tired of the setting. It would have been nice to change the scene a little bit sooner, as it soon felt repetitive. There is also a hiding scene that takes place in the basement that could have been handled better; as it wasn't that scary. There was a scene similar to this that took place in Jurassic Park when people were hiding from the dinosaurs and they were hunting them down, and the scene seemed to be done much better in that movie; as there is very little tension here. Another one of the film's flaws was that its back-story didn't seem as fully fleshed-out as it could have been. The invasion itself seemed rather rushed and certainly could have been more interesting. Some moments of the film were very quick and intense, while others were more breathers than anything else. But when they let the audience breathe, the momentum the film had going was lost and wasn't able to fully bring it back. But what is even more irritating is the ending. The last 10-15 minutes of the film seemed highly unfocused and will likely leave a bad taste in many peoples' mouths. Although the ending stuck very closely to the source material, it wasn't actually that good. The ending was by far the worst part of the film, largely because it came up too abruptly and even felt rushed.

Despite these numerous complaints, someone would be mistaken to think that I didn't like the film; because I actually thought it was very good. The special effects are some of the best, if not the best, I have ever seen. Like I mentioned earlier, the acting was top-notch. The first two-thirds of the film are truly amazing. It is extremely unfortunate that the last part of the film didn't keep the momentum and excitement of the first parts. However, the film is still very impressive and I highly recommend it to nearly anyone.

SCORE: 8 out of 10; great.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, and Justin Chatwin