PC Gaming

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Ratings 1: avoid -----> 5: Excellent.

 

Half Life 2: Rating: 5 +.

Not much to be said about this game, other than if you own a half decent PC and like games, you should own it.

 

Now released in the Game of the year pack, that includes the original Half life running the now infamous source engine.

 

The biggest pain with this game is that it is just too resource heavy for what it delivers. The load times are long, the sound tends to skip and if you allow a lot of saves to build up in the same games folder, it skips even more as it stores a large image with each save (empty the folder often).

 

But saying that. Great scripted story. Great visuals and sound (voice acting is spot on). The source engine is cool - watch those physics and tell me you are not impressed.

 

Forget the fact that steam is a pain in the ass and think what they are trying to achieve: Delivery updates and mods to your desktop - you will be able to buy the better mods  through the steam interface. But you will need Broadband.

 

Counterstrike Source:  Rating: 5 +.

Counterstrike source is bundled with half life 2 as the multiplayer option. A better looking version of the first game, which is still one of the best pc multiplayer experiences out there.

 

Update: Chapter one is now out for download from steam, with two other chapters on the way(soon). Cheap but short. Essential for those you want to continue the story. But how the source engine will look in a years time is anyone's guess. Also coming to 360(all content), so will be interesting to see how the developers knock out the 360 version (as the first Xbox was a waste).