Recent reviews by A wizard

I'll make this short but sweet.
The Pros-

-Game is well paced
-Graphics are nice, even for today
-Fun and interesting combat
-Unique way of storytelling that keeps you immersed from start to finish
-A great all-around world
-A great physics engine that was applied flawlessly

The Cons

-Long, immersion breaking load times have not aged well at all
-Mediocre AI
-Silly physics puzzles that were easy, few, and far between
-Combat doesn't stay new and interesting for long
-Some scripted sequences feel like a drag
-Far too linear
-A almost nonexistent story, which is disappointing as it had so much potential. The concept is great, but there is no actual material in the story throughout the game. I never really though about the story, as I had with games such as BioShock, System Shock 2, and The Walking Dead. It could be improved greatly with the addition of more important characters and plot twists, which fortunately are more prominent in the episodes.
-No connection to the first game, save for a few subtle references. If you were a complete outsider to the series, you would not know that HL2 was the sequel to Half-Life. I would have liked to have seen an immediate continuation of Half-Life's story rather than a completely new one set many years later.

Due to all this, HL2 does sadly feel like you just run-n-gun. There's very little thought involved, you don't care or know much about any of the characters, and story is almost nonexistent. Say every character (other than the enemies) was removed, you would not notice much of a difference.

However, it HL2 is GREAT run-n-gun. It's action packed the whole time, and most of all, it's fun to play.

Not as good as Half-Life, but the episodes are excellent and contribute to the plot much more. 7/10

Fun for quite a while. It's mechanics are similar to Minecraft's, however there is much more content. There is much to do, but after a certain time, this game falls into the same hole as Minecraft. After a point, there isn't much reward in doing anything else, and you have no will to continue playing. But fun for quite a while.