So my experience with Half Life 2 the first time about 4 years ago was met with some...well, disappointment. I loved the gameplay (physics especially), visuals, and all around fun that I had. But in the end I was left with an emptiness in my gaming heart due to the fact that my computer couldn't handle the game all that well with everything turned up, but also the lack of an ending.

I'd watched the release of Episode 1 and didn't even consider touching it because of the previous experience with HL2 with the computer I had. Knowing my PC wouldn't be able to run the game sufficiently I decided to hold off. When I finally got a 360 and The Orange Box was released I decided to go ahead and get my hands on Episode 1 and 2. I popped the disc in and immediately went through Portal, checked out Team Fortress 2, and decided I should probably work my way through HL2 again as a refresher.

After playing for about 20 min. I put the game down and started going through the stack of games I had accumulated during this last Fall rush of games (Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Halo 3: all of which are incomplete with the exception of Halo 3). But 2 months later I decided this is now the game I want to get through and I must say I am having a blast.

The first part of the game is relatively forgettable, save for experiencing those great physics and the intro. But once I hit Ravenholm again I was shitting my pants. Now that I've got a decent system for gaming (ask if you care, most importantly HD!) the experience is like it never was before.

After I trudged my way through Ravenholm jumping at everything that jumped at me I remember what made this game so fun. The puzzles, the killing, the relatively "smart" AI, the visuals, the inevitable acquisition of the gravity gun, and the achievements that spark the idea to actually try new things (getting across the sand without calling antlions was a grueling process).

Alright, I still think the story sucks, the sound effects aren't great (see title), and I know the ending sucks but I'm having fun and I'm extremely excited to finish HL2.

'til the next episode.