I am currently playing Half-Life 2 single player and am close to finishing the game. It is technically very advanced and a very detailed work but I didn't find much of interest in this game. Just the graphics were impressive and the sound was OK. Generally speaking I do like militaristic games more than futuristic ones like Half-Life 2 because I like real world weapons instead of imaginary ones.
I like to use a weapon in a game and then consult my favorite gun book for details on that particular gun. So, if the weapons are imaginary the game looks a bit childish to me. I find Call of Duty and COD: United Offensive to be much better games than Half-Life 2 actually, although the graphics and sound are not that great, because it has more intense battles, real world weapons and historical interest.
But then again I am obsessed with WW2
Also the big negative thing about HL2 is that the story doesn't finish in the original game. That was clearly a commercial trick to earn more money by the company but I still don't like it, especially since the expansion packs cost huge amounts of money (at least here in Greece). I don't think I will be buying any of the expansion packs because the game just doesn't interest me that much.
I am sure the multiplayer (HL Deathmatch and Counter-Strike Source) are much better than the single player experience. I will try them both, especially counter-strike source after I finish the boring single player. Has anyone played Counter-strike source at a Internet cafe or at home? How was it? Were the graphics OK? How many guns can you use? Can you use the M14?
One thing I hated about HL2 was the terribly long loading times (I have never seen a game take so long to load), especially when waiting to get in the main menu and the Steam platform was also way too slow. A lot of critics here in Greece were quite angry at the Steam platform, they said it is a game destroyer and it really is if you are forced to use it.
By the way I had bought this game back in 2004, I was one of the first to buy it. I bought it without reading any reviews because I was a huge fan of the first Half-Life game. I also bought my very first PC DVD-ROM drive with the game, because it was one of the first games to be distributed in a DVD!
@Jason
I am also planning on playing Far Cry 2 and Aliens vs Predator 2, already have them on my game library. I actually bought Aliens vs Predator 2 along with F.E.A.R. 1 and an RPG called Torchlight for 4,90 € which is an insanely good price. It is an offer of my favorite publishing company called Compupress and it is distributed in Greek kiosks every 3 months. Every 3 months with 4,90 € you get 3 games. I doubt they have offers like this in other countries, as far as I know they don't even give a full game with every monthly PC magazine like PC MASTER does.
The economic crisis, which has hit Greece very hard has also some advantages, prices are going down and all shops are making great offers. I have found that most airsoft AEG rifles (even M14s which were the most expensive) have a price of more than 100 € lower than before the crisis. People have no money and the companies (at least the smart ones) are trying to survive in these hard times.
I don't know if Greece will make it or go bankrupt in the end and Turkey has too many internal problems to go fight wars against the whole world (Israel, Russia, Greece and Cyprus). Erdogan proved to be a stupid leader after all because he is dreaming of a new Ottoman Empire like some Neonazi Germans are dreaming of the 4th Reich!
Right now Turkey is isolated from the rest of the world as Cyprus has made strong contracts of cooperation with Israel, Russia and the U.S. Turks would be mad to go to war against the whole western world as nobody seems to be on their side anymore. I think the Israelis alone with their military could bring Turkey to its knees. They already have serious problems with other Muslims. They have been trying to maintain their homeland, religion, language etc. throughout their history and they seem to be a small but powerful nation with a well-trained and willing to fight army.
We'll see if Turks have what it takes to go to war, but Greek soldiers say that they are bullies and cowards who spend their time talking too much and showing off their supposed strength and numbers to small nations (of course). I don't think they have what it takes to go to war against Greece, Cyprus or any small or big country. They know how hard it is to defeat a country like Greece and that Greeks will fight to the last man.
Many military experts here in Greece say that Greece would certainly win in a defensive war against Turkey. It is an offensive war they are unsure with whom victory will be. But it is no time to make offensive wars, especially when we are being hit so hard by the economic crisis.
It's courage and decisiveness that win wars, not superiority in numbers as the Turks think... This is the way we defeated the Italians back in WW2, we had no money, no guns, no chocolates and spaghetti but victory was ours. And it was total victory I may add.