Resistance members express their happiness in meeting the one-man army himself, give you health packs, and direct you where to go next. While Gordon is on his own for most of the game, murdering Combine soldiers, launching explosive barrels at zombies and aliens, and solving puzzles, every once in a while you’ll find a secure checkpoint run by resistance members. The odds are obviously stacked against you, but the glimmers of hope and solidarity that come with aiding the human resistance provide a metaphorical light guiding you through the tunnel. There are also alien bugs called ant-lions which have infested the earth. On top of all this, alien headcrabs (basically facehuggers from the movie “Alien”), have turned a number of humans into zombies hell-bent on murdering you. Some humans have betrayed their kind, joining the Combined ranks out of convenience.

Giant monitors playing looped propaganda are unavoidable, and drones sneak up,snap photos of you, - blinding your screen with light - and heckle you.Ĭombine soldiers fill the streets. While being forced to walk around the city, the game constantly reminds you that the Combine is watching. If you refuse and throw the can in his face instead, he’ll beat you with an electrified baton. In one scene, a Combine soldier tells you to pick up a can on the ground and throw it in a trash can. As you exit the train, you’re forced to watch Combine soldiers heckle and beat human prisoners, dressed in identical blue uniforms. Gordon arrives at the train station of City 17, an unnamed Eastern European city converted into a massive concentration camp. You feel intrinsically motivated to free your fellow humans from the clutches of the Combine, and the satisfaction of playing the underdog telling a bully to piss off is irresistible.įrom the game’s first moments, Valve showcases the dynamic of the oppressors beating down a disenfranchised humanity. That makes it sound cliche, but the way developer Valve characterizes your enemies and allies makes the experience so compelling that it motivates you to see it to its end. With your only help being a ragtag human resistance and some trusty weapons, the game convinces you of the value of community in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy. You play as ex-nuclear scientist, MIT grad, and one-man army Gordon Freeman, with the mission of liberating humanity from the dystopian clutches of the Combine, an alien race who are on their way to enslaving earth. Since “Half-Life: Alyx,” the long-awaited continuation of the “Half-Life” series, was released last Monday, I thought I’d replay its masterpiece predecessor: “Half Life 2.”ĭespite its age (it’s from 2004) “Half-Life 2” is not only a technological showcase of physics simulations and graphics, but a terrifying, enthralling, and detailed first-person shooter experience.

Half life 2 combine