Half-Life 2's events follow Gordon Freeman as he fights his way through City 17, a Russian city, against the evil Combine forces. The Combine had enslaved mankind, although their advanced technology and intimidating stature are no match for the One Free Man. The source of the Combine power, the Citadel, is stationed in the center of City 17. Gordon, after joining Barney Calhoun, an old friend and security guard from back at Black Mesa, Dr. Kleiner, a scientist from Black Mesa, and Alyx and Eli Vance, a daugher-father duo that play an important part in the Resistance's actions against the Combine, sets off for various missions to aid other members of the Resistance all the while worming his way through Combine weak spots in order to reach the Citadel.

After many years in the making and many changes and even a source code leak in its early beta forms, Half-Life 2 most definitely met expectations. Of course, it was delayed many times, like most of Valve's creations, but perhaps it's best to wait it out for a better game than have it early and have a game with bugs and weak gameplay.

Half-Life 2 is quite a unique First-Person Shooter. In order to do well in the Half-Life series, you have to think fast and be creative in order to preserve your ammo supply, which will dry out very quickly due to the realistic amounts of additional magazines able to be held. This aspect greatly compliments Half-Life 2's Zero Point Field Manipulator, or Gravity Gun, and the huge capabilities of the Source game engine, providing fast-paced, solid and enjoyable gameplay. The Source engine is extremely impressive, and is still being added onto today. In fact, the later games in the Half-Life 2 series use improved versions of the Source engine, making the series even more impressive.

Overall, Half-Life 2 is an incredible game with a captivating plot and amazing gameplay. It has created an enormously large fanbase for understandable reasons, and will continue to entertain for years to come.