Category: Games

Saints Row 2
Developer(s)	Volition[a]
Publisher(s)	THQ Deep Silver (Linux)
Director(s)	Clint Ourso
Producer(s)	Greg Donovan[4][5]
Designer(s)	Scott Philips[6] James Tsai[7][8]
Programmer(s)	Nicholas Lee Jeff Thompson
Artist(s)	Frank Marquart
Writer(s)	Steve Jaros Drew Holmes
Series	Saints Row
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows[9] PlayStation 3[10] Xbox 360 Linux
Release	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[1][2] NA: October 14, 2008 AU: October 16, 2008 EU: October 17, 2008 Windows NA: January 5, 2009 EU: January 23, 2009 AU: February 5, 2009 Linux[3] WW: April 15, 2016
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Saints Row 2 is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Volition and published by THQ. It is the sequel to 2006's Saints Row and the second installment in the Saints Row series. The game was released in October 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, January 2009 for Microsoft Windows, and April 2016 for Linux. A mobile tie-in game was developed by G5 Entertainment and also released in October 2008. Saints Row 2 directly follows from the events of the first game, as the player's custom character awakens from a coma after five years^[11] to find that their gang, the 3rd Street Saints, has been disbanded, and their former territories taken over by newly-formed criminal syndicates and a corrupt corporation. With the help of new and old allies, the player attempts to rebuild the Saints and take back Stilwater from their rivals.

Story missions are unlocked by trading in "Respect" points, currency earned by completing minigames and side-missions. Outside of the main story, players can freely roam Stilwater, which has been expanded with new locations and consists of two main islands. The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Players can fight enemies using a variety of firearms, and call in non-playable gang members to assist them. An online multiplayer mode allows two players to explore Stilwater together while completing missions and activities, or multiple players to engage in a variety of cooperative and competitive game modes.

Saints Row 2's developers opted for a more comedic tone to set the game apart from the Grand Theft Auto series, with which the original game was compared by most reviewers for their similar premise and gameplay elements. The game's promotional effort included various public showings, special editions and downloadable content including the Ultor Exposed and Corporate Warfare mission packages. Reviews were largely favorable, praising the action and straightforward gameplay, while only criticizing technical issues. The Windows port in particular was heavily criticized for technical issues not present in any of the other versions. The game had sold around 400,000 units by November 2008, and 3.4 million units by September 2010. A sequel, Saints Row: The Third, was released in November 2011.

Gameplay[edit]

Saints Row 2 is an action-adventure video game set in an open world environment, offering the player a large open environment in which to move around. The player's character is capable of maneuvering through the environment, utilizing weaponry and engaging in melee combat warfare.^[1][12] After successfully completing the first game mission, the player meets the Third Street Saints and begin their devious schemes with the gang. Missions are unlocked by earning 'Respect' points from minigames and side-missions^[13] and although completing missions is necessary for game progression, players can complete them at their own leisure. The player is granted the option of instantly retrying the missions should they fail an attempt. Numerous checkpoints save progress in each mission, and missions can be replayed from locations within the environment. Aside from attempting missions, the player can explore the environment, purchase items at shops and participate in the aforementioned mini-games and side-missions.^{[14][unreliable source?]} The player can also wreak havoc upon the city of Stilwater which can provoke potentially fatal attention from authoritative forces.^[15] The player can recruit members from a friendly gang and use a mobile phone to contact friends and/or businesses, as well as to input cheat codes.^[16] Entering cheats will disable Xbox 360 achievements.

Players drive vehicles that are stolen, bought or unlocked. Aside from automobiles, players can use boats and water craft,^[17] helicopters,^[18] fixed-wing aircraft,^[19] and motorcycles.^[15][20] A cruise control system can be activated while using land or sea vehicles.^[21] Waypoints can be placed on the pause-screen map, leaving a GPS route between the player character's location and the set destination. Players can hail taxicab services and pay a fee to quickly navigate the city. By taking land vehicles to Mechanics, players can apply paint schemes, body mods, hydraulics and nitrous oxide.

Players create their own character through a system that allows them to modify gender, ethnicity, fitness, voice, face and hairstyle.^[22][23][24] Walk and fighting styles, and personality traits can be assigned.^[16][20][24] Players purchase clothes, tattoos and piercings, and set outfits can be bought or created and saved to the player character's wardrobe.^[18][25] "Cribs" (safe houses) allow players to withdraw earnings, change outfits, replay missions and save the game.^[22] Cribs can be customized by applying themes and purchasing objects like TVs and pool tables.^[20] Boats and fixed-wing aircraft can be stored at purchased docks and hangars. Players select the outfits, vehicles, gestures and graffiti styles used by street members of the Third Street Saints.^[26]

The combat systems from Saints Row have been updated but many of the basics remain unchanged.^[12] While engaging in melee-based combat, the player character will perform combos and charge up attacks,^[25] and can execute a finishing move if three consecutive hits are dealt.^[16] With a gun equipped, the player can perform a groin attack, and can zoom in for a finer aim reticle.^[24] The player can also employ the use of human shields,^[16] and can use makeshift weapons pulled from the environment e.g. fire hydrants, cement blocks.^[22] Should the player either commit illegal activities or incite rival gang members, they will provoke potentially fatal attention from authoritative figures or rival gangs. The notoriety bar is a visual representation of the proactivity of the opposing figures' response and continual inciting of these groups will bring about a more powerful response, such as SWAT teams from the police. The player will continue to be chased by these groups until captured or killed and must reduce the notoriety bar by either hiding from the police or gang and wait for it to "cool off", or by seeking out a drive-through confessional which will clear the notoriety bar for a small fee.^[15] Should the player character be apprehended or killed, a small percentage of the player's earnings will be removed and the player will respawn at law or healthcare institutions. The game contains over forty different weapons, many of which have been recycled from Saints Row. The game allows the player to utilise new weapon types, examples of which include satchel charges, laser-guided rocket launchers, chainsaws and more.^[27][28] The player has the ability to dual wield handguns and submachine guns. Weaponry can be purchased by the player from specific stores or unlocked throughout in-game progress.^[19]

Open world[edit]

Players navigate the open world, fictional city of Stilwater. The city consists of forty-five neighborhoods divided between twenty districts. It is expanded from Saints Row's version of Stilwater, roughly one-and-a-half times as big and featuring new districts such as the prison, nuclear power plant, and expanded airport among others.^[24] Game developers stated that the city has very much been redeveloped and each individual neighborhood has been touched up in one way or another.^[29] According to the storyline, the in-game corporation Ultor spent more than 300 million dollars redeveloping the city,^[24] funding the police force and, as it states, turning the "once crime-ridden third-tier city" into an "urban utopia". The Saint's Row district is a more notable change within the city, having been completely redesigned and serving as the location of Ultor's headquarters; a towering skyscraper referred to as the Phillips Building.^[30] Many old districts from the earlier revision of Stilwater have also seen changes. Examples include the expansion taken place on the Suburbs district, which is double the size of its depiction in Saints Row and the Museum district, which features the Eramenos Ancient Greek museum exhibit, complete with models of the Acropolis of Athens and Theatre of Dionysus.^[31] There are also several completely new districts, such as the Marina and the University.^[29]

From the beginning of the game, the map of Stilwater is fully visible. However, shops and activities will simply be displayed as a question mark until the player discovers them. By completing missions and wiping out enemy strongholds the player gains control of the various neighborhoods the city is split into. There are over 130 interiors within the city, and hidden events can be triggered by some,^[17] including over ninety shops which can be purchased when the player controls each shops' associated territory.^[26] The player gets a 10% discount at owned stores and buying an entire chain of departments will mean that the protagonist's face appears on in-game billboard advertisements.^[26] The game shares technology with that of Red Faction: Guerrilla, another Volition-developed game and so certain elements of the environment are fully destructible.^[16] A number of Easter eggs are placed within the sandbox, including the pop-out Easter Bunny which won "Top Easter Egg of 2008".^[32]

Respect system[edit]

The Respect system is a scoring system where the player earns Respect points to unlock missions and progress through the storyline. The player can partake in storyline and stronghold missions only after filling up at least one bar of Respect, and Respect points are removed when the player starts a mission. The 'style rank' is a modifier of how much Respect the player can earn; this is increased by purchasing items for the player character. Respect points can be earned in two ways; by progressing through side-missions called Activities and by completing mini-games and stunts called Diversions.^[13]

There are a broad range of Activities and Diversions available for the player to progress through. Many of the game's Activities made appearance in Saints Row and a variety of new Activities have also been introduced in the game.^[14] Examples include an underground fight club, a parody of the Cops television show known as FUZZ and numerous others.^[25][33] Each Activity can be initiated from various locations and plays out over six levels of increasing difficulty. The Activities have been designed to suit solo and co-operative play.^[34] Most Diversions do not have specific start points. There are numerous Diversions playable in the game, such as acts of indecent exposure, combat and driving stunts, car surfing and a survival horror minigame called Zombie Uprising.^{[1][33][35][36]}

Multiplayer[edit]

Saints Row 2 has various multiplayer components implemented throughout the game. Through an online network or through System Linking, the player can progress through the game with a cooperative partner.^[37][38] While in co-op mode, both players can explore the city and progress through the game's storyline missions and minigames.^[38][39][40] Both players are rewarded and credited for completion of such activities,^[38][41] and the players can furthermore play against each other in competitive metagames.^[42][43][44] The co-op mode is "drop-in/drop-out" and there is no limit as to how far the players can be away from each other.^[17][38][45]

The game contains competitive multiplayer modes, supporting between four and twelve players in a match.^[46][47] There are two standard deathmatch modes; the free-for-all "Gangsta Brawl" mode and its team-based variant, "Team Gangsta Brawl".^[48] Another mode, known as "Strong Arm", puts two teams against each other fighting for control over the neighborhood.^[39][49] In "Strong Arm", the first team to earn $100,000,000 dollars wins and money is earned by competing head-to-head in activities, controlling "tag spots" which serve as bonus modifiers or by eliminating members of the opposing team.^[50] While in a party, players are free to roam around a lobby.^[48][51] The player can rank up in multiplayer and displays this by earning various "badges" which are displayed next to the player's name.^[51][52] By ranking up, the player can unlock more expensive clothing for their multiplayer character.^{[citation needed]}

The multiplayer mode on PC and PlayStation 3 was discontinued in May 2014 when GameSpy's servers were shut down.^[53] However, the PC version's multiplayer can still be played via LAN tunneling software such as Evolve or Tunngle and the PS3 version's multiplayer can still be played using XLink Kai. The Xbox 360 versions of the game were unaffected as they use the Xbox network for matchmaking.^[54]

Plot[edit]

Five years after the explosion on Richard Hughes' yacht, the player character (Charles Shaughnessy, Kenn Michael, Alex Mendoza, Katie Semine, G. K. Bowes, or Rebecca Sanabria), who was the sole survivor, awakens from a coma within the infirmary of Stilwater's maximum security prison after undergoing extensive plastic surgery. They escape to Stilwater with the help of Carlos Mendoza (Joe Camareno), the brother of a former 3rd Street Saints member.

Carlos explains that the Saints have since disbanded, with most members being arrested by Troy Bradshaw (Michael Rapaport), an undercover cop who had infiltrated the gang as a lieutenant and has since become chief of police, using his influence to protect the imprisoned Saints. In the gang's absence, three new gangs have taken over the city: the Brotherhood, a metalhead gang who conduct gun-running operations; the Ronin, a Japanese bosozoku gang who conduct gambling and porn operations; and the Sons of Samedi, a Haitian Vodou gang who run drugs operations. Also, the Saints' former base of operations, the Saint's Row district, has been redeveloped into a pristine commercial and residential area by the Ultor Corporation, who have further plans for Stilwater.

The player works to rebuild the Saints, rescuing their former lieutenant Johnny Gat (Daniel Dae Kim) from his trial. The pair then recruit new members, including Carlos and Gat's acquaintances, Pierce Washington (Arif S. Kinchen) and Shaundi (Eliza Dushku), as lieutenants, and set up a new headquarters in a hotel destroyed by an earthquake. Afterwards, the player steps up as the Saints' new leader, now going under the moniker of "The Boss", and declares war on the rival gangs, assigning their lieutenants to discover more about each.

Gat and Pierce focus on the Ronin, led by Shogo Akuji (Yuri Lowenthal) and his second-in-command, Jyunichi (Brian Tee) – on behalf of Shogo's father, Kazuo, who leads international operations. After the Saints rob their casino, the Ronin retaliate by infiltrating the home of Gat's girlfriend Aisha (Sy Smith), killing her and severely wounding Gat. Once Gat recovers, he and the Boss retaliate by killing Jyunichi (who was sold out by Shogo out of envy for Jyunichi's closer bond with Kazuo), burying Shogo alive after he ambushes them at Aisha's funeral, and ultimately killing Kazuo, ending the Ronin.

Carlos researches the Brotherhood, led by Maero (Michael Dorn). After the Boss rejects Maero's deal to join forces and split their profits (80% to the Brotherhood and 20% to the Saints), a series of rebound retaliations result in the deaths of Carlos (who is dragged by a speeding truck and forcibly mercy killed by the Boss) and Maero's girlfriend Jessica (Jaime Pressly) (who the Boss locks in her car to be inadvertently crushed by Maero with his monster truck). After assaulting the Brotherhood's base and forcing Maero to flee, the Boss kills him during a demolition derby to end the Brotherhood.

Shaundi investigates the Sons of Samedi, led by "The General" (Greg Eagles) and his right-hand, Mr. Sunshine (Phil LaMarr). After the Saints disrupt the Samedi's operations and steal most of their customers, Samedi lieutenant and one of Shaundi's exes, DJ Veteran Child (Neil Patrick Harris), is forced by the gang to kidnap Shaundi. After The Boss kills Veteran Child to rescue Shaundi, they continue their war on the Samedi by destroying their drug factories and killing Mr. Sunshine. Since The General runs his gang from an armored limo that's constantly on the move, The Boss and Shaundi hack the city's police street camera system to track it. Afterwards, they set up an ambush as the limo drives past the city mall and manage to take out The General, ending the Sons of Samedi.

After defeating the rival gangs, the Saints find themselves targeted by Ultor's power-hungry CEO, Dane Vogel (Jay Mohr), who was playing the gangs against each other to lower real estate throughout Stilwater and allow Ultor to purchase it and redevelop. After fending off several attacks by Ultor's private security forces, the Saints retaliate by destroying one of the company's labs and killing its board of directors. Taking advantage of this to assume full control of Ultor, Vogel decides to personally deal with the Saints, but is ambushed by the Boss at a press conference. The Boss fights their way to Vogel's office and kills him, allowing the Saints to return ruling over Stilwater undisputed.

At any point during the game, the Boss can listen to wiretap conversations at the police station, which reveal that after being arrested and asked to disband the Saints by Troy, former Saints leader Julius Little (Keith David) planted the bomb on Hughes' yacht to kill the Boss, knowing they would refuse, then retired. The Boss calls former Saints lieutenant Dex Jackson, who left the gang to work for Ultor, to discuss their findings, only to be met by Julius instead at the Saints' old church. After the pair fend off an attack by Ultor's security forces, the Boss kills Julius in revenge.

Development[edit]

Volition began work on Saints Row 2 in 2005, about a year before Saints Row was released.^[29][30] The sequel was first announced by THQ's CEO Brian Farrell in a February 2007 conference call, alongside another six franchise continuations for the 2008 fiscal year.^[55] Game details began to surface in May 2008 after the first teaser trailer was released and sites like IGN and GameSpot reported on an early version of the game.^[56]

One of the development team's core goals was to develop an identity for the Saints Row franchise within the open world genre.^[4] The series was known as a "Grand Theft Auto clone" based on its first release's similarities to the open world sandbox game Grand Theft Auto III.^[57] Accordingly, Saints Row 2 was compared to the Grand Theft Auto series' own upcoming sequel, Grand Theft Auto IV.^[58][59] When questioned about the two sequels' close release dates, lead producer Greg Donovan responded that they thought their game could compete, that he saw the Grand Theft Auto sequel moving "in a more realistic direction",^[60] and that there was "room for more than just one game" in the open world genre as "a very different experience than what ... other games are looking to do".^[12] The team took an "over-the-top" design approach, with cartoonish pastiche and "wild and outrageous" gameplay.^[8] Many early game elements were considered too crass to be included in the final release.^[8]

Many of the original Saints Row developers continued onto the sequel's team. Thus, the team worked from their lessons learned rather than starting anew. The two games were consequently similar in design.^[7] They overhauled the game engine to enhance the sequel's graphics,^[5] and added contrast and higher-quality textures to make the city setting of Stilwater more realistic.^[26] Visual enhancements were also applied to people, cars, explosions, lighting, shadows, and the weather system.^[5][26] A central design goal was to "create a world that exists independent of the player" that featured more realistic non-player characters (NPCs)^[61] that would smoke cigarettes, use cellphones, drink coffee, open umbrellas when it rained, and physically interact. The original game's engine could not support proximity NPC interaction like sitting together or cuddling.^[62] As the city design finalized late in development, the team laboriously hand-placed 20,000 nodes throughout the game world that trigger NPC actions.^[62]

The Saints Row series narrative was conceived as a three-part story, with Saints Row 2 as the second of the three.^[63] While the developers continued the story of the original game, they sought to accommodate newcomers to the series.^[29] The final script had roughly 80,000 lines of dialogue, twice that of Saints Row's.^[62] The story drew strong cinematic influence from Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction^[5] and Kill Bill.^[64] While the script was written to follow "a path of betrayal, revenge and redemption", the game retains Saints Row's light humor,^[65] with the "over-the-top, socially distorted" narrative juxtaposed with dark, gritty moments.^[64] Saints Row's silent protagonist speaks in Saints Row 2, granting the protagonist more personality and improving the storytelling, according to James Tsai, one of the lead designers.^[64] They sought to heavily stylize the game's characters and assign them unique personality traits.^[6][29] The basic character designs followed naturally from the story Volition wanted to tell, but the characters' personalities and mannerisms were mainly a product of the voice acting performances, where the actors had freedom to interpret and develop their characters.^[29] The game's voice actors include film and television stars such as Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Dorn, Mila Kunis, Jay Mohr, Keith David, and Eliza Dushku.^[66]

While the first game was released as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Volition expanded the sequel's initial development to the PlayStation 3 platform.^[10] The platform was successful in Europe, where Volition wished to expand. The port was developed in-house by a team that previously worked on Xbox 360 development. They struggled with the PlayStation 3's Cell architecture.^[67] The game was particularly unstable during development, and would crash after several hours of play.^[4] Lead producer Greg Donovan blamed their "failing to take systems and features to completion" as programmers fought last-minute bugs, artists lacked time to finalize designs, and consequently, playtest versions were not ready until late in the development cycle.^[4]

Soundtrack and audio[edit]

The game's soundtrack features about 170 licensed tracks accessible across twelve in-game radio stations while driving or at home. Station genres include pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, funk, soul, alternative, indie, metal, easy listening, world, classical, reggae, and electronic with artists such as As I Lay Dying, Opeth, Duran Duran, Lamb of God, The Used, My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, Paramore, Panic! at the Disco and Run-D.M.C.^[68][69] The player can create a custom playlist of the licensed tracks to play on a separate station.^[69] Lead audio designer Frank Petreikis's budget for licensed music was double that of the previous game so as to secure more prominent tracks.^[70]

Volition extended the game's over-the-top atmosphere and humor into the radio stations via commercials.^[7] For example, commercials that promoted Ultor Corporation products served to enhance the player's sense of the corporation's omnipresence in Stilwater.^[71] The radio commercials were recorded with voice actors in the same room, rather than apart, so as to maximize their group dynamism.^[71] Many of the in-game commercials went through several drafts and the developers found this writing process to be challenging.^[71]

Marketing[edit]

Prior to its release, Saints Row 2 was heavily marketed and promoted through Internet

Half-Life 2
Box art featuring Gordon Freeman
Developer(s)	Valve
Publisher(s)	Valve
Artist(s)	Viktor Antonov
Writer(s)	Marc Laidlaw
Composer(s)	Kelly Bailey
Series	Half-Life
Engine	Source
Platform(s)	Windows Xbox Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Mac OS X Linux Android
Release	November 16, 2004 Windows WW: November 16, 2004 Xbox NA: November 15, 2005 EU: November 18, 2005 Xbox 360 NA: October 10, 2007 EU: October 19, 2007 AU: October 25, 2007 PlayStation 3 NA: December 11, 2007 EU: December 14, 2007 AU: December 20, 2007 Mac OS X WW: May 26, 2010 Linux WW: May 9, 2013 Android WW: May 12, 2014
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds new features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, an interplanetary alien empire.

Half-Life 2 was created using Valve's Source game engine, which was developed simultaneously. Development lasted five years and cost US$40 million. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, set his team the goal of redefining the FPS genre. They integrated Havok, which simulates real-world physics, to reinforce the sense of presence and create new gameplay. They also developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and animations.

Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003 with a release date of September of that year. They failed to meet the release date, leading to fan backlash. A year before its release, an unfinished version was stolen by a hacker and published online, which damaged the team’s morale and slowed their work.

Half-Life 2 was released on Steam on November 16, 2004. It won 39 Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the best games ever made. It was ported to Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, macOS and Linux. By 2011, it had sold 12 million copies. Half-Life 2 was followed by the free extra level Lost Coast (2005) and the episodic sequels Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007). In 2020, after canceling Episode Three and several further Half-Life projects, Valve released a prequel, Half-Life: Alyx.

Gameplay[edit]

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Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is a single-player first-person shooter (FPS) in which players control Gordon Freeman. It has similar mechanics to Half-Life, including health-and-weapon systems (though with fewer overall weapons) and periodic physics puzzles, except with the newer Source engine and improved graphics. The player starts without items and widens their arsenal over the course of the game. While the game is mainly linear, effort was put into making exploration rewarding and interesting; many optional areas can be missed or avoided.^[1]

A diverse set of enemies is present, which usually require being approached with different tactics: some coordinate in groups to out-maneuver or out-position the player; others, such as the Manhack, fly directly at the player through small openings and tight corridors.^[2] Others use predictable but powerful attacks, while others hide before swiftly attacking the player. Gordon can kill most enemies with his weapons, or make use of indirect means, exploiting environmental hazards such as explosive pressurized canisters, gas fires or improvised traps. In chapters ten and eleven, Gordon can be joined by up to four armed Resistance soldiers or medics and can send his team further from him or call them back.

Many of the features use the Source engine's detailed physics simulation. Two sections of the game involve driving vehicles. Instead of button-oriented puzzles from Half-Life, environmental puzzles are also introduced with makeshift mechanical systems, revolving around the player's new ability to pick up, move, and place objects. Solutions involve objects' physical properties, such as shape, weight, and buoyancy. For example; In chapter three, "Route Kanal", the player is required to stack cinder blocks on a makeshift see-saw ramp to proceed over a wall. Alternatively, the player can build a crude staircase with the blocks, so the puzzle may be solved in multiple ways.

Part-way through the game, Gordon acquires the Gravity Gun, which allows him to draw distant objects towards himself or forcefully push them away, as well as the ability to manipulate larger and heavier objects which he otherwise cannot control. These abilities are required to solve puzzles later in the game. They can also be used in combat, to throw heavy objects at enemies or to shield themselves from gunfire.

The game never separates the player with pre-rendered cutscenes or events; the story proceeds via exposition from other characters and in-world events, and the player can control Gordon for the entirety of the game. Most of the backstory to the game is simply alluded to or told through the environment. Even tutorials are mostly placed in the environment or in dialogue. The few pop-ups that appear inform the player only of keyboard bindings for actions.

Plot[edit]

After the alien invasion at the Black Mesa Research Facility, a multidimensional alien empire known as the Combine invaded and subjugated Earth. Approximately twenty years after being placed in stasis, Gordon Freeman, the player character, is awoken by the G-Man (Michael Shapiro), who cryptically informs Gordon that "his time has come again" before celestially inserting him into a moving passenger train bound for City 17, an Eastern European city (probably in Russia as most of the posters and signs are in Russian) which houses the Citadel, a several-miles-tall tower which serves as the headquarters of the Combine on Earth. Helped by undercover Resistance member Barney Calhoun (Shapiro), Gordon attempts to reach the laboratory of Dr. Isaac Kleiner (Harry S. Robins) before being beaten and arrested by Combine officers. He is rescued by Alyx Vance (Merle Dandridge), who takes him to Dr. Kleiner's lab. During Dr. Kleiner’s attempt to teleport Gordon to the main Resistance base at Black Mesa East, Gordon is accidentally, briefly teleported to the Citadel office of Dr. Wallace Breen (Robert Culp), the Combine’s puppet ruler of Earth, alerting Dr. Breen to Gordon’s presence. Gordon is subsequently forced to progress to the base using the city's canal system, navigating it on an airboat.

Upon his arrival at Black Mesa East, Gordon reunites with Eli Vance (Robert Guillaume) and meets Dr. Judith Mossman (Michelle Forbes). Alyx introduces Gordon to her pet robot Dog and gives Gordon a Gravity Gun. Black Mesa East is suddenly attacked by Combine forces, who capture Eli and Judith; Gordon is forced to escape through the zombie-infested ghost town of Ravenholm, aided by its lone inhabitant, Father Grigori (Jim French). Escaping the town, Gordon reaches a Resistance outpost, whose inhabitants provide him with a dune buggy. He drives across Highway 17 to reach the Combine prison of Nova Prospekt, where Eli and Judith are being held. He breaks into the prison and reunites with Alyx. They locate Eli and discover that Judith is a Combine spy. Before they can stop her, Judith teleports herself and Eli to the Citadel. The teleporter explodes moments after Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.

Returning to Dr. Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed, during which time the Resistance has launched a full-scale armed rebellion against the Combine. Aided by Barney and Dog, Gordon fights his way inside the Citadel. He makes some progress in climbing the tower before he is captured and taken in a transport pod to Dr. Breen’s private office, near the tower’s apex, where he and Judith are waiting with Eli and Alyx as captives. Dr. Breen reveals that he intends to use his captives as leverage during negotiations with the Combine, which contradicts what he had previously told Judith.^[3] Angered, Judith frees the three captives before Dr. Breen can teleport them off-world. Dr. Breen attempts to escape using a teleporter on the Citadel’s roof, but Gordon destroys the Citadel's reactor using the Gravity Gun, causing Dr. Breen to fall into the abyss, although it is uncertain if he had died as a result. Just as the reactor explodes, the G-Man reappears and freezes time, praising Gordon’s actions and placing him back into stasis.

Development[edit]

Development of Half-Life 2 began in June 1999, six months after the release of the original Half-Life. It was developed by a team of 82.^[4] With voice actors included, this number is 100.^[5][6] Valve's president, Gabe Newell, wanted to redefine the FPS genre, saying: "Why spend four years of your life building something that isn't innovative and is basically pointless? If Half-Life 2 isn't viewed as the best PC game of all time, it's going to completely bum out most of the guys on this team."^[4] Newell gave his team no deadline and a "virtually unlimited" budget, promising to fund the project himself if necessary.^[4] They used Valve's new in-house game engine, Source, developed simultaneously.^[4]

Setting and characters[edit]

Whereas Half-Life was set in a single location, the Black Mesa research facility, Valve wanted "a much more epic and global feel" for the sequel. One concept had the player teleporting between planets, which was discarded as it would make continuity between levels difficult. At the suggestion of the art director, Viktor Antonov, who was Bulgarian, the team settled on a city in an Eastern European location. In this early concept, players would start the game by boarding the Borealis, an icebreaker bound for the city.^[4] Nova Prospekt was conceived as a small rail depot built on an old prison in the wasteland and grew from a stopping-off point to the destination itself.^{[7][page needed]}

After observing how players had connected to minor characters in Half-Life, the team developed the characterization, with more detailed character models and realistic animation. The animator Ken Birdwell studied the work of psychologist Paul Ekman, who had researched how facial muscles express emotion.^[4] The writer Marc Laidlaw created family relationships between the characters, saying as it was a "basic dramatic unit everyone understands" rarely used in games.^[4]

Physics and design[edit]

The team integrated the Havok physics engine, which simulates real-world physics,^[8] to reinforce the player's sense of presence and create new gameplay.^[4] To experiment, the team created a minigame, Zombie Basketball, in which players used a physics-manipulating gun to throw zombies through hoops.^[4] In mid-2001, to test the engine, Valve built a street war between rioting citizens and police, featuring tanks, Molotov cocktails, hand-to-hand fighting, and looting. The designer John Guthrie described it as "an early attempt at getting something – anything – in the game that used non-player characters and physics".^[4]

In late 2001, Valve began creating a showreel, hoping to demonstrate it at E3 2002.^[4] For several months, Newell let the team work without his input so he could provide unbiased feedback, and focused on developing Steam, Valve's upcoming digital distribution service. The team presented the showreel to Newell, showcasing physics, environments such as the Borealis, and a dialogue-heavy scene with the scientist character Dr. Kleiner. Newell felt the showreel did not adequately show how the physics would affect gameplay and that the Kleiner scene was overlong. Reflecting on the feedback, Laidlaw said: "The dramatic scenes with the characters are important, but they have to be in service of the interactivity and gameplay."^[4]

In September 2002, the team completed a second showreel, featuring a buggy race along the City 17 coast, an encounter with headcrabs on a pier, an alien strider attacking the city, and a greatly shortened Kleiner sequence. In October, Newell told the team they would announce Half-Life 2 at E3 2003 and release it by the end of the year.^[4] As with the original Half-Life, the team split into "cabals" working on different levels. Designers created levels using placeholder shapes and surfaces, which then were worked on by the artists.^[4]

Announcement and delay[edit]

Valve announced Half-Life 2 at E3 2003, with demonstrations of the characters, animation and physics. The reaction was positive, and the game won the E3 Game of the Show award.^[9] Newell also announced a release date of September 30, 2003, hoping this would motivate the team. They worked long hours to meet the deadline, but by July it was clear they would miss it. Rumors spread of a delay. On September 23, Valve released a statement targeting a release for the holiday season, leading to fan backlash.^[4]

Newell had been hesitant to announce a delay without a new release date. He said later: "We were paralyzed. We knew we weren't going to make the date we promised, and that was going to be a huge fiasco and really embarrassing. But we didn't have a new date to give people either."^[4] The graphics card manufacturer ATI had arranged a promotional event on Alcatraz Island to coincide with the planned release of Half-Life 2. Unable to pull out of the event, Newell gave a prepared speech, demonstrated the Source engine, and left without addressing questions.^[4]

Leak and final months[edit]

On September 19, the Half-Life 2 source code was obtained by a German hacker, Axel Gembe, who had infiltrated Valve's internal network months earlier. According to Gembe, he shared it with another person, who leaked the code online in early October.^[10] Fans soon compiled a playable version of Half-Life 2, revealing how unfinished it was. The leaks damaged morale at Valve and slowed development.^[4] In March 2004, Gembe contacted Newell and identified himself, saying he was a fan and had not acted maliciously. Newell worked with the FBI to invite Gembe to a fake job interview, planning to have him arrested in the United States; however, police arrested him in Germany.^[10] In November 2006, Gembe was sentenced to two years' probation.^[10]

In 2004, the Valve staff returned after Christmas to long hours, stressful working conditions, and no guarantee that the game, which was costing $1 million a month to develop, would be finished soon. However, Newell felt that progress was speeding up, with the team producing about three hours of gameplay per month. In March, they created the first version playable from start to finish and stopped production for a week to play through the game. Major changes by this point included the cutting of the Borealis, the replacement of the jet ski with a hovercraft, and introducing the physics-manipulating gravity gun earlier in the game. Feedback was positive across the company. Newell recalled: "The fact that you could go from one end of the game to the other was a really big thing for us. Then we knew it just had to get better – but it was all there."^[4] After several months of bug fixes and playtesting, Half-Life 2 was completed on October 13, 2004.^[4]

Release[edit]

Valve made a 1 GB portion of Half-Life 2 available for download in an encrypted format through Steam on August 26, 2004. On the day of release, Steam customers were able to pay, unlock the files, and play the game immediately, without having to wait for the game to download.^[11] In retail, distribution of the game was handled by Vivendi Universal Games through their Sierra Entertainment subsidiary.^[12]

Half-Life 2 was simultaneously released through Steam, CD, and on DVD in several editions. Through Steam, Half-Life 2 had three packages that a customer could order. The basic version ("Bronze") includes only Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source, whereas the "Silver" and "Gold" (collector's edition) versions also include Half-Life: Source (ports of the original Half-Life and Day of Defeat mod to the new engine). The collector's edition/"Gold" version additionally includes merchandise, such as a baseball cap, a strategy guide and CD containing the soundtrack used in Half-Life 2. Both the disc and Steam versions require Steam to be installed and active for play to occur.^[13] The retail copies of the game came in two versions, standard and Collector's Edition. The Collector's Edition differed from the physical items in the "Gold" edition, and included a T-shirt and sample of the Prima strategy guide.^[14]

A demo version with the file size of a single CD was made available in December 2004 at the website of graphics card manufacturer ATI Technologies, who teamed up with Valve for the game. The demo contains a portion of two chapters: Point Insertion and "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...". In September 2005, Electronic Arts distributed the Game of the Year edition of Half-Life 2. Compared to the original CD-release of Half-Life 2, the Game of the Year edition also includes Half-Life: Source.^[15]

The soundtrack was written by Kelly Bailey. The Soundtrack of Half-Life 2, containing most of the music from Half-Life 2 and many tracks from the original Half-Life, was included with the Half-Life 2 "Gold" edition and sold separately from Valve's online store.^[16] Valve released a deathmatch mode in 2004.^[17] In 2022, fans discovered that the texture used for a corpse model originated from a real photograph of a corpse published in a medical textbook on treating burns, leading to criticism.^[18][19]

Dispute with Vivendi[edit]

On September 20, 2004, GameSpot reported that Sierra's parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, was in a legal battle with Valve over the distribution of Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés. Cyber cafés were important for the gaming market in Asia, where PC and broadband penetration per capita were much lower in most territories.^[20]

According to Vivendi, the distribution contract they signed with Valve included cyber cafés. This would mean that only Vivendi could distribute Half-Life 2 to cyber cafés — not Valve through the Steam system. On November 29, 2004, Judge Thomas S. Zilly, of U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington, ruled that Vivendi and its affiliates are not authorized to distribute (directly or indirectly) Valve games through cyber cafés for pay-to-play activities according to the parties' current publishing agreement. Zilly also ruled in favor of the Valve motion regarding the contractual limitation of liability, allowing Valve to recover copyright damages for any infringement as allowed by law without regard to the publishing agreement's limitation of liability clause.^[21]

On April 29, 2005, Valve and Vivendi announced a settlement. Vivendi would cease distributing all retail packaged versions of Valve games by August 31, 2005. Vivendi was also to notify distributors and cyber cafés that had been licensed by Vivendi that only Valve had the authority to distribute cyber café licenses; their licenses were revoked and switched to Valve's.^[22] Valve partnered with Electronic Arts for the retail distribution of its games, including the Xbox version of Half-Life 2.^[23]

Ports and updates[edit]

In 2005, Valve released an extra level, Lost Coast, as a free download to anyone who purchased Half-Life 2.^[24] Lost Coast acted as a technology demonstration, showing off new lighting techniques and high-dynamic-range rendering in the Source engine. On December 22, Valve released a 64-bit version of the Source engine for x86-64 processor-based systems running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows Vista x64, or Windows Server 2008 x64. This update enabled Half-Life 2 and other Source games to run natively on 64-bit processors, bypassing the 32-bit compatibility layer. Newell said it was "an important step in the evolution of our game content and tools", and that the game benefited greatly from the update.^[25] Some users reported major performance improvements, though the technology site Techgage found stability problems and no notable frame rate improvement.^[26]

In 2006, Valve partnered with Taito to release Half-Life 2: Survivor, an arcade game for the Japanese market.^[27][28] Valve rereleased Half-Life 2 as part of the 2007 compilation The Orange Box for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[29] On May 26, 2010, Half-Life 2, Episode One and Episode Two were released for Mac OS X.^[30] In 2013, Valve ported Half-Life 2 to Linux^[31] and released a free update adding support for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.^[32] An NVIDIA Shield Tablet-exclusive port for Android was released on May 12, 2014.^[33] In January 2022, a new UI designed for Valve's portable Steam Deck device was released.^[34]

Reception[edit]