10 Reasons Why Half Life 2 Is Still A Masterpiece

6. The Vehicles

While it€™s common for first person shooters to feature vehicle sections, it€™s rarer for them to stick with a first person perspective when putting the player behind the wheel. Often first person shooters will switch to a third person perspective for any bits involving a vehicle, while they€™ll also further alienate them from the rest of the campaign by making them stand-alone missions €“ as commonly seen in the dedicated tank levels of the Call of Duty and Battlefield games. Half Life 2€™s vehicle sections continue to push the immersion of the game by not only forcing the player to remain in a first person perspective, but also by having the player use the vehicles for significant portions of the game. This in-turn delivers a brilliant sense of scale and freedom, and creates the illusion that you're actually driving through the world with a purpose. Whether you€™re speeding through rivers and swamps in a bumpy hovercraft or mowing down combine soldiers in a modified muscle car, the vehicle sections in Half Life 2 are just as joyous and immersive as the on-foot sections.
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Cult horror enthusiast and obsessive videogame fanatic. Stephen considers Jaws to be the single greatest film of all-time and is still pining over the demise of Sega's Dreamcast. As well regularly writing articles for WhatCulture, Stephen also contributes reviews and features to Ginx TV.