1. The Source Engine
The Source Engine has been touched upon already in the past tense for this game, but it has to be credited for its subsequent impact on the gaming post Half Life 2. Much like Rockstars RAGE engine, it's a bloodline you can feel in most Valve games. Whether it be the Zombie slaying Left 4 Dead or the mind bending hilarity of Portal 2 - you can always feel this engine at work. Debuting in the 2003 with CounterStrike: Source, it wasn't until the release of Half Life 2 a year later that its power was truly displayed. The Engine has been used in almost every Valve game since and it is their bread and butter and life blood. With each edition to the catalog of quality games, you can feel the foundations laid out in Half Life 2 in them. Every part of the article you have just read is in some way is affected by the Source Engine, it commands your respect for that alone - it is like the oxygen we breathe, like the name itself, it is the Source of all the greatness in its world. With its constantly updated formula, expect to see different renditions of it for a long time, and who knows, when we finally do see Half Life 3, hopefully we will still be feeling the echoes of this great game in it's Source...
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