HALF-LIFE 2: OVERCHARGED

Supercharge Gordon Freeman.

- Chris Livingston

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE November 16, 2004

PUBLISHER In-house

DEVELOPER Valve

LINK half-life.com

The enduring appeal of Gordon Freeman is that he was just this regular guy, you know? He was a mere scientist who, as it turned out, also happened to be extremely skilled at fighting off aliens and blowing away the army and even taking down government assassins. He broke the mould of videogame heroes being career badasses who were already ultraviolent killing machines from the start, letting players imagine that they too, when the chips were down, might have some incredible survival skills rise to the surface too… no matter how nerdy they might be.

That said, it is kind of fun to play through Half-Life 2 as a total badass in a non-stop action movie. I should know, because I’ve been doing it with the Half-Life 2: Overcharged mod. It turns the dial on Half-Life 2 all the way up, throwing in tons of new weapons, lots of new enemies, and all sorts of other enhancements.

I didn’t read too much about the mod before installing it because I wanted there to be some surprises. And there were. Almost immediately. After the lengthy opening of the game, in which Freeman goes through about 30 or so minutes without even picking up a gun, I finally dashed through the alleys of City 17 and beat my first Combine Cop to death with my crowbar. Then I picked up his gun, shot a second Metrocop, and was surprised to find I could pick up his gun, too. In Overcharged, Freeman can dual-wield pistols. Already I feel more like Max Payne than Gordon Freeman.