| Half Life 2 is a very popular first person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation for mass release. It is distributed by a host of organizations, including Cyberfront, Electronic Arts, and Unalis for Windows. Electronic Arts also distributes the game for Xbox. Half Life 2 can be played as either a single player or multi-player experience, and the ESRB Rating Board has assigned it an M for Mature rating, which means that it is safe for players 17 and up. In order to mount Half Life 2 on your computer, you need a 1.2-gigahertz processor and at least 256 megabytes of RAM. The game can be played on a Windows PC or an Xbox, and it can come as either a download or a CD/DVD. Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and an established target demographic, the game sold very well in its first few months of release. Whereas the original Half Life focused on the goings on at the dark and terrible Black Mesa Research Facility, Half Life 2 takes on a more capacious world, the domain of City 17. Titular character Gordon Freeman teams up with pals such Barney Calhoun and Alyx to take on the evil Dr. Green, who is manipulated by alien overlords who have by and large taken over the planet. This time bereft of his hazardous environment suit, Freeman must navigate complex missions and battle the brutal forces of the alien colonial reign. These Civil Protection fighters, which are also referred to as Metropolice, use any means necessary to stop Freeman's quest to liberate earth from the grip of its totalitarian masters. |