[kupoartist]

6 years of waiting for a sequel, one and a half years of immense hype... And somehow, it's living up to it all. No scratch that, It's exceeding my expectations. First impressions: I seriously feel that playing the first five missions or so, I was having the kind of fun I haven't had with a new game for years. Everything just came together amazingly... the realistic characters, their facial expressions, the absolutely amazing graphics (which run well on my PC at very high settings - a triumph of technical engineering), the phenomenal design and the spot on pacing. The entire sequence involving escaping the city was just... wow. I don't think I've ever got that feeling of having truely achieved something in a game until I took that hovercraft down the canals... Personally, I thought that the 6th Chapter (Ravenholm) was probably my least favorite: Headcrabs and Zombies are pretty annoying really. That said, it certainly had some great moments. Traps, Physics Weapons and Mad Shotgun toting priests

I am currently on Chapter 11: "Anticitizen Zero", when the sh*t really hits the fan. I've also just witnessed what is probably the most memorable scripted sequence i've ever seen (you'll know it when you see it). 11 Chapters in 2 days isn't bad... shame it'll probably all be over in another 2 days... what is weird, is that It all feels exactly the right length. Each chapter feels just long enough; not too long and tedious, not too short and forgettable. A definate 5 star game, if not more... the Presentation of everything is through the roof... audio, visual, gameplay whatever. My only worry at the moment is that I'm not entirely sure whether I'm convinced by the AI: The combat is so amazing, that it's hard to notice that the things you're fighting against aren't as revolutionary as was once hinted in hype. I'm not I really care too much though. I don't have as much time for games anymore, But I know that this is one of my "Play through once a year until you die" games ^^