Hey, and welcome back. If you have kept up with my previous reviews, you will know what to expect and you will see what I think of this series overall. Well, I am glad to say that this game has surpassed my expectations by the way of graphics, the story, gameplay mechanics, and so much more. Let’s take a look.

The game is set in the future, following the events from the first game, in which you were ¨rescued¨ by an almost god-like being, known as ¨G-Man¨, who put you into cryostasis for a good bit of time, before he unfreezes you to mention that you have a ¨job¨ to do right as you wake up on what seems to be some sort of transport train, controlled by the Combine. You later learn that the Combine are an invading inter-universal empire that has subjugated numerous invierses and have found earth due to the events of previous game, they are put in the game to represent the harsh living conditions and subjugations of humans, even going as far as to create a force field around the panet to stop humans from procreating. This in turns builds a world of despair and sadness, and complete emptiness as there are very little humans left on the planet, but it also feels hopeful since a small part of the populace is fighting back and they look up to you as their sole savior.

Now with that bleak future set aside, This game is a must play in terms of gameplay mechanics and such. It utilizes the common themes and movements found in various FPS games, but it makes a vast difference by handing you a weapon that can basically act as sort of using the force on an object. It allows you to grab things from afar, throw things at enemies or allies, let you grab health, and many other uses. It’s quite amazing that one mechanic can make all the difference. Another mechanic introduced is the use of vehicles, these vehicles are required to either take down enemies or to perform various platforming challenges, or to simply move around in a faster form of transport, or simply to mess around with.

The game contains a beautiful setting of Eastern Europe, completely clean and sterile yet unnervingly quiet. You don’t hear children roaming the streets, or the laughter of people, you only hear radio chatter and pleas for help. As you escape the city, you travel by seas and through a canal system, which shows you the effects of the plundering of the Earth by the invaders, as ocean levels have dropped dramatically, vast oil-shaped rigs slamming into the ground, always searching for something.

The story is a simple, yet interesting one to follow. How it simply goes is the fact that you wake up on a transport train, and you have to escape with the help of your allies and travel all the way to a location known as Nova Prospekt, from which you are then directed to y ahead back to the city in which you started the game from and lead the human resistance through the command structure known as the ¨Citadel¨, to finally confront the human sympathizer of the Combine, which results in needing to destroy a reactor before a huge twist of events occur that should be known by playing the game.

The review I have just given seems to be a bit on the vague sife, but there is only so much one can say before one has to experience it for themselves. So, if you want to take on the role of the MIT graduate to save our world once again, I would tell you look no further.