What is Half-Life 2?
{{Infobox video game | image = Half-Life 2 Logo.svg }} '''''Half-Life 2''''' is a [[first person shooter]] [[video game]] created by the company [[Valve Corporation]] and released in [[2004]]. This game is the sequel to the original [[Half-Life]] [[video game]] which came out in [[1998]]. It is sold through the [[Steam (service)|Steam]] platform also developed by Valve. It is also available in [[The Orange Box]], along with [[Half-Life 2: Episode One]] and [[Half-Life 2: Episode Two]] (sequels to Half-Life 2), [[Portal (video game)|Portal]], and [[Team Fortress 2]]. [[Half-Life 3]] is thought to be currently in development. Half-Life 2 is based on a [[game engine]] called Source. There have been many other Source-based games, such as [[Portal (video game)|Portal]], [[Team Fortress 2]], [[Counter-Strike: Source]], and [[Garry's Mod]] (which is a [[Mod (video games)|mod]] of Half-Life 2 that later became its own game). [[Half-Life]] was a very popular video game, and Half-Life 2 was also very popular. Many reviewers believe Half-Life 2 is better than Half-Life and one of the best games ever made. It took six years to create Half-Life 2 (from 1998 to 2004). It was supposed to be released in [[2003]], but it was not ready. Many fans were very angry and said Valve lied to them. However, it did release the next year (2004). It had much better graphics than Half-Life. It also had more complicated [[NPC|non-player characters]] and more of a story. == Plot and characters == In Half-Life 2, the player is [[Gordon Freeman]] (the same character as in Half-Life). It begins about 20 years after the first Half-Life. The Combine, a group of evil [[aliens]], took over Earth and made [[humans]] their [[slaves]]. They are spoken for by Doctor Breen, and an evil human who used to run Black Mesa. Gordon Freeman is woken up by the mysterious G-Man and placed on a train in a place named City 17, which seems to be in [[Eastern Europe]]. He finds the resistance, some humans who fight the Combine. He meets the main members of the resist