Half-Life 2 (Xbox)

As with the first game you play resourceful scientist Gordon Freeman as he attempts to fight back against an alien invasion from another dimension. In the years that have passed since the first game the world governments have become ever more despotic in the face of the threat and Gordon once again finds himself fighting both human and alien foes.

Even more so than the original, what sets Half-Life 2 apart from the rest is its incredible technology--the preview code we've seen so far displays stunningly realistic graphics, amazing real world physics and highly adaptive AI. In combining all three elements, the game offers an almost infinite variety. One minute you find yourself being hunted down by Special Forces, using furniture to block doorways and throwing grenades to dislodge container crates and squish unsuspecting bad guys, the next you'll be stalking zombies through an abandoned village or fighting giant War of the Worlds styled tripods with the resistance movement and using a tractor beam gun to capture chunks of masonry and fling it at your enemies.

Half-Life 2 allows all this and more and could very well turn out to be the first game to actually exceed its hype, never mind just live up to it. Here's hoping.--David Jenkins

This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.