the alyx vance my beloved

Takes full advantage of the source engine to deliver the most engaging FPS I have ever played.

I love how insane the map concepts always get. Raiding a weapon store to get the owner a coke so that he can airstrike a barricade or fighting clown zombies in the middle of a live band performance meant to signal a helicopter. Shit like that makes it so that the game never gets stale, even after replaying it 500 times.

Nice improvement over Episode One. Never feels like you're retreading old shit or doing anything repetitive with how unique the set pieces can get.

I got very far in this one, but never finished unfortunately. Really great improvement over the first game, especially with the story and its comedic tone. Glados and Wheatley are fun as hell.

It does an amazing job at accentuating HL's positives, especially with regards to its environmental storytelling. Gameplay wise, it even excels over HL2 in some regards.

Then they were like "what if we made Xen over six hours long." Still love the game, but man. FUck its endgame.

Peak co-op gameplay. Focuses so much on team coordination that it completely negates the selfish habits that most co-op games let their players fall into. I think L4D2 improves on this, since I find it has the least amount of annoying maps, but I think I slightly prefer the cast of this game. Francis and Louis my beloveds.

This is only held back by some annoying segments and its super short length. Still HL2 so it's fire.

Never played this one seriously, but I loved goofing off in it. The cartoony artstyle and crude cast of characters makes it so lovable, even to people like me, who didn't give a fuck about comp play. So clear of Overwatch.

I respect this game. Gordon being just a scientist with minimal combat training is reflected well in the gameplay with how much it rewards you for playing tactically and punishes you for being reckless. Even though the second half does well to highlight that sense of progression that Gordon and the player creates with its larger focus on action, the final few levels, mixed with the over abundance of frustratingly powerful alien enemies, really shows how I think this game dips in quality after the first half.

My childhood. Pretty sure it's my most played game ever. You can do pretty much anything, so there's not much to actually say.

I will say, there's a lot of racist people who play this game lolz.

Solid game. I don't see myself revisiting it, but it's a must play for anyone with a computer for how enjoyable the concept is.