They appear to function in a similar way to the Combine, although they actually get to use their great AI more effectively in areas like the Black Mesa labs. They also appear to have retained the marines' ability to completely **** you over in about a millisecond of shooting. Still, it sure beats trying to stay awake waiting for your health to regenerate.

Yeah, Black Mesa is freaking great. I was severely disappointed by Half Life: Source back when Half Life 2 came out. I mean, I know it was probably too much to ask that Valve go back and remake Half Life while also releasing one of the best game sequels ever conceived, but still...I wanted more than cool water effects and higher resolutions. Black Mesa definitely satisfies on every level. I couldn't believe some of the detail they went into...there are a ton more scientist and Barney models to add more individuality (and women now, too), the facility isn't just remade - it's completely re-imagined and the scale is now gigantic, and the soundtrack has been updated and is (in my opinion) even better than in the original. My only complaints are that the marine dialog is a bit cheesy and crouch jumping is still around. Not that it's a big deal or very hard, but seriously...after a while I don't want to crouch jump anymore.

As everyone who has mentioned it has said so far, it's free...so get it. I honestly thought I'd get through the first couple hours, be impressed that it looks better, and then quit playing since I've gone through the original a million times, but I am really enjoying playing it. It's very fresh and professional and as Pete said, if you haven't played the original use this as your opportunity.

Oh, and I might just **** my pants when they actually announce Episode 3. Seriously, what's taking so long?

Yep. My collector's edition is sitting next to the fan on the little desk next to my tv stand. It's really just more of the same but they still managed to make it feel new. The 'new' classes are mostly just revamped versions of the classics, the assassin being the most unique from what little I've played. I really only played last night with some friends and with 4 players we found that there weren't that many enemies, but they were all definitely tougher, especially if you got lost and ended up facing a mob by yourself.

Looked like it would be more of the same. I was growing tired of the replay of the original so its welcome indeed. I'll be busting it out on Friday and going to town on it. Hopefully it doesn;t end up being a tired reboot and things pick up for you in it. Biding my time til Bioshock comes out, sure it will do the trick.

Definitely not feeling like a tired reboot to me, just that the initial impression is more of the same (and that's not necessarily a bad thing - Diablo3 dropped the ball by straying too far, BL2 seems to have gotten it right).

My theory is that it never actually existed and that the whole "Ricochet 2" deal is actually the codename for the project to introduce hats in CS:GO.

My guess is they're going to drop the Episodic gaming and instead just have it be Half-Life 3 and have it showcase a new gaming engine because the Source engine is definitely starting to show its age. I wouldn't be surprised if the revelation of Portal sharing the same universe as Half-Life has lead to some writing plot holes that are in the process of being filled.

Sooooooo... Borderlands 2 is really awesome. You should get it. Especially if you have someone to play it with.

It's much better than the first one.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ds2boxart3.jpg

I liked the style and concept of the frst game. The setting was cool, I liked the RPG elements and so on. But execution wasn't that great. Missions, gameplay etc. was duller than I liked. I'll give number 2 a shot though.

Spec Ops : The Line : Official Launch Trailer [HD] - YouTube
Spec ops: the line
A solid shooter taking place in Dubai after it was swallowed up by the desert in a huge storm. And quite difficult - you do actually die in this, on occasion. There are many games I don't remember having to load a save after being killed, here it happens.
Nothing really new on the shooting part (you do in theory lead a 3 man team, but it's symbolic), but the plot and the atmosphere is something else. Have you read the Heart of Darkness ? Saw Apocalypse Now ? You'll love the atmosphere in this game. It's heavy, dark, there are no rights or wrongs, only wrongs. No good characters, only slightly less evil. The game is very serious, often depressing. I'm only about 3 hours into it and don't know the full scope of the plot yet, but the things I've seen ...