Half-Life 2 is still outstanding in 2010. Half-Life 2 was outstanding upon its release in 2004. Because twelve months ago Half-Life 2 was still amazing, but in that twelve month break some excellent games have been released, and in that twelve month break design philosophy has evolved, maybe not tremendously from when I last played the game, but enough - enough to serve as a detriment.

Such was the only fear I harbored during the load sequence of Half-Life 2 - that the Half-Life 2 I played a mere year back might have suffered in that twelve month window of time. There is always the concern, then, that a game that was outstanding on day one is going to be mediocre a mere two years later and positively terrible five or ten years later. Upon release media remains static, a snapshot of time, a snapshot of that era’s design philosophy. Time goes on consumers evolve as do tastes and theories of design. Like many other media, like films and books, video games are subject to the attrition caused by the temporal forces of our world.

I am not the first to perceive a major risk in revisiting beloved old video games.

Half life 2 episode 1 electric water