Half-Life 2
HL2 keeps impressing me just enough to keep me playing. Ravenholm was a pretty hard push: it stretched the limits of my aim and ammo supply, as well as my tolerance for creepy noises and zombie shit leaping at my face. But despite the fucking annoying jumping headcrabs, I found myself slowly pushing forward, curious to see what lay ahead.
Part of the game's challenge is finding your way through an area - and I wish the level design made it clearer what bland corridor I should follow, or if I should run through an area as opposed to methodically scavenging it (enemies respawn in some areas, but not in all of them). The other part of the challenge is in shooting things, and though some things take more shooting than others, it's easy to enjoy the simple pleasures of trigger-happiness.
I could say that Half-Life 2 seems pretty good, as far as first-person shooters go, but that doesn't really mean a whole lot to me. Yeah it can be fun, yeah the challenge can be satisfying - but HL2 is not about to make me a bigger fan of shooters.
Progress: Highway 17