So this is the biggie. The most anticipated sequel ever and the news is finally here. The rumours, guesses and plain old fantasies can now be laid to rest for we have some real solid information about how this game will redefine not just a genre but our concept of gaming in general. Forgive the hyperbole, but after reading the massive preview in the June issue of PC Zone I can honestly say that this appears to be one game that cannot be hyped enough.

Unfortunately I don’t have a team of lawyer’s working for me in the background, so I can’t let you see the nutty looking realism of the completely new graphics engine. There are sites out there with scans, which I recommend you track down rapido, but some of the pics in the Zone are new; the images of the emotional ranges on the faces of characters is stunning, looking damn close to those featured in Nvidia's Dawn demo. The lighting and textures look great, the models sturdy and lifelike and the environments detailed and atmospheric. Granted all this is from about 15 screenshots but they are mighty fine and according to the article itself the graphics are even more stellar when seen in motion.

Not much of the plot is given away in the preview, understandable as has done such a great job keeping the world in the dark over this game’s development. We are told that the second instalment occurs some years after the first game, and will take place out of the Black Mesa compound, mostly being set in the north European setting of City 17. The events in were just a taste of what the aliens had in store for Earth. The hordes of monsters that you slaughtered your way through over those many days of fevered excitement were just the scouting party. This time round it is a proper invasion, Reynolds-style.

Once again the player will reprise the role of that little ginger Gordon Freeman, and some of the NPCs from the last game will rejoin you in the adventure. I shudder to think how useless Barney will be unless he has spent the intervening years tied to a rowing machine, although Valve says that the NPCs will no longer be flummoxed by some crates forcing you to leave them behind. This time round all the character elements in the game will be totally mobile, meaning that baddies can follow you over gaps and up piles of crates, dogging you with their nasty AI till enough lead is pumped into their ugly alien hides. Variety will be well catered for with around 50 enemies to deal with, from old favourites like the head-crabs and zombies, to new baddies; the marines have been replaced by fully suited-up human agents of the alien invasion and the wow factor of the original’s big blue monsters has been replaced by a creature that looks like one of the massive striders from the War of the Worlds, which will be 90 feet tall in the game world. And is called a Strider, natch.