The release of Half-Life 2 on the PC last year was truly a monumental moment in gaming, and now those who weren't lucky enough to play it (or don't have powerful enough PCs) can experience it on the Xbox. Unfortunately, because of the hardware limitations of the Xbox, the game isn't such a visual treat anymore, but the solid gameplay is still intact.

When I played through Half-Life 2 last year, it was on an average set-up that was barely above some of the minimum requirements. The Xbox demo on the show floor clearly needed some more work because the visuals were unrefined and felt to me like it was worse than my experience on the PC. Framerates were choppy at times, and there's plenty of aliasing issues, but on the bright side, the lighting effects look great. There's still plenty of time for Valve to work on the graphics and optimize the game for the Xbox.

I played through the Ravenholm level and it was still every bit as terrifying. The atmospheric lighting is a huge part of the level, and I was happy to see it made the transition well. Walking around and shooting zombies and head crabs feels natural with the controller, and the gravity gun and environment interactivity make a return. So the suspense and the core experience are still intact, just that the graphics need some more polishing.

It's unfortunate that Half-Life 2 isn't a Xbox360 game because that console would do this great FPS a lot more justice. But the Xbox port isn't shaping up too badly either. With some more tweaking, it's looking on track for a summer release, perfect for everybody out there who haven't had the chance to play this gem yet.