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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Art Book for an Excellent Game, 24 Nov 2004
The majority of you who are reading this mini-review will have played Half-Life 2 and have probably already been bowled over by its sheer quality. The game has made massive strides forward in multiple areas, almost making it a shame that (like every other game accused of being "the best game ever") Half-Life 2 is also probably the greatest graphical achievement in the history of computer and video games. This does nothing to lessen the leaps it makes elsewhere, but it is important that in some way, this achievement is celebrated. Raising the Bar is this celebration, with countless images from throughout HL2's Six-Year development. Concept Art, 3D Renders, Screenshots and brilliant Poster Art fill the book, accompanied by lines of annotation to give some background to the concepts. And what concepts: Half-Life 2 isn't merely a "good looking game" because it is realistically lit, textured and filled with super shiny surfaces (Like so many supposedly "good looking" games). Half-Life 2 is a wonderful artistic achievement because each and every area has been painstakingly researched, sketched and refined since the initial concepts were laid down by the story designers. Raising the Bar shows you all this: 6 years of damned hard work on paper. It's a testament to the quality of the game that the in-game screenshots aren't there to just fill space: They show the completion of a vision, and look as artistic as the primordial ink and pen concepts that spawned them. In addition, there are details of deleted scenes, with interesting short stories written by HL writer Marc Laidlaw and a few bits of general overview to the developing process. Admitadly, the book is a little thin on actual description of this process (It was originally heralded as a "Making of" Book, but it's now more of an Art Book), but you can still get so much out the images that it's all worthwhile. It all comes in a 288 page Hardback book with excellent print quality and production standards, making it an excellent-value collectable. Certainly a must for any true Half-Life fan, but it's more than that: Anyone with an interest in game design or pre-production art in any medium should own a copy. The biggest shame is that, (as a Limited Edition) It won't be available for very long. Order your copy now: you won't regret it.
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