[11/26/04] Half-Life 2

[Gryph]

Dude, the game saves in chapters. You can start a new game at the buggy chapter but I don't think you'll have all the ammo you did before.

[Agozer]

Dude, the game saves in chapters. You can start a new game at the buggy chapter but I don't think you'll have all the ammo you did before.

Yes, that's right i completely forgot all about that. Just start a new game in the desired chapter.

[Skythe]

But my save in Ravenholm is halfway through it. No, I ain't starting a new game. And my autosave only saves twice and that was both at the place where you get the rocket launcher.

[Gryph]

Ah, suit yourself. Luckily the game is good enough to backtrack and play though again like that.

[Skythe]

This time though I know when it's an infinite fight against the zombies and won't waste my ammo.

[Daeval]

Just played my first session of HL2, only about two hours worth on normal. I think I got the machinegun about an autosave or two back, just to give a sense of where I am.

 

So far, it reminds me a lot of the original, strangely enough. The human enemies seem to work together a little bit, but not quite as much as those in Far Cry. I may change my tune when I get to tougher enemies though. The graphics are pretty solid on my aging GeForce 4 Ti, more varied than Doom 3, but not quite as nice looking. Textures are more obviously flat, for example, but maybe it's a problem with bump mapping on my card (I'm playing with High textures), I dunno.

 

 

 

And now for some of the only criticism about this game you are likely to read anywhere! Before I begin, so far it's a lot of fun and I'd recommend it to any shooter fan. However, this game has recieved a lot of hype about "revolution in the FPS genre" and whatnot, and I have yet to see any of the following laid on the table alongside such bold claims. I don't claim to know how to make any of these better, but here's a little of what HL2 doesn't do...

 

HL1 was really good about immersion, something FPS games hadn't really done until then. Many people said HL2 would raise the bar in this respect, but so far it's just kind of brought HL1 up to speed. Scripted sequences are many, they look nice and the voice acting is great, but they're the same "once I'm done talking you can't interact with me anymore" sequences that are common in FPS games nowadays.

 

The facial animation and detail is amazing, the characters and extras look like people you might meet, but there are a limited number of "extra" models of a given type, just as there were in HL1, and I've already seen many of the same person in different places just 2 hours in.

 

The physics are awesome, especially when an explosion sends debris flying everywhere. However, the realistic physics, which should immerse the player like never before, are used in the least believable effect I've seen. What I'm talking about: Gordon (that's you) can pick up just about anything that's smaller than he is, which is cool. But by "pick up" I mean "cause to hover mysteriously about 4 feet in front of you."

 

Even that wouldn't be so bad if you couldn't grab, say, a wooden crate that's a good four foot cubed, jump and run at full speed and swing it around magically in the air without any sense of weight, and knock it agianst things causing either 1) no resistance whatsoever on the crate, or 2) the crate to stop or spin in mid-air while you continue turning or moving, without dropping it. The end result is something that works for showing off the physics, but does very little to make you feel like you're in a real world. (I believe Deus Ex had a system like this, and even in that the object was stuck closer to you and felt more realistic)

 

There are exceptions also - You can "pick up" a four foot wooden crate, but you can't pick up a standard sized trash can. You also can't rotate objects manually, so if an object is sitting on its side, you'll pick it up and set it down on its side. The best way to turn things I've found is to jump at it at odd angles until it falls the way you want it to fall. This makes it a lot harder to stack objects the way you want them, or to carry containers full of other objects. Since the developers seem to like to show off the physics (such as in a puzzle where you have to stack cinder blocks on a see-saw), you would think they would make a more elegant way to interact with the physics system.

 

 

All in all, I've found HL2, so far, to be an excellent shooter, comparable to Doom 3 or Far Cry (those are high marks in my book), but with storytelling that is well above par. Is it revolutionary? Ehhh.. so far I'd say that was an overstatement, but it definately is fun.

[Agozer]

This time though I know when it's an infinite fight against the zombies and won't waste my ammo.

Yeah, same thing happened here. I'll be more educated next time.

[L.S.D]

This time though I know when it's an infinite fight against the zombies and won't waste my ammo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, same thing happened here. I'll be more educated next time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I simply bash them with crowbar

I am never short of ammo. Sometimes, when you are really close to a Combine, they can't shoot at you.

As for the antlions, run!!!!

[Agozer]

This time though I know when it's an infinite fight against the zombies and won't waste my ammo.

Yeah, same thing happened here. I'll be more educated next time.

I simply bash them with crowbar

I am never short of ammo. Sometimes, when you are really close to a Combine, they can't shoot at you.

As for the antlions, run!!!!

I did start bashing them with a crowbar after i realized that they just keep coming and coming. Antlions are "flocking" nasty. Starship Troopers flashback anyone?

Edited December 3, 2004 by Agozer

[emsley]

Good review.

Agozer the ant lions defently reminded em of starship troopers, i had a review of this game to post up, but like so many of my review attempts i only ever get half way down and forget to finish them.

[Agozer]

Good review.

Agozer the ant lions defently reminded em of starship troopers, i had a review of this game to post up, but like so many of my review attempts i only ever get half way down and forget to finish them.

Hahah... this why I rarely write reviews too.