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Review: Half-Life 2
- Title: Half-Life 2
- Developer: Valve
- Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
- Reviewer: Zonk
- Score: 9/10
With all those caveats out of the way, Half-Life 2 is an incredibly impressive experience. In playing the game you step again into the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who originally worked at the Black Mesa facility. The first chapter of the game finds you arriving via train in the dystopian atmosphere of City 17, a ramshackle series of buildings raised from the remains of a now mostly destroyed civilization. A mysterious organization known as the Combine exerts control through police forces and alien troops. Via televised transmissions the citizenry is controlled mentally, spiritually, and even reproductively. From the first moment you enter the game Valve does an excellent job of imposing a sense of despair and barely contained anger rippling within the populace of City 17. What we are not imparted with is a sense of what has happened to Freeman since the events of the previous game. While clues are unearthed during the course of the game as to what has occurred, there are no firm answers to the many questions players are likely to have. With confirmation already in the news that Valve has begun work on Half-Life 3, the impression that you're left with is that this only part of a larger story. The story stands well on its own, but don't expect to come away from the game with all your questions resolved.
The new graphics engine that Valve created for their second game, Source, is an incredible achievement. The level of detail in the game is nothing short of breathtaking. From the reflectivity of water and tile flooring to the incredible facial animations, the game engine places Gordon Freeman directly into the world and makes exploration a joy. One of the best moments of the early game comes in a lobby. You emerge from the depths of the train station and face one last room before the freedom of open air. It is dusty and decrepit, filled with lost souls looking for nourishment rations handed out by inhuman robotic servants. Light pours into the room from windows set high in the external wall, and these amazing shafts of light fill the room. Motes float inside the light beams, lending an almost reverential air to what is essentially a ruin.
The physics of the game are wonderful to behold as well. The tech demo at E3 last year was quite an eye opener, and Valve allows you several opportunities to enjoy the physicality of the Half-Life world. At two points in the game you take control of vehicles. The wildness of the bouncing white knuckle ride you get with the airboat and dune buggy make for memorable gaming moments. The airboat in particular makes for excellent visuals as you speed across the water in a series of canals, ripples and waves speeding away from your craft and beautiful splashes marking where you hit the water after a jump. The gravity gun displayed in the tech demo is indeed as much fun to use as it is to watch. The weapon allows you to snatch objects from distances and launch them as projectiles. While the uses of the gun are usually more practical than some of the opportunities shown in the tech demo (the number of saw blades lying around in Ravenholme is kind of disturbing), there are a number of creative opportunities scattered periodically throughout the game. Beyond the vehicles and the gravity gun, there are constant reminders of the physics underpinning the game, as enemies push objects aside rushing at you and heavy objects swing like deadly pendulums through obstacles and crush opponents.
Once you step outside the door of the train station, your moments to stop and enjoy the beauty of your surroundings are few and far between. Almost immediately you as Gordon are connected up with the Underground Railroad, populated with peoples not willing to submit peacefully to the Combine. You reconnect with old friends from the previous game and after an experiment accident, you find yourself on the run from Combine forces. The instant the crowbar returns to your hands is truly a sweet moment. From there you move through the urban landscape of City 17, hop an airboat to duke it out with Combine troops in flooded waterways, and explore the Lovecraftian ruins of a small town inhabited by alien hunters and a mad priest. The game keeps you engaged with a constantly changing backdrop of locations and a series of pretty memorable characters. I was particularly impressed by the voice actors, all of whom do an excellent job of getting across what their characters are about. Each of the non-player characters has a nice moment to talk to you and make an impression. Dr. Vance's daughter Alyx is actually the one who introduces you to the gravity gun, and the quirky time spent with her may be the funniest, best written part of the game.
The visuals in the game are astounding, but the auditory experience is fairly impressive as well. The musical moments in the game are few and far between, and are used to accentuate tense or impressive moments. The music tends towards electronic stings and they raise your heart rate by a good deal when they're used. The sound effects range from pretty standard clinks and clunks to the viscerally gripping howls of stalking predators. The atmosphere in the town of Ravenholme, where the predators live, is phenomenally creepy all around, and is conjured by the pervasive sound environment. The weapon sound effects are all very competently executed, with the satisfying blast of the revolver being a personal favorite.
Overall, the game is an incredible accomplishment. Valve has done an excellent job living up to the expectations their first title has prompted in the gaming community. The lack of closure in the game's story is the only real flaw in the plot, which otherwise provides excellent motivation to keep moving and find out what will happen next. Gameplay elements stay true to the previous game, providing action and some simple puzzle solving moments. The visuals and physics of the Source engine make for a beautiful and interactive world to move through. The deep audio environment keeps the player rooted in the moment, while the excellent voice acting makes the non-player characters come to life. The collaboration of individuals who created Half-Life 2 has proven again why video games are a unique art form. I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys first person shooters, horror and suspense, or engaging storylines.
Damn. I wasn't planning on buying this game, until reading this review.
I do have a question though. As someone whom has *gasp* never played Half-Life, would I be lost trying to pick it up in it's second incarnation?
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
For all its praise I'm not too happy with steam. The essence of which boiled down to this for me; pay $50 for a game, then download it at 30-50K/s (on a line capable of 200K/s). To add insult to injury, I have to go through Steam every time I try to play the game, which wastes a few seconds 'Preparing' for an unknown reason (I have heard that it actually connects to the server every time I play... which seems rather redundant)
In terms of the game itself, I haven't played Half Life (1), so I really don't understand what is going on, or why. Vague references from the in game charecters hint at what is going on, but I really think I would have needed to play the first game to understand
Valve needs to walk over to Bungie with a presents one day, and beg them for education on how this load/save/death thing should work. Pausing for 3-20seconds in the middle of an action sequence while the game loads the next zone doesn't make any sense and just works to break up the game play. Death also requires a reload of the previous checkpoint. This is all stuff that Bungie figgured out for Halo 2, if only Valve could watch and learn.
The physics is fun, I really enjoy the ocasional puzzle with ropes and weights, It adds a little something, especially when most of them are optional for extra ammo or health. You feel like you've accomplished a little something when it's done. There have been a few places in a game where I was requird to load a previous save in order to continue (dune buggy was under water, and couldn't be moved, I was surrounded by radioactive slime, and couldnt escape, etc) which combines with the annoying loading to break up the game play. It has however given me an opportunity to catch up on some reading.
Overall I would give the game a 3.5/5, Steam is slow, loading is slow, loading while playing is annoying, and I still don't really understand what is going on. The game physics are fun, and the graphics are decent, I just lack the background to understand why it is all as it is.
paul reinheimer
But having played FarCry to death, and revelled in the freedom it allows in terms of strategy and movement, especially in the outdoor levels, I feel something is lacking in HL2.
Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic game, I loved the Prison level and Ravenholme. I just think I was rather spoiled by FarCry.
The ending really sucks. Most of the game is good up to that point, but it was like the makers ran out of time and just threw on the ending at the last minute. It's a horrible letdown.
Finally, I have found an outlet for my urges to smash bottles on people's heads... Technology is grand.
Ok, its a nice game and everything, but... a bit short? Im done, and waiting for HL3, at least expecting HL3. :)
this is not my signature.
I'd like to go go go ahead and go on record as saying that I've not not exper-experienced a single pro-problem with Half Li-Life 2.
It's kinda small, but is worth's the money.
Don't forget the biggest MOD comunity on the world used HL1 engine, and 90% of their code is compatible with HL2.
A must!
I'm interested in the mods.
http://www.twilightwar.com/ is one I am very interested in
There needs to be a MMOFPS with more greed involved. Planetside doesn't cut it since you can't power your character up much. We need long term goals of: forming a good clan
Obtaining vehicles/equipment
Obtaining stats/levels
Creating a fortress
Heavy FPS fighting, and goal oriented tasks would keep your mind off the standard level grind found in current RPGS.
I'm not sure I have the coding power to pull this off though.
God spoke to me.
I love the HL2 ads to the right of the 9/10 HL2 review.
News for nerds my ass.
I mean, you've got this freakin' gun that can telekinetically heft and fling oil drums over great distances, but you've still gotta worry about flashlight batteries?
"Good news, Gordon! We've managed to create a palm-sized supergrenade that rends the fabric of space and time in a ten-foot radius! We've also developed a personal digital assistant that can run for over fifteen minutes on a single charge!"
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Nice Slashvertisement... Given that the users here provide content, are the registered Slashdot members entitled to know how much Slashdot gets paid for placing stories like this one on the front page?
Quid pro quo is loosely translated as 'this for that.' What was stated above were 'caveats,' that is, 'qualifications or warnings.' -1 Offtopic. /dork.
Just think of the increase in ambient noise levels if they didn't do that, delayed it again, and threw on another six months of polish.
I would bet you could hear the screams ten miles from civilisation.
In Soviet russia, only old Koreans profit from pictures of Natalie Portman stored on Beowulf Clusters.
And if it causes the game to take hours to install (if you can actualy connect), slow to launch and pops up adds on your desktop? Steam is a joke, it has done nothing to stop pirates and will do nothing to stop cheaters.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Anyone heard of the status of the Team Fortress Mod, or Team Fortress 2? Team Fortress Classic is one wicked mod for HL 1.
I have to say, I was floored by HL2.
I didn't like the first one very much. I wanted to like it, but it gave me severe nausea, worst ever in a shooter except for Kingpin.
But in halflife2, the engine nausea is gone, and I was very surprised to find that the game pulled me in to an extent I haven't seen since maybe Doom2.
In Halflife2, it's the storyline that does it. Very dark take on a police-state future, reminding me a bit of science fiction stories like "The Sheep Look Up."
And the use of the physics engine is nothing short of phenomenal.
One serious criticism I have of the game is how bloody linear it is. It's almost like a rail shooter at times. Even out in the open, you're limited to a thin strip of land that you can drive on, and there's only one way to go-- tunnels collapse behind you, and the way forward is usually so obvious that it might as well have neon arrows pointing in that direction.
The climb-and-jump puzzles are back, too, and in my view that's not a good thing. Don't like 'em. I'd much rather have open-ended gameplay and maps that allow you to go anywhere and take any of several routes to the finish rather than extremely linear chutes that funnel you toward the finish.
Of course, with more open-ended maps, you'd miss out on all kinds of really interesting storyline, like Father Grigory.
Oh, and like they said, the engine is totally insane-crazy. At times it's almost like you're in a movie. And like the first one, there are numerous ways to skin a cat in many of the tactical puzzles. Once you realize that, the game gets a lot easier.
I don't see a lot of replay value with this one due to the extreme linearity. I understand people replayed the first one again and again, but that doesn't float my boat, personally.
Expect the mods on this one to be awesome, though.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
I wrote a short entry on Steam and why online distribution (or a worse alternative) is inevitable for PC games (console too, eventually). I'd love to hear some commentary on it from fellow /.ers.
:) No clue why it doesn't intelligently swarm yet...
Also, I've heard many complaints about Steam's bandwidth and whatnot. The solution is simple, and Valve went so far as to hire Bram Cohen, of BitTorrent fame, at one point to work on Steam. (Note the timestamp on this article before complaining I'm outta date
Don
my smug mug is on smugmug
It must also be said that valve did an excellent job on making the game accessable to lower end machines. It runs fine on my 2.7 GHz, 512 Meg laptop with no graphics card to speak of.
:)
Not great, but "fine"...
Unfortunately, I am not Wil Wheaton
ok, so after the incredibly disappointing ending in Halo2, I have to ask... does half-life2 do the same thing? I got that impression from the review, but am I going to be as pissed at Valve as I was with Bungie for the studden credits half way through the story!?
Grease & Counterbalance
It's a railway FPS with scripts acting out a scene before your eyes every so often. Most often, the finale of the scene involves you killing the actors.
It's nice, but like many other games which add something new to the mix (in this case the physics), too much time is spent trying to showcase the tech. "Really? You mean that if I add weight to that side, the other side will raise? Amazing! Can we do it again?"
I give it 3.5 out of 5. Good, but not very filling.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
No wonder it took so long to develop. It must have sucked having to start from scratch when that code got stolen. I wonder how the burglars got it out of the building. Did they put it in a briefcase and just walk out the door with it?
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Talk about a good place to finally shout, rant and scream. I was not planning on buying the game, but that changed when I saw a couple screenshots in a review a couple days before release. *edit*(Yes I know the code was stolen and authentication was needed) Two quick points- 1. Valve/Steam authentication Sucked! The servers were completely bogged down and I had problems for more then 26 hours after purchasing the game online. Why didn't I just buy the game at the store? Well, I would of had to authenticate through Steam/Valve anyway, so I though I was cutting out the middle Man. Turns out the man didn't care to much about it's customers. Read through the forums on their website and you will see that there were problems galore. Halo2 didn't run into server problems on their big release. Why? Because they anticipated the number of servers that would of been required based on presales numbers. Microsoft did something correct for once.... Point #2 The game has some great graphics! Facial animations are done to perfection. The storyline is half decent.. Outside of that, there is not much more to the game. I beat it in a couple days of playing off and on when bored or between football games. The only thing I have to look forward to is the spam I have been spraying on Valve/Steam's boards.... Mods will be the only thing that make this engine truely great! Final Conclusion: Save your money until Mods are released. The game is great, but there will be better on the horizon.
I know some of you will argue that Doom 3 is more visually appealing but doom 3 still had a lot of work needed on the muliplayer aspect. Whereas half-life 2 focused on the multiplayer. This fact alone makes it a more appealing to developers
Your fantastic review makes me want to buy it!.
Now go fuck yourself.
Love,
OS X users
Big Deal. Another 1st person shooter. They've been around since Castle Wolfenstein 3D. Prettier graphics, better detail, better physics, but in the end, nothing truly innovative. Instead, I've been blown away by the story, acting, music, detail, depth, and freedom in GTA San Andreas. This is a TRULY unique series which I think blows away everything on the market. Sure, you need more than a rudimentary reptilian brain that reacts to flashes of light on the screen, but that's what makes it so awesome. I just don't understand the fascination with 1st person shooter #2156. On top of that, I'd have to buy a brand new $1000 computer to play it on. Uh, no.
I don't respond to AC's.
1. Start by putting on blinders. Peripheral vision does not exist.
.... so am I the only one that thinks the FPS genre feels like so much new paint? Now that I've become a recent console convert, I must say that third person, paradoxically enough, feels more immersive.
2. Learn to walk, jog, and run in a perfectly fluid fashion. Never skid or stumble. Your locomotion should should approximate driving a boat on calm waters more than anything else. This balance is impeccable, regardless of nearby explosions, physical blows or bodily condition.
3. Climb, vault, and crawl at designated points only.
4. Assume all physical hazards have the impact of nerf bats to at most a strong punch. Revel in the fact that you can absorb blow after blow with only slight visual distortion when the immediate hit is made. (counterstrike players ignore this rule)
5. Most important: Strap your right hand to the trigger of a large gun. This shall be your primary interaction with everything. Never allow it to leave your field of vision unless swapped with another weapon.
What part of Halo 2 sucked? The ending was a little weak (cliffhanger), but if you followed the story it did give a small amount of satisfaction. It was like the ending to Empire Strikes Back. The rest of the game is top-notch, and the multi-player component is the best I've seen. Half-Life 2 had to go and re-hash Counter-Strike (again!) to get a decent (not that I would call CS "decent", but apparently some people like it) multiplayer game in the box, and they didn't do anything new in the game besides updating the graphics.
It'd be nice if Valve would release a demo of HL2, so I could gauge how well it will work on my aging GeForce 3. At least with Halo 2, I know that it will work so long as I have an XBox. No need to drop another $200-500 to upgrade a video card so I can play the game decently.
What was good:
Graphics, physics were awesome.
Single player is also totally awesome.
Everything looks great and feels really fluid.
Bad:
Where's the rest of the SDK?!!
NO DEATHMATCH?!?!
The ending... sorry, I just thought the last 2 chapters were REALLY boring. The ending reminds me of the ending of the 2nd Matrix movie.
this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
I am loving Half Life 2 and I think the game really rocks.. Though, I'm annoyed with two things..
You cannot skip a part of the game or 'take shortcuts' if you find a faster way to do something like in normal FPs's.. As an example, I used the airboat to jump through a dock area without blowing up some strategic exploding barrels to form an entry. But, when I tried to complete the next jump, I hit an invisible wall in midair... until I completed the first part and the 'wall' dissappeared. It's happened elsewhere in the game.
Also, the characters have no interaction. Freeman never talks and the other characters are invincible. So, I usually pelt them with barrels and other debris using the gravity gun while they're talking to me. It gets pretty funny sometimes when you smack a guy in the head with an exploding barrel from across the room and he just keeps talking..
--- We need more Ron Paul!
The game still looks good in lower-detail modes.
The last game I played through was Tribes: Vengeance, which runs off the UT2K4 engine. Doesn't run well at all on my decrepit GeForce 3 until quite a few things are turned off, at which point, only the number of polygons is impressive: the textures are muddy, the light soures don't glow, etc, etc.
Half-Life 2 ran beautifully on the same hardware at the same resolution with only a couple of settings turned down (textures at Medium, water reflections on simple). There were times when I needed to turn things down a bit more (shaders caused me problems at various points), but it still looked fantastic.
Canthros
The sequel, Half-Life 2, has been in the works for almost six years and is one of the most hyped and anticipated games of 2004.
And 2003 as well, but thats a whole other story...
I was quite upset to discover that the game has no Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 console anywhere in any of the levels. Big disappointment.
The least you could do is use some anisotropic filtering for the screenshots.
(no, I am not saying that Valve was wrong to try and bypass; I am simply saying that they wanted to put a pretty face on it!)
Too Late! PA is dead!
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Don't pick up the pho*(@)$*@&@!@ NO CARRIER
Could anyone whose played both Doom3 and HL2 care to offer any comparisons between the two, on an engine level. (Try to ignore story, if possible.)
I've only played D3, and the items listed as breakthroughs in HL2 seem to already exist in Doom3. So is it just hype, or is there a real difference?
About the only thing I've heard thus far is that HL2's engine seems to be more forgiving for older hardware. Any truth to that?
when is the server coming out for HL2???
See VE3D and here.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
20 hours of game play. From what I have been hearing most people have just skipped the single player game, and are just going right into the multi player games.
TruePunk | Games
I match the minimum. Anyone play with something similar? What's it like?
1.3Ghz Athlon
256mb RAM (Win98 not XP... I understand XP needs double the RAM for games or something)
Radeon 9700 (non-pro)
I plan to play it on my TV which is only 640x480 resolution.
So... ?
I appreciate your individual effort, and I'm (I hope) probably not the only person who would find these answers helpful - even if they're all similar.
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
I do not think it means what you think it means.
My Photography - http://ian-x.com
The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
.... gravity gun + sawblades + row of zombies == MAD FUN.
Seriously... I bought the CD, and had my issues with Steam the first day. Most people will bitch and moan about steam for months. I don't mind it so much, and the HL2 experience more than overshadows any steam issues.
Keep in mind... the people bitching about steam right now are the people who will bitch about it forever. The whole 'having to be online to play a single player game' isn't an issue for me, cause I got roadrunner on all the time, anyway...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Is it like the original half-life? only it's half-life 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas...And, the ninjas are all on fire, too?
"hey, could you pass me a paper towel? er.. I mean... DEPLOY ABSORBTION PANEL!"
Pardon if I disagree. The opening sequence to Half Life was indeed impressive. And then you were presented with a pretty jumping puzzle, reminding you that no matter the story, games are about gameplay.
OK so I just completed the game.....so what am I supposed to do for the next 6 years?
"With all those quid pro quos out of the way..."
If you don't know Latin, it's probably best not to carpe diem your words like that.
At least Valve didn't hire Real to handle netw*BUFFERING*
I stopped reading this review and said to myself, "hmm, oh, wait, no, I didn't read this before". Why? Because I read a Boston Globe review that sounds just like this one. And why were they released on the same day?
Call me paranoid, but "reviewers" have been well known to post little more than regurgitated sample-reviews by companies for years, and this smacks of the same. If anyone else notices rather similar reviews in their regional paper, feel free to post a reply.
Please help metamoderate.
I finished the game on hard on Friday, here is my take.
Pros:
- Graphics and facial animations. Wow. I do mean WOW. (I would have liked more interactions with the characters in terms of plot and what the hell is going on... These moments were great.)
- Level design - the belivability of the world is unmatched. City 17 looks and feels like a real place.
- New weapons, the gravity gun.
- (Other "new" weapon near endgame, I won't mention the details of it here so as not to be a spoiler, but those of you have used it know!) That part was too fun for words.
Cons:
- The AI did not seem as good as in HL 1, rather, it does not seem to have the same level of self preservation.
- You should be able to give your team the order "STAY HERE AND DON'T FUCKING MOVE!"
- The levels while awesome, keep you confined to a narrow tunnel. There is no exploring a-la Far Cry. I would have liked to have seen this on the buggy level.
- Lack of plot. The plot is very thin, and comes in bits. I really wanted to know what was going on, and while you can piece together an idea from the clues Valve gives you, much is left unsaid and really needs the gaps filled in.
- The game is too damn short. It is about 1/3 as long as the first one.
My review:
9/10
A must play game.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
This is taken from my blog, but I felt it was thorough/pertinent enough to post here.
So I finished Half Life 2. Ironically, I never actually completed the original, but I've been excited just like any other gamer over these past few months about what the six-year-development cycle has done for the game in question.
How has this gestation period treated the game? Very well. It seems that two things are apparent to me as I made my way through the connected, fluid universe of Half Life 2:
One: Valve are masters of atmosphere. While Doom 3 had its moments, it was mainly atmosphere in the form of no atmosphere. The lack of a true outdoor environment (albeit a small one with high rock ledges around and a fast-moving sky) prevented it from truly sinking in the idea that this is a living breathing world and more of a series of spooky outposts.
Half Life 2, on the other hand, truly delivered in the atmosphere environment. Everything is as it shouldn't be, which is to say totalitarian and controlled, from the first moment of the game you are subjected to the mindless droning of the Omnipresent Master along with the suddle and barking tones of the Military Component. It's enough to make you creeped out. And in a good way. Not in a Monster Closet (my code name for Doom 3) way.
Two: The female character of Alex was masterfully done. Never have I truly cared for, nor even felt better just being in the presence of, such a character before. She brought a calming effect that is truly unmatched by any other thing in the game.
I believe I have noticed something of First Person Shooters here recently, something that I was speaking with my friend Jon about. I call it the Waking Nightmare syndrome. There is a level of stress that the latest FPS's put on you by taking as much control and normalcy away from you. Whether this be Monster Closets (regarding both the mechanic of "boo scares" with doors and the game Doom 3 itself), or spooky towns filled with baddies or buggy rides through the open (and dangerous) road, these games want you on edge.
And frankly, this type of gaming is scary and nerve-wracking. It makes me not want to play.
Yet, it does want me to play. But the difference is in the amount of which I can take at any given time. With Doom 3, I honestly just stopped playing it. There reached a point where I realized that the game had determented into Monster Closets, where you would either pass a locker and it would shoot out a monster, or one would simply crawl out after you passed to sneak up on you soon after. Either way, it got to be distracting, formulaic, and yes, even a bit scary. But not creepy scary, like those really good Japanese horror movies. In fact, it never reached horror. It reached scary, and that's nowhere near horror.
Now Half Life 2, on the other hand, reached something very close to horror, but never quite got there. It presented a world out of control, yet the way that world came to be was never explained, even in the very beautiful and psycho-centric last levels. Now that would be true horror, the ability to build this world then show the awful unmaking of the world you were used to.
I would also like to note that the finale was grand, but the ending was awful. Fine, Valve, you didn't want to "end" it by any Movie Sense. But we basically just played through one, albeit in a first person point of view, yet you gave us a Kubrick-like (or Twilight Zone) one and expected us to enjoy it. Amused, yes. Enjoyed, no.
Regardless, it is highly recommended. The game, when it works, even in Waking Nightmare style, is beautiful stuff. There are plenty of levels, locations, and characters that make the trip worth it. I believe the bonds between the characters of Barney, Alex, and the rest were established well, but I do hope that next time they spend more time working on those bonds (or perhaps putting the co-stars in real danger, you know the kind that kills people) and actually -gasp- mak
I played the first halflife for a few weeks. Then I played Team Fortress for several months. Then I played Counter Strike for much longer than that.
I got nausea in the first part too, and that was actually the only game I remember I had this.
I haven't tried hl2 yet, so I can't say if I still have it there.
Unreal Tournament is way better, in my opinion.
I'd love to be able to play this game. I paid £35 for it. Installed all 3.5GB, connected and verified with Steam etc. I get to watch the Valve splashscreen, a fuzzy picture with the word Loading, but as soon as the main menu appears I get a BSOD "Page fault in Nonpaged Area" from nv4_disp.dll
I have a fresh install of XP Pro + SP2, and all the latest drivers etc.
AMD Athlon 1.33Ghz
512MB PC133 SDRAM
Abit KT7A Rev 1.1
PNY GeforceFX 5600 256MB
SB Live
I know its not the fastest machine around but it ought to be enough to at least see something.
I'm a bit fed up now, all the hastle to get it installed, authenticated, updated, decrypted and validated and it won't work at all.
"Taligent is still pure vapor. Maybe they'll be the last who jumps up on Openstep... "
Warning, spoilers:
http://img11.exs.cx/img11/3865/im-a-winner.gif
Half-Life 2 is easily one of the greatest games ever made, no contest. From the plot to the graphics to the physics to the animation and voice acting, Valve left narry a stone unturned. I'm constantly amazed by the level of detail, the little puzzles with solutions that you would never think possible in a video game.
It is quite possibly the most revolutionary FPS since Wolf 3D. This game makes Doom 3 seem outdated already. I can't remember the last time when *everybody* was talking about one game, and were flat out amazed at what they experienced. All hype which led up to the game was well deserved, and I actually feel that the game was underhyped.
Agree or disagree, but this is one rare game in which nobody in their right mind can say it sucks. You can't say that about many games.
Yes, Half Life 1 was updated with an integration of the Source engine. However, the geometry was not updated. You'll get the same old blocky Gordon man-hands as in the first iteration of the game. Because of this half-complete update, the HAVOK physics engine fails to chagen the game whatoever. It has almost no affect on the environemnt. For example, a barrel in Half Life 1 might be a static object in game, essentially fixed to the ground. The engine does not change any class definitions, obviously, so the game could seem a bit imbalanced to the player. It's like playing Tenebrae Quake. The graphics simply don't fit the game. They are superfluous and actually serve to break the suspension of disbelief (note that Tenebrae is working on that).
The Source Engine Half Life 1 update was done as a test of mod compliancy by Valve. It was just a convenient result that it proved releasable with a minimal investment by Valve. . . an extremely lucrative midnight project.
let the slashdot cry baby steam bashing begin!!!
It's been in development for years and years, and they've managed to port diffrent mods to the Source engine, but didn't include death match? Some of the best parts of Half-Life 1 was playing the snarks-DM level, on top of which simple DM introduces you to multiplayer at its most basic level. Shoot, ammo, strafe.
Half-Life as a multiplayer game is a disaster, with steam and Counter-Strike which I can still play (with the same maps!) on my 4 year old disk.
I don't care if it's the bee's knees in single player, I haven't seen a single person who says it matches Max Payne 2 or Beyond Good and Evil. It's a shooter, the whole point is to deliver multiplayer, and they couldn't be bothered to package 5 or 6 DM maps. With that kind of service, there is no way it deserves the scores it's getting.
I caved in and decided to buy the game based on all the great reviews, I am also very interested in the engine and seeing what can be done with HL2 mods.
Overall it is visually amazing, but the gameplay IMHO is quite weak, it's completely linear and very repetitive.
It is disapointing mostly considering how well the game starts, the ambience when you arrive in City 17 is just right on, but then the linearity just reminds you you're just in a video game after all...just kills it for me. I mean they have this amazing facial expression system, and the ai is pretty good in the scenes (just look at the girl and she'll turn away almost like she's blushing) but they do very little with it in the end. It's just used for a few cut scenes.
The puzzles you have to solve are pretty inventive but always easy to figure out, it's not a game you can get stuck in a situation with no way out.
The whole cut in the middle of action (complained about by a lot of others) is pretty weird if not annoying. But they could probably have solved by making smaller levels, I mean some of these levels are just so repetitive anyway...
As far as steam (Valve's software distribution system) goes, I think it's great, I bought the game online and downloaded it, and it's obvious that's the future of how games will be sold. It has a few kinks but they are really minor, at least in my experience.
I haven't had time yet to play much with Hammer the HL2 mod editor, but it seems at first blush to be quite poorly documented compared to the UT2004 editor, but maybe I just haven't spent enough time on it yet. The UT2004 editor (on the DVD edition) comes with several hours of video tutorials for example. There is a custom version of Softimage's XSI 3d design software available for free for HL2 mod, definitely a plus...
Overall I'd give the game:
Visuals/audio: 9/10
Gameplay: 3/10
If you love FPS's you can't go wrong, but if you're looking for something more engaging you'll be disapointed.
IMO Blue Shift was way too short, too short for full retail price, but YMMV and I give them credit for not having a bizarre boss battle at the end where you basically had to find the trick to the boss and follow the same pattern over and over to win. Additionally, you might consider getting Blue Shift if you can find it at a low price, simply because it added a high-definition graphics pack.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
1 - The author has no idea what "quid pro quo" means. /nitpick
2 - Pictures in a slashdot story? is this a first? I don't think I've seen this before. Or is this just another ad disguised as a slashdot story?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Every now and then, unfortunately not very often, my cynical nature is let down when something long awaited leads not to major disappointment, but to actual satisfaction. Is the game perfect? Nope. But it's a damn fine piece of work.
The environments are pretty and crisp, and, in contrast to Doom3, generally well lit. That's actually an interesting point. The game manages to convey a sense of suspense and terror without resorting to the total darkness that consumed much of Doom3. This is done effectively enough that it makes the darkness of Doom3 seem to like a cheap ploy, like the Doom3 level designers couldn't do suspense without total darkness.
The Airboat scene is a great example of what's done very very well in the game: excellent gameplay fun, and excellent eye candy. It's intense, it gradually gets more and more challenging.
One thing that I didn't like was how the non-character NPC's are handled, specifically the members of your "squad" in the final levels. In several places I had a great shot at the bad guys, but was denied an actual shot because of an NPC in the way. On the other hand, unlike similar situations in Halo (for example), the NPC's don't cause damage if they shoot you in the back. It's balanced, I just don't like it, and I don't have any suggestions to make it better.
The ending was something of a downer for it's lack of resolution. But that's fine, it makes me look forward to (1) playing through again, (2) looking forward to the inevitable expansion packs, and (3) Half-Life 3. Saying the game is terrible because it lacked resolution at the end is done by those who would have complained between installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's not a complete series, it's part of a longer story.
There are a few interesting side-stories that could be done as expansion packs later. Bear in mind that the two original Half-Life expansions, Opposing Force and Blue Shift, occurred concurrently with Gordon's original escapades through Black Mesa. There are a lot of other events going on while Gordon's doing his thing, so it'll be fascinating to see how the expansions go.
From the screen shots, the people don't look much better than they did in the original halflife. I'm sure i'll get flamed to hell for this, but what does this game offer that's actually original. And don't give me no new weapons/ driving tanks/ even more massively multiplayer. I want real improvements over the original.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Watch out for the G-Man for he is watching your ass!
The Half-Life 2 fan boards are busy as hell with people discussing, postulating and generally trying to piece together the overall story of HL1 and HL2. I'm playing the game through a second time right now, paying really close attention to everything that's said, newspapers pasted to the walls, graffiti, ... picking up on so much extra story detail. Just incredible!
:)
: //www.halflife2.net/forums
It's not quite as in-your-face as the Doom 3 approach
Of course, there's spoilers for both games in the discussions, so I'd recommend you don't go read them until you've finished the games (if you care about spoiling). A couple of sites with good discussions (in the spoilers and rumours/speculation sections):
http://www.hlfallout.net/forums/index.php
http
Stellar game, wonderfully executed, and almost perfect in playability. You can tell that they cared and spent a lot of time on this game, cause it shows.
.5 because of Steam. While it's a pretty good system overall (msging other people within the game using Friends is pretty cool, as is following them from server to server with the same client), it obviously had its growing pains on opening day. However, as far as I can tell, the flood of people from then is gone now, as Steam's bandwidth usage is well under its maximum capacity now (http://www.steampowered.com/status/status.html), so trying the game now should pose no problem for anybody.
I docked my personal rating by
My big problem is that the retail version has a CD check everytime you try to start it up. This is incredibly stupid, because not only has my CD key already been verified, people who bought it off of Steam don't have to go through this unnecessary step.
and a pretty face on the fact they can turn it off when there ready for you to buy the next game.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The run-ins with the bad guys are all repeatly the same thing over and over again.
But there is a few gems like bugbait (the video) that I haven't progressed to yet.
Call for mercy to any fellow slashdotters listening, I'm kinda stuck on Water Hazard episode.
The puzzles are cool, especially how they give no real hint, but you get a little inspiration like the teeter totter one, add the cement bricks on one end of the board over a barrel to get a boost....
Out of curosity, how much longer do I have before I get to the cool stuff (Gravity gun, etc?).
Steve
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
Geforce 3? If you're looking for an economy solution, go drop $100 on a 9600XT. You'll thank me later.
Okay, I haven't played yet and probably won't in a month or longer, but I watch and follow the news. Now everyone's full of praises but there must be some downsides? Are there?
I heard "vague ending" and "too easy gameplay" are two basic ones, but what besides that?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
A mysterious organization known as the Combine exerts control...
Sounds almost like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Cons:
-Storyline is missing for the most part (most of it you have to guess, or get from forums)
-Stuttering
-Long load times (good for stretching and blinking exercises)
-Nothing is explained at the end (reminiscent of Matrix 2, so they'd better not pull a Matrix 3 fiasco)
Pros:
-Shooting zombies with a can of paint actually paints them white (tee-hee)
-Awesome graphics and sounds
-Very involving environment
-Physics rock (are you reading Carmack?)
-Awesome weapons (especially at the end)
-Echoes of a deep story are present.
Overall, I'd give it 9/10. If they had fleshed out the story more I could overlook the load and stuttering issues and give it 10/10.
My wishlist is to use the Adrian character from Op. Force and do an expansion on how the Combine overtook the Earth...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
I did have no real issue with the basic concept of Steam. Unlike its first incarnation, it seems relatively stable and usable now. Unfortunately, while I understand their wish to curb piracy, the whole lag and additional time on retail install was quite bad. I didn't experience too much of a delay on HL2 itself, though the unlocking process was a bit slow - but CS:Source wouldn't authorize for me. It took me something like 20+ tries here and there over a few days before it finally authorized properly and allowed me to play the game. As well, I'm a little pissed still that I have to have the CD in to play while the steam customers do not. That bothers me more than it connecting to steam every time you play.
Anyway, the game itself has been relatively fun if a bit repetative in spots. Just wondering though, are there any good (non-book) strategy guides anywhere yet? I haven't been able to find any yet, and I'm stuck in a firefight...
(\(\
(^v^)
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This is the cute vorpal bunny virus, copy to your sig or runaway, runaway in fear!
...does it run on Linux?
Seriously, has anyone tried this with TransGaming's Cedega? I know it is supported by them, but are there any issues I should know before forking out for a) HL2 and b) cedaga?
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Half Life may have brought the adventure FPS to the masses, but System Shock perfected the formula years before. Calling Half Life innovative is a major overstatement given what Looking Glass Studios managed to accomplish ~5 years earlier.
I haven't yet played HL2, although my experience with its predecessor makes it a pretty sure buy for me (once I have a PC capable of running it. Ahem.) But since you're complaining that you feel a bit lost about the storyline, I thought I'd fill you in on what happened in the first installment of the series. (Note: this is a very brief walkthrough and based on my dim recollections of playing the game years ago.)
;)
NOTE: It ain't karma whoring if you write the whole thing up yourself.
***SPOILERS BEGIN***
You are Gordon Freeman, at your first day on the job at the Black Mesa Research Center as a recent Doctoral graduate in physics (specifically, of the theoretical variety). As part of your first assignment, you are escorted to a lab deep underground, given a high-tech "hazard suit", and instructed to participate in an experiment.
As is always the case in such stories, the experiment goes horribly awry, tearing a hole in between dimensions and letting through all manner of bizarre monsters. At first, your only objective is escape to the surface. Upon reaching it, you discover that the military has been dispatched not to assist in your rescue as you'd hoped, but to "sterilize" the site and eliminate anything there they can find, including you. Along the way, you keep catching glimpses of a mysterious man in a suit carrying a briefcase, always beyond your reach.
With help from a few scientists and security officers you meet along the way, you discover that if anyone is capable of sealing the breach between dimensions, it would be the scientists at the nearby Lambda Complex. Once reaching it and making contact with them, they explain that the breach is being held open by a force on the other side, in a dimension called Xen, and that the only hope of closing it is to cross over into that dimension and destroy it.
(Side note: most people I know agree that the "Xen" part of HL1 was the weakest part of the game. Seriously, people - jumping puzzles? We hate that stuff.)
Anyhoo: cross over to Xen, find the big bad, kill it. The Man in the Suit finally reappears, congratulating you on your feat, claiming that you have "unlimited potential." (It becomes obvious during the course of his shpeel that he is more than just a random government crony - he seems capable of teleporting you around virtually at will.) He then makes the classic "offer you can't refuse": accept a job working for his organization, or "a fight you have no hope of winning." After you accept - I mean, you accept, don't you? - he congratulates you on your choice, and the closing credits roll.
*** SPOILERS END ***/B
Why ? If people are having problems with it, why shouldn't they bitch and moan ? Maybe, just maybe, Valve might do something about those problems if it hears enough bitching.
How do warez versions of HL1 negatively affect your multiplayer experience ?
As for camping, it is a devastatingly effective tactic, and if you are incapable of coming up with a countertactic, then it is your brain that is insufficient, not your opponents.
So how does Madonna treat Mr. Cheney ?
I was under the impression that Steam is an online game distribution system. What does that have to do with cheating, camping or warezing ?
It is unlikely that it will. Simply because you download a binary from the Internet, instead of copying it from CD-ROM, doesn't make it any harder to hack.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
So does this sequel have the stupid long-jump device that turned the last few levels of the original HL into a stupid Super Mario FPS?
I totally loved the first halflife. Seriously I bought it twice 'cause my first disk got f'd up. And I'm totally looking forward to getting some HL2 action.
But I don't know if I can. I need to hear that eventually this steam business is going to be dropped. Maybe other people are fine with the concept that you won't be able to play the game you bought in a few years, but I'm afraid that's just not OK with me. Eventually Steam will either become financially insolvent (cause everyone thinks their service sucks eggs), or they won't give enough of a crap about halflife to keep serving it. Either way, one day you won't be able to install a new version of that game you bought and then play it.
That's just not acceptable. Now it doesn't have to be today. It can be in a year or two. But a NO-CD patch needs to be made available. UT did this eventually. When sales drops off, take steam out of the equation. Take EVERONE out of the equation except for ME and the CDs I BOUGHT.
I wanna make it clear that I don't mind downloading a game to buy it (as long as I can burn the dl to a disk for later re-install). I think that's a good response to pushy industry practices. But you can take your online authentication and shove it up your ass. I've already had software that depends on that crap stop working b/c nobody cares about authenticating my old ass software anymore. WELL I CARE, DAMNIT!
VALVE - announce that there will (eventually) be a no-auth patch for your software so that I can buy it instead of just keeping my eyes peeled for the pirate version. Seriously. I want to support you, but I am only willing to buy things that will actually come into my posession after purchase.
Not into shooters so much anymore, and H-L2 feels like it arrived 3 years too late....
"Hi, I've never played the game, but since I hate the genre I'm going to review it anyway and give it a zero."
If you don't have anything valid to say about the game itself, then why waste the time posting?
-1, Troll, Flamebait, Off-topic
I love product activation, standalone games the "phone home" for no reason, the loss of the right of first sale, and other such things.
I love paying extra for a game that I may or may not be able to play 5 years from now, too.
Valve can shove Steam, and every other publisher can shove their fever-brained new schemes to fuck the customer ever harder.
The market is full of AAA titles right now. Half Life 2 rightfully deserves to be buried in them.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
This is something the game industry doesn't like. They don't sell millions of copies and if you see some torrents at 5000 downloads and multiple users you can understand the game industry wants to change this.
it is not even that they worry about the people who download the game. What worries them is that current paying customers might get upset that others get it for free and see themselves justified to do the same.
Half-Life success is partly due because it worked with an authenticated key. No key, no multiplayer for you. Even with Half-Life long since available at bargain prices you still find people begging for half-life keys so they can play counterstrike online.
Having the multiplayer part only available to legal games is a huge bonus. MMO games were being designed by everyone. Why? Because they are so easy to protect. No way to pirate them.
Steam is an attempt to add online authentication to an offline game. Frankly I think it is the future. As long as only legal games can play they elimated piracy. At least it means that everyone who did pay knows that nobody else played the game without paying. At best it gets all those who would have pirated the game to pay for their copy.
Sure it is a hassle but do you got another solution?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I downloaded and installed steam about 2 months before the game was released (a bit late in the game, since steam has been out for a while).
During these 2 months HL2 preloaded, and I purchased the game over it about 8 hours before it was released.
At 12:04 I checked the steam server which authenticated my copy and started decrypting it.
At 12:16 I was playing it.
I think they did a good job, and would like to see more media getting distributed this way. (Games, DVDs, ((I already buy my music via iTunes...))
Let the Internet be the distributer...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
I give it 0/10. Why does Steam require more disk space than Windows XP Professional? With Steam as a requirement this game deserves no more than 5/10.
This is not insightful.
When will we get a Trespasser mod for HL2? The physics engine was mind-blowing when it came out. The graphics and AI were outstanding. Unfortunately the controls sucked.
Maybe it could be reimplemented as a HL2 mod? The physics and AI groundwork is there.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Seriously, if you like the game go and buy it. Game developers deserve your contribution.
I only post this link for the poor souls like me who prefer to take in the whole game first before buying it.
The problem with demos is that it cuts you short. I hate playing a demo, really get into it, and then have to go out and buy the game to play same levels again before I can continue. I'd rather play the illegal version and then buy it. If demos supported migrating a saved game to the full version, I would post a demo link.
Here it is.
And here is the about:torrent.
I keep reading about this $40 million dollar figure being bandied out. How on earth did this game cost so much?
At six years thats over $6 million per year! How do you spend so much? I don't think Blizzard has spent so much on World of Warcraft, and that game is 100x more complex (albeit not as pretty).
So is the number just made up or is there really any truth behind it? Just curious.
Of course, I don't understand either how the new Tom Hanks animated movie (Polar Express) cost $170 million either. What the heck is going on that costs so much to make these computer driven movies/games?
Pros
+ Excellent Water and glass shaders. Very realistic (very impressive)
+ Excellent physics engine. Gives a good sence on realism.
+ Excellent player models/skins
+ Well done voice acting
Cons
- Level Design, Very linear. Flat surfaces are everywhere. Terrain, street, and rubble's flat surfaces look very unatural.
- Story. So many unawnsered questions. Besides the fact that G-Man sends you in, details about what has happened, how the whole situation came to exist, why the aliens that i killed in the HL1 are now helping me in HL2 etc etc are no where to be found.
- Worst ending ever. (ill leave it at that due to spoilers)
- Vehicle implimentation is poor. See ut2004 for good vehicle control
- Repeditive enemies
I've completed both hl1 and hl2 and feel very unsatisfied with the 2nd edition. The story of hl1 was its strongest point, i find it to be the weakest in halflife 2. To keep a player interested in a sequal you need to appeal and develop the characters and story from the first. The combine race didnt even exist in the first halflife. No background information is given on them. The aliens that help you were the same ones you killed in the first. I've finished the game and still dont know the story behind that. So many gaping holes in the story for returning players. I exspected some awnsers... not just more questions.
As a standalone game I would suspect that the story is a little more engaging. Accepting the world as it is is easyer when you are thrust into it. Knowning the backstory leaves out what seems to be a good 10 years of information.
Does anyone know what the system requirements are? Listed? Actual? What type of systems have people successfully run the game on?
Thanks. That's the first interesting thing I've heard during the past week. I can tolerate software activation in the case of a title as strong as HL2, but anything that regularly phones home (or even tries to) is a dealbreaker for me and others.
What Valve really needed to do to defuse some of this antipathy was write a "Steam FAQ for People Who Hate Steam" (aka "for people who hate spyware" - because "online content distribution system" are pretty much synonymous with spyware these days).
As long as I'm dreaming in technicolor, the "Steam FAQ For People Who Hate Steam" should outline exactly what Steam does and doesn't do, how it's architected, the relationship between the Steam .exe, the game .DLL/.GCF, and the rest of your drive, and define in CompSci terms, what "online mode", "offline mode", "remember", "backup", "encrypt", "unlock", and "purchase" mean, and how they differ from each other.
No marketing person ("Steam means you never have to remember where you put the CD! And you can use it to preload 6 gigabytes of encrypted/locked Valve stuff onto your friend's computer if you want to play at his house! Just don't be anywhere near him when he finds out you've busted his bandwidth cap! Buy anything we have to sell with a single mouse click, because your credit card's registered with us! And we'll pop up new and exciting information about new and exciting CONTENT through the Steam Netwurk!") should be allowed anywhere near the technical people writing the FAQ.
I havn't finished the game yet, but a lot of people have said that the ending lacked "resolution." I think the GameSpot review put it best when they said it feels like HL2 is the middle of a larger story ... not unlike The Two Towers or Matrix: Reloaded. I have a feeling that HL3 will surpass even HL2, and I'm already looking forward to it...
Who doesn't like free music?
I'd be cautious about listening to that opinion. After all, check the username... it was written by strider5, clearly a failed attempt by the combine to promote their computer-controlling Steam software. A strider! Strriiderrrr! :)
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Is dyslexia one of them?
Since a lot of people seem to be commenting that you have to be online and connected to Steam to start even the single player Half-Life 2, I thought I'd test this. I don't lose internet connection often, but these things do happen once in a great while, and I'd hate not to be able to play when a backhoe in Ohio cuts through a major trunk.
So here's what I did:
1) In the Steam games list, I right-clicked on "Half-Life 2", opened up the options menu and clicked "Add a link to this game to your desktop".
2) I restarted my computer; I have Steam set to automatically start with Windows, but when it started I immediately right-clicked on the taskbar icon and chose "Exit" from the small list that appears.
3) I reached around the back of my computer and physically removed the network cable from the plug on the back panel. I have no wireless network card, therefore this meant my computer no longer had any network connection whatsoever.
4) I then double-clicked on the "Half-Life 2" icon on my desktop.
5) I got a pop-up that said Steam was loading, and then I got a second one that informed me that Steam was unable to connect to an online server, would I like to play Half-Life 2 in "Offline Mode"? I clicked "Yes", the game booted up and I preceded to have the bejeezus scared out of me by the zombies-on-speed in Ravenholm. (For those of you not there yet, do not play this section late at night, and the gravity gun+sawblade is your new best friend. Save your ammo for emergencies, and you will have those aplenty.)
So having no network connection didn't impede me from playing at all. I'm pleased to find this out, personally.
Two more things to note: First, if I go into the Half-Life 2 directory under my Steam install folder and run "hl2.exe" directly, I get an error message and the game does not load. Apparently it does have to go through some local Steam framework even if it doesn't need connectivity, but again this doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't mandate a connection. The desktop link provided through the options menu for Half-Life 2 in Steam does not execute "hl2.exe", but a different executable with a string of operators after the executable.
Second, there is no difference in my load times whether playing with a network connection or without. If, while online, Steam is re-validating the game files or somesuch, it produces no noticeable delay on my computer.
For anyone who cares, my computer is:
an Athlon XP Mobile 2500+ (Barton) oc'd to 2200 MHz on a 400 MHz FSB, so equivalent to an Athlon XP 3200+,
a half-gig of PC3200,
a Radeon 9600 Pro AIW,
Windows 2000 SP 4,
so nothing special for game-playing these days.
For all the complaints I've read about Steam on slashdot over the past week, consider this. Now that Valve has proven the concept of widespread distribution of games online (and about time too, considering that what, 50+% of the US is now wired for broadband), other game developers can follow suit. This could take one of three forms:
1) I'm sure that Valve will be more than happy to expand their overflowing coffers by licensing Steam to third-party developers in exchange for royalties similar to those enjoyed by traditional B&M publishers (IIRC, publishers like Vivendi and EA take something on the order of 50% of the profits from a game in return for putting the copies of the game into stores)
2) Other developers create their own version of Steam (provided that Valve has not gone patent happy ala amazon "one-click" nonsense). Of course, Steam required years and years of development, having first been announced something like 4 years ago. But, with the proof that it can be done out there acting as a template, I'm sure we will no doubt see Steam clones soon enough.
3) This scenario fascinates me the most. Although I know that today is an odd day and therefore slashdot is in "we hate Microsoft mode", I believe that its quite likely that Microsoft will develop a service akin to Steam for inclusion into future versions of Windows (perhaps Longhorn?). Why? Simple - Microsoft can instantly become a publisher for the majority of Windows games. It would almost be like the license fees they get from every Xbox game sold already. Now, what happens to the games industry if Microsoft creates their own version of Steam for Windows? First, smaller developers who could not find a traditional B&M company like EA to publish their work could go to Microsoft. While a game must have sales of 10,000+ to be commerically viable offline, online the distribution costs are a lot lower thus lowering the threshold. Second, piracy would be reduced from the current endemic proportions. While I highly value my digital rights (I'm a contributor to the EFF), relative to console games, computer games have been on the decline for years. I'd vouch that one of the reasons is that while there may be orders of magnitude higher numbers of PC's out there when compared to the userbase of consoles, getting a free copy of something like Halo 2 requires more than a simple Bittorrent download - you need to physically mod the console. With less piracy on the computer side, no doubt you would see a much greater increase in both the quality and quantity of games developed for the PC.
So, while I agree that Steam does have some worrying implications for our fair use rights (for example, I can not legally resell my Steam purchased copy of Half Life 2 - the only way around it would be to give someone the username and password of my Steam account, something specifically not allowed by the Steam EULA), on the whole I do believe that Steam is the beginning of a revolution in computer games and the end of the B&M dealer. In fact, the same model could also be applied beyond games into regular software and I do not see why future consoles will not include a Steam like component to buy games online. Like it or not, the economics of Steam are just too perfect to ignore. This is the future of software distribution.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm surprised noone has expressed concerns over constant connections to steam when you want to play HL2 SP...
/.ers and dystopia hating HL2 players to have raised the question of whether or not steam has the ability to log the use of the games we play?
I would have expected conspiracy loving
Has anyone checked to see when/why steam accesses the internet, and what information, if any, is transmitted? (Eg, Time of day, hardware, IP address, Email address etc)
The "steam" model is very new, and I can think of several examples of its potential for exploitation. The ground rules have to be set... it doesn't matter how good the games are.
'plex
BTW the game is utterly brilliant... "best thing ever" (not best game ever.... best. thing. ever.)
Rich Gentlemen Hide - The Existential Comic
Some tips to get you started:
/can/ fling corpses around. This is ruined by then requiring that you fling corpses around (all other weapons are taken away, and the magical corpse-flinging ability also makes all weapons disintegrate). What could have been turned into a nice treat at the end of the game was made stupid by having it shoved down your throat. They even take away your fucking crowbar. There's no excuse for that. It's done, btw, because otherwise you'd be able to take out the last goal in one second using a machine gun. At least, I assume that's why.
- It was much too easy, primarily due to horribly layed-out maps (Hmmm, we need to make a corner here so that not to much is rendered at a time. I guess we better fill the corner with enough ammo and health that nobody ever feels excited or like they're taking a risk). Setting the difficulty to "hard" makes enemies take more hits to kill, but still substantially fewer than the piles and piles of ammunition laying absolutely everywhere.
- The premise of the game seems to be "Hey look, you can pick things up". Yes, it's fun, it looks cool, and it's completely and totally pointless. At no point in the game are you rewarded for doing something interesting with the physics or with picking things up. Whenever that might have been the case, it is ruined by being the only option available.
- Infinite Rocket crates. The most simple thing anyone could come up with to suck all the excitement out of what otherwise might have been a really fun battle, is in just about every major battle. Two of the most fun moments in the game were when you fought along side other soldiers, and did not have an infinite supply of ammunition. Firing off your rockets and watching those around you working together to take down the same enemy, somehow that seems more fun than crouching next to a box.
- You inexplicably can't fling corpses around. This is completely inexcusable. Then, at the end of the game, you suddenly
- "interactive" means "lots of unskippable cutscenes in which you can't do anything". Even the smallest level of interactivity- like bumping in to the computer monitor as seen in the E3 video, has been removed. The long ride in the last chapter makes what probably would have been the most frequently returned-to chapter just not worth playing. I have an expensive graphics card, so it looked really cool. Once. After that, I just wanted to fling some corpses around for a while. The ability to look a little to the right or left does not make this pointless waste of time "interactive". In general, if you're designing a game and stick somewhere not in the very begining a scene where you need to climb into a steel coffin and wait for twenty minutes as you look at inexplicable gimp zombies (are they supposed to be Strogg or something?), you should probably re-think your pacing.
- On a note related to pacing, the game does not follow any natural progression whatsoever. In Half Life 1, each scene blended into the next and almost every chapter was good enough that sitting down for a quick game could easily turn into a night of "I can't believe I just re-played through the whole game". Here, you've got three unrelated games smashed awkwardly together. You've got urban combat, stupid vehicle levels which I assume were added so that the claim could be made "With two new driveable vehicles!" in advertisements. They add a small amount of fun in exchange for removing replay value from the game as a whole. And then you've got the stupid survival-horror "OMG ZOMBIES" levels. having such vastly different segments with no transition between them makes for an awkward and poor experience. You have the ability to select any chapter you want to start a new game from. I'm sure that at some point I'll start a new game on each and every chapter. But the poor or nonexistant transitions ensure that I'll never actually play through the whole game again.
- No friendly fire. This is just annoying. An option to turn it on would be nice. I know they
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
For doing a review that incudes spoilers. What an arse, I had no idea that there where only two vehicles playable in the game. Cheers for telling me that. Hope your PC explodes and kills you, retard.
I agree with most of the positive comments here. However, I will say the ending was a big letdown. I mean the way they supercharged the gravity gun at the end made for some cool game play, but it just didn't seem like the layout for the levels at the end was near as cool as some other spots.
It really seemed like they hurried the ending a little. Especially the final fight sequence which was way too unimaginative. That said, I'm glad I bought it.
I'm guessing that Valve's engineers tried to explain the concept to Valve's lawyers, and the lawyers had a heart attack.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
Seems a bit of an odd score to give. Sure, it has faults... but what it does, it does better than any game that's gone before.
True, the linearity is a bit of a let-down. Something like Deus Ex is much more nicely laid out in that sense. However, Deus Ex is an RPG... HL2 is an FPS. Comparing it to other FPSs, it's groundbreaking.
Now, if they could only be persuaded to do Deus Ex 3 using the same engine... (or maybe Deus Ex 2, and pretend the existing DE2 doesn't exist)...
"...you, as gordan freeman..."
:)
it's gordOn not gordAn!!!
google will even let you know that you spelled it wrong.
when will everyone finally learn?
By the time it comes to other platforms, your neighbor's grandmother can probably give you tips in case you get stuck.
Your link is broken, makes it hard to verify your story.
When comparing Steam install times to retail, you have to remember to include the time spent either getting to the store and back or waiting for the game to be mailed to you after placing the order. Steam takes effectively zero time for both these steps, so the total is much lower.
look. i'm not trying to troll, here; honestly, i'm not, but this "review" is absolutely wretched. the misuse of "quid pro quo" was only the tip of the iceberg; the entire thing is filled with misused language and poor structure and development. it reads like an essay by a 7th grader who thinks he can fool the teacher into giving him good marks by using "big words."
why doesn't slashdot follow the journalistic practices of proofreading and editing? seriously, i'd really like to know. what excuse is there for the horribly low standard of writing here?
go ahead, slashbot mods; slam me for daring to criticize, but i'd really love to know the answer to this. on the off chance that anybody in authority actually reads this and cares, *yes*, i *do* volunteer to do it for you. give me a job; i'll clean up the language for you and turn it into a source of pride instead of the embarrassing laughingstock that it is now. but even if not me, please, i'm begging you, get *someone* to do it!
- disgusted with the proliferation of illiteracy
if i'm a grammar nazi, you're an illiteracy nazi.
Um, wouldn't it be assumed that the Combine was fighting against the current governments of the world? You're fighting 'apparently' for whatever side pays g-man the most. It can be argued that since g-man can defy time/space that he's actully an alien himself, maybe getting bids on changing the future through time & space.
Bye!
Personally I'm waiting for some mods to release before I cash in, upgrade the rig, and invest some time in Steam.
Specificly I'm waiting for the vaporware formerly known as Team Fortress 2. You might remember it. The mod/tc promised lip synch voice communication and revolutionary teamplay. Lofty ideas which usually find a resting place in the Vaporware pit. BTW how is Duke Nukem Forever doing?
TF originated from the great Team Fortress mod for Quake 1 and TF classic in HL1. Both were great mods for a long time until the grappling hook and no grav became popular.
Anyway I would rank Halo 2 a better MP experience at the moment and I have Snake Eater for the PS2 to keep me occupied on the story end. Anyway I'll start holding my breath for TF2 and HL3.
Okay, someone maybe coming up with explaination of some HL1 puzzles? Some questions that are or aren't answered in (2)?
What good or bad does my killing of the big nastie in the end of pt. 1 accomplish?
Who are the poor losers in hazard suits scattered all over XEN?
Is The Administrator a.k.a. G-man a human or an alien, a traitor or a spy? What did he have in common with Black Mesa research program? What does he carry in his briefcase besides the gun (checkable by noclip)?
What are the samples examined by Gordon in pt.1 and was resonance cascade phenomenon effect of an accident or a sabotage? Did G-man have anything in common with it? Who decided Black Mesa (apparently a private company) does so dirty job civillians should be wiped out? Why did Lambda team need an extra satellite in orbit? And what did Gordon actually do after accepting the administrator's offer?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Lets see here....
You increase the polygon count a few orders of magnitude.
Increase the texture resolution, and the number of textures used by a similar amount.
Add extra information needed for the physics engine to act correctly on the various bits of geometry.
One can expect the raw data size of a given level to increase a great deal.
Disk and memory I/O has not scaled nearly as fast as advances in processor speed and graphics card tech.
END COMMUNICATION
Just as I predicted. In Buying the latest build comment in the Half-Life 2 Finally Activated thread. Posters bemoaned the *cost* of steam compared to the boxed set in stores. "Why is the cost the same?" was a common question. Well the cost reflects the latest build.
It is great to see a e-version superior product compared to the boxed version. With the uptake of broadband resellers beware. Your power is being eroded by metcalf, moore and coarse.
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
Half life 2 get a 7/10. Here's the plot for Half Life 2. This may be a spoiler.
1. Run from the police.
2. Drive a boat.
3. Run from zombies.
4. Drive a buggie.
5. Run from the police.
6. Come to the end and realize that the game has no plot but the graphics were cool.
I am looking forward to Team Fortress II, at which point I'll really know if I got my money's worth.
But up until now, this Steam issue has kept me from picking it up. I understand that a fully working crack now exists, and you don't have to expose your Windows machine to the internet every time you go to play the game. At this point, I am completely prepared to run down to CompUSA and pickup the retail version. I never really played Halflife 1, and I would like to give Halflife: Source a try. But this is a market driven economy. So if I go pay full price for the game right now, I am supporting Steam; and I am supporting Valve's future use of Steam. Which means I have to wait for future cracks to be developed and tested before I can buy the games. However, there is this one final little piece that makes the entire issue moot. Palladium is coming, and with it, all the encryption and DRM. Which will mean I won't have to worry about waiting for the cracks to come out anymore. I guess I'll go buy the game tonight...
Maybe 40% of HL1, IMO. Maybe even less.
The ending looks like it was improvised. Noting is really explained and it is not a definite victory, far from it. I have the impression that this was originally planned to be significantly longer, then Valve cut it down. If I had bought this full price, I would feel cheated now. Fortunately it was an ATI bundle for me.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Well, it IS included in the (retail) CE too!
Just DoD seems not to be available as a retail version.
Always run = ON
The sound stuttering bug is really horrible as well. Valve has acknowldged this issue and are working on a fix, but it should have been found to begin with judging from how wide spread it is.
The physics are also pretty awful as well. I think I spent most of my time in my balloon buggy bouncing around like I was on the moon. It just wasn't done right.
It was okay, but nothing great. And certainly not one of the best games released.
I once played the entire soundtrack to Grease on my 3.2GHz, 512Meg laptop with no sound card to speak of and it was great!
"no sound card to speak of" != "no sound card". A "no sound card to speak of" sound card can probably play a left and right channel at 16-bit 44.1/48.0 kHz, but with no 20-bit, 24-bit, 96 kHz, quad, HW echo, etc. It's more than enough for playing a soundtrack CD. I understand the joke you tried to make, but I didn't find it funny.
I'd rather play the game than have games control me.
Then don't play any games by Soviet Russian programmers. This means no Tetris.
This game has great tension. I think Ravenholm is the creepiest game scene I've ever been in. This was me through that whole chapter: 8^o
:)
When I ran to the top of the set of stairs towards the priest and turned around to close the door before those skinned face hugger guys could get me, I think I may have made very unmanly noises.
Now that's a good game
free online diet tracking.
When you get to Black Mesa East, in the lab room, there is a wall of newspaper clippings. Take a look. From what it says there, there was a war, and humans/earth lost bigtime. Where the Combine came from, I can only guess through the portal from the alien world of HL1. Or some other portal. This is never explained.
That said, the story/back history is mostly non-existent. The ending is truly a huge let-down, on the scale of the old DOS games which would say "You Won!" and drop you to C:\
You *can* get the buggy out of the water. Use the gravity gun to blast it back up onto the beach. The grav gun can be used for lots of cool stuff.
Heres link to my review of Half Life 2. I wrote a review of the Counter-Strike Source beta earlier this year that got posted on the main page (quite a shock.) And yes, this game rocks despite its very wierd ending.
Most of the reviews here pretty much state "the graphics were good" and not much else. I personally enjoy a little more depth to my games, and if I'm going to pay $50 for a game, I want something with thought and effort put into all areas. Not just graphics.
Either the person picking screenshots has chosen the most boring ones in the world to present, or they haven't seen any videogame created in the last few years.
I've seen nothing spectacular about HL2 when compared to the Doom 3 or latest Unreal engines. That's ok, apparently HL is a sotry driven game. But why say the graphics are amazing when they're simply not?
Level design is unoriginal. Too much platform jumping crap. I feel like I'm playing Mario 2015 in first person. The game gives me motion sickness. Something I didn't get from most FPSs since Turok on N64. Great job Valve. You suck.
I'm not anti-microsoft. I'm anti-bullshit. Which means I'm anti-microsoft.
Is'nt Steam a conspiracy from the U.S. Army to recruit the best shooters on this planet ?
Genuine Half Life 2 Coasters (Set of 5)
I ~still~ haven't got to play this #$@* game yet.
. . . then I won't be buying HL2. I don't always have an internet connection available.
Yeah, I kind of found that silly as well. Gordon's suit has an energy supply capable of:
-Briefly augmenting his speed
-Temporarilly providing him with oxygen (underwater)
or
-Powering a flashlight for a minute.
?!
Is it a flux capacitor flashlight or what? 1.21 'jiggawatts' of draw? Careful where you point that thing Gordon, might give someone skin cancer!
Amen. If I had a login, and was chosen as a mod, and some other stuff, you'd be getting some goodness from me right now.
Is this an Everquest 2 review?
In case it hasn't been mentioned already, the average of all reviews for Half-Life 2 has made it the second highest rated video game of all time (Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is the first), and the highest rated PC game overall.
http://www.gamerankings.com/
As much as I dislike the buggy steam activation system, the game is deserving of its ranking.
Look man, there's no need to be upgrading your CPU every freaking year. I upgrade mine as soon as it gets doubled. I don't want devs aiming for a 3.2Ghz as baseline specs when it means I have to spend EVEN MORE cash on gaming.
I also have problems with people on high-end machines writing reviews that expect everyone to have top of the line crap. For the most part, these game don't have optimized code, and could run phenomenally well on lower-end machines. Nothing that Far Cry did should needed a 3.0 Ghz. Not after you see how much more HL2 crams onto the screen and keeps framerate solid. My machine barely ran that game on the lowest settings.
HL2 I can run 800 x 600 with most of the settings turned up with a 1/2 GB of RAM, and a video card with 128MB of RAM. The game runs sweet. I've had maybe 2 or 3 areas of choppiness that all fade after a second or 2, and everything's cool. More powerful machines just leads to lazier code.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
I don't get it. Every single review is missing the fact that this is the first Half-Life-themed game to not have a multiplayer version. The original Half-Life, BlueShift and Opposing Force all had online versions. I repeat...there is no Half-Life 2 online game. None. There is a new Counter-Strike, but no Half-Life 2 multiplayer game. This game shipped a year late and they couldn't include this. Valve does not mention this obvious oversight anywhere on their site.
I wouldn't be surprised if the AI was actually less-capable in HL2, simply due to the significantly different, significantly more dynamic environment (more choices means harder problems). However, I should add that the AI actually wasn't all that great in HL1 -- but it did a damned good job of pretending to be good.
Example: When being attacked by soldiers in HL1, the developers capped the number of guys who could shoot at you at any given time. Once those two slots were filled, no other soldiers could shoot at you. When a soldier ran out of ammo, he was coded to shout "Cover me!" while jumping back and reloading. Meanwhile, since he vacated that fire slot, another solider took over and began firing.
It looked like the soldiers were coordinating fire and movement to flank you and cover each other, but it was really just semi-emergent behavior from a very simple system -- but very well presented behavior.
Another example: if you threw a grenade into a crowd of soldiers, the cover-seeking pathfinder routine would go buggy, and the soldiers wouldn't dive for cover. Since this was a very difficult problem to fix, the developers did something brilliant: they detected when the error occured and coded the soldiers to duck down and cover their heads. A great way to cover up the limitations of the AI routines.
Sharp code and cheap tricks: the lifeblood of a game AI programmer.
Short answer to all of them:
>Dunno, but he may not be a baddie (listen to sound clips for him).
> They were the previous expedition team.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Don't know.
> Presumably, guessing by the HL2 intro, sleep.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
with the friendly NPC's suchs as the ones who regularly fight alongside you - THEY NEVER KILL THE ENEMY (apart from the crazy ravenholm priest). For isntacen when fighting the striders, no matter how many rockets your comrades fire they will NEVER take one of them down. This is the same when fighting the combine. Its as if they wanted to rush in the illusion of fighting as a part of a resistance in a dystopian landscape but for some reason they just couldnt nail it. Then rather than have you as a lone hero, they instead decided to place the player into an environment with the illusion of cooperation. Its a bug that would really add to the enjoyment. Its eye candy that could be so much more. Most people havent noticed it so maybe I was just expecting too much. Apart from that this game blows Halo 2 and doo3 out of the water, far cry is a close second in terms of quality. Just my $0.02
For the record, I preloaded over Steam and unlocked the game 2 hours after the global release. On The Day, it took 10 minutes, I had no problems and everything worked perfectly.
Half-Life 2 is probably the best FPS I have ever played. The character animation is frankly amazing. There was a point where two characters were talking, and I could tell that they didn't like each other, simply from the body language. This game raises the bar in so many ways that I don't think it will be beaten for years to come. It was worth the wait, and then some.
YMMV, obviously.
What is really sad is that I actually learned some HTML making this post look the way I wanted it to...
For some reason the text of the article (and just the article) in most of the games sections are far to the right and white text on a white background. Am I the only one having this problem?
I only have enough money to buy one game. Which is better: Halo 2 or Half Life 2?
Thanks for the advice!!!
The files are in the computer!
And the graphics weren't much better than HL1. Sure, they had higher textures, but the model detailing, especially on the zombies and other creatures were so low count that it felt like I was back playing Quake 1 again.
I can't honestly read what you wrote and comprehend WHY you wrote it unless you were blinded by the hype. Half Life 2 was an OKAY game, but nothing more. Don't even get me started on the frustrating "physics". It was NOT fun getting my air boat stuck on every little rock or stick.
Especially "Pong". I wanna play pong with the new Source engine.
But I still want even /better/ physics! How about when you throw something metal, it actually dents, instead of just bouncing off the wall. I figured that would be in it, since they'd already made such great strides physics-wise. Otherwise, a perfect game. Truly worth the 50 some odd dollars.
I am gonna burn some karma for this fantastic game that was released, that is getting little advertisement because of the HL2 god like shadow.
Ironically, the second game made by troika using the half life 2 engine is more interesting to me than half life 2. While valve created a fantastic game, they should have been keeping an eye this game to get pointers on having some truly rememberable moments and characters. VTM:B http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235706.asp is one of the BEST RPG's I have ever played, and it is in first/third person perspective! Normally I don't try to pimp a game but this is special. If you liked the original deus ex then you definetly need to try this. Three words of caution, the game is very buggy, but if you can ignore the bugs you will definetely like this, also this is a MATURE game, there is no kiddy stuff here, so if you are squimish about mature matters then you might want to aboid this, and finally this is an RPG mostly, and not really a first person shooter, RPG players will love it but those hoping for a FPS will be disapointed.
the store is just down the street, and I needed to stop off at walmart to get some cheap frozen dinners anyway. :P
It's been a long time.
What's the deal with the cops and those sinister masks (perhaps that is the answer, it's sinister). I don't see regular townsfolk needing them so there is not a gas threat. Are these guys ready for gas riots at *all* times? Even indoors?
Cool look though.
Hedley
How many hours would this game last me if I bought it? It there enough playtime before you beat it to make it worth buying now when it's a t it's most expensive? http://giggles.bounceme.net/
now thats the game that all the others have to match up to. multiple ways of approaching problems in huge areas. a kind of 'rpg' system to get certain skills to complete tasks in different ways. FC was probably closest to DX in its way of allowing you free roam and go where you like but doesnt have the multiple angles of approach of DX. DX2 (invisible war) is OK, its just severely hampered by the fact that its designed to run on an xbox, so there is a lot of loading small areas within a level. just not as big and airy as DX1
While I agree on Half-Life 2 being a masterpiece, there are some problems almost all reviews fail to mention - all seem to be positive to the point of being uncritical, as if it's a crime to say anything negative about the game.
Firstly, while everyone talks about the graphics, no one mentions how the engine is not really the best one there is currently. Both Doom 3 and Far Cry seem to me more impressive from a purely technological standpoint - but since Source is so well used in HL2, with beautiful textures, a nice water shader and brilliant visual design, this can be forgiven.
Secondly, HL2 is still very much on a rail shooter - the beautiful backdrop of City 17 is there for a minor part of the game and most of it is strictly ornamental; virtually no exploration is possible. Again, this is not a major problem since it is an integral part of the game's design - I just wish it were mentioned in the reviews.
Thirdly (and this is my biggest gripe) - enemy A.I. is not up to the level. Enemies often face the wrong way, sometimes take decidedly stupid paths and this, for me, often ruins suspention of disbelief - not so much with animalesque alien thingies such as headcrabs, but one would expect more from human soldiers.
And last (but not least irritating) - you often get stuck on pieces of debris and climbing the ladders can be frustrating.
Also, there is the well-documented stuttering bug - which brings me to another thing. Why could it be that, after half a decade of waiting, everyone wants to play the game right away? Isn't it more prudent to wait a few weeks for the patch to come out and have a better experience?
In most writing, I am exceedingly careful with my words. However, as Slashdot has a ruthless moderation curve (in respect to time), I must sometimes make compromises. In this case, Half Life 2 being an extremely popular topic, I decided that it would be best to post as quickly as possible. That way, I believed, I could give the truth the dominant position in the discussion it deserves.
Please accept that those of us with good records are not simply being lazy. There are reasons for our occasional lapses.
First off, I am a semi-pro game reviewer, so take this for what it is worth.
Half Life 2 reminded me a lot of the Matrix series - the first one was just so gosh darn good, they had to grasp at straws for the sequel.
The first three chapters almost feel like a fanfic made by a kid who really liked the Matrix, to a point where he thought "HAY, THE MATRIX WOULD BE COOL MIXED WITH HALF LIFE."
Even the opening cinema amounts to "WAKE UP NEO...ERM...GORDON!" You spend the first three levels running from agent...er, I mean, Combine and Manhacks. You've got a pistol and crowbar, but there are so many enemies that it's easier to run.
After the thousand yard dash, you are thrown into a hoverboat for a terrible, lengthy vehicle sequence.
I'm currently on the fifth level, which seems to be more of the same. I hear it really picks up after Ravenholm, and I'll stick with it. But man, the first third of the game has been pretty unimpressive thus far.
I've just had a happy hour blasting gunships so here's some thoughts. I've not finished pt 2 so there may be more to learn, although other posters seem to indicate not much will get cleared up.
You win the game, and get to stay alive. One of the scientists at the top of the Lambda Complex was quite adamant that you'd have to kill a powerful alien to save the world, but it doesn't seem to have worked. The world has still been invaded and subjugated.
Probably fellow MIT grads! They are the remains of survey teams sent into Xen to obtain samples (and leave useful packs of health and ammo :)
The G-Man is not The Administrator (unless there is to be a massive twist - the Administrator is an old man with a white beard, the g-man appears to be younger). Other than that, we're not sure who or what he is. Perhaps we'll find out by Half-Life 5. Perhaps Valve don't know themselves. Gordon seems to be a pawn in his game of inter-dimensional politics, but we can't see most of the board!
Some kind of alien material/mineral that can be used as a power source to rip holes between dimensions. Or something like that. My question: if they need samples to power the teleporters, how did they get to Xen in the first place to collect samples?!
Some of the scientists seemed to think the resonance cascade was a possible consequence of [whatever the heck they were doing with the large sample], but it could easily have been due to sabotage by the g-man or the Administrator (who seems to have gained a lot of power as a result of the Black Mesa incident).
That's a good question. There must be something on the satellite that the scientists needed. Something that couldn't be provided by any other satellites. Whether that was to do with the teleportation, tracking the aliens that had come across to Earth or something else entirely, I'm not sure.
Went into suspended animation until revived at the start of pt. 2. Several years seem to have passed, but I don't know how many. Still, it's a better deal than the one for the soldier you control in Opposing Force, whom the g-man decides is too dangerous to release.
Chances are, a lot of these issues will remain forever open for fans to argue about :)
I say we take-off and slashdot the site from orbit... it's the only way to be sure
While you are essentially correct, there's a little more to the story of HL1 than meets the eye. Spoilers ahoy for people who haven't played the original Half-Life:
At the time of the original accident that Gordon Freeman is present for, Black Mesa has had working teleporters for at least a few months and has been able to go to and from Xen for at least a week. They've captured and domesticated a good few indigenous life-forms - witness the Barnacle weapon and the ecosphere set up for some houndeyes in the Opposing Force expansion. Gradually they've captured more and more fauna until they "start getting collected themselves..." They get as far as Nihilanth's lair and manage to retrieve a mysterious orange crystal.
Yup. The crystal at the start of the game is the same as the three powering the final boss. Look and you will see a hole in the wall where the fourth crystal was stolen from. No wonder there was resonance cascade. The original accident causes a lot of random teleportations to and from Xen and brings over a whole lot of dangerous animals, but it's only about 12 hours of game time after the original experiment that stronger enemies - the green slaves, and the huge alien grunts - begin appearing spontaneously. This is no longer accidental: this is enemy action by Nihilanth, who is moving to attack Earth... which is something the Administrator, who observes pretty much the whole course of events, has been expecting, indeed, preparing for. Read Alan Shepherd's diary and you know this was actually expected to happen.
Realising what has gone wrong the grunts are sent in, find it's too difficult a task to take on, are pulled out and replaced with black ops who attempt to nuke the place as a last resort. Shepherd stops the nuke and between them, he and Gordon Freeman block the alien invasion and kill Nihilanth, thus solving the problem in a different manner from what the G-man expected, but successfully.
The bigger picture - who is the Administrator? Did the G-man trigger the cascade just so he could single out Gordon Freeman for future employment? - is still sketchy at this point, but when I figured all this out I was mightily impressed with Valve's storytelling abilities. The inattentive player would have missed a whole lot. I have high hopes for the story of HL2, which my PC is currently too underpowered to play...
qntm.org
Look man, there's no need to be upgrading your CPU every freaking year. I upgrade mine as soon as it gets doubled.
Every year? I haven't bought a new CPU in over a year and I have a P4 3.2 Ghz! It's not exactly bleeding edge (I can't afford to spend crazy amounts like 800 USD on a 3.6 Ghz P4 either!).
I don't want devs aiming for a 3.2Ghz as baseline specs when it means I have to spend EVEN MORE cash on gaming.
My P4 3.2 Ghz cost me 180 UKP and that was over as a year ago. According to Google's Froogle service they are down to 215 USD, 115 UKP at current exchange rates. Now, my previous system (from over a year ago) was an AMD 3200+ XP (bought for 90 UKP, and before that a 2500+ bought for 60 UKP) with an ATI 9700 Pro 28 MB (bought 2 years ago for 260 UKP). It ran Far Cry just fine (reasonbly well with the 2500+ too).
For you to say your CURRENT system cannot run Far Cry makes me sad.
Nothing that Far Cry did should needed a 3.0 Ghz. Not after you see how much more HL2 crams onto the screen and keeps framerate solid. My machine barely ran that game on the lowest settings.
As I say the AMD 3200+ system above played it just fine even with FSAA - and it's only a 2200 MHz CPU, even my 1800 Mhz 2500+ was alright. I'm curious to just what is the spec of your system because if it had issues with Far Cry to the extent it was unplayble that's a good sign your system is passed it, sorry but Far Cry doesn't have a poor engine, that's entirely unfair critisim of it.
I'd like to point out that Far Cry really renders a quite a bit more than HL2 does, really truly. HL2 has a pretty short draw distance (annoyingly short IMO, certainly noticeable) and it some serious LOD issues with small objects like foliage clearly fading out of view at a short distance and large objects like entire ships just 'disppearing' suddenly if you are far enough away from them.
The HL2 maps are very cleverly designed and it uses a LOT of cheap tricks to pull it off. I'd be fine with that but unfortuantely are all to visible to me during normal gameplay, in addition to the things I've already mentioned there is also stuff like like objects where the is no texture on the inside so you can see through them, and having certain items 'fade away' in front of you or when your turn you back (broken fences, for some reason). Of course it doesn't need to do any of this (and I dare say there are command line config options to tweak all of it) but it behaves like that because they have tried hard to make sure it's still playable even on 4 year CPU's (because sadly people will expect to be able to run a game like HL2 on a 4 year old CPU).
So while the performance of engine is certainly good (albeit the maps are not that big - the frequent level loading on the early levels drove me nuts) it's not rendering anything like the level of detail that Far Cry renders or (dispite the excellent map making) with quite the same quality, so of course it's going to run better.
HL2 I can run 800 x 600 with most of the settings turned up with a 1/2 GB of RAM
Eeep, wow, I'm not flaming here but I think the last time I ran a new game on Windows/Mac/Linux at 800x600 or lower was on a Voodoo 2, some time in 1998 IIRC. (Might have tried Q3A on the same card under Linux actually, at the same res, though the card was getting on by the time Q3A was released).
They bought a ton of face time on /.
Saying the game is terrible because it lacked resolution at the end is done by those who would have complained between installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's not a complete series, it's part of a longer story.
... which coincidently DOESN'T end. The series (Half-Life and Wheel of Time) is just a big cash cow, and the lack of a resolution for HL2 is reason enough for me NOT to look forward to the next game in the series.
You're basically comparing it to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time
Ya know, now that I think about it, this is an example of a classic vacuum salesman technique. Sell you once piece, come back tomorrow and show you the accompanying piece for the first... NO THANKS VALVE.
there's nothing stopping them from releasing Steam updates beforehand that get rid of the need to contact the Steam servers, and make all the games true stand-alone games. They could be around a long time. They could be gone in three years. Who knows. But there's certainly nothing stopping them from patching Steam before they have to pack it in. There *is* a backup utility built in now, and it will make CD or DVD sized backups for you. I'm actually curious to try it out now and see if a restore from the backups currently needs to contact the servers before you can play or not. But certainly if Valve is going to go by the wayside they'll be able to patch Steam so it's not reliant on Steam servers any longer.
WineX, Like all linux things, is actually far faster than it's DirectX Counterpart. Please do some *actual research* before you post such derogatory posts, for all of our sakes
-AlexanderTheGreat
I'd like to try HalfLife 2. I never really got much enjoyment out of the first one, gave it up after about two hours. That, and the Counterstrike community on the whole always and entirely pissed me off. That not withstanding, I'd still like to give the game a shot, but I have one grinding issue before I shell out 55$ on this. Will I be able to pop the disc in my drive, six or seven years from now, reinstall, and play? I mean, with that whole Steam validation/activation whatnot, will the game work when those servers are taken down? What if I can not access them at a later date for whatever reason.
Informatus Technologicus
A lot of the story is hidden in the various media throughout the game. Newspaper clippings regarding the seven hour war and stuff fills in the "what happened" aspect of the game.
And I couldn't disagree more than "70%" of the game is spent running from the combine. After the you get out of the boat you're given an objective (not naming it for sake of spoilers) and the game progresses at a fine pace from their.
I can't help but laugh when someone mentions Doom 3's story. The only serious narration occurs in the first 15 minutes of the game, from then on out it's follow the path and kill kill kill (I really enjoyed Doom 3, btw).
I don't suppose you have any actual evidence to back up any of that, do you? Where are the pirate copies and cheats (for the end-game, not the alpha leaked version), if Steam has done "nothing" to stop either? I mean, we all know a pirate copy and cheats will come out eventually, but I think Steam has done a good job of reducing the ease with which this happens.
I've had my own problems with Steam (random crashing, locking up mid-menu etc) but overall I think it's a brilliant idea. I look forward to the day where many more games are all provided through the one interface, for purchase, "trial periods" and the like.
The argument that "when the Steam servers aren't there anymore, I won't be able to play anymore" is rubbish. If Valve in 5 years decided to decommission the Steam system, they would just release a patch somewhere for each game that required Steam authentication, that removed the authentication requirement. Some people just like to whinge.
I have not played HL2 but this is disappointing, especially since one could do this in Half Life: Opposing Force.
and let readers critique articles (or something), like on K5 (www.kuro5hin.org). The slashdot system is showing its age.
Someday we'll all be negroes
1) Nilanth (sp?) was the one running the aliens invading Black Mesa. The Vortigaunts were enslaved and forced to fight, thats why they're friendly in HL2. You freed them.
2) You aren't the first person to travel to Xen. If you take a look at the sample that sets off the resonance cascade in the first place, it's the same as the crystals in the final boss chamber you blow up. There's even an empty spot in the wall where it was taken.
3) The G-Man != The Administrator. This is clarified in HL2. The old guy you see on the jumbo-tron was the Administrator of Black Mesa. What the G-Man *is* is a total mystery. I think he's above all the warring factions in both games.
4) The connection between Black Mesa and the G-Man is unknown. Possibly he was there simply in anticipation of the events that occurred there.
5) The diamonds from Resevoir Dogs. (Or mebbe marcellus Wallace's soul) Owait, wrong briefcase...
6) See #2 about the sample.
7) It was an accident I believe. The researchers didn't know the consequences. It's possible the G-Man did, hence his presence there.
8) See #7
9) No idea
10) No idea
11) Probably in some sort of stasis. Hence the "Rise and shine" opening of HL2.
Hope I've helped a bit.
Other then all the pirated copies of the game out there on the Internet? All you need to do to pirate this game is have some one buy one copy and decrypt it through steam. Then add in one of the "no steam" patches that are out there and zip up the install folder. Make a bittorrent of the resulting zip and your done.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
You'll find out exactly what has happened when you get to the end of the air boat canal. When you get to the secret hideout, you'll have a moment to walk around a room looking at stuff. Take some time to review the newspaper clippings on the wall to find out what has happened while you were gone.
Do not spread "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" over the internet, thank you.
Glaring errors
As we've reporting in the past week
Clichés
white knuckle ride
The musical moments in the game are few and far between
the beauty of your surroundings are few and far between
level of detail in the game is nothing short of breathtaking
the quirky time spent with her
With all these shortcomings, he still manages to bumble through each paragraph painstakingly, sentence by sentence, without any flow or transition between them, as though he were a 6th grader writing a book report the night before it's due after having watched the movie adaptation. Stick to posting user-written submissions from now on.
It was pretty painless. I was meaning to get HL2 anyways and reading all this discussion prompted me to buy it. I hate having to stick a CD in to play a game and when I read that the Steam versions don't require that I promptly wiped HL1 and all from my drive and installed Steam.
After installing Steam, I was prompted to register my products, so I whipped out my ancient Half-Life GOTY Edition CD and punched in the number. It registered as the "Platinum Edition" and gave me included HL: Opposing Forces, TFC, Day of Defeat, and Counter Strike. Thats cool, I went to enter my OpFor key also but it said it was already registered.
Then, being somewhat of a cheapskate, I just got the online "Bronze" edition. Steam has been chugging away for a while and its nearly complete. Looks like I'll be playing in an hour or so.
Honestly, patching HL used to be a massive hassle, and I haven't played it since Steam became required to update TFC. I bought Doom3, now HL2, yep I did my part. Keep cranking out the games guys and people like me will probably keep buying them.
Clickety Click
If you want Automatic Update service off on XP I would be careful with ths software. I had a computer w/ SP2, ZoneAlarm, Firefox, Thunderbird, Eclipse, Galactic Civilization, and Doom 3 and that service was always off. After installing HL2 & the required Steam software it was turned on.
Could be unrelated but after installing HL2 I worry about it coming back on again...
;-)
The original Half-Life is regarded widely as a defining moment in the first person shooter genre. The game's use of story and in-game scripted elements changed the expectations of game players and spawned a bevy of imitators. The sequel, Half-Life 2, has been in the works for almost six years and is one of the most hyped and anticipated games of 2004. It was launched last week after delays, a code theft, and lawsuits frustrated the anxious fans waiting for a chance to play. Post-launch the game has received wide praise and, thanks to the unique distribution and authentication system called Steam, many complaints as well. Read on for my impressions of Valve's Half-Life 2. Update: 11/22 21:23 GMT by Z: Changed "quid pro quos" to "caveats". I even took latin in HS. Sad, huh?
Title: Half-Life 2
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Reviewer: Zonk
Score: 9/10
The first component of Half-Life 2 that a player is likely to encounter is the massive hype that has surrounded the game for over a year. Advertising, articles, and player expectations have elevated Valve's second game to a level that ensures a certain level of disappointment. Regardless of the actual merits of the game, there are some players who have been waiting for this game since late last century. The game is not a defining moment in civilization. The lame will not be made whole by playing Half-Life 2.
As we've reporting in the past week, many players have experienced difficulties in getting the game running after installation. The initial load on the Steam servers caused by the large number of people attempting to play the game at once caused massive slowdowns in authentication and file downloads. For the most part these problems seem to primarily be reported by individuals who purchased the game in a retail store in a box. I purchased the game via Steam and downloaded it in the space of about three hours. I have experienced no problems in playing the game.
With all those caveats out of the way, Half-Life 2 is an incredibly impressive experience. In playing the game you step again into the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who originally worked at the Black Mesa facility. The first chapter of the game finds you arriving via train in the dystopian atmosphere of City 17, a ramshackle series of buildings raised from the remains of a now mostly destroyed civilization. A mysterious organization known as the Combine exerts control through police forces and alien troops. Via televised transmissions the citizenry is controlled mentally, spiritually, and even reproductively. From the first moment you enter the game Valve does an excellent job of imposing a sense of despair and barely contained anger rippling within the populace of City 17. What we are not imparted with is a sense of what has happened to Freeman since the events of the previous game. While clues are unearthed during the course of the game as to what has occurred, there are no firm answers to the many questions players are likely to have. With confirmation already in the news that Valve has begun work on Half-Life 3, the impression that you're left with is that this only part of a larger story. The story stands well on its own, but don't expect to come away from the game with all your questions resolved.
The new graphics engine that Valve created for their second game, Source, is an incredible achievement. The level of detail in the game is nothing short of breathtaking. From the reflectivity of water and tile flooring to the incredible facial animations, the game engine places Gordon Freeman directly into the world and makes exploration a joy. One of the best moments of the early game comes in a lobby. You emerge from the depths of the train station and face one last room before the freedom of open air. It is dusty and decrepit, filled with lost souls looking for nourishment rations handed out by inhuman robotic servants. Light pours into the room from windows set high in the external wall, and these amazing shafts of light fill the room.
>What good or bad does my killing of the big >nastie in the end of pt. 1 accomplish?
You stop that specific alien invasion of Earth, and you free at least some of the alien slaves (lightning shooting guys.)
>Who are the poor losers in hazard suits >scattered all over XEN?
They were guys from Black Mesa who died while exploring Xen.
>Is The Administrator a.k.a. G-man a human or an >alien, a traitor or a spy? What did he have in >common with Black Mesa research program? What >does he carry in his briefcase besides the gun(checkable by noclip)?
It's not revealed. My current guess is some sort of divine/near-omnipotent being, or the servant of such a being. Half Life 2 reveals that he is insanely powerful - but there's nothing inside his case this time. The G-Man is NOT the Administrator though - the Administrator is a guy named Dr. Breen who is the Vichy government of Earth in HL2.
>What are the samples examined by Gordon in pt.1 >and was resonance cascade phenomenon effect of >an accident or a sabotage? Did G-man have >anything in common with it? Who decided Black >Mesa (apparently a private company) does so >dirty job civillians should be wiped out? Why >did Lambda team need an extra satellite in >orbit?
This stuff isn't really revealed either. You see a material that might be the same stuff as the HL1 sample, but no one makes a big deal of it. Black Mesa was a government lab.
>And what did Gordon actually do after accepting >the administrator's offer?
He teleported off the train at the end of Half Life 1 onto the train at the beginning of Half Life 2. No rest for him.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Doom3 had zero replayabilty, but I am not sure abou HL2 either. Come to think of it, I don't think I played HL that much! It was all the mods that came with it that kept the community alive! So I spent some bucks this month on HL2 and WOW.
http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=112
The internet has been proven time and time again as a great distribution model for other forms of digital media. Why can't this work for games? Why can't there be an "iTunes" killer app for game distribution? Given how much EA and Vivendi take for just making the cardboard box and putting it on the shelf at the store, I can't blame any company looking to technology to get out from under the thumb of these guys. I dream of the day when EA is treated as the dinosaur.
Steam is far from perfect and some might consider it a failure but I see it at worst an "honorable failure". The idea of hooking into a distributed network automatically for game support is worth looking into. I'm glad Valve took a stab at it even though the results where iffy. I hope they learned a lot about how to deliver content to home computers out of all of this.
Why did it fail? I believe Steam was "half baked" where because they didn't really stress it to shake the bugs out of it. I felt they should have used Steam to give out a "HL2 Teaser Demo" to test the entire system under full load.
I a mod developer and like steam, but lets be honest here with our numbers. Valve is probably already pushing 45% net and has an engine to license as well. Steam distribution percentages depend on the vivendi lawsuit and flat costs.
Steam will succeed, but the question is partial ownership by vivendi and how greedy valve gets--they can maximize profits by only slightly undercutting publishers and patenting the system, and in that case nothing will change for us lowly independent studio types that really do get jack in terms of profit.
Seriously, nobody like a braggart even if you are "semi-pro"
What good or bad does my killing of the big nastie in the end of pt. 1 accomplish?
There is an interesting article on this kind of thing, unfortunately I didn't link it. The suggestion in this article was that the big baby at the end of HL1 was under the control of someone else. Both it and the vortigons (lighting guys) had bands around their wrists and neck. The other Xen enemies (head crabs, bullsquids) were not intelligent enough to react in any other way. You'll note that in HL2 vortigons are allies and they don't wear the bands. The article speculated that much of Xen was under the control of the combine, and the current state of earth is the result of the combine coming to town.
Is The Administrator a.k.a. G-man a human or an alien, a traitor or a spy?
Just a clarification. The G-man and the administrator are two separate people. This isn't explicitly spelt out in HL1, but is in 2. In HL2 the administrator is revealed to be Breen, while the GMan is someone completely different. The administrator is a minor figure in HL1, the G-Man is a more major figure and in general is a positive figure. In Opposing force he opens a door to let your character out of a trap.
What are the samples examined by Gordon in pt.1 and was resonance cascade phenomenon effect of an accident or a sabotage?
It is pretty clear from HL1 that the samples are from the alien world. Accident seems to be the consensis. However it is possible that someone knew that the effect of the experiments would be pretty interesting.
Did G-man have anything in common with it?
Not at all. In opposing force the suggestion is that the GMan was sent to 'clean things up'. He appears to be some sort of trouble shooter whose motivation remains unknown. From the ending sequences of HL1 and Opposing force it would appear that he controls teleportation technology. The impression you are supposed to get is that this guy is the puppet master.
And what did Gordon actually do after accepting the administrator's offer?
The implication at the start of HL2 is that Freeman has been in stasis of some sort. The GMan does say rise and shine, but also says "not that you have been sleeping on the job".
meh
What astounded me was the feeling of being home. The same old concrete blocks, the same old cars from my childhood (Trabant, Zaporozhets, Moskvich, Volga, even the ZIL and Kamaz trucks). It feels as if I am walking the streets of Sofia or Burgas (the numbers of the blocks remind me of my grandparent's place in Burgas). And that Bulgarian Cement sign that strikes you twice - at the beginning of the game right after the station, and in Ravenholme. The priest's name seemed Russian, however. And the coastline is to the north, here it is to the east. Interesting, is Victor Antonov a Bulgarian or a Russian?
If someone is buying valve, you can bet it will be in the contract that they don't do that. Hell, the fact that the purchasing company cab turn off 'support' is a value add.
Now take a look at slashdot HL2 posts. Some of the same peope who have a hissy fit when thr mpaa ot riaa mention doing this are buying HL2. SO, if Valve turned off HL2 acces through steam do you really think they would loose there cult following? no, and you know why? its a CULT following.
These people are a business expecting to make 700,000,000 dollars from HL2 engine. What happens if it doesn't meet expectations? will it be worth it, or even viable to keep Steam up?
However, the issue isn't really Valve/Steam as opposed to the business model. Steam is implementing this the best way possible, and it is still bad for the consumer.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
its wors then iTunes.
I can buy from iTunes and burn it to a cd that allows me to play it in other cd playes, and in fact I have done that. So if iTunes stops, and my computer explodes at the same time I still have a dopy I can play.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
because the only "Steam" coming from Valve is like the steam that rises in the morning from a fresh pile of dog shit. Any company that would force you to install crapware like Steam just to play their shitty game has a complete lack of respect for the sheeple they call their customers, and fully deserves to go straight out of business. Soon every game company will emulate Steam, and you will have to install their crapware whether you want to or not, just to play Morons IV, the latest and greatest game.
This game is boring. For the life of me I can't understand the great reviews. The bottom line is it's yet another linear first-person shooter that combines elements of sci-fi and horror (cheesy 8th grade future-fantasy and zombies). The graphics remind me of Medal of Honor with better water. Halo 2, Doom 3 and now Half Life 2 prove that the game industry isn't much different than Hollywood when it comes to sequels.
And I couldn't disagree more than "70%" of the game is spent running from the combine. After the you get out of the boat you're given an objective (not naming it for sake of spoilers) and the game progresses at a fine pace from their.
Yes, after you ran from A to B, you're given an objective, and it's "run from B to C".
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
HL2 was not as good as FarCry? You're kidding, right? HL2 is one of the most immersive games I have ever played. You can't honestly tell me that opening up full throttle on an alien bug gut-splattered buggy and living out your Dukes of Hazzard fantasies, all the while an alien gunship is chasing you from the sky wasn't just the coolest.
Apparently people like you don't like high action, or graphics, or story, or anything like that was new and creative, because someone seriously put some fun ideas in HL2. The physics were freakin' awesome. They singlehandedly solved one of the largest problems I had getting into a game, which is, "Why can't I do X? Well, because that object is not an object at all, it is a part of the map."
So let me ask everyone this:
Exactly what made FarCry the best game ever? Was it the shrubbery? Because the whole freaking game was shrubbery. Yeah, they got the shrubs right. Shrubbery and the same six character models you killed a thousand times over. WHAT A GAME! Let's see here I'm in a quandry here... what should I do? Should I sneak up in the shrubs and shoot the enemies or shoot them here in the distant shrubs. Hmmmm... Damn this is one fine game. Look at the foliage. Damn fine plants. DAAAAMN FINE SHRUBBERY.
By the way, was there ever any doubt that there would be mutant monsters on a deserted island with armed thugs? I mean, really, any doubts about monsters whatsoever? Hell, the mutant monster is so common that they come standard with the island purchase plan. Think about that played out monster part was in FarCry before you start slagging HL2.
Yeah, FarCry was good, but please, "shrubbery sneak attack" does not make game of the year.
This game is not that fun. I'd give it a 7/10, at best.
It's completely linear, the story sucks, the weapons are exactly the same as the first game, excpet for two.
The AI is total crap.
I already found several bugs with the physics engine.
The puzzles are not very intelligent, and the game runs like crap on my system, even though it isn't that slow.
Anyone that calls this game "revolutionary" is just a dimwitted dolt impressed by the uninspired.
Anyone else wondered whether Valve hired Catbert to add the finishing touches, you know like the annoying squads, the level loads in the middle of fire fights etc etc?
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
The Vortigaunts were enslaved and forced to fight,
:-)
Great, now I'll wish I didn't know this. All these years I thought I was a pretty nice guy by not killing any of the soldiers in Half Life except when absolutely necessary. Now I'll have to finish a game without killing any Vortigaunts either.
Just curious, how is a posting that says "nice review, I'm going to buy the game now" +5 Interesting? I find more interest in my handkerchief when I've got a heavy cold.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
I'm not entirely convinced that I agree with the review above which seems rather more glowing than is really justified. Therefore, I thought I'd knock out a quick alternative perspective on it.
I completed HL2 on Sunday night, so these impressions are based on a single play-through of the game on the "normal" difficulty setting. I'll try to avoid spoilers, although be warned that I might not manage this entirely. I won't be touching on multiplayer, as this is currently provided through Counter-Strike: Source, which is best considered as a different product altogether.
I had already pre-loaded virtually all of the game content by the time of the steam release. Therefore, I was able to play the game within 10 minutes of switching on my PC, when I got home from work on Tuesday. I don't particularly like the idea of steam and I've heard of a lot of people (including some of my house-mates) having pretty severe problems with it, but my experience on the day was pretty smooth. Being able to buy a game entirely online is convenient, but given that I work in central London, less than 10 minutes walk from the major stores at Piccadilly Circus, it wasn't a huge saving for me in terms of time or effort.
I ran the game on a relatively good system; a Pentium 4 3.4ghz, with an ATI x800 Pro and a gig of RAM. I didn't experience any performance issues while playing the game, but I was disappointed that the load times were so long. It may take Doom 3 or Farcry longer to load a map, but once you've loaded it, there aren't any waits for transitions. In Half-Life 2, there were sections where I had 20-30 second loading delays every 5 minutes. This kind of kills the atmosphere a bit.
Anyway, on starting up the game, you have all the usual options. I didn't have any problem configuring the graphics or controls, but then, this is something you should be able to take for granted these days. I selected "normal" difficulty and started playing.
Graphically, the game didn't wow me. Had it come out last September, as Valve had initially indicated, it would have blown my socks off. However, since then we've seen Doom 3 and Farcry. Both of these look significantly better than Half-Life 2. Most of the environments in the game look rather drab. Sometimes this is undoubtedly by design, but in other cases, areas which were clearly supposed to look astoundingly pretty just... well... didn't. The water effect is nice, though.
Character models are extremely good, close to being on a par with Doom 3's. The friendly NPCs look excellent, although their movements seem a little stilted, making for a somewhat freakish effect when a character you're talking to is walking around. Enemy visuals are a bit varied... some, particularly the human enemies, look excellent, but some of the non-humans had a habit of degenerating into an unseemly mass of polygons when seen up close. Doom 3's enemies were far scarier. The lighting isn't as fancy as Doom 3's, although I'm not convinced this is entirely a bad thing. It's nice to be able to see where you're going. It's been mentioned by others, but I do feel the need to repeat that the weapon-graphics really are quite poor. Most of the guns look like toys.
Sound is generally good throughout the game. Ambient sounds are well done. Enemies all make distinctive sounds, which allow you some warning before you get attacked. Voice-acting is among the best I've heard in a game. However, the weapons don't sound great, which contributes to the "toy gun" effect.
So... the gameplay. The first thing I noticed was that it was a long time before you actually got to see any action. I don't see this as a problem. As in the original Half-Life, the opening sequences are used extensively to set the atmosphere. Unfortunately, I don't think the game made the most of the opportunities offered by its plot. Doom 3 had an extensive and detailed back-story you picked up through the PDAs. Half-Life 2 ultimately feels a bit like a sequence of loosely stringed-together events, with no real conte
I'm curious, does 'Counter Strike Source' have bots, id est A.I. NPC's -- like 'CS: Condition Zero?' This seriously will effect my decision on whether I do, or do not, purchase 'Half Life 2,' as I'm currently in the middle of nowhere with no broadband access . . . On that note, would a dial-up internet connection prevent me from playing 'HL2,' due to the 'Steam' on-line authentication process?
One of the reasons Valve developed Steam to deliver games online was to cut out the "middleman tax". Rather than getting $7 out of a $50 game, they'd get the whole pie. I'm cool with this, because this way the devloper gets more money and publishers are usually dicks.
So I check out how much it would cost to order, and its just as much as retail! Zero physical distribution costs, supposedly no publisher costs (how's that lawsuit with Vivendi going?), no inventory costs and they can't give gamers a fucking discount?
If this is some contractual snafu with Vivendi, where they have to charge a minimum price or something, they could offer an incentive to order online, like a coupon for the first expansion pack. NOT offer to let you pay more money for free mods (CS and DOD) that people OTHER than Valve came up with in the first place.
So right now, rather than being the couragious little guy challenging Goliath (Vivendi), Valve seems to be just as greedy as the publisher they are suing. I *had* been all set to buy HL2 but picked up Far Cry instead. I'll just wait for a Black Friday sale and Valve will get $7 instead of $50. Or just wait till HL2 comes down in price. Or just wait for it to be cracked.
Point out that there is BAD MODERATION and what does said moderator do? Not not UP the INCORRECTLY MODERATED POST but instead moderate down the *crititism* as OFFTOPIC, because apparently understanding the moderator guidelines is beyond their ability.
/. moderation system would be fine, if it didn't rely on the people doing the moderation not being utter spanners.
The
Yes, the visuals are nice, but ditto for just about any game released these days. The physics are nice too, but again, these are par for the course. HL2 uses what's becoming the industry standard for physics--Havok--which is used in many other games, including console games.
The biggest downside to HL2 is that it is the most linear game in a long, long time. You go into a room. You kill everyone. Then there's exactly *one* way out...and you need to find it.
In fact, even the AI for this game is pre-placed and scripted. Characters are set in positions X, Y, and Z and shoot at you. There's only minimal intelligence of any kind.
The ultra-high scores being given to this game are puzzling. It's nowhere near the magnum opus that I was expecting. It's a very, very, linear "figure out what the designer wants you to do" sequence of events. It's good, but nowhere near great. I'd give it a 7/10 at best, but overall it's a step backward for game design.
It was NOT fun getting my air boat stuck on every little rock or stick.
Maybe you should learn to drive better.
This is moving in a direction where you don't buy the game and own it, so you can play as often as you want. It's moving towards pay per play... I mean, come on! What's the point in having online activation for single player? It doesn't make sense today. But it might, if they are aiming for 3P.
Clever signature text goes here.
"No rest for him."
Sure there was... "Wake up", says G-Man at the beginning of HL2.
it annoys me that valve can not code in arms and hands when u pick something up. other then that i really have nothing bad to say about the hlaf of the game i have played
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"City 17, a ramshackle series of buildings raised from the remains of a now mostly destroyed civilization."
Hey, maybe I'am picking serious nits here, but C17 ain't no Fallout's Hub. The buildings are not 'ramshackle' (not at the beginning anyway) and they certainly were not 'raised from the remains' of anything - not since WW2, probably. Some eastern-european cities do look like this - believe me, I live in one.
'Ramshackle' begins outside of town, where everything was laid to waste and where human remnants fight off both Combine raids and that nasty Outworld fauna.
Ok. And what was my point exactly?
I probably shouldn't be asking here, but seriously the machine required to run HL2 is 4 times bigger than my work machine( and twice the common machine) Buying a $300-$600 card? and a complete upgrade? Thats just not going to happen, at least not now. SO... wheres my xbox version?
You may be saying "you dont need a new pc for hl2, it runs on this minimum reqs!" yeah, they said that about doom3 and the demo ran at 5-10 fps in my specs (1.5ghz, radeon 9200, 256 ram) . No thanks. I will be playing doom 3 next year, january.(and hopefully hl2)
Im glad half life 2 finally showed up, but if there's no xbox version.. count me out. (Im not even going to mention halo 2 so I dont have to deal with hundreds of flames) there are some xbox and less demanding PC games to entertain myself meanwhile (prince of persia 2 comes to mind).
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
If you would happen to find it again, would you please tell me? I'm very interested in more thoughts on the background of the Halflife Universe.
I love Halflife & Opposing Forces. Didn't play Blue Shift (because I haven't got it) and will most certainly buy Halflife2 when it comes out here in the stores.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
It was on one of the dedicated Half life sites it that is any help. Ah I've found it. The interesting thing about this article is that it was written before the game was released.
Blue shift doesn't add a whole lot to the storyline of HL2. Neither does Opposing force for that matter, but they both just provide a little more information and a different viewpoint to the story. eg in one of them you see the sample on its way up to the test chamber.
meh
in one of them you see the sample on its way up to the test chamber.
That's funny, I happen to also have Halflife for the PS2 and there you can play the cooperative mode called "Decay" in which you play two female scientists. I've never played Decay because I found noone willing to play it with me. In Decay, those who scientists are responsible for delivering the sample to the test chamber.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Having had more time to think about it, this happens at the start of the Blue shift, before the resonance cascade when everything went pear shaped. Somewhere or other you come across a security panel with a bank of screens for security cameras. If you 'use' the panel you get to see a scientist pushing the cart with the sample. I think that the scientist was female, but I'm not completely sure. There was just one though. [quick google for walkthrough] Actually here is a picture
One of the neat things with Opposing force & Blue Shift is the way that they let the stories converge a little. So in Opposing force you see Gordon make the leap into the portal. In Blue shift you are the security guard you see pounding on the door when you are on the trainride in Half Life.
meh
That is indeed a scene out of the first chapter in Decay. (From another perspective of course)
One of the neat things with Opposing force & Blue Shift is the way that they let the stories converge a little.
I wholehearlty agree.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
I was the first one to point this out!
(this protest is kind of like spitting on a fish, isn't it?)
I'm not blinded by the hype. Maybe you play differently then me, and had a different experience, but the AI on both enemies and allies was super. The graphics were much better than HL1, definitely better then Farcry also. I never got my airboat stuck on a rock, and the physics, to me, weren't frustrating at all.
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