Source SDK Released Soon, HL2 High in Gamerankings

Biomemetic writes "Valve announced yesterday that they'll be releasing the Source SDK next week, along with a "surprise for the community". Incidentally, the sound stuttering bug (actually three bugs, to do with texture loading problems), has been solved and an update released through Steam." Relatedly, Highpriest writes "According to gamerankings.com, Half Life 2's average review is higher than Halo 2's. Half Life 2 has recieved a 96.6% overall rating wheras Halo 2 came in with a 95.1%."

Comments

Gah!

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I haven't even got a PC that can play HL2 right now. I should have my new PC by a week on Wednesday but I'm still stuck on 56k. So how big is this patch? It seems forced up on us by STEAM to boot. How big is this patch?

Oh BTW theres a new patch, DOWNLOAD IT OR DIE!!! - Steam every time you open it

Gamerankings and HL2

[Khuffie]

Firstly, as others have pointed out, the longer a game stays in Gamerankings the lower its score gets. In fact earlier Half-Life 2 was even higher in Gameranking's all all time best. It slowly went down to 5th, and it might even slip further. As to whoever said Gamerankings is skewed towards PC results, look at that list: there's like 3 PC games in the all time top 20...

As for Half-Life 2, frankly, I was disappointed. The on-rails gameplay is boring, there aren't that many opportunities to go 'off-rail' and when you do, it's usually blocked and you have to backtrack. There was only one genuine moment where I went "OMG! THIS IS SO FRIGGIN' COOL" (when the dog joined you towards the end...). In all honesty, the game seems more like a very long tech demo than anything that will hold my interest for long. And heck, if it wasn't for the gravity gun, the game would suck...

Plus, I really miss being able to smack your enemy with your weapon...I think there should be a law that all FPS incorporate that feature...I'm even trying to do it in MP2 now...

As for realism? Sure, the game's all nice and pretty and the physics are awesome, but in some aspects it seems that Valve's still living in the 20th century, not the 21st:

• The in-game loading...no game should have loading nowadays, especially not one that claims to be ultra realistic, and especially not Half-Life 2, which thrives on immersing you into the environment. As soon as you hit that 'Loading' screen, which can take over a minute (2200+, 1 gig ram, radeon 9700 pro), you're immediately yanked right out of wherever you were. It's ridiculous.
• You look down...what do you see? Oh wait...I HAVE NO LEGS! In realistic environments people have legs. Many FPS' incorporated that 'feature'...why not valve? It would sure make it look much better.
• When you drive a vehicle...oh wait! IT DRIVES ITSELF! Seriously...how did they let this one go by? Where's the guy's hands? How's the vehicle driving itself? Another area where it takes you away from the 'realistic' environments.
• The startup loading. Here's the process: launch steam, wait for it to login (which can take a minute sometimes), if steam needs to update, it'll update itself, even if you just want to play. Then, 'preparing to play Half-Life 2', which can take another minute. Then Loading the damn menu (ya, you can put -console in the launch options...but if you can load the game faster, WHY NOT SET IT AS DEFAULT?!). Then load your save...and you better hope you're not at the end of your current 'level', cuz if you step further, you'll hit another loading screen. Weeeeeeeee.

I just wanted to point out that I'm not just complaining for the heck of it. It's just that Half-Life 2 was set out to be something revolutionary, something no other game would come close to, but in that aspect, it failed. It's still a fun game, but I don't think it's what Valve was trying to achieve.