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Source SDK Released Soon, HL2 High in Gamerankings

Posted by Zonk on from the gift-for-the-community,-gift-for-the-developers dept.

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%."

21 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. The game got high rankings, but... by Grave · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I felt it was a huge let-down. If not for CS:S and DOD:S being included in the package I got, I would've considered it a huge waste of money. The game was over much quicker than I expected, and the plot was not as in-depth or well told as it could've been. They seemed more interested in setting us up for the third iteration of the Gordon Freeman story than telling a genuinely good one.

    Maybe my expectations were too high, but when magazines bandy about the phrase, "Greatest game ever," it's hard not to expect at least a game worthy of $60.

    1. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Chyeld · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you breezed through the game without bothering to even look at anything that wasn't on the rails you were following if you feel the story wasn't in-depth or well told. No offense, there is a wealth of things in the game that are there to be found, you just don't have your nose rubbed in them.

    2. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Tobias+Luetke · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think if HL2 was a letdown to you than you are probably done with computer games.
      While i'm not saying that HL2 is the pinnacle of games forever I certainly belive it is currently.

      There is only so much you can get out of a medium, if you don't enjoy the game most people call the best game ever made all things considered than thats a good indication to find a new hobby.

    3. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by flibuste · · Score: 4, Insightful
      the game most people call the best game ever made

      I think this needs a slight correction: it is the *best first-person shooter ever*. OK for that (although I don't find it such a killer after all). But not the *best game ever*. As an example, you cannot compare World of Warcraft with HL2 in terms of gaming. It's just not the same kind at all. You can compare the technicality of it, graphics, softaware performance, etc. but that's only part of game softwares. It is difficult to measure the player's immersion in the game between those 2 for instance.

      That would be like comparing M$ Word with Eclipse: "Best software to type text with".

    4. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Just because most people say something, doesn't make it true.

      I played HL2 at a friends for a few minutes. It was just another FPS to me, with prettier graphics. But then, it seems graphic quality is the sole yardstick for measuring a games value these days.

      It didn't do anything for me, just another entry in a pretty stale genre.

      I liked the huge open maps of Far Cry, or the vehicles in Halo. In fact, after Far Cry, I don't think I can play another on-rails FPS.

      HL2 and Doom 3 both came off as tech demos to me, something you go ooh and ahh and would expect to get on the bonus CD that shipped with your graphics cards.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    5. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Lisandro · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The last FPS i truly enjoyed was Painkiller. Top notch graphics, physics engine (you can kill enemies in pretty funny ways), and sound, huge levels, enviroment, and a shitload of enemies. What's not to like? And, unlike others in the genre, is downright fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. Much like the Serious Sam series, but on steroids.

      It also has some great multiplayer modes.

    6. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by theraccoon · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I don't think playing it "at a friends for a few minutes" is giving the game a fair chance. The whole thing with both Half-Life's is the scripted scenes and story. You need to be at home, alone, lights off, and then play it. You need to let the game take over your mind for a few hours. You'll eventually come up for air, wonder what happened to the last six hours, then dive in for another six.

      What you did, it's like watching a scary movie in the park on your laptop on a sunny afternoon with 20 friends huddled around you. Of course you won't get the full effect of the movie in that kind of situation. Same with this game. You have to treat a game like this as a movie, because that's what they're slowly becoming -- an interactive movie.

      With that said, HL2 does have room for improvement, but not much. It really is a damn good game. I've yet to hear from anyone who's played it all the way through to be disappointed. The "disappointed" folks are like you, who are expecting this mind-blowing "i ate the red pill" kind of thing, and it's not that -- that's the HL:VR game, due to be released in 2055. Until then, HL2 is the best game out there.

    7. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Joff_NZ · · Score: 3, Funny

      That would be like comparing M$ Word with Eclipse: "Best software to type text with".

      Of course, we all know that the best one of those is vi..... or emacs... nope, definetely vi :)

      --
      The revolution will not be televised. It won't be on a friggin blog either
    8. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Cochonou · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've played all the way through, and I'm disappointed.
      The game is really good, but it felt short on my expectations. Maybe they were too high...

    9. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Zorilla · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Painkiller's physics were absolutely perfect. That game made me wonder why everybody was praising the physics in Half-Life 2 when it still managed to carry over weird control issues from HL1, like getting stuck and having to duck or jump to get going again.

      At least you don't have to duck-jump anymore.

      The only thing I had against Painkiller was the lack of continuity in the music. It would go from really nice ambient music and simply fade in metal without any real transition.

      --

      It would be cool if it didn't suck.
    10. Re:The game got high rankings, but... by Zorilla · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I liked the huge open maps of Far Cry, or the vehicles in Halo. In fact, after Far Cry, I don't think I can play another on-rails FPS.

      At the most, the path only branches off into two or three subpaths and always converge at the next checkpoint. You ever tried straying off the path in Far Cry? You usually either end up getting gunned down by really big weapons or see the terrain gradually become more simple (as the map designers had not intended you to go that far) and you hit a steep hill or invisible wall.

      Also, you can tell Far Cry's openness has its limits, as the developers decided to just print the fly-through of the island, which appears at the game menu, to video, as opposed to Unreal, which used a live-rendered flythrough of the castle.

      --

      It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  2. HL2DM? by katanan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    there are rumours floating around of HL2DM so we shall see.

  3. Lag problem by *s.panzer* · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm surprised valve hasn't even recognized the fact that many (much closer to 5% than the stuttering bug) people are having problems playing all steam games. Ever since I installed HL2, All of my games have started to lag horribly, with a ping of 200-2000

  4. That's good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Half Life 2's average review is higher than Halo 2's.

    That's good, because we hate anything associated with Microsoft 'round these here parts...

    Jesus.

  5. Re:Gamerankings.com is meaningless by Lukey+Boy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I found it way more fun - and easier - to drive all of the vehicles in Halo using the mouse and keyboard. Maybe that's just me though.

  6. The Surprise by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We're just kidding, that was only half the game. Log in to Steam for the rest of it, now."

    --
    -- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
  7. Sorry.. by Danse · · Score: 3, Informative

    The stuttering bug is not fixed. I'm still getting it just like always. It may have fixed it for some people, but not for me. I've noticed quite a few threads on various HL2 forums by others who are still experiencing the problem as well.

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  8. I have still not been able to play due to crashes by _wintermute · · Score: 2, Funny

    Like hundreds (if not thousands) of others, I am suffering from a "Memeory read error" that appears to be related to the stuttering bug we saw earlier. Half Life 2 crashes immediately after the intro sequence, and often at the menu screen itself! I haven't even seen the game yet ...

    While I we're waiting for a patch to make this game usable, anyone want to buy a set of coasters?

    http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem &i tem=4339088136

    --
    technoshamanic resistance within hyper-transgressive ontology
  9. Realism by Gamefreak99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The story might be all the great (the ending is supposed to be "bad", I'm about 2 chapters away so I can't judge it yet). But that's not really the beauty of the game. You load it up, get set, and start playing. But its more than playing. It is like you're in that world; you're in _a_ world. And its not that dissimilar from ours. Everything responds so realisitically. You go up to a combine soldier in the beginning and get into his face. He'll grab you by the collar and gave you a smack with his shockstickthinger. If we were in City 17 and you did that I guarentee you that'd they do the exact same thing. Shoot a barrel in the game from x angle and it will roll/move in y direction. Do it in real life and you have the same result. Put people (NPCs) in the situations they're put in the game and you'll get the emotions they display; anger, humor, hopelessness. You have NPCs that shrug, people who arch their eyebrows. You have hand guesture- someone pointing to someone else or laying their hand on their chest saying something sarcastic. You have AI that is supurb. Enemies that act as if they're who they are. Fighting a solider and a zombie are two completly different tasks. Brains vs brawn. Even breaking it down futher; zombies that will lunge slowly towards you trying to corner you so they can get you vs zombies that blitzkreig you with their friends as fast as they can. Its an amazing game. The plot might not be "good" but it is believable enough. but the biggest part is the enviroment, it is _right_.

  10. Hmm by XellDx · · Score: 3, Interesting
    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%."

    As a point, Half life 2 has 29 reviews, while Halo 2 has 67.
    As with any percentage, the more chances of change the different the outcome
    --
    X
  11. Re:Keanu Reeves should play Half-Life 2 by RsG · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's not true! Keanu Reeves has at least two facial expressions (two and a half if he grows a beard). :-)

    --
    Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.