- This topic has 160 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 12 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
the closest thing to a masterpiece the games industry has yet produced
-
I agree, the art is superb and the whole atmosphere just blows me away! Really the last game to give me a this sort of mood was Flashback for the Amiga, this reminds me of that time! Theres been loads of awesome games but this one in my opinion is a bit special!
The first time I walked out of the train station blew me away, the citadel disapearing into the clouds looks so slick! -
I agree, an absoloute stroke of genius. althought this ‘Steam’ business is a bit rough don’t you think?
still I had a good go off it last night and there were some truly revolutionary moments, like the first time you played Mario 64. Really feels like a leap .
-
Well I havent got HL2 for my machine I’ve been playing it on my mates so I havent witnessed any of the steam problems. The game makes me want to go out and upgrade my pc to a beast!
How cool are those manhack! -
yeah, the whole rigmarole with Steam would put many off… PC gaming has enough barriers to entry for the mainstream crowd – Steam just throws up another batch of hurdles
while you have to admire Valve for taking on the publishers that way, they have to take it on the chin for the HL2 launch debacle
-
Did you see the Advert for it yet.. or was i dreaming?
i don’t get channel five down here..that’s where all the ad’s seem to be.
-
PC gaming has enough barriers to entry for the mainstream crowd – Steam just throws up another batch of hurdles[/quote:1d8222319f]
It’s definitely true there were/are teething issues with steam; I couldn’t register for a couple of hours.
However, I’d be interested to know more what you mean about barriers to entry. I would have thought that Steam would reduce common barriers to entry… removing all the hassle with patching your game, finding the latest version required to play, installing mods, etc.
Anyway, Half life 2 is very fun so far… good game :-)
-
I can understand the need for privacy and anti-piracy on Valves behalf but this STEAM business is all too complicated. For the love of GOD, i cant get the offline option working. Anytime i try to play offline, STEAM says that the offline option is not available.
IDUNNO???$%&*^%?? -
However, I’d be interested to know more what you mean about barriers to entry.[/quote:4e1711c85b]
1 – PC is seen as technology, while consoles are seens as appliances (thus, console games sell to mainstream audiences while PC games have a declining market share)
2 – booting up a PC, and then waiting while the game loads up vs. turning on Xbox, pressing ‘start’
3 – need to update audio & video drivers on PC
4 – need to patch PC games (more often than not) vs. no need to patch console games… yet -
After all that valve have come up with a total masterpiece a pure beast of a game everyone who owns a pc should own this game its sheer quality and eye candy alone make this a winner at the end of the day between upgrading your pc to instalation problems this game is definately worth the hassle
-
no need to patch console games… yet [/quote:150f1f9b18]
If you think about it is this really a possibility? Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all have pretty tough guidelines when putting a game through QA. I’ve heard that Microsoft have been quite happy to turn down quite a few games. As the years pass games will go online more and more and we’ll see developers releasing updates with new levels, names and whatnot. Even still, would a console manufacturer allow a game to be released that is in need of patching at some stage? -
the ‘pretty tough guidleines’ you refer to Ronny are known as TCRs – Technical Certification Requirements – and they are indeed very stringent
but i believe (personal opinion) that it is only a matter of time before publishers alllow patching via consoles… them not doing it now has it’s nothing to do with quality control and everything to do with not enough of their customers having access to reliable broadband! Only something like 1 in 6 Xbox customers have Live enabled, significantly less on PS2 and a big fat zero on GameCube.
Given the rate ‘hit factories’ like EA (and recently, Atari) like to pump out titles to make market deadlines – regardless of their quality – it will make commercial sense to do so once it is viable… as shite as it will be for the consumer
(both GTA: SA & Halo 2 are riddled with minor bugs… no doubt in the effort to get them out in this crucial commerical window)
-
Only something like 1 in 6 Xbox customers have Live enabled, significantly less on PS2 and a big fat zero on GameCube. [/quote:f47b88d4a0]
i thought sega made a BBA for the GC for Phantasy Star Online….
i remember before xbox was released everyone was making crtl-alt-delete jokes, and said that the harddrive was a bad idea because games will be released that will need patching.
there is also quality control from sony/M$/Nintendo, they can stop any badly buggy game from being released, but i would guess none of them would/could say no to EA
(metalslug 3 was not aloud to be release in the ps2 in the us cause it was not high enough quality or cause it had no online features)
and while one the subject of HL2
-
I’m doing very well holding out buying Half Life 2……I’ve been waiting so so long for it, but I can wait another couple of weeks until I get my new pc.
I agree with what Idora has been saying. I can see patching being an issue with future consoles when broadband becomes more widely available.
-
I’m doing very well holding out buying Half Life 2……I’ve been waiting so so long for it, but I can wait another couple of weeks until I get my new pc.. [/quote:83c2ad95c0]
Come on Nooptical, we need hardcore players and we need them now!, besides if I can run things on high at 1240-860 then surly your machine can withstand the might that is HL2.
-
seriously its all wel and good but they are right games nowadays on the pc depend on broadband doom 3 for example you cant play multiplayer unless you have a broadband connection and final fantasy online takes about 11 hours to download the files on 56k when u first start it up games nowadays are better quality but we are paying the price to play them
-
seriously its all wel and good but they are right games nowadays on the pc depend on broadband doom 3 for example you cant play multiplayer unless you have a broadband connection and final fantasy online takes about 11 hours to download the files on 56k when u first start it up games nowadays are better quality but we are paying the price to play them [/quote:d56eddba43]
Take some English lessions will you, and learn how to use punctuation. Oh and learn how to spell too!
Crsipy the TaruTaru (T_T)
-
my point with half life 2 is that you think after buying it you have to pay no more then you realise you have to download of the net then register on the net its all money money money
-
there is also quality control from sony/M$/Nintendo, they can stop any badly buggy game from being released, but i would guess none of them would/could say no to EA[/quote:7d6d2d19b5]
the quality control you refer to is partly covered by the TCRs I mentioned above… the other reason they hold titles back (e.g. the MetalSlug example you gave above) is because they want to push particular types of games (to fill a gap in their catalogues) and features (to be the market leader in a particular segment, e.g. online) on their platformsAlso, Microsft, Sony & Nintendo are publishers just as much as EA are! I may well be wrong in my prediction… but I believe it is naieve to think (a) it’s all big bad EA’s fault, and (b) that publishers will ignore an expedient way of getting games to the mass market faster
i thought sega made a BBA for the GC for Phantasy Star Online….[/quote:7d6d2d19b5] they may well have done, but it’s official Nintendo policy that online gaming isn’t a priority
-
u know more about that me Tony, but lets not foget ET! it was so buggy that very one got refunded. if games get released that u have to patch cause they are so buggy i could see people getting refunds. its hard to tell there are points for and against your secenrio… its one of those wait and see.
i wonder how many HL2 will be returned because they could not get it running!
(generally, most poeple are stupid, i have hear of storys of poeple buy only the expansion pack to a game that clearly say ” you need the original game to play” , and getting refund because it did not work! and u would not beleve that amount of people that think that the dreamcast can play windows games cause it says “Windows CE” on the side of the DC.)
as for EA, i hate them for ignorreing the DC, but u have to give them repect… they are the biggest for a reason… they are good at what they do
-
Dreamcast rocks, I still own it with my 72 uper games… loved it then, love it now. savage!
-
Half-Life 2 is “what a sequel should be” and in it’s own right, it IS a masterpiece. Pure quality in every department.
-
as for EA, i hate them for ignorreing the DC, but u have to give them repect… they are the biggest for a reason… they are good at what they do [/quote:21b7465759]
You mean marketing?
and while one the subject of HL2
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3 [/quote:21b7465759]
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-11-17&res=l
Try to link to a page that won’t have it’s content changed in less then a day. -
Ok, just watched Aaron play the first bit of HL2…….and I’m buying it. Feck all this waiting lark…….
-
Ha Ha, swayed by the dark forces eh, Nooptical. Just wait till you get the gravity gun, oh the sweetness!:) :p
-
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life
Half Life Half Life Half Life Half Life -
met ‘Dog’ last night, what a great scene!
-
your only there youd want to get the finger out omega
-
i read an article and cant believe it its so funny film companys are trying to sue pixar bacause of the quality of there films i have to admit there computer generated films are simply amazing here is the address to read the article its so funny
http://www.datelinehollywood.com/showarticle.php?articleID=340
-
film companys are trying to sue pixar bacause of the quality of there films[/quote:3a82cd7083] eh, you DO realise that is a spoof site, don’t you?!
also, might be a good idea to start new threads for off-topic posts
-
eh, you DO realise that is a spoof site, don’t you?!
also, might be a good idea to start new threads for off-topic posts [/quote:d688deb0fc]
Yes, and ‘You There’ Maybe you should cross-check your source of info before Insulting my progression in Half Life. Some of us actually do our College work! Kupo!
-
Just bought Half Life 2 in Game(qouting Software Zones lower price of course!)….and right now I’m updating Steam…..oh joy of joys….
-
Dave, just finished it yesterday… I’d love to be back at the start seeing it all anew…. all I can say about HL2 is; WOW!
-
Can’t wait to play it Ian…….still installing. Its now updating the game itself…….for fecks sake, C’MON ALREADY!!!!
-
Your close Dave, your close! ;) It really is worth the wait! Trust me ;)
*tip for yor low-spec* If you’ve any problems running it, try viewing it windowed at 1280 X 768 (or something) letterbox format, then you’ll have a bit more room to push all the texture and model detail options way up! Works a treat!
Enjoy! Oh…kiss your weekend goodbye…
-
see told ya! only another 6 weeks to go…nearly there!!! ;)
-
I’m downloading it on Steam right now, only about 5 hours to go.
I was going to buy it in the shop, but I discovered that for now, (and apparently until December) they are only selling the basic package of Half Life 2 and Counter Strike: Source. So I went online and for probably about the same amount given the exchange rate, got the Silver edition which includes the above plus Day of Defeate: Source (not out yet), Half Life 1 Source, and a bunch of Valve games (original Half-Life, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero etc.). There also a Gold edition that includes mechandice and the the chance to win a trip to Valve but I figured the games were enough for me. Details of these packages are here: http://www.steampowered.com/?area=product_HL2bronsilvergold
Boy this Steam thing ownz. If this didn’t exist, then I’d be at mercy of retailers/distributers in waiting for the collectors edition so I could also get HL1:Source. I guess not being at their mercy is sorta the point of Steam, for both me and Valve.
-
1 – PC is seen as technology, while…[/quote:ddad2f5478]
Ah, sorry, I took that up wrong – I meant to say that overall steam was a good thing, and that steam was removing barriers to entry rather than reducing new ones. (teething issues aside).
4 – need to patch PC gamnes (more often than not) vs. no need to patch console games… yet[/quote:ddad2f5478]
Actually, I would agree with you on this one. I think once the xbox live services and equivalent are fully on their feet we’ll see a load of games shipping and getting patched.
There are a couple of reasons why I think this.
Firstly, I believe the reason that console manufactures havn’t done patching berore is because they couldn’t rather, than because they wouldn’t. They’re in the business to make a profit, and shipping in time for christmas makes a profit.Secondly, the quickest way to find bugs is by opening the game to the public, and letting them find them, rather than testing internally (simply because of the hours of human testing time available before and after shipping.)
From a business point of view, it might mean you can get your game to market a lot sooner…
When faced with a situation whereby its easy to patch games, because they all have to be registered on your online service anyway, then it starts to become very expedient financially.time will tell.
-
Fecking great game. Amazing!
However Steam is once again pissing me right off. Went to play it just now in “Offline Mode”…..but it wouldn’t let me, so I connected to the net and now Steam is updating again…….for christs sake. Any other game and I would have flung it out the window…..
If I see “Updating Steam Platform” one more time…….gahhhhh!
-
Why Valve think the Steam platform is even beneficial is beyond me. All it does is further prove the cumbersome nature of downloading games online ect. I would rather buy the physical iteration of a game over it’s cyber counterpart any day.
-
Initially (Friday), I was sceptical, and tried to resist the appeal of HL2, insofar as I expected to feel that most features they announced the game would have, would since have been debuted elsewhere.
In the early levels, I kept telling myself ‘It could look better with bump mapping’. ‘That Combine guard is simply scripted’. ‘Far Cry had impressive water months ago’.
Gradually, however, over the course of the weekend, and soaking in the physics simulations, the character interactivity, and the spectacular environments, I became a True Believer.
Whether we like it or not, the bar has been well and truly raised.
What elements does everyone like about this game? Here’s mine.
Lewis
—————————————————————————–
THINGS I LIKE ABOUT HALF LIFE 2I like the way the Ant-Lions thrash about, and finally drown if they fall into water.
I like it when your comrades get injured in firefights, and complain about their specific injury (‘Ahhh! My arm!’).
I like the other-worldly soundtrack.
—————————————————————————– -
Why Valve think the Steam platform is even beneficial is beyond me[/quote:d096713013] it’s beneficial to them – they retain most of the profits themselves (only having to share on marketing costs) instead of a measly 25 – 40% royalty from Vivendi – a big enough incentive for any developer
-
—————————————————————————–
THINGS I LIKE ABOUT HALF LIFE 2I like the way the flocks of birds are startled into flight by some of your actions
I like the way you can shoot the sea gulls and crows! (sorry… but it just added to the richness of the immerison for me)
I also love the fact the ant lions can drown when they follow you in to the water… I know they had this in Far Cry too, but it’s done much, much better here
I love the way they integrate scripting and simulation so seamlessly… it’s never been done better IMO
—————————————————————————–there’s lots more, i’m sure, but i’m still playing through it… and i’ve got work to do! more later…
-
Shooting crows is a lot of fun!
The water in Half-Life 2 is amazing and wipes the floor with Far Cry. It looks better and its “acts” better…in other words the physics behind it are stunning.
This is the first game to have proper ragdoll physics. In other words the characters feel like they have a proper mass to them. They don’t fly about absurdly like in other games with ragdoll. They feel heavier and they fall and and die in a very realistic fashion.So my favourite things about HL2 so far are:
The ragdoll pyshics – so much fun to be had with grenades, explosive barrels etc
The Rocket Launcher – How much fun is this bad boy! Its sweet!
The art design – really amazing art in this game. Its got a great dreary washed out feel. -
it’s beneficial to them – they don’t retain most of the profits themselves (only having to share on marketing costs) instead of a measly 25 – 40% royalty from Vivendi – a big enough incentive for any developer [/quote:0c6e8551a2]
Thats one reason alright, I stand corrected.
Things I like about HL 2-
:The efffort put into the design of the levels
:The Gravity Gun(how could you not like it?)
:The unexpected inclusion of “shit your pants moments”
:The Voice acting(superb)
:The Animation of the characters
:The Music!
:The striders
:Obscenely brilliant use of ‘logical’ puzzles!
:Atmosphere
:Turbine boat!
:Magnificent use of the G-Man(popping here and there, better be quick to see him)Oh and last but not least SHOOTING CROWS! Squak!
-
The unexpected inclusion of “shit your pants moments”[/quote:340b73c20b]
Ya what? Who wasn’t expecting those moments, they were one of the things that made the first game so great! They were hardly going to abandon them….. ;)
Just finished it. *tear*
I wish it would go on and on….what a game.
**********SPOILER ALERT**********
(Highlight)
The whole level in the citadel is so amazing, my mouth was hitting the floor. So atmospheric. And the souped up gravity gun kicks so much ass! Plus the ending is really great, but I hope Aleyx(?) isn’t dead…same for Eli, Kleiner and Barney…..got quite attached to them I must say. Which just shows how great the game is!
End SPOILER -
Ya what? Who wasn’t expecting those moments [/quote:8360ae3f74]
Ahhhhh. me!, I knew you would have ‘scary’ moments but when I first encountered the ‘sprinters’ in Ravenholm I nearlly dropped one!……*Gasp*…..*pant*…————> Omegas is gone?—>
-
I knew you would have ‘scary’ moments but when I first encountered the ‘sprinters’ in Ravenholm I nearlly dropped one![/quote:de6a09bbf5] me too! aged a couple of months at least. it beats Doom3 hands down for those scarey moments…
-
Firstly my rant about steam
I have a 56k connection I bought my game on monday 15th before midnight, steam said the servers were up and running. It was wednesday 17th before steam would work on my connection, as it kept reseting at around the 93% mark, oh and it crashed loads. I paid 45 euro to play the game, I am not only extremely pissed off about the process but also angry and believe that most of the people in the gaming community are hypocrits.
Why?. Microsoft, when they released XP they put in measures to stop warez, namely the registration process. There are two methods with them, either via online, or using a touch tone phone.
Now when this happened everyone moaned and complained, and bitched about how far Microsoft was taking all of this. They believed that MS was going to steal personal information. and they went on complete tangents about how evil MS is.
Now HL2 comes out, and everyone is willing to go down this process, not only that but there is only one way to do this, and that is via steam, no phone activation for people with no connections or slow access. Its crazy. If you buy a product under the licence you never own it, that Im willing to accept, under the licence I am willing to accept that any damage that the app does is purely my fault or at my own risk. And I am willing to accept that making copies or distributing the program is illegal under the licence. But what I am not willing to accept is the fact that I paid money for a product that I cannot play or even use. It took alot of techsupport complaints to get my copy going and in the end they did nothing for me.
Also where the fudge is the manual? I got some orange slip……
So here is the most common and impressive screen from my copy.
http://www.welcome.ie/ronan/wow.jpg
As you can imagine spending the best part of 2-3 days trying to get a game that you paid for working will leave a sour taste in anyones mouth.
So here are my first thoughts of the game
1. Graphics Nice, but also not so Nice
2. Extreme slow down in some areas (Especially on water level)
3. Very very easy even on Hard
4. Very linear, only one way to approach most things, sure you can try different ways of killing the baddies or stacking crates, but ultimately only one route with the other 2 leading to hidden goodies.
5. Physics good
6. AI is really dumb, especially when following in groups, they always block the doors, and always get in your way. This become really hard later when that ION cannon think is shooting at you, and you want to get in the fucking door. But wait theirs a queue. Or trying to avoid striders while walking across girders the AI runs into you forcing you to fall off.7. Limited amount of enemies
7.1 Bugs
7.2 Sames alien thingies from HL1, but with a dog, or hyper child version, and two differnt face huggers
7.3 Guards 3 versions
7.4 Flying Space ships
7.5 Saw cutter things.
7.6 Those white doctor guys, who use the secondary function of the Pulse rifle thing, which does sweet fa.Not all that varied. All in all Im enjoying the game, but too be honest since I didnt follow all the hype, Im a bit lost. Is city 17 on earth, and how long has freeman been gone, because from what I can gather either its an another planet (References to other colonies) or freeman is nearly 90… A manual could have covered all this back plot stuff. Anyway since I’ve now just finished the game, things are a little more clear. Or im just so confused I think I know whats going on.
While I enjoyed the game while playing at the end I felt ripped off, the last level is lovely but its so freaking simple its scary. I just feel the game was way to short, with very little options for the player to explore or have fun. Sure the grav gun is great but thats about it. The weapon and enemy variety is piss poor. And after doing the following for the 200th time its pretty annoying.
“Run upstairs, kill 3 baddies, walk around corner destroy 2 turrets, open door, some scripted event, change direction drop to lower level,Run upstairs, kill 3 baddies, walk around corner destroy 2 turrets, open door, some scripted event, change direction drop to lower level”
Its just a bit too much for me, DOOM3 was crap, and now HL2 just doesnt seem to have made the par, sure there was some great features but as an overall game I found it really lacking. Perhaps because steam crushed all hope of fun, Im not really sure. But this game is by no means anywhere near as groundbreaking as HL1
But hey, Im one of milllions who have bought this game, and with reviews saying its the greatest game ever. Im sure I must be wrong. Perhaps I was expecting too much.
-
Not having a net connection at home, I had lots of fun trying to get the game to run over the weekend. I installed it on my machine, unplugged the hard drive, brought it into work, realised there isnt a pc here with a dvd drive, went home and unplugged my dvd drive, came back in, connected everything, validated it, and brought everything home again. Thankfully however, thats been the only problem with the game. Its running perfectly, and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it so far. I am surprised they didnt put in a few extra layers of texturing given how well the game runs on most machines, but its not hard to see that they have taken their time working on is the additional levels of gameplay effects that really add to teh game.
All in all, half way thorugh and still 10/10.
-
I am not only extremely pissed off about the process but also angry and believe that most of the people in the gaming community are hypocrits.[/quote:96df0837b0] that’s quite a sweeping statement, Ronan – and more than little irritating
You can be extremely frustrated getting HL2 to validate via Steam and NOT be a hypocrite
I for one have no problem with what Valve tried to do (keep some of the cash for themselves as opposed to hand it over to a publisher) and support them fully on it – as annoyed as I was trying to get HL2 to start up – whereas I don’t agree with what MS did or tried to do. That doesn’t make me or anyone else a hypocrite in my book.
I DO think Valve should have had better preparations and support in place though – it wasn’t as if they didn’t have enough time, after all
-
1. Graphics Nice, but also not so Nice[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
What are you comparing it too? Seeing as you have to compare the graphics to something in order to form an opinion on them. Doom 3? Real Life?
Graphics are really outstanding in my opinion.2. Extreme slow down in some areas (Especially on water level)[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
What has that got to do with the game? I have experienced NO slowdown and I hardly have the best spec machine(2ghz athlon, 512 ram, geforce 4). This is nothing to do with the game, its to do with your PC.3. Very very easy even on Hard[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
While I didn’t find it particulary hard(playing on hard), I still had a lot of fun and the thought didn’t really cross my mind until now. I think it was just about right. Too hard and people get pissed off.4. Very linear, only one way to approach most things, sure you can try different ways of killing the baddies or stacking crates, but ultimately only one route with the other 2 leading to hidden goodies.[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
So was Half Life. Half Life isn’t Deus Ex, its Half Life. It does what it does and does it well. Sure it would have been nice if it was less linear(to a small degree), but I don’t think most people were expecting it to be. We just got on and enjoyed it.5. Physics good[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Physics excellent. No other game currently has better physics than HL2.6. AI is really dumb, especially when following in groups, they always block the doors, and always get in your way. [/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Umm…..when they were blocking a doorway when I played I simply walked up to them and they got out of the way. If you didn’t want them following you why not just order them to stand in the hallway! I found the A.I very good and much better than most, if not all FPS games. Especially FPSs with squad based combat.7. Limited amount of enemies [/quote:c462f3ba2c]
What are you expecting? Doom? Serious Sam? I thought the amount of enemies was perfect. This game is about building suspense and then hitting you with action. This isn’t about shooting waves of enemies in every room you enter!7.1 Bugs[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
What kind of observation is that? EVERY game has bugs! When a bugfree game is released, then you can use this as a complaint for all subsequent games. Half Life 2 has very few bugs for a game of its scale.7.2 Sames alien thingies from HL1, but with a dog, or hyper child version, and two differnt face huggers[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
So, when you watched Aliens did you think to yourself….”Hey, why are there no more aliens types added to this movie than just the queen alien???? I feel hard done by!”. I doubt it, so why use it as a complaint here?7.3 Guards 3 versions[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Once again……so what?????? Yes it has 3 versions of guards, but SO WHAT? How many differant “versions” are you expecting in order to be satisfied? :rolleyes:7.4 Flying Space ships[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
um….ok7.5 Saw cutter things.[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Right.7.6 Those white doctor guys, who use the secondary function of the Pulse rifle thing, which does sweet fa.[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
I found the secondary fire to be very useful when clearing a small space of many enemies. I think you were just using it in the wrong circumstances/way.Not all that varied. All in all Im enjoying the game, but too be honest since I didnt follow all the hype, Im a bit lost. Is city 17 on earth, and how long has freeman been gone,[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
So you have squad based urban combat, lonesome suspenseful combat, hovercraft driving, buggy driving/combat, deserted villages, coastal towns, big cities, futuristic complexes. Not very varied at all……
Its set right after the first game and I’m pretty sure City 17 is on Earth.I just feel the game was way to short, with very little options for the player to explore or have fun. Sure the grav gun is great but thats about it. The weapon and enemy variety is piss poor.[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Its something like 16+ hours of gameplay! Which is quite a lot for a FPS. This isn’t some RPG……..
So your saying the gravity gun is the only great thing about this game? I was very happy with the weapon and enemy variety(everything from small head crabs to giant striders!). Quite a variety if you ask me.But this game is by no means anywhere near as groundbreaking as HL1[/quote:c462f3ba2c]
Was it every supposed to be? I sure wasn’t expecting it to be. If HL2 was just as groundbreaking as the first than it wouldn’t be Half Life would it? It would have been something completely differant and I, and many other HL fans would have been pissed right off.I think that you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder after the trouble you had with Steam. You are being over analytical and critical of what is almost universally heralded as a classic game. Some of your complaints are downright ridiculous and thats what leads me to think you need to start enjoying games a bit more instead of nitpicking them. A game like HL2 is about the story and atmosphere, its not about adding new enemy types and weapons. When you view a sequel to a movie do you count how many extra enemies there are and how many new weapons the main protagonist uses and base your judgement on that, or, on how the story has progressed and how much you were drawn into the world it created. You almost sound like a robot analysing something rather than someone trying to enjoy an experience!
[/rant]
-
See, thats what happens when you obset a HL fan, eh Nooptical.
-
This was my own personal opinion of the game nothing more, and since I paid my hard earned money for it i am entitled to have one. Just because you dont agree with it or even like it.
You may view it as nit picking, I consider them all valid points. As for your comments on varied gameplay, I was refering to gameplay and not events.
Driving, Shooting and Puzzles are what are presented. The puzzles have a limited use this time round and are mainly jumping tasks or grav gun tasks. Shooting is the core part of the game.
While the AI may have worked up to your expectations, I found more often than not while I was playing they did not act or react in a way that immersed me deeper, but rather frustrated me and took me out of the experience.
Steam is good on paper, and I do agree to it, but Valve should have more options available. I have no intention of playing online, and all I wanted to do was play the sp modes. Surely I am not the only one. And why is it wrong for microsoft to reduce piracy, but not valve?
By hypocrits I was referring to a good number of HL2 community members I have been talking to.
-
And why is it wrong for microsoft to reduce piracy, but not valve?[/quote:6ed94f3bf0]
This is distant from the topic at hand but I’m not sure how effective it will be at reducing piracy. I heard a guy boasting to his mate about finally getting (not stealing obviously) HL2 on the train the other day. Introducing something that makes it harder to get, might incourage more idoits to try and get it. Hopefully not, but their conversation was going in the direction of I’m better than you cause I got it first idea, where the second guy now has to “beat” value and take it too.
-
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/front_index.php?
Have an article about one of the bugs that occurs for me. This is one of many, while some PC’s may have no problems others are. Check the planethalflife forums for more bug issues. Random crashes are becomming more and more common for me, as HL2 runs out of memory, or just fails.
Oh, and when you judge a sequel, I personally judge it based on how it brought the original forward, and what new elements/characters/concepts it introduces.
HL2 for me did not evolve the weapon list, but removed certain items, and added 3 new weapons (The reaminder based on extensions of the original weapon lists.)
Enemy wise, there has been new additions, but I personally felt, that most were just repetitions, of what was originally there. Or different versions of what was newly added.
Graphically, there are some textures that are easily not up to par with others in the game. Some animations mishaps occured while I played.
-
-
interesting
http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=184810 [/quote:010f653309]
Interesting indeed..
Valve suspends 20,000 Steam accounts for attempted piracy
-
But this game is by no means anywhere near as groundbreaking as HL1[/quote:a9273b174d] I would be of the opinion that the eye-tracking feature of each of the main characters was enough in itself to earn the title ‘ground-breaking’…
I also personally think that the sooner many of us get over the immature ‘more is better’ thinking, the faster the field of game design can evolve through innovation… more enemies, more weapons, more puzzles, more levels, more pixels – better (or even ‘good’) gameplay does not necessarily reside in any one of these elements
-
This is a loosing battle no matter how I put it, this is merely my opinion. People are perfectly capable of hailing this game as perfect, as the greatest game of all time.
Yet my view is somewhat different, I am not looking for more out of the game I am not looking for revolutionary game that was expected (and by the most part of the community has been delievered). I am simply expecting for my 45euro I should be able to play the game, enjoy it, and take what experiences I get from it.
My experience was that I felt there were things missing. Firstly I found Hard being to easy, that is my biggest complaint. THe game is a breeze. When I played Far Cry on hard, some levels were tough while others really made me think, and conserve ammo. When I play Halo or Halo2 on Legendary, its a huge challenge. The hardest difficulty level in HL2 does not challenge me in the slightest, for that reason I dont think I got the experience out of it that I would have liked. Not since Max Payne 2 have I found a game so simple to complete. And yes I finished HL2 in one sitting, over 12 hours (Im playing it again now to be sure Im not being harsh because of steam)
I believe (And this is my opinion once again) that one of the things that added to HL was the environments, and how the player could use the environments and weapons, and characters and experiment with things. I found that the grav gun was the only true new addition to the series. The satchel charges were gone, so were the trip mines (I know they were on the walls,but can you actually pick them up?). Most of the alien and experimental weapons are gone. The variety of ways to do things in HL1 because of the selection of weapons i believe greatly improved the gameplay. I felt that HL2’s selection of weapons were not balanced and did not pose enough selection to warrant switching weapon. Pulse Rifle all the way, the occasional crossbow, and then the great magnum.
This leads to the next problem, the variety in the enemy. HL1 consisted of the marines, freaky aliens, and Zombie Face Hugger things. 3 races each which pose their own threats, and require the player to approach them differently (And there was occasional vehicles of sorts). Now we have the overwatch guards, the hover robots that take your picture, the saw cutters (Which I really liked), and the zombies. During the game the tactics remain the same or at least they did for me. Simply shoot the shit out of everything, and if you cant get them charge, and switch to shotgun. I no longer had to think of how to approach the enemy, be it zombie overwatch or whatever, it was all the same, shoot…..
The saw cutter things did pose a thret, until you got the grav gun, but this is partly why I like them, you needed to adapt your attacks to suit the number of them.
THe vehicles are of exceptional design and I really liked them, and they did pose huge threats, and you did have to change your tactics, but it was usually to the rocket launcher. Be it the choppers, Striders or other. Rocket Launcher, there was no tactics like with dealing with the Gargantua, or Big Vine thingy from HL1.
All in all while more may not be the solution, the variety is more the problem, it seems that one solution works for most scenarios. Heck I would have been happy with the wimpy grav gun on the last level, and throwing cans of coke or cinder blocks at the enemy at least it would have been a much larger challenge.
As for gameplay your definition is probably much different than mine. But I see gameplay not as something that is achieved by focusing of making a game play well. But as rather the whole package, how the AI, Graphics, Level design, Art work and interactions all come together as one to ehance the experience. More is not always better, but variety in the experiences adds depth and replayability, and ultimately a long lasting title worthy of your money. Again this is my own thoughts on gameply. And even while playing through hl2 again, I still find the tactics I used first time round are sometimes the only way to do things.
-
As for gameplay your definition is probably much different than mine. But I see gameplay not as something that is achieved by focusing of making a game play well. But as rather the whole package, how the AI, Graphics, Level design, Art work and interactions all come together as one to ehance the experience. [/quote:5cea700e6b]you’ve made some very good points there, Ronan. I’ll have to go back and take another look at HL2 before responding…
One thing I would say is my definition of gameplay would not correspond with yours. With the exception of ‘interactions’ and ‘level design’ (which admittedly is a broad term, everything else you’ve listed I’d categorise as production values.
More is not always better, but variety in the experiences adds depth and replayability, and ultimately a long lasting title worthy of your money.[/quote:5cea700e6b]
-
I also personally think that the sooner many of us get over the immature ‘more is better’ thinking[/quote:535c1d6eae]
My point exactly Tony.there was no tactics like with dealing with the Gargantua, or Big Vine thingy from HL1[/quote:535c1d6eae]
Thats is a very good point. But during the game (or up until now) it didn’t cross my mind once, which leads me to believe that the game had me more engrossed than I originally thought! ;)
And now that I think about it, it would have been nice to have some more “boss” type battles, but it isn’t a huge issue with me because i still loved the overall experience of the game and I’m not going to dwell on something which I can’t change.I think that great games come down to simplistic designs and innovations brought about by great technology. But when playing a great game the gamer shouldn’t be thinking about the technology, but thinking about the world it helps create.
For example, the water in Half Life, someone focusing on the technology side would think:
“Wow, great water. I wonder how they did it. How did they achieve the refractions etc”
But a person simply enjoying the experience would think:
“Wow, look at the water, I want to jump in a play in it, see what I can do!”
In my opinion when most gamers think like the latter, then the developers have succeeded in creating an immersive, atmospheric world. A great game.
Of course this is a very simplistic way of looking at it, but I feel that great games are built on simplistic thinking. Simplistic ideas and design but utilising complex technology. Yin/Yang if you like.
Yin: The design, art direction, gameplay innovations – the aspects which apply to our senses.
Yang: The technology behind the game, which allows us to realise such ideas.Doom had too much Yang, too much complex technology overpowering a weak Yin, story and design etc.
Half Life 2, in my opinion, had a balance which resulted in a great, engrossing, atmospheric game.Anyway, enough of my babbling.
-
-
I have read most of the reviews online, and they all praise it as being a masterpiece, yet only a few have pointed out that the game mechanics is exactly the same as HL (Which Im happy for), but others have stated that the gameplay feels a bit “samey”, mainly the gamespot review.
Everyone here loved it, great glad you did. Im simply stating that I did not find it the perfect masterpiece everyone is proclaiming. The sheer lack of variety in everything is a great problem for me. It restricts the players imagination and how they approach scenarios. How many times in the game did you attempt to distract the AI and flank them? More than likely never, because more often than not you cant. But this was something done loads in the first game.
At the end of the day, the game is far from the perfect masterpiece that everyone is proclaiming. If you remove the name, HL2 and release it by a nobody company, very few would have bought it (even if it was widely available), or hailed it as perfect.
Because perfect it is not, its good, its entertaining, but its not perfect. Worth 45euro everyone to their own. For me no not yet, I intend to play it again, and only use the pistol, grav gun and submachine gun. Perhaps that will challenge me. But we’ll see.
-
I take your point about the gameplay and the lack of flanking manoeuvres, I don’t really agree that this was completely lacking but the game is heavily scripted and sometimes that’s implies tradeoffs and in this case I think they are beautifully managed. Also I think this game would have been a huge success regardless of who released it, although it might have taken a bit longer to achieve that success, but cream has a way of rising ;)
BTW Masterpieces are rarely perfect!
Cheers,
Ian -
Look at Prince of Persia last year, great game loads of fun, but didnt enjoy the success. Good solid story, great puzzles etc. just as well featured as HL2 in many respects, sure the physics were not as well implemented but I thought the time control was a great effect.
HL2 is heavily scripted, so much so that once you learned what was happening you could take as much time preparing as you needed. For example setting up 3 turrets in the prison.
-
But the only way you could know what happens is by getting killed!!! eh!!!! You’re not telling me now that you actually did get killed while playing even on hard are you??? :D
-
I’m glad to see someone actually giving the game some criticism. Every so often a game comes along and is hailed as god-like and anyone who has a bad word to say is shouted down. If these flaws are just glossed over, they’ll be glossed over in the future too.
Its like a movie that you hear so much about how great it is and when you see it, its crap because expectations were so high due to common public opinion. I felt like that playing Halo and its putting me off playing Halo 2 and in a similar way, I’m not that pushed on playing HL2 at the moment. Maybe sometime in the future when the “Oh my god this is definitelly the best game in the world and no one is allowed to argue that point” feeling has died a bit.As for PoP, while it was beautiful, I think there were some serious camera issues with it that hurt it a bit. I think a better example was Beyond Good and Evil. Received much less recognition that PoP, but I felt it was superior ( but somewhat short in game length and had some really annoying music in the races )
-
That prison sequence was a bitch. I’m ashamed to say I had to use God mode to get past it (the soldiers kept rushing in and knocking over the turrets).
On another note, some of you may be interested in seeing the wireframe models of the environments and characters.
Type ‘SV_Cheat 1’ in the console, followed by ‘Map Wireframe 1’. ‘Map Wireframe 0’ to turn it off.
I find it fascinating to study where the polys go (and don’t go) on these models.
Lewis
-
I died a good bit on hard, but usually got past it in the next turn.
-
Just out of interest, Ronan, what’s the Prison secret? Four entrance points, three turrets.
Cover one exit each with a turret, and the last one yourself?
Create a choke-point with a cross-fire in the intersections?
Or simply (and this was my preference), hole up in one of the tiny cells, with all three turrets facing out, and see how many bodies you can pile up at the door??? :)
Needless to say, I will not be winning any Medals for bravery.
Finally, to add one of my only notes of criticism of this extremely polished title:
Some of the scripted sequences emphasised their very scriptedness, by the fact that you couldn’t do anything, even when you wanted (or needed to). For example, when Alex confronted Judith about the doublecross, I stood there pointing my pistol at Judith (it felt like the cinematic thing to do). However, when Alex turned away (duh), and Judith jumped into the teleporter, I instinctively fired at her, to no effect.
Jarringly, I remembered that I was but a spectator, not a participant in this event, my nose pressed hard against the ‘Fourth Wall’.
I still believe, all told, a new quality threshold has been established, at least for this genre. This certainly WASN’T a ‘Phantom Menace’ feeling, for me.
Lewis
-
Placing the turrets all in the coridor doesnt work, the best way I found, and I tested loads of ways. Was to move two of the turrets down into the room where the ammo crate is. Have two of them facing out the doors the smallest arc possible is best. as the AI will simply move into the view of the turrets to try and get a shot.
Side by works very well. Now before you get the third one , which starts off the scripted event. I went and got all the boxes, and barrells and placed them blocking the doors. So the AI cant barge and knock over the turrets. Get the final turret and face it towards the other door. Take either the pulse rifle or shotgun, and stand your ground in the middle between your turrets. Do not use grenades, but rather simply pick off who the turrets dont get. I think the turrets only fell over once for me when I did it this way. So pick them up asap and aim them again.
Just a quick question, has anyone been able to attack any of the core characters? Like crowbarring alex, or the doctors etc? Just wondering, I tried a few shots off alexes head, and just got sparks.
-
…[H]as anyone been able to attack any of the core characters? [/quote:32d1fa6a78]
I was worried about trying it for fear of Valve suspending my account :)
Thanks for the scarily-effective military strategy, Ronan!
-
the bbc has a peice on it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4041289.stmbut surely its been hack by now, so u don’t need to go online? has anyone heard of a hacked releases? it would be great if it was unhackable….
the 4 bleemcast disk have, as not as yet be copied, every other game for the DC has been copied but no one can hack the offical bleemcast disk to this day! a early beta of bleemcast was leaked to the net a year ago or so, that can be copied, but thats its! some of the big companys should get Rand Linden (the creator of bleemcast) to help them with there copy protection systems
btw do u have to connect everytime want to play or just the first time to register?
-
That link seems to be broken…
-
Crytek’s new fizzle:
-
Everytime.
-
Or just the first time, if you select the “play offline” option.
Dave
-
If you remove the name, HL2 and release it by a nobody company, very few would have bought it (even if it was widely available), or hailed it as perfect.[/quote:0b4ef3b36c]
I somehow doubt that very much, that is a crazy statement to make. HL2 reeks of quality, and that quality would have led to excitement and a lot of press coverage and thus, sales. No matter who made the game. Your basically saying that apart from the name and company this game has nothing?
I also don’t remember anybody saying the game was perfect? I have read loads of reviews and have yet to encounter this……maybe you could enlighten me with links?
A game will never be perfect, never. There are always ways to improve things…….so if your waiting for the perfect game…..you will be waiting a long time.Also no-one is saying you can’t give the game any criticism, but the fact that you are in a very large minority should lead us to the conclusion that most of your problems are not with the game, but with what you expected. And maybe you expected too much.
I expected a lot of this game, and I still love it. And I know one of the things I didn’t expect was
“More aliens”
“More guns”
“More enemies”One more thing…….I don’t understand how you can think this game lacks variety???? There are many differant locales, each with differing styles. There are differant gameplay styles: Call of Duty style urban warfare, vehicular combat and HL1 style lonesome battles. There are vehicles, great physics which impact the gameplay(for once), great enemy designs(strider, flying heli thing etc).
More weapons + more enemies doesn’t automatically = More variety. You seem to be overlooking the huge variety that exits in the game simply because you didn’t get more weapons and enemies.
-
-
HL2 I loved, it was an extremely high quality game, with a lot of great features, high production values and put together well with a lot of polish.
That being said, it’s not like they wern’t any problems with it, and unfortunatly, they affected me, especially the ones I hadn’t noticed in Half-Life. I’ll talk about this later when I’m more refreshed but there’s something I need to say first:I think I should mention that we need better grounds for responses to critizism here. If someone is irritated by something in the game, then the critizism should be responded to head on, not excuses made for why the critizism should be ignored. One example is responding to the critizism of easyness by saying the game market is getting more mainstream, another is by responding to any critizism by “hey it’s a good game for 44euro”. One of the reasons we’re here it because we’re interested in learning about game development, and mistakes are a great thing to learn from. How are we going to learn anything from HL2’s problems if we ignore them in favour of the much larger amount of great things?
-
Nooptical you dont seem to be getting my point and to be honest you are acting like every other HL2 fanboy out there.
I dont think the game is crap, I dont think it doesnt deserve the sales what I think is this
The game is very linear
The game is heavily scripted, and you can tell where scripted events are.
There is no variety in the game
No real tactics or thinking towards the completion of tasks/events.
Now if you can tell me one time where you were able to flank the enemy and silently take them down, like you did or could do in hl1?
You tell me how many routes are there to complete certain levels, can you go down different sewer routes and wander through a maze of tunnels sneaking by all enemies and comming around to where your goal is?
Honestly how many weapons do you use? Given infinite ammo for each how many times would you switch weapon, how many times would you honestly move away from the grav gun, pulse rifle and colt ? (Yeah maybe the crossbow)
How many times did the game truly challenge you mentally like the first one.
How many times did you simply do the same thing? (Destroy 2 turrets or kill 3 enemies, as the enemies more often than not come in 3’s except when reinforced, then they may pile up)
What was the difference in style between the Driving and the Boat levels, other than controls and handling?
These are only some of the thousands of questions I asked myself after finishing the game. Quality or not, I still find that HL was a far superior game and I would play it again and again.
And its not so stupid to think that if HL2 came out by a nobody company that it would be overlooked. Because it sure as hell would be like the majority of PC games. You name me all the top PC titles of 2004, and I will tell you at least 20 other quality titles that were released but not recognised by joe soap consumer.
“I thought the amount of enemies was perfect”
-
No come. There are much more tactics involved in 2 than there ever were in 1. If you counldnt flank the enemies in 2 then you were definitely doing something wrong. They are called tactics.
As for no variety, well lets be honest, most fps that come out these days have no variety AT ALL. No ill admit it HL2 doesnt have tons of variety but it has a damn sight more than most other fps’s.
I dont know about you but i utilised every gun in the game to the max. Most of the time i found myself using the pistol or shotgun mmore than the gravity gun or smg.
The joy of this game is doing the stuff that you have done over and over in order to learn form previous iterations.
And then when your faced with a puzzle, i found them much more taxing than in most other games.
-
After reading what has been posted I can honestly say that the majority of posts have valid arguments inthem, however, the majority also have invalid attempts at bottling HL 2 into a specific Demographic. Ronan you are convinced the Game is linear and heavily scripted. That is ofcourse correct, but that is the way the game is meant to be. Thats how the experience is delivered, through Linearity. Do you honestly think that the game would have achieved the same affect with more open ended gameplay?, I doubt it. Nooptical you are so immersed in the gameplay that you fail to notic Ronan’s point, which is fair enough. As it highlights your point that the game is everything you wished it to be, you are happy with it and thats all that matters to you. Boadle you are interested in how the game plays in general and discussing tactics, IE: the prision scene. The very presence of such heated debates obviously concludes the fact that HL 2 is a very accomplished title, if it wasn’t all that it is we would not be discussing such events and topics. In the end though I am Neutral to all the arguments for and against the direction of the game, but if I was forced to make a choice I would have to agree with Noopticals prevous statement, the difference is the combination of great Game design coupled with great Art direction!
-
Can you tell me on what level and where you flanked the enemy, and I will go and do it tonight? And perhaps most impressive is the fact that I got passed the AI without using any flanking.
In HL you could do many ways to beat the grunts, throw a grenade to one side of some boxes, run to another end, and silently crowbar the enemy. Maybe I am mistaken but I did not do this once in HL2. Christ if you can name the level, I could be completly converted, but there is only one level I can think of. where it works.
As for most FPS’s, HALO, HALO2, FAR CRY, Hidden and Dangerous2, Sabre Squadron, Thief3. I’ll post links of more when I get home and look over what I have, but those are the obvious ones that spring to mind.
HL2 is a good game no doubt about it, but for the industry to move forward they cannot set HL2 as a milestone. But rather analysis “Like a Robot” what made the game good, and what can be changed. Do this with all the great games out there, and you will soon realise a whole new perspective of games comes to mind.
Consider this
HL2 level of Environment interactions
HL2 Character interactions
Fables level of openess and character communications
Halo2’s Variety (Weapons and Characters and Vehicles)
Far Cry’s Expansiveness
Far Cry’s Weapon and Vehicle BalanceThese are what I consider some of the great aspects of some games of 2004.
If games are to develop beyond this point, they cannot strive to merely beat HL2 but rather consider all games and discover new ways combining all these factors to suit and expand the game design/concept.
-
Can you tell me on what level and where you flanked the enemy, and I will go and do it tonight? [/quote:23b894c095]
Come on now Ronan, use the grey matter.
-
HL2 level of Environment interactions
HL2 Character interactions
Fables level of openess and character communications
Halo2’s Variety (Weapons and Characters and Vehicles)
Far Cry’s Expansiveness
Far Cry’s Weapon and Vehicle Balance[/quote:fb0f36187c]Suprised you didn’t include a game for level of Story Emmersion.
-
In HL you could do many ways to beat the grunts, throw a grenade to one side of some boxes, run to another end, and silently crowbar the enemy. Maybe I am mistaken but I did not do this once in HL2. Christ if you can name the level, I could be completly converted, but there is only one level I can think of. where it works.
[/quote:fe22b4d05d]There isn’t usually much aggro around here but come on Ronan are you seroius here?, your statement is a direct result of your inability to be inventive within the boundries of the game world. Everything you have stated above can be done within a 20 minutes of play. And more importantly it is key to survival at higher difficultl levels. I honestly cannot see how you have failed to notic oppertunities where you can take advantage of these facilities…
-
Well them name where, and when and if you can post screens. Because I was very inventive about how I played the game, and the ai always reacted the same, Take cover and step out.
-
Firstly, I am not going to name out every location where the possibilty of ‘flanking’ a Shock Trooper is possibly because I would still be here come HL 3. Secondly stop asking the same question over and over Ronan and go home Boot up your PC, turn on HL 2 and start again. Then simply elaborate on your previous efforts and experiment with the game design. Let me even be as bold as to say that you could poosibly Flank a guard without even being in the same vicinity… Ponder over that one if you will. ;)
-
And you dont think I havnt tried, i picked up a can ran over to one of the overwatch at the very start threw it at him, waited for him to follow, did the same to the other guard. Had to gurads running in circles at me, and I still couldnt get in the door which is slightly open and has some civies being questioned.
On the buggy level, with the overwatch in their watch towers before the prison, I had the Bugs try and attack the nearby enemies. I also then forced the bugs out to draw their fire. Then I moved up the side, without being spotted. When I got up their, the enemy who were still firing at the bugs, came out to greet me crouched down with my crow bar. I tried this over and over, and it didnt work no matter how I tried. (And yes I threw loads of those Bug grenades).
The buggy level seems to be the only level that you get the opportunity to flank the enemy, as it presents you with houses to weave in and out of. Later on all levels are restricted to corridors or closed of areas.
When I got the grav gun I shot alot of those explosive barrels in the air and shot them over the head of the enemies trying to flush them out. They didnt move, same with grenades. Lobb a few over try and flush them out, or move them into a position where you can flank them, but that didnt work either. They kept behind the object for a certain amount of time and then moved out.
Now about flanking an enemy not in your vicinity. This is a rather questionable statement. And I would like you to explain your view or idea on this. Because HL2 is heavily scripted and linear. With usually only 1 point of entry and 1 point of exit. With x amount of subroots leading to dead ends or surprises. Since the engine is design in such a way where gameplay is restricted to follow the experience exactly as the creators wanted you are not free to locate an enemy as you were in Far Cry or H&D2 and move around to behind them without them noticing. At very most you are give 400 yards to move in. The next issue with this is the scripting at certain points the Enemy come in, so unless you trigger these events they dont happen. So without the enemies being there, or without knowing they will be there, how do you flank them?
-
I think this discussion is become somewhat circular.
Perhaps we should all accept that this title is a scripted, event triggered game, as is Doom 3, but unlike Far Cry, and revert to considering the merits of both approaches?
Lewis
-
Exactly, its an experience with both its merits and its flaws. As like every other game.
-
its an experience with both its merits and its flaws. As like every other game.[/quote:efed748f28]
Agreed, although I think the consensus (within which I include myself) is that it’s quality threshold within almost all of its components makes it a superior title to its’ peers.
Is that a fair summarisation, Ronan, or would disagree with that?
</General de Chastelain Mode>
-
As I’ve said all along the game is good, and I agree with that. I never fault a good game and claim its crap. I just feel with all the hype surrounding HL2 and all the positive reviews many people overlook what are more negative aspects of the end product. While the experience is great while it lasts. In order for games to evolve people especially developers should be aware of what made the game so good, but equally if not even more so aware of what made the game bad.
These are just some of the negative aspects that I found with the game they were fun, and this was from my own experience, some may see it as nit picking, while others may see some sense behind them. All in all I see it as a crucial step of moving forward with game development. Heck I could do the same with any game, as can most people.
As a whole the HL2 package is good (Mods will make it excellent), certainly up there with the best of them. But with that said, its still a flawed game that can be improved upon to offer even more to the gamer.
-
Gotcha.
Do you think Far Cry is a better game, all told?
-
In some respects yes, it gives you a level of control in outdoor scenes. But the indoor scenes No. But overal they are different games and I dont class one as better thant he other but rather as worth my money. Far Cry was definately. HL2 will be in the long run with mods and expansions and a few more replays. As off now I see hl2 as a worthy investment of both my money and time, but would have preferred more for them, in the long run I expect to get it, but just not now. But steam will need to be drastically improved.
Graphically HL2 is better, but that isnt really what concerns me. As the 2 engines are so different. Vehicles in Far Cry are better, and the weapons are more balanced. As you really needed to consider how you wanted to approach things.
But off course there are its bugs. Such as the AI being able to see you even in really high grass and from long distances. Scripting wasnt as obvious in farcry, but you could still detect it. Far Cry on hard is a challenge.
Halo2 is probably my current favourite game. While its linear and scripted like HL2, there is such a variety in how you can approach things, such as weapon selection, use of vehicles etc. It just makes for an amazing experience. Sure there are loads of problems, especially with shaders, taking a split second to load as you start a scene. And of course niggly bits in the game. The first level was really bad, it just didnt have the pace needed to put somone in the mood to play. But once past that its a very solid game
Doom3 is not a game its an engine, with an expensive tech demo, or so I found. It was a real struggle for me to play that game. Simply because I just wasnt interested.
San Andreas is another, I hate hip hop and R&B so I didnt find myself too intrigued about the game, but once you get past the first 10 – 15 missions, you cant help but feel compelled. Even if the graphics are bad, you respect the fact that the level of interactivity and variety is on such a level that you wonder why no other games ever offered it. Outside of pure RPG that is.
-
Thanks for your response Ronan. Some interesting points there.
Lewis
-
I thought the amount of enemies was perfect[/quote:0245f68243]
….saying that the amount of enemies was perfect isn’t the same as saying the game is perfect.
HL2 level of Environment interactions
HL2 Character interactions
Fables level of openess and character communications
Halo2’s Variety (Weapons and Characters and Vehicles)
Far Cry’s Expansiveness
Far Cry’s Weapon and Vehicle Balance
[/quote:0245f68243]Then you would have a mish-mash of a game. A great game doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to add the good bits of every other game out there. It isn’t a case of saying, lets take a bit of fable, a bit of far cry, an bit of Halo and hey presto now we have a great game.
Half Life isn’t about expansiveness……….
Half Life isn’t about character communications….
Fair point on the vehicle balance.I just feel with all the hype surrounding HL2 and all the positive reviews many people overlook what are more negative aspects of the end product.[/quote:0245f68243]
If someone enjoys the game why should they concentrate on any negatives? The main thing is they enjoy it.
Let me guess, your the type of person who, after watching a movie, pulls apart the plot and tells us about the flaws in the story, and the unrealistic events or characters etc etc ;) -
-
I have to agree with a lot of what monument said in the above post.
Some of your(Ronan) arguments for not liking or wanting to play a game are downright crazy!
Not interested in GTA:SA because you don’t like Hip Hop or R&B…….isn’t that a bit of a cynical view to have??? Sure, its set in an enviroment where Hip Hop is a major part of the culture, but Hip Hop music isn’t exactly the mainstay of the game?You seem to have huge pre-conceptions about games before you play them and as a result when they don’t fit what your pre-conceptions were you feel negatively towards them.
This is evident in your reason for not initially wanting to play GTA:SA and also in your niggles with HL2, of which most are what a lot of people would consider small problems, even if some of those problems exist, which is debatable in my opinion.I will once again draw upon the analogy with movies. When a critic writes about a movie they concentrate on a few main things. The actors and their performances, the director, and the story/plot. These are what make or break a film in the critics mind, and on the whole, in the audiences mind also.
Half-Life 2 has a great story which continues the mystery from the first game and brings it to another level. The characters are great and the performances(animations, voice acting, scripted sequences etc) are amazing. Also the direction of the title is superb with great pacing and great locations and again, great scripting.
Therefore when we look at it from an entertainment point of view it is a great success. And thats what games are afterall, entertainment.I can’t see my enjoyment of HL2 being hugely affected positively if there were a couple more weapon types in the game…..or a few more enemy types……
But whatever floats your boat! :)
-
Firstly I dont rip apart Films, I go to films and expect to take at least one good thing out of it. I go to as many films as I possibly can. When I view a film I dont go by what others think, I go with how I thought the film warranted my time, my interest, my enjoyment and my experience. Some of the best films I have seen this had shit scripts, shit acting, but just suited the mood I was in. Walking tall for example, while others such as the Fog of War or Capturing the Freedmans intrigued me simply because the subject matter was interesting.
As for San Andreas. I bought a PS2 to play the game. And I personnally do not like the R&B, Hip Hop Culture, which this game is clearly based, so initially bein immersed into the game is difficult until I progressed far enough for the game to capture my interest.
Yes I am a Halo fan, while the game has its issues. I enjoyed it, if I were to play it on the PC I would probably dislike it more bcause FPS games are more main stream and the PC has a far better selection.
The control of vehicles is subjective, after all it is only my opinion. I found far cry’s weapons and vehicles to better suited to the game at hand. Making me think about it.
At the end of the day, everything is our own personal opinion. Just because you dont agree with mine, my ideas, or how I determine if I like doesnt mean Im going to change. After all Im the one buying the games, so I can take from them what I wish.
Lets just agree you have your view on it and I have mine. Im glad you enjoyed the game. I personally found that while the game was good, alot more could have been done to enhance the overall experience and thats my own opion. :)
-
Lets just agree you have your view on it and I have mine[/quote:ac67c2b54b]
Amen to that brothers. Group hug. New thread.
-
*laughs at Boadles obvious sigh of relief*
Well it was fun while it lasted…:p
-
BEST.GAME.EVER
-
not sure if you guys have seen this yet or not –
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6112889/great overview of the development of Half-Life 2
There are more ‘Behind The Games’ here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg/index.html … including Half Life itself and Prince of Persia among others
-
Cheers for that Tony,
Excellent insight into their process.BTW did anyone else notice this on the early level concept. page 12: The Cabals Move In?
G-man = Father???
I still think it’s gonna be G-Man = Gordon though! ;)
-
You know, it’s a pity Corporal Sheppard didn’t make an appearance in the game. Having played as him in the Opposing Force addon, it would have been nice to hear some stuff from him.
Originally posted by RonanHayes Just a quick question, has anyone been able to attack any of the core characters? Like crowbarring alex, or the doctors etc? Just wondering, I tried a few shots off alexes head, and just got sparks. [/quote:6b627cc507]
I tried this soon after you suggested this. I started a new game from Black Mesa East. I first tried crowbarring the guy who stands beside Judith at first, but with each swing, absolutely nothing happened. I then tried gunning him with the assault rifle thing. No blood splatters, no groans, no damage, it’s like the bullets are wiped from existance as soon as they hit the character. I soon found this on par for all the other vital NPCs, you can shoot, blast, crowbar and throw at the charactes all you want and they won’t so much as a stutter from their scripted sequence, calmly talking to you while another grenade blows up from between their legs.
I guess this opens up questions about what should happen in these situations. In Half-Life, if you shot a vital NPC you were screwed with no way forward and had to reload a save. With Blue Shift, shooting another guard ended the game with a message about being suspended for wreckless use of a firearm. Here it seems no violent action will have any affect on a scripted NPC. In all fairness it would have been a b***h to program multiple posiblities for scenarios where you kill a vital character, but on the other hand, this approach enfoces the impression that despite being involved in the world, you are merely a spectator and things that happen are specifically meant to happen the way they do. -
Fascinating article Tony. Thankyou for posting it!
Does anyone have any idea about the story aspect of HL2, or is it meant to be vague and somewhat confusing!
I presume we are not meant to know who the G-Man is? Who are the Combine? How are they connected to the first game? I get confused!!!
Gotta love that surreal ending though!
Lewis
PS Also, I heard someone mention that you can play the old HL with the new physics engine? How?
PPS When are we going to get access to the modding kit?
-
-
PPS When are we going to get access to the modding kit? [/quote:e9f3d2a164]
If it’s any good to you, the Source SDK allows you to make Counter-Strike Source maps, I dont know if it does anything more.
-
If it’s any good to you, the Source SDK allows you to make Counter-Strike Source maps, I dont know if it does anything more. [/quote:2f899c754f]
There’s a full SDK release comming soon that will fully support HL2, but if you can’t wait that long this tutorial should let you set up Hammer for HL2 editing ahead of time: http://halflife2.filefront.com/news/;13936I’ve played a little Half Life: Source and can tell you that visually it seems virtually identical to the original Half Life, same models, textures, level design etc. Some of the effects are slightly different now though. I didn’t play past the cascade failure though so I didn’t see how the physics were. HL:S is more meant to be proof of concept for porting then a complete remake.
As for the storyline, yes, I did find it vague and unclear in parts, even with the reading of newspaper clippings and even though some parts of the story such as how much time has passed and what Freeman is doing in City 17, are meant to be unclear. Fortunatly, after finishing the game I found this review that cleared up a lot of plot points for me: http://fanmade.emulationzone.org/blazefire/index.php?content=txtreader&txtid=Half-Life_2_Review.txt
-
Thanks guys…
-
The story thus far:
(May Contain Spoilers)Half-life 1: Gordon Freeman kills Nihilanth, freeing the Xen from the Combine and alerting the Combine of Earth. This Xenian was the leader of the Vortigaunts, and now the Vortigaunts are free. But now, however, the Combine have discovered Gordon Freeman’s presence on Xen and the portal he came through. The Combine discover the existence of Earth and plan an invasion of it.
Gordon is Hired – At the end of Half-Life G-Man gives Gordon a choice between his death or working for the G-Man. Half-Life 2 assumes you chose life over death. After you choose to work for him G-Man puts you in a slow-time-warp (i.e., you are put into stasis) to call upon you when needed.
The combine attack and utter chaos erupts on Earth. A huge population shift occurs as people move into the cities, protected by soldiers as they try to escape the monsters. A feeling of safety comes over the people of Earth, as they can once again live normal lives within the confines of the cities, as the aliens continue to infest the outside world.
Using the Xen-Earth portals as transport gateways, The Combine launches a multi-pronged, all-out assault on the entire Earth.
Also, while fighting each other, the humans and Combine also have the threat of the Xenian monsters who are not under the control of the Combine anymore. The freed Vortigaunts ally with the rebel forces, wanting revenge against the Combine. The headcrabs, being headcrabs, just attack anyone they can find.In a war lasting only seven hours, the Combine annihilates Earth. Dr. Wallace Breen, the old Administrator of Black Mesa arranges and manages Earth’s formal surrender to the Combine and in return for his actions the Combine allow him to become the Administrator of the Overwatch. Therefore, Breen is made the species-specific leader (Like Nihilanth in Xen). This helps propagate the lie that the enslavement of humans is a good thing. Most of the major population centres of Earth are destroyed. People move into the country, spreading out to avoid Combine capture.
The remaining populated areas are named City 1, City 2… City 17, City 27, etc and are placed under control of the Combine, who are establishing a huge presence on Earth.
The main Citadel is established in City 17. Other Citadels appear in other cities, seemingly out of thin air. These huge structures are home to Combine control centres. Combine armies are produced here as well as vehicles and armaments.
Wallace Breen takes residence in its top floor of City 17, Citadel, attempting to quell the rebels. Part of his plan is to also persue a psychological game with the remaining citizens of Earth, assuring them that the Combine takeover is in the humans’ best interests. In fact, we have reason to believe that he actually might believe his own lies – he is so deranged with his contact with the Combine that he actually believes that the conquest of Earth is in humanity’s best interest.
One can only assume that Wallace Breen understands that the Combine will eradicate all of humanity one way or another. In order to save his own life he surrenders all of Earth in exchange for the sparing of his life. Thus, he brokers a deal with the Combine: if he can deliver Earth to the Combine Overlord, he can be transported safely away from Earth in a Combine portal. Until then, it is up to him to quell the rebels using the Combine-Hybrid forces until Earth is suitable for Combine inhabitation.
This sparks a massive revolution among citizens, who begin a much larger rebellion than before. Chaos erupts in City 17 as Wallace Breen and the Combine Overwatch try frantically to end the spreading revolution, and the Citadel is put into full attack mode, with Combine soldiers flooding the streets. G-man helps Gordon when necessary..
Why me thinks?!In the end, Gordon ended the rule of the Combine on Earth, and struck his second serious blow against the Combine, showing them that both humans have strength to fight a mighty empire and that the Combine are not all-powerful. Humanity once again is free for the time being.
A word about G-man: I believe that he is an agent of an interstellar rebel alliance (assuming a human form), seeking to try to break down the ruthless Combine empire, an empire which I believe existed far before the events of HL1. This rebel force has incredible technology to be able to control time in the way G-Man does. G-Man lures the Combine to Earth by causing the resonance cascade. Perhaps he wants to use Earth as a battleground to distract the Combine from events we are not aware of. Perhaps he realizes that Gordon Freeman is the only one who can defeat the Combine empire, and keeps him on call for this sort of thing.
There is also talk that G-man is in fact Gordon Freeman in the future.. HHmm.. Food for thought anyways!
Right, im all out (gasp)Cant wait for the 3rd installment! :)
-
Spot the G-Man
Just wondering all the locations everyone spotted the GMan.
So far
2 Prior to these but cant remember
Barn while you are in Boat
Observation DeckOh and I found this handy site :eek:
http://members.shaw.ca/storage_4/hl2story/ -
yeah its a cool site, thats where i got the long story from above. An interesting pic of combine, man and ape towards the bottom. G-man appears in at least 7 scenes at least.
monitor, in kleiners lab, RED LETTER DAY
On tv in red carraige, ROUTE KANAL
Pier, WATER HAZARD
Flickering giant monitor on high rise building WATER HAZARD
Train tunnel WE DONT GO TO RAVENHOLM
Monitor screen NOVA PROSPECT
Tv in tenement block ANTICITEZEN ONEDying to know what role he plays
-
BTW, anybody got any idea what the “suprise for the community” might be, as stated on steam?
The Ati levels are a possibility, but lets hope its something great like an extra chapter for HL2.. Well one can only hope..
-
BTW, anybody got any idea what the “suprise for the community” might be, as stated on steam?[/quote:cecefc450b]
Valve admitting that Steam is utter nonsense?
-
Valve admitting that Steam is utter nonsense? [/quote:f3a56ba4d4]
Has anyone actually had any problems with Steam since Valve released an update?
Oh, by the way, G-Man sighting list of HL2 http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182302
-
Has anyone actually had any problems with Steam since Valve released an update?
Oh, by the way, G-Man sighting list of HL2 http://www.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182302 [/quote:bb3ed31c90]
Me!, and about 200.000 other people, check out the Steam forums for a good old laugh. Dunno about now but when HL 2 was released nearlly every thread was a topic concerning “I can’t start steam”. well, anyhow my copy has since ceased to work period so a big Fuck you to Valve and their half arsed Steam!
-
Steam probably recognised you were playing Halo 2 and got grumpy…
-
Oh and….longest thread ever…
-
What? You mean it beats my ‘Introductions’???
GRRRRRR!
-
Jeeze those Half-Life fans can argue!!!!!! :D
-
What? You mean it beats my ‘Introductions’???
GRRRRRR! [/quote:5b2b0d1ea3]
Nope, beat my “innovation is a myth” thread. Am going to have to start posting random controversial crap again now in an attempt to win it back!Dave
-
Don’t worry Dave, I’ll help you out :)
-
Turned on my PC this morning to start a large bit torrent download, and was prompted by Steam to download the SDK.
Yaaaay! It’s released. Let the modding begin.
Lewis
-
Am going to have to start posting random controversial crap again now in an attempt to win it back![/quote:61deec2670] WHAT?! You mean you had stopped?!!!
-
Yup, now I just post sarky one liners…
-
-
i admire your restraint, Dave… perhaps those surly country folk you currently live amongst have had an influence…
-
As you know Tony, we are both missionaries, travelling to far away lands to educate and order the heathen masses. Though the sacrifice may be great, we do it to spread our wisdom and benevolence to those less fortunate then us.
Dave
-
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and SDK Update:
http://steampowered.com/img/HL2DM.jpg
http://steampowered.com/index.php?area=news&id=364
That’ll be fun, toilet seats flying everywhere..!!
-
Though the sacrifice may be great, we do it to spread our wisdom and benevolence to those less fortunate then us. [/quote:8fa740b4ab] yes, and toilet paper…
-
Are you trying to suggest something? Or is there a story none of us want to hear about?
-
Oooohhhh it’s nice!!!! I just had a quick look at it!!! great fun indeed!
nicey nice!
Toilets + Gravity Gun = Fun
-
Jaysus I only got around to grabbing a copy of half-life at the weekend, finished HALO 2 but set up on System Link and got majorly pissed off gettin’ drubbed by my 11 year old and his mates in slayer pro (I know, he’s offically too young to play – but they are thee future and they’re all shit hot) that was until herself indoors got majorly pissed off with ‘excessive gaming’ round the house.
You know I think I might become one of the first generation of fathers that try to graft/impose his ambitons on his sons to become professional gamers – not footballers.
Anyway had to covertly load Half-life to keep the peace,so went through all that Steam baloney on broadband, fairly painless, I have a fairly ok machine – Duel pentium 4’s – 3 Ghz each, 1 GB RAM, pretty hefty graphics card, so the thang looks drop dead excellent, only thing is – boy does it take an age to load an area, like I mean – what’s the jackanory here ? I used to work on FS so I got plenty used to waiting but this was like just tooooooooooooo long for the hardware and memory I got – I read the entire thread here & really enjoyed the ‘frank exchange of views, my fav quote being:
anyhow my copy has since ceased to work period so a big Fuck you to Valve and their half arsed Steam![/quote:d7df31f5cf]
Nope not laughing, just kinda getting around to the why is this now taking so long – I don’t wanta talk to the coffee cup holder advisors but I’ll be dammed if I’m gonna feck up my machine to speed HL2 up. Did I miss something about optimisation on the orange page I chucked in the bin ?
-
Glad I could amuse you CleverCelt, always a pleasure to be Mr Comic relief.
*Mutters something about Valve again*
-
Ok I just finished it again last night. And I must say second time round it was better. No steam hassles :)
But I would put it down to many things. Firstly the story was crap when I played it first because I had so many unanswered questions I didnt even know where to begin
http://members.shaw.ca/storage_4/hl2story/
Clears most things up, and I only wish valve included something more than that dumb orange slip.
Heck even if the manual was vague.
Copyright Info
Index
Controls
Plot
Brief explanation of Black Mesa (For those who didnt play hl1, or never finished it) followed by. 10 years later Gordon Freeman continues his journey. Or something. Just anything other than that dumb orange thing.MP modes
and finally credits
Anyway, on second playing, the AI is still as thick as mud. Scripting is still obvious. The world itself is great, the graphics are still pretty good, but at the same time in certain areas they are shite, where they used textures not upto par with some other areas.
But my biggest problem this time round is not the varied gameplay because I knew exactly what I was getting. But rather the lack of interaction. Now I know this will probably start GD Wars3, but fuck it. The level of interaction between you and the other AI is shit. Sorry, but after fancy graphics and physics which i are excellent for the most part (some bugs stacking objects), the Friendly interaction is rather poor (between you and your allies). In hl1 when a scientist was ranting on about something you could simply crowbar them. So basically any character that has a friendly word to say to you this time round, You cant touch them. Its a minor thing and doesnt ruin the game, but it would be nice to be able to get up to the same mishief as in HL and have allies running away scared that you would kill them. Or gathering a group of them together, and playing radiator bowling!!
I read all about the GMan this time, and must say as a character I am really impressed (Probably the coolest game character in some time), I just hope they dont pull a matrix on it. Have an epic first game, a rather vague and confusing second game (while good, just hard to see how it all fits together, leaving you wanting more), followed by a totally off the wall thrid game, that has no coherent link to the other 2 films other than the name, and some crazy characters in all out war. (As you can tell Im not a matrix fan either, first one was great, and I mean great but the others just dont seem worth it, mainly because the 3rd one was just pants, and really didnt work all that well as far as I was concerned).
Anyway GMan is a really cool character, much like cancer dude from XFiles. I have my own opinions on where the story is going, and I dont see GMan as anything more than a Government agent, putting Freeman to work, testing him in HL as a worthy weapon (contract), followed by a show of true power in 2. Notice how scared breen was when freeman appeared in his office. I think that GMan follows Freeman (Usually 2 steps ahead, informing allies to expect him, maybe even setting up enemies against him just to test him)
Anyway, all the bugs are still there, and I feel the game could have been more varied, if only by adding 2 more different weapons or more routes through levels, although there are lots of little distractions that add to it. Yet knowing teh story, and knowing what to expect its a much better experience. I probably should have read all about hl2 while waiting for steam to work:D
Had some crazy fun with the Grav gun, ironically the most powerfull weapon is a radiator. Knocked out 3 overwatch with that bad boy. As well as killing a few birds.
-
Boadle <—— Runs for cover
-
gettin’ drubbed by my 11 year old and his mates in slayer pro (I know, he’s offically too young to play [/quote:de1e25c1c5]
Tut tut!!
But I guess, at least you know what it is your child is playing rather than parents who just buy GTA for their child and then complain months later when they hear on the new that is actually involves *shocker* voilence! -
You mean GTA doesnt stand for Great Teaching Aid, and you mean that there isnt a Great Teaching Aid available for Vice City or Sand Andreas. *Looks at map* I can find San Andreas but where is Vice City hmmmmmm. I think these damn kids are up to something these days……
I read the best one in the paper 2 weeks ago. Halo2 and HL2 have been listed up there by some papers as being as violent, as GTA Series, and as Postal, DOOM3 and even Hitman series. I thought this was nuts. Halo2 is kinda comical in appearance, and hl2 is SCI FI based, something which is usually rated less in certificate forms, than that of real world based games/movies. Hmmmmm strange.
-
If there is killing and especially if its got blood, then its rated violent. Until the stigma that video games are toys for kids is abolished, this is the way its going to be.
-
:rolleyes:
Stupid Parents, driven by stupid media. The game says 18’s on the box. You dont go showing your 8 year old porn. So why let them play a game that is rated 18, unless you are willing to accept the responsibility.
When I have kids, and they want a game like GTA I will buy it for them if I feel they are of an appropriate age, and I will sit down and play it with them. Its a lot better than them playing it with their friends or doing who knows what else.
Parents should stop shifting their own responsibility onto the Government, or shops and start raising their own children, with an active participation in their lives. Ohhh and family dinners are not bought in McDonalds or Burger King (While Im on the topic :eek: )
-
So in short.
HL2 good, Halo2 good, GTA good, Parents bad (For the most part).
-
But at least the government has started shifting the blame away from the developers and on to the retailers not complying with the law these days.
But yes I agree, main responsibility lies with the parents and I also agree that I’d allow my kids play a game if I felt that they were mature enough for it -
But if it was a good game, they wouldn’t get to play it, cos it’d be my go :)
-
Definitely great news this week! The media has grown a brain???? Hardly!!!!
Game Industry lobby groups are better funded than ever and it’s obviously doing the trick ;)
-
Now ye lot!
Call yourselves Half-Life 2 fans, check out what this REAL fan was busy doing while ye were all busy jabbering:
-
In one way its very cool.
In another, its very sad.
And I certainly wouldn’t one to be using that mouse or keyboard!! -
he could be on to sometime there – or on something – obviously something, the effects of which, last at least several hours. wonder if he has plans to create one for Mario Party 6. eh no I don’t actually.
-
I have a fairly ok machine – Duel pentium 4’s – 3 Ghz each, 1 GB RAM, pretty hefty graphics card, so the thang looks drop dead excellent, only thing is – boy does it take an age to load an area, like I mean – what’s the jackanory here ? I used to work on FS so I got plenty used to waiting but this was like just tooooooooooooo long for the hardware and memory[/quote:cd8dc1e438]
i have the same problem….start up time takes forever on my xp machine…which is 3ghz, half gig ram, and 128 meg graphics card….but when i load it on my 2000 machine which is 1ghz and a 64 meg card, loading time is minimised! any one else have this problem, know of a fix?
-
I have a worse problem. The CD clicks and clacks in the drive, and 4 out of 5 times the game won’t start. I get a message saying the game is unavailable.
Furthermore, the CD seems to have scratched itself in the drive. This has been a problem since day one. Rebooting and retrying will sometimes solve the problem, but not always so. It feels like something ‘physical’, but no other CDs or DVDs cause this problem. The disc does not appear to be a different size, weight to others, and doesn’t seem to be warped.
I’m using a ASUS DVD drive.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Lewis
-
Any ideas?[/quote:07ba059cbf]
Use Steam :D
-
-
Putting my DVD in the fridge for half an hour seemed to help it. No idea why, though!
-
how did u think of putting it in the fridge me wonders……
-
I think I read something about it years ago.
My friend came over, and we messed around with Half Life 2. He was suitably blown away, but managed to fall off the top Citadel platform just as the end ‘cut-scene’ was about to kick-in, effectively ‘breaking’ his progress.
He delighted in the Uber-Gravity Gun, as did we all…
Lewis
-
You know, if anyone is still looking for the CD edition of Half-Life 2, I saw it on sale in Mr. Calculator in Duke St.
Steam was still fine for me though.
-
Geez, Finally recieved our copy of HL2 from work.. T’was about time too!
….Now all I need is broadband!
-
very cool
-
- The forum ‘General Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.