Half-Life 2

  On 7/23/2009 at 12:15 AM, david said:

  On 7/22/2009 at 11:39 PM, Hautlle said:

I have just been getting back into Day of Defeat:Source. I missed playing it so much. I'm kind of suprised at the following it still has. No where close to CS but still pretty good. Anyone else play?

 

me me i do

hey if you still play add me up on steam! my account name is hautlle and player name is SticKy Gr33n can't remember which one you need =)

I think we can all agree that the main part of half life 2 being great is that it's the most movie-like game out. I enjoy playing it because I'm in the story, I want to know what happens next..

I just hope that other game developers realise this is a good way to go because I'd love to play a game with such an amazing back end story that it forces me to play. Half life 2 was great at this and I especially enjoyed the environments .. it made you feel like you were there, but of course it could be even better where the game play isn't necessarily always about killing the bugs.

Thats the same reason I like metal gear solid series. Except I think metal gear solid (1/2/3) is even more enjoyable as a story. Do I have long to go in episode 2? I'm at the point where we are driving and alyx says "those towers! I think thats white forest, well, we are close enough that we can go on foot if we need to." Theres like, water, and shit. I just killed the gates and the 3 hunters in the little farmhouse. Can somebody explain why episode 2 is so great, I am missing something, is the best yet to come? I just can't imagine how I can be blown away by EP2 when so much other awesome stuff happened in HL2. The huge zombie level, the detail of the citidel, the enhanced gravity gun, fighting striders for the first time, fighting gunships for the first time, that scene when you are driving the hovercraft and that huge smoketower falls into the river.

IIRC you're about 3/4 of the way through the game. In my eyes this one is like the Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy in tone (except for I've only ever seen the Star Wars trilogy once and didn't actually like it so this analogy is rather pointless). I actually preferred Ep.1 to Ep.2 (though the ending of this one is pretty darn good)

seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo

i think it's pretty bloody impressive for $5000

  On 7/22/2009 at 11:59 PM, Wall Bird said:

I also wanted to touch on the first Half Life. What I really enjoyed about this game is the sense it gives the player of taking a creative path through the facility. As Lumenprol said, the game is a linear adventure that gives the illusion of being non-linear. As you make your way through the Black Mesa facility you are doing so by climbing up obscure ledges and around obstacles that you always kind of feel are not the way that the level designers intended you to proceed it. The brilliance of this design, though, is that these are often the only way that you can actually get to the next place, yet they feel natural enough without obviously being the correct way to do things. It is for this reason that I feel HL and HL2 have some of the best and most fun level design around.

yeah, you'll never hear me criticize half life level design, it is truly among the very best in the industry. Back when Half Life came out I became obsessed with the level design and Dario Casali in particular, he struck me as being the genius behind it. In HL1 the Black Mesa facility *is* the main character, and the way they made all the parts feel like they were all related parts of a massive complex is just brilliant. I think that, and the freshness of all of it - the variety of creatures, the playful dark humor (almost entirely absent from the more serious follow-ups) make it the superior installment in my mind.

  On 7/23/2009 at 12:14 AM, The Overlook said:

 

In HL2, you have the classic run-n-gun combat where impeding enemies with strategic aiming would make the game incredibly easy. However, I think there has to be a happy medium. They could make up for the difference in HL2 with improved movement and aim from the AI. Nonetheless, it's more fun to kill enemies with the physics of the game. Eg. In Ravenholm, ammo is sparse so it's very important to kill as many enemies with physic as possible (flame barrels, canisters, the preacher's traps, etc.)

AI was better in HL1 than in 2, I think they just broke it somehow. The pathing nodes clearly worked *much* better in HL1. If you recall fighting the military grunts in HL1 was crazy fun, the way they would run from cover to cover.

I agree with this, I love all the Half Life games but the first time you fight grunts in HL1 was so awesome. That desert level near the end that is almost all grunts is prob my favorite level of all the games as well. There was a great part in Opposing Force where you fought female assassins that were fast as fuck and would dash from cover to cover and just snipe at you. Awesome battle, one of the most challenging and fun in the series.

actually the first female assassin battle was in HL1, right before you are captured and thrown in the trash compactor.

And yeah, there are few things more satisfying than hearing the pitter-patter of their little feet, followed by the blast of your magnum and seeing them splay out with their legs wide, lol.

I'm excited to find out if the portal gun will make it into the HL series somehow. I have a feeling it might be important in episode 3. Apparently the portal developement team had to consult with half-life story developers to make sure it would believabley take place within the same world.

  On 7/23/2009 at 4:16 AM, lumpenprol said:

actually the first female assassin battle was in HL1, right before you are captured and thrown in the trash compactor.

 

And yeah, there are few things more satisfying than hearing the pitter-patter of their little feet, followed by the blast of your magnum and seeing them splay out with their legs wide, lol.

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure there was another assassin part in Opposing Force but yeah you're right.

  On 7/23/2009 at 4:22 AM, six said:

 

 

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure there was another assassin part in Opposing Force but yeah you're right.

yeah now that I think about it I believe you're right; I remember an extended sequence with both male and female assassins, in a factor with boxes on clamps whizzing by...

just finished EP2. Pretty good ending, but mainly because it makes you really want to play EP3.

just finished Prelude.. it was fun overall and challenging as expected. some parts more frustrating though as it requires allot of patience and a little luck to pull of some of the puzzles

also the story based gameplay after the last chamber I didn't care for and the final boss was just annoying

Great comment about the damage feedback. Euphoria is where it's at. GTA IV hasn't completely nailed the damage feedback in multiplayer gameplay and some of the action sequences. But it's a huge leap forward from the traditional animation systems.