Half-Life 2 Review

Ambush Bug · Post by **Ambush Bug** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:26 pm

Ahhhh, Half-Life 2. It's hard to know where to begin, writing about this game. Perhaps I'll start off with my method of purchase. When Valve first announced Steam, I was more than a bit skeptical. it didn't seem to me that there would ever be enough bandwidth for something of that scope, nor did it seem like any publisher would stand idle while they were neatly bypassed. Bandwidth turned out to not be a problem, as you'll read, though Sierra decided to get all antsy about the release. I was also a bit worked up about the possibility of not owning the media for the game. Being a geek, when the time came for the release of HL2, I went whole-hog and got with the Steam program. About a month ago, I installed Steam. I was pleasantly surprised when it picked up my old HL1 install and converted everything ever. Then the HL2 preloads started, and those went well. Not uber-fast, but very steadily, with hardly any outages. I figured I'd give the purchase of HL2 over Steam a try, and I must say, it was a very pleasant and easy experience. I clicked the HL2 icon in the Steam list of games, chose the package I wanted, and went through what was quite possibly the easiest-to-use credit-card purchase system I've seen short of Essential Computers. Valve thanked me for my purchase, and I waited for the magic hour of release. 2 AM my time on the 16th, the HL2 icon went from 'coming soon' to 'available' in the Steam list. I clicked it, and waited for about five or so minutes while Steam decrypted all the files it had preloaded. Then the game started. Now, as for the game itself, there's only one glaring flaw with it, and that would be the sound system. More specifically, there's something wrong with dialogue preloading and playing, and sounds will get stuttery and choppy when one turns a corner in a map, or opens a door to a large area. This has been acknowledge by Valve, and they are looking into a fix for it. The issue is widespread enough across various hardware platforms that it doesn't seem to be the fault of any one particular type of soundcard or motherboard. Aside from this one bug, HL2 is, on my system, flawless. I encountered no other bugs in the game during my play-through (yes, I beat it, but on Easy, 'cause I'm all for the plot. Cool moves on Hard come later, once I've digested the story). Graphically, HL2 is quite amazing. It doesn't have quite the 'blood and guts' detail that Doom 3 threw at its users. I had my settings on medium world/texture/model detail, and that didn't seem to take away from the gameplay experience or the immersion at all. It's kind of hard to explain, really, but the visuals in HL2 are, when viewed very close up, obviously computer graphics for a game. However, when you take in the whole scene at once, there is no question of where you are as far as setting goes, nor is there any difficulty in suspending your disbelief and getting sucked into the world. The oppression of City 17 just oozes out of the monitor. Sound-wise, apart from the glaring bug I mentioned previously, HL2's sound is most impressive. Every enemy has their own signature sound (you will learn to dread a particular soft, rattling series of breaths when you're exploring old houses, trust me), said sounds usually either telling you said enemy is in the area, or occuring soon enough to give you just enough time to react if you're quick on your feet. Voice acting is overall very good (particularly Eli Vance and Barney), though there were a couple of spots where Alyx could have been a little bit more inspired. And, holy-of-holies, there are both real subtitles and closed captioning for the entire game. Yes, closed captioning, which covers not only dialogue, but environmental sounds as well. I can't comment on the music, though, as it suffered the most from the sound-stutter bug. One really impressive detail is that if you're too close to a large explosion (barrel, RPG, grenade and such), you are deafened for a bit. Not you, the player, but Gordon. Your hearing comes back after a moment, presumably since the HEV suit has audio filtration. There isn't much to say about the in-game HUD, namely because it's good. Really good. It's a revamp of the HL1 suit HUD, and works and looks almost exactly the same. There's health and ammo bars around your reticle, and the numbers have gotten bigger, but that's about it. The HUD is clear, concise, and best of all visible at all times, no matter what background it's against. If there's one thing missing, it's the little ammo-bars that appeared in the HL1 weapon-list (they showed you current/max ammo in graphical form for all weapons in a category when that category was selected). As for the gameplay, in a word, it's sublime. Pacing is excellent. Not once did I ever actually run completely out of ammunition, but there were plenty of occaisions where I got good and close to it before running across a well-placed weapons cache. Speaking of weapons caches, placement is much better than HL1--not that HL1's placement was bad, but HL2's is better. You usually find new weapons when you need them, and in 'realistic' situations. Example: When you run into the gunships for the first time, you happen across a cache of your allies that are just learning about the new RPG's they smuggled out of the city, which you then recieve after a breifing on how to use it to take down the gunship. The puzzles are excellent. Really excellent. The new physics engine allows for some really cool puzzles (example: putting barrels under a hinged ramp to lift it up so you can use it to jump a gap in your airboat), and best of all, the puzzles make sense. Not once did I run into a puzzle that seemed to be placed there for the heck of it. Enemy AI is very good, a few steps up from HL1's. I've been flanked, flushed out of cover, driven into dead-ends, had the enemy change their attack range depending on what I threw at them, and a myriad of other impressive displays. Granted, the AI isn't up to what was initially promised at E3 (remember the bit about the strider finding you by looking through a keyhole?), but it's still good. The story is perhaps the hardest part to quantify, mainly because I'm still digesting it. Since Gordon never says anything (as in HL1), you have to learn the story by either experiencing it or inferring it. It would have been nice to have a 'grab nearest person and scream WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!? button', but I digress. Listening closely to public announcements, reading newspaper headlines, eavedropping on conversation, and putting together clues from what your allies say, that's how you figure out what's going on. This is not to say that your objectives are unclear; you are usually well-directed on what to do next. It's the background story you have to infer, and what I've been able to piece together is quite disturbing, in a 'good storytelling' fashion. The ending, by the way, is a cliffhanger. Not that I wasn't expecting this (Valve straight-out said it would be), but I did want a bit more closure. That'll have to wait till HL3, and I'll say right now that there had better be a nice long explanation of what the hell happened. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"> The journey getting to the ending was a grand one, though, and one I'll probably be going through a few times in the coming years. Oh, and as an added bonus, Xen-style jumping puzzles are a thing of the past. Yes, there are a couple of jumping puzzles, but they are nowhere near as offensive as the Xen ones of HL1. I even found them plausible and enjoyable, which is a rarity for me. Overall, Half-Life 2 is a great game. I wish there was deathmatch multiplayer, but that'll come quick enough through the modding community. Valve saved themselves a lot of trouble by making CS the default multiplayer. Oh yes, one last thing. The Colt Python is back. Damn, that is one fine pistol. Still my favorite Half-Life weapon. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)">

Scorch · Post by **Scorch** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:07 am

Just beat the game myself. I am amazed by the physics and all the cool stuff you can do. I do believe I will need to go back and exlore some areas better just to see the cool stuff. I think bug covered everything. I don't think I am willing to wait 6 years or whatever for Half-life 3 to find out the complete story. I'l willing to stand for an expansion pack that explains everything And yes that sound bug does get annoying.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 1:00 pm

I appreciate the review, Bug. Personally I'm in no hurry to buy it, though I'm sure I'll get it at some point. (I did enjoy HL!) This has one advantage of letting me play the patched version. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)">

Scorch · Post by **Scorch** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 8:02 pm

I do wish there were more weapons, I know at somepoint I could of used some laser trip mines or the old det packs, but they weren't in the game, oh I know there was the hopper things, but you couldn't easily carry them around as they blocked a good portion of what was directly infront of you. Now that I really think about it I could of used a sniper rifle as well, I know they were in the game because I was shot several times by them, but I never found one myself. So I assume it was a combine weapon only?

Ambush Bug · Post by **Ambush Bug** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:25 am

The crossbow makes a comeback, Scorch. Look for it during the buggy sequence, when you come to a bridge that's blocked off at the far end with a blue Combine shield, while the near-end curve has a busted-up semi-truck in the road. It's up on the little hill to the right that overlooks the bridge.

Atheist · Post by **Atheist** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:44 pm

I *loved* the crossbow. Especially with the physics engine. You pin guys to walls. It's hillarious... and they flop around.

Half-Life 2 Review

Half-Life 2 Review

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