Best 3 hours of gaming EVER--Period. Lives up to the expectations and then some.
I played from 3:20am to 6:00am EST. I am taking a break because I am tired and hungry
I was not expecting this. GameSpot had no clue what they are talking about--IGN, PC Gamer, GameInformer, Edge, and all the others had it right. Best FPS ever.
How can I say that after 3 hours?
Simple: Total immersion.
You FEEL like you are in City 17. EVERY detail has been strenously planned and laid out. The placement of health, enemies, new weapons, etc... is amazingly good.
The detail is truly amazing, and this is because of the engine. The graphics engine is a suprise--It is not dated at all. It is up there with Doom3 and FarCry EASILY. The art style and the engine are married perfectly which makes it the PRETTIEST game I have ever played. The animations and jestures are very lifelike, the lip sync is incredible. Wow--all I can say.
But the sound does as much for immersion. I have an Audigy 2 ZS and the 5.1 sound is excellent. And there are a ton of nuances, like when under water things sound different. The music hits just right and everything has a great sound.
The AI of the Combine is great. They flank, they take cover, they work together as pairs covering for eachother while the other reloads--great stuff. The scripting is also excellent. The characters are so real that you really feel like you are there. The immersion makes the game very welcoming.
The airboat is great and has a lot of neat little "tricks" you need to watch for. LOTS and LOTS of puzzles so far--but not dumb ones. They actually make sense and are a NATURAL extension of the game. My favorite part so far is the first 30 minutes when you FEEL the oppression of City 17.
I would love to say more, but I do not want to give away spoilers or ruin the game for anyone. This is the first game that made me FEEL like I was in a movie--HL2 is not just a game, but an experience. I usually HATE single player games but they are so boring, repetitive, and the enemies are dumb and uninteresting. HL2 really avoids all those pitfalls and plays out as a great action movie sequence set in a Sci Fi setting.
For any of you who were worried about the GameSpot review, don't be. The game lives up to the hype and actually exceeded my expectations.
My only suggestion is that if you are pretty good at gaming, do it on hard. I am finding normal a little too easy. I have only died 2x, and both times were because I tried to out gun a large number of combine when there was an easier solution. There is a lot of health refilling stations, so if you are a good FPS type who gets headshots easily then go Hard.
Now go play, be immersed, and enjoy the EXPERIENCE HL2 is.
I played from 3:20am to 6:00am EST. I am taking a break because I am tired and hungry
I was not expecting this. GameSpot had no clue what they are talking about--IGN, PC Gamer, GameInformer, Edge, and all the others had it right. Best FPS ever.
How can I say that after 3 hours?
Simple: Total immersion.
You FEEL like you are in City 17. EVERY detail has been strenously planned and laid out. The placement of health, enemies, new weapons, etc... is amazingly good.
The detail is truly amazing, and this is because of the engine. The graphics engine is a suprise--It is not dated at all. It is up there with Doom3 and FarCry EASILY. The art style and the engine are married perfectly which makes it the PRETTIEST game I have ever played. The animations and jestures are very lifelike, the lip sync is incredible. Wow--all I can say.
But the sound does as much for immersion. I have an Audigy 2 ZS and the 5.1 sound is excellent. And there are a ton of nuances, like when under water things sound different. The music hits just right and everything has a great sound.
The AI of the Combine is great. They flank, they take cover, they work together as pairs covering for eachother while the other reloads--great stuff. The scripting is also excellent. The characters are so real that you really feel like you are there. The immersion makes the game very welcoming.
The airboat is great and has a lot of neat little "tricks" you need to watch for. LOTS and LOTS of puzzles so far--but not dumb ones. They actually make sense and are a NATURAL extension of the game. My favorite part so far is the first 30 minutes when you FEEL the oppression of City 17.
I would love to say more, but I do not want to give away spoilers or ruin the game for anyone. This is the first game that made me FEEL like I was in a movie--HL2 is not just a game, but an experience. I usually HATE single player games but they are so boring, repetitive, and the enemies are dumb and uninteresting. HL2 really avoids all those pitfalls and plays out as a great action movie sequence set in a Sci Fi setting.
For any of you who were worried about the GameSpot review, don't be. The game lives up to the hype and actually exceeded my expectations.
My only suggestion is that if you are pretty good at gaming, do it on hard. I am finding normal a little too easy. I have only died 2x, and both times were because I tried to out gun a large number of combine when there was an easier solution. There is a lot of health refilling stations, so if you are a good FPS type who gets headshots easily then go Hard.
Now go play, be immersed, and enjoy the EXPERIENCE HL2 is.
