First Impression: Dissapointed

[Absinthe]

Feels shit to be mostly alone on this opinion as I wonder what the world is made up of - maybe everyone already exists in a similar world to half life and has to conform with popular opinion to fit in..

Or maybe the game is just fine.

And you suck.

Or whatever.

 

[SkylineGT-R34]

Only little kids would be disappointed in HL2, but it doesnt matter what those kids think, the truth is that HL2 is the best game that was ever created.

 

[JumpyJim]

I thought I was the only one who felt this way about Half Life 2.

Sharpfish, your absolutely bang on concerning the overall failings of the game. I had hoped for so much more.

 

[DarkStar]

Any FPS fan that is dissapointed with HL2 should really consider looking into a new genre. Really. It just doesn't get better than this.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

this game just makes me feel sick and though I will go on to play it all the way through my experience has been tainted forever by the pre-hype and the fanboys who still insist it is "mindblowing" compared to other good fps from the last 12 months.

I was 100% convinced this would be the best game ever, or at least up there with the best .. it is far from it.

*IMO*

GG hypocrite.

 

[blahblahblah]

HL2 is good, but doesn't deserve the "best game ever" award. It may squeak by as number 10 on my list if I am having a good day.

The one general feeling I got from HL2 was the lack of polish it had. I saw all sorts of signs of sloppiness. From AI not being aware of my presence, to graphical glitches, to triggers not being triggered properly, it just had a feeling of being rushed.

Then the game had individual flaws as well. The AI was lack luster in my opinion. AI in HL2 was supposed to be amazing. The only reason it was difficult because of 10 combine shooting me at the same time. I never saw an AI enemy try to flank me or do anything creative. Even Doom 3, a game that people flamed for crappy AI, enemies flanked me.

Loading problems were the worst thing in the world. If there is one thing that keeps HL2 off my all-time best games list, it will be because of loading times.

HL2 was an fun game, but it has some flaws in it.

Score 9.1 out of 10.

 

[Antic2]

GG hypocrite.

Ok, that's it... I'm unsubscribing from this purile thread. Stop flaming each other and start discussing how things could be done better in the future. A lot of you just sound like schoolboys gagging for someone to pick on. Seriously, it's petty and pathetic. Grow up.

What do they say... great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss other people.

Thanks to those who have been constructively critical and helpful. The others reduce the value of the forum for everyone.

 

[Analogy]

Sharpfish, if you hate the game so much, what the **** are you doing hanging around here? Go away, seriously. The game sucks because they didn't put in tons of gratuitous geometry? How about, Valve did a great job because the game worked when I tried it out on a TNT2? And I'm sure the wide-open outdoor areas and low loading times of Deus Ex 2 and Doom 3 were sooo much better, right? Oh noes, the physics sucks so much because they didn't simulate collisions down to the atomic level! Or how about you quit bitching about compromises (well within the realm of acceptability) in a game that isn't a slideshow even on low-end systems?

The only really legitimate complaint you had was that the game felt pretty linear. I agree, but you try telling HL2's story in a non-linear format. The game has to be linear to avoid it becoming a complete mess of conditionals and branches in the storyline. Even the Deus Ex series is still fundamentally linear. The GTA series has done a great job at making open-ended gameplay, but at the expense of detail and the rollercoaster-ride gameplay that HL provides. And the plot elements are still linear, you complete this mission, it unlocks the next.

Basically, in short: Make your own ****ing game if you think HL2 sucks. They gave you the SDK. Go, you have 6 years.

 

[deltasniper]

I agree with the failings of this game

I would give this game, HAVING COMPLETED IT TWICE, this is not a first impression. There has been far too much value palced on the name tag here, because it's Half life 2. I mean ooh im shaking in my little space boots. Now I'm a big fan of half life, and a fan of doom. But jsut because i like the series doesn't mean I swear my undying allegiance when one of the games flounders like a granny in a beauty queen contest. Half life 2 has CRITICAL errors to begin with. so I've broken it down to positive and negative in the traditional way, so any people out there thinking of buying take heed. half life 2 is in no way like half life or opposing force.

Negative points:
the develoeprs of this game really didnt master curves, everything including vehicles and every building, room, tunnel, piece of metal, gate door whatever has completely straight sides, it looks ridiculous.
graphics aren't wonderful on every NPC, just the important ones!
Weapons are grossly, and i mean completely sh*te. Utterly. No sniper rifle, no knife, alien guns whatsoever. I was duped thinking there would be new DECENT guns. there aren't. As for the gravity gun, it can't pick up most things of any use to you anyway, no people dead or alive and anything you do throw at them bounces off or smashes unless you have a rare item at hand. Pathetic.
Enemies. Ai is good, but not incredible, they aren't going to kick your ass completely, form complex manouevres in organised squads. They may take cover once ina while and they are programmed to chuck a grenade at the earliest opportunity. As for your allies Ai, forget it, don't waste your breath it's so bad.
Good areas of the game go on for so long they become crap which is a terrible shame, they should leave you wanting more, not abuse it till you're sick of it. This happens many times.
Second half of game is completely crap. If you enjoy aimlessly going room by room in a big mess of Sh*t and not knowing what exactly you are suppose to achieve in a surrounding of dimwitted allies in an environment that has had less than a mintue's work on, you'll love this part.
Crap ending, just crap.
Can't harm your allies in anyway. Not a sausage.

Positive points:
Audio quality good
First half of game great, good storyline, risk, and surprise factor
The girl Alex is hot and blatantly fancies you!
Fun features, dog, lemar, and gravity gun is interesting for 60 seconds till you realise you can't do anything but move boxes with it.


Overall this game is lucky to get 6/10. it has railroaded its fans into buying it and failed to deliver after all this time. I would suggest renting this game.
If someone came up to me and told me "I've bought Half life 2" I would reply " Who are you going to throw the dvd at?"

Another legend is flogged for corporate profit, and idiot reviewers lap it up! Remember people, they get paid to tell you it's good for god's sake!

If you are niave and generous and a fan of the series and don't want to be disloyal by being honest, give it 6/10 with a touch of mercy.

:flame:

 

[Reaperman]

i have beaten the game, and i thought it was great, its amazing, and its worth the price...


but it doesnt live up to the hype, and its not "revolutionary"... its just the new thing, the mod community will make a break this game...


i liked it a lot, i LOVED the ending.... it kicked the ****ing shit out of my ass, and tied my ballsack in a knot, it wouldnt be possible to have a better ending to the game then that, and it saved it for me...



basically hl2 is half life 1, updated, nothing more, but at the same time nothing less... its a great game, but not the revolution we expected it to be...

 

[Sashswash]

I would give this game, HAVING COMPLETED IT TWICE, this is not a first impression. There has been far too much value palced on the name tag here, because it's Half life 2. I mean ooh im shaking in my little space boots. Now I'm a big fan of half life, and a fan of doom. But jsut because i like the series doesn't mean I swear my undying allegiance when one of the games flounders like a granny in a beauty queen contest. Half life 2 has CRITICAL errors to begin with. so I've broken it down to positive and negative in the traditional way, so any people out there thinking of buying take heed. half life 2 is in no way like half life or opposing force.

Negative points:
the develoeprs of this game really didnt master curves, everything including vehicles and every building, room, tunnel, piece of metal, gate door whatever has completely straight sides, it looks ridiculous.
graphics aren't wonderful on every NPC, just the important ones!
Weapons are grossly, and i mean completely sh*te. Utterly. No sniper rifle, no knife, alien guns whatsoever. I was duped thinking there would be new DECENT guns. there aren't. As for the gravity gun, it can't pick up most things of any use to you anyway, no people dead or alive and anything you do throw at them bounces off or smashes unless you have a rare item at hand. Pathetic.
Enemies. Ai is good, but not incredible, they aren't going to kick your ass completely, form complex manouevres in organised squads. They may take cover once ina while and they are programmed to chuck a grenade at the earliest opportunity. As for your allies Ai, forget it, don't waste your breath it's so bad.
Good areas of the game go on for so long they become crap which is a terrible shame, they should leave you wanting more, not abuse it till you're sick of it. This happens many times.
Second half of game is completely crap. If you enjoy aimlessly going room by room in a big mess of Sh*t and not knowing what exactly you are suppose to achieve in a surrounding of dimwitted allies in an environment that has had less than a mintue's work on, you'll love this part.
Crap ending, just crap.
Can't harm your allies in anyway. Not a sausage.

Positive points:
Audio quality good
First half of game great, good storyline, risk, and surprise factor
The girl Alex is hot and blatantly fancies you!
Fun features, dog, lemar, and gravity gun is interesting for 60 seconds till you realise you can't do anything but move boxes with it.


Overall this game is lucky to get 6/10. it has railroaded its fans into buying it and failed to deliver after all this time. I would suggest renting this game.
If someone came up to me and told me "I've bought Half life 2" I would reply " Who are you going to throw the dvd at?"

Another legend is flogged for corporate profit, and idiot reviewers lap it up! Remember people, they get paid to tell you it's good for god's sake!

If you are niave and generous and a fan of the series and don't want to be disloyal by being honest, give it 6/10 with a touch of mercy.

:flame:

Umm...i'd disagree with most all of your negative points up there. I seriously think that this is the best FPS ever made. And no, i am NOT a biased "half-life fan" that loves the game because of the series and the old games.

I like it because IT IS AN AMAZING, GROUNDBREAKING GAME.

 

[Antic2]

Another legend is flogged for corporate profit, and idiot reviewers lap it up! Remember people, they get paid to tell you it's good for god's sake!

hmm... sounds like the Presidential election.

Personally, I'm still downloading it. err.. HL2, not the presidency.

I hope it's entertaining and exhillerating. I get that from a $10 movie, so I sure as hell want it from a $70 game.

 

[Analogy]

By the way, I would love to see examples of games that do any of the areas you whiners are complaining about better.

 

[blahblahblah]

By the way, I would love to see examples of games that do any of the areas you whiners are complaining about better.

Loading - Doom 3, World of Warcraft
Overall Polish - Doom 3
AI - Far Cry

Please, stop your whining. HL2 does have flaws, but still is a good game.

 

[DarkDude]

The one general feeling I got from HL2 was the lack of polish it had. I saw all sorts of signs of sloppiness. From AI not being aware of my presence, to graphical glitches, to triggers not being triggered properly, it just had a feeling of being rushed.

I have yet to notice AI that doesn't notice me. In fact, HL2 seems to be one of the only games that I haven't seen this error in. Even then, pretty much every FPS has that problem, even in Halo 2, which was suppose to have the best AI ever, I have seen this error all over. Graphical glitches though? Please, this is one of the most useless areas to fault a game on because pretty much every game has them, from Doom 3 to FC they are everywhere, just accept them and move on. I have also not seen any missed triggers, I guess I must've been lucky, or maybe you were unlucky? Who knows, playing with noclip has been know to mess things up a little.

Then the game had individual flaws as well. The AI was lack luster in my opinion. AI in HL2 was supposed to be amazing. The only reason it was difficult because of 10 combine shooting me at the same time. I never saw an AI enemy try to flank me or do anything creative. Even Doom 3, a game that people flamed for crappy AI, enemies flanked me.

I agree that the AI wasn't too amazing, but they had some of the best enviromental awareness of any I've ever seen. They would retreat when weak, take cover, clear areas, never get caught on the enviorment, surprise you, and yes, I have been flanked. One time, as I was nearing a house, a single Combine soldier spotted me. He ran inside of the house, and a few seconds later came bursting out, but he had company... On the other side of the house another Combine came out of another door and fired at me, all of this while a 3rd Combine shot at me through a broken window inside of the house. Maybe it was all just an accident, or maybe it was the AI at work, I don't know, but I sure as hell have never seen a battle that well fought in any other game.

Loading problems were the worst thing in the world. If there is one thing that keeps HL2 off my all-time best games list, it will be because of loading times.

Agreed, at least some streaming should've been done. Many times throughout the game I've had exciting sequences cut in half by long and boring loading times. Hopefully something will (or at least can) be done about it.

HL2 was an fun game, but it has some flaws in it.

Agreed 100%.

Score 9.1 out of 10.

I would give it a 9.6 personally, but then again, it seems we have both had some pretty different experiences while playing HL2.

 

[Gordons_nan]

my view (from another thread ) - call me a troll if you want, I really am not, I love all games and want to love all new tech - this game is a good game but that is it... OVER RATED.


===

one thing I forgot to post before - and i think it is quite important and a wake up call to those that think this game is the best thing graphically since.. well , the last thing. notice the first city scene when you leave the station? the frickin sky box doesn't even move (rather the clouds) as static as the rest of the areas.. lifeless.. jebus H, can no-one else see how basic these things are? every doorway or tunnel is a complete squared off piece of BSP 98 style... there is virtually no trim (as in geoemtry) in any of the buildings - they are completely basic but with good textures, that is what I object to and Doom3 may have had low res textures but it tried to push the other areas where it counts .

The physics are a novelty for the most part - apart from when need for in game puzzles - and they are not without their downsides - try this - the first block with the guy sat at the table - let go of the frying pan on his (place it on his head) it basically jumps up and down on his head, unaided, infinately... wow .. real ..

sorry but I have gone back and restarted this game, with less stutter and tried to see what all the OVERHYPE is about - it is an 8/10 game for the gfx and in time others will see this too.. The trees don't move, the grass doesn't move, again - geometry is behind last year tech - the only area is excells in is using shaders, specular reflection, refraction etc (basically all the tricks) on virtually every texture it can - that is not "real" in the same way some of you say "doom is not real" ...

I am begining to regret buying this game, It has been a nightmare since day one and I thought it would all be worth it - I have heard (or found out for myself) so far:

The story is shit

The ending is shit

The loading times are shit

The geo detailing is above average but not revolutionary

The Interaction (sans physics) is shit (dead ends/doors)

The path is linear with a couple of "cooL" set pieces per problem that show of the physics - all the time being forced from loaded section to next loaded section without a real feeling of freedom to even explore a little

The so called voice transformers fitted to the ever present facist rod weilders are not there to be cool - wake up - they are there because each entity is the same - Valve didn't want to have to make 100 different voice wavs for each phrases so they just did one for all that is NOT a feature it is a limitation (understandable but why the hype?)

The Camera is completely wrong - feels more like a flight sim the way it cleanely glides as you walk (no bob)

The "story" parts (such as the bit where you get your suit) are painfully dull and have no sense of the magic in the original

The propoganda on all the screens is extremely irritating (maybe the point) but audio clashing is not good - when you get a headache from characters talking over that stuff.

The HUD is as dull and workmanlike as dishwater.

The textures range from gritty realism to almost cartoon quality (the first town scene - the orange houses look like a completely different style to the white houses - yet the designers get praised to high heaven about it???)

Then there are the Audio/Caching problems which are extremely widespread

I just people would get their minds in order and be realistic about this overhype product - without the stuttering problem I would give it maybe an 8/10 inline with similar products released.

Yes I know my post sounds angry, and it is just a game, and I will get flamed and accused of being a troll.. I dont give a ****, wake up people the hype has got to you and you refuse to back down on your opinions, be critical and see what is in front of you. I have *TRIED* and tried again to love this game the way I thought I would do after waiting for so long, but it has no soul.. it is playable but passable.

If this post serves no other purpose, let it be a warning to the as yet to purchase - buy it but lower your expectations - it is not "better" than Doom3 for everyone, just for those that prefer this style of game/gfx. I prefer FC and DOOM3 to this (heck even painkiller with its monotonous waves of enemies felt slick, smooth, cohesive and fun in small doses).. this game just makes me feel sick and though I will go on to play it all the way through my experience has been tainted forever by the pre-hype and the fanboys who still insist it is "mindblowing" compared to other good fps from the last 12 months.

It's amazing what a name can do.. if this had been called "Chaser 2" I'm betting people would being realising a whole lot quicker that this game is not the second coming.

Feels shit to be mostly alone on this opinion as I wonder what the world is made up of - maybe everyone already exists in a similar world to half life and has to conform with popular opinion to fit in..

I did before the release - I was 100% convinced this would be the best game ever, or at least up there with the best .. it is far from it.

*IMO*

Why are you even preaching about how much you hate this game?

Just because people love it, doesn't mean they are blind to it's short comings, or conforming to popular opinion to 'fit in'.

Most people adore this game, just accept it and stop trying to force your opinion onto others.

I'm a big FPS fan and I'm telling you now this game is THE best FPS I have ever played, regardless of it's faults. All games have them. But this game has a certain special feel to it that just makes it so enjoyable, fun, scary, interesting, and amazing to play. I have had more fun playing this game than any other game to date and that's an unbias and unhyped fact.

If you don't like it, then that's fine. But don't just assume the people that do like it are, 'wrong'.

 

[Sharpfish]

no, it seems the main problem with this game was a combination of the stupid install process, then the stuttering problem (which is on-going for some but I managed to almost eradicate it) and the FIRST FEW LEVELS (along with it's strict scripted , linear path) - that is what really ****ed me off about the game for the first 4 hours of "trying" to play it.

Now I have played it more thanks to the stuttering not being so bad, and have got past Water Hazzard - I can apreciate the GAME, I can now feel like I'm playing it rather than being on a guided tour (as the 1up.com reviewer pointed out)

basically people were ready to be blown away and I think there was an extremely poor choice made for the opening areas and the pacing. It tainted the game for me and others, and NOW I can see how great the rest of it is, how atmospheric the outdoors are from water hazzard onwards, the unease and tension with surrounding environment and the city on the horizon - atmosphere and tension make a game for me - the first part of it was lacking due to the bugs and the load times. The loading seems to not be so bad later on, at least, it may be as long or longer but you get to do a LOT MORE before you hit a load point (i.e you can take more time before you reach it - rather than being hurried onto it and BLOCKED from going back aka the early levels).

I still don't think it is the "best game ever" - I don't know what is, I'm not sure there is such a thing, it is a very good game though and I can take back 50% of what I have said about it with no qualms. Just a shame I and others felt this way to begin with due to the above points (and the shoddy / haphazard feel to the first couple of chapters)


<edit - regarding last post> Many of the points in that large post I made .. ie.. x,y,z is shit - was not my opinion - it actually says "I have so far *READ* about this game *OR* found out for myself"
i.e some of the points that I stand by (loading times, linearness early on, poor interior design etc) were what I had found out, the stuff about the story, the ending etc was what I was reading EVEN FROM PEOPLE who actually liked the game, kinda like, damn, how am I going to feel if even THEY thought it was bad. Maybe coming from that dissapointed viewpoint has helped the game improve for me as I was expecting the same level of design/gameplay all the way though, purely because the early parts went on so long.. yes I was a bit pre-emptive, but I still say Valve could have made the start so much better and set up the mood and expectations of the game perfectly if they hadn't made the first part seem so ass-backwards.

 

[Absinthe]

<edit - regarding last post> Many of the points in that large post I made .. ie.. x,y,z is shit - was not my opinion - it actually says "I have so far *READ* about this game *OR* found out for myself"

See, I don't get that. Why make a long, heated, and unnecessary rant on a game using OTHER people's opinions when you haven't even got past the beginning?

Coming from a disappointed viewpoint, indeed. You seemed out to kill this game.

 

[Sharpfish]

the long rant was directed at those that wouldnt hear anything bad said about the game because of which game it was. There some dissapointments and flaws I pointed out (which others have noticed) and reading threads on here I included other areas where the game was obviously not "10/10 perfect" as the reviews and lots of users seemed intent to belive.

My own opinion can alter, my tastes can change and I can start to enjoy it more but the flaws, dissapointments, and the things are still stand by are FACTS. Facts that could have been improved upon to make the game EVEN BETTER. Notice I may have said quite a lot on this, but I have never started a thread of my own about it? I enter into threads that are discussing these issues good and bad and asking for opinions, which is what I have subplied. I feel I have now arrived at the real opinion, that is it is a great game, great gfx (mostly) but with some horrible flaws and design (mostly at the start) that stop it from being the "best game ever" in my eyes... if the experience is everything YOU had hoped for then you won't understand, some of us expected more, or at least expected LESS bad stuff. I feel like I am going round in circles here. It's strange that someone (like me) who likes the game, has paid for it, will continue to play it, points out where it does right is not allowed an opinion of where it goes wrong, or where it could be better. The reason a few of us have posted things like this is because the POSITIVES are more than ample, every review (except the 1up.com one) has prasied it to high heaven so why repeat that? Yes sure - ALL of that GOOD STUFF + this stuff we are discussing. If you have no problems, or desire to talk about where the could be better then just ignore me/these threads.

"Seemed out to kill this game"? ffs grow up - I have waited as long as you for this game, I love ALL kinds of games and FPS, I never "hate on a game" for the ****ing sake of it, I was totally dissapointed by the early game and the problems in HL2 - you wanna blame me for that? booh ****ing hoo - you wanna blame someone blame Valve, they are the ones being paid to take the stick.

 

[Absinthe]

Sharpfish, you're making contradictions. You bitch about how people have reacted to your opinions, but you've just asserted them to be "facts" in the beginning of your second paragraph.

Telling me to grow up? You judged the whole damn game when you hadn't even gotten half way through. What position are you in to criticize the story or the characters? Hell, how can you even criticize the enemies, the AI, or the maps? You say that you were going off of what other people had said, but the fact of the matter is that most people liked those aspects of HL2! So why did you decide selectively run off of only the negative comments that were in the minority? Why didn't you just finish the freakin' game and make up your own mind? You seemed very much out to kill the game. At least with your reasoning.

It's not exactly constructive criticism when you shit all over a product you've only just sunken your teeth into and then accuse everybody else of suffering from some kind of sheep mentality because *GASP* they didn't share that initial disappointment with you. Really, if you want to go down that route, I could very well accuse you of just trying to stick out of the crowd and being controversial just so you can get this false idea of being an individual. Or something.

Does that sound like bullshit to you? I hope so. Then you should know very well how other people feel when you give them that similar treatment.

If you have a problem with Half-Life 2, then okay. I, for one, am not going to get up in your face over it, so long as you're at least reasonable about it.

 

[Sharpfish]

you have some valid points, maybe i'm just an undecisive ****...

gotta go.. too busy playing HL2.. bored with this thread now.

 

[we11er]

bored with this thread now.

lol - the troll runs out of bait...

 

[Sharpfish]

lol - the troll runs out of bait...

err wrong.

1. I am not a troll

2. I have decided enough it enough trying to explain my point of view when the world and his wife is wearing HL2 goggles. Besides, I am actually enjoying the game now so don't feel like bitching. It's called being a man and admiting your failings, and standing by what you still believe.

Don't ever flame someone for discussing and changing their opinions it means they are not as narrow minded or blinkered as you may have first thought (and thus: not a troll).

after this post? whatever... thread is now dead to me. goodbye

 

[shade70]

No story line in first few chapters? Huh? Have you actually been looking and listening or just rushing though to the next part.....explore, watch, listen you'll find a HELL of alot of story line in the first couple of chapters......
Example: here what story you can catch from Point Insertion ONLY

Spoiler

There is more than 1 city - one of the passengers on the train has been transferred from City 14....and its a fairly regular occurance to be 'transferred' around between cities as the Citizen complains about it.

Alot of people never arrive at there Destination - they are spirited away (a woman waiting for her husband that was taken away while on a train), presumably to Nova Prospekt (more explained about this later in game). You are about to board a train labelled 'Nova Prospekt' when Barney pulls you away

Citizens are suppressed, drugged (one of the citizens at the station states the water is drugged) and oppressed (you see a Citizen being 'interrogated' by the Police about his 'Transfer coupon') plus check out the Interrogation Chair in Barneys Offices....also Barney talks about his not reaching his daily 'Beating Quota' - another indication of the violence imposed on the population.

Dr Breen is in charge of the Human population - City 17 is his base of Operations (from another Citizen at the train station)

Dr Breen is the Combines mouthpiece on Earth, sprouting propoganda about how they are here to help 'improve' mankind, how instinct is bad, and how Human reproduction has been suppressed (listen to Breens speeches when in station/outside station). He doesnt seem very popular with the Population (a Citizen says how he had enough of him at City 14 - and another guy tells him to be careful what he says).

City 17 seems to be in Eastern Europe/Russia as shown by some of the Posters, cars & architecture.

Food is dispenced by a machine, each person taking food is scanned - and its pretty digusting according to the Citizens (there is a food line in the ticket office)

Metro cops (ie Civil Protection) seem to be Citizens who joined for better living conditions/Food (one of the people in the Food line at the station talks about joining Civil protection for better food rations).

Any malcontents are hunted down and captured or killed......although we dont know what happens to them if they are caught. Civil Protection arent too bothered about people rights either....they will storm a whole appartment block to find one person,and arrest anyone involved (one of the guys outside before you enter the Appartment block says 'This is how it starts, they'll do the whole block next etc')

The population are miserable, and live in squallid living conditons (check the flats in the apartment block and the woman in one of the flats crying & saying how she cant cope anymore)

Dr Breen is everywhere - aka Big Brother. He appears on all the switched on TVs in the appartments etc

Thats just what you can glean just from the first 10 mins of the game.

Valves story telling approach is 'Show DONT Tell'.....if you're too lazy or stupid to find or figure out whats happening in the game world around you - tough. There aint gonna be no Cut scenes where Alyx or Kliener sit you down and explain eveything to you so live with it.

 

[ukfluke]

the develoeprs of this game really didnt master curves, everything including vehicles and every building, room, tunnel, piece of metal, gate door whatever has completely straight sides, it looks ridiculous.

I have to say i called this over a year ago after the stolen build was released. Its personally my biggest dissapointment in the source engine. (next to the small stutter i get during play :/ )

Good areas of the game go on for so long they become crap which is a terrible shame, they should leave you wanting more, not abuse it till you're sick of it. This happens many times.

i dont know about "many times" but yes i have to agree some areas were like that.

Im replaying on "hard" and really taking my time over it. I still dont think its a 10/10 game but its still pretty good. I flamed doom 3 but i have to admit it was more polished than HL2.

Also im not too impressed with the source engine...sure the gravity stuff is great but when explosions go off and many objects are effected that "freeze" still rears its ugly head just like the stolen build did. Cant beleive the problem is still there.

 

[drekati]

HL2/source opinions

Im sorry, but I have to rate this game a stinker. Here are my reasons

1) The Graphics are not up to par with say FarCry, nor is the story and action.

2) The world is seperated into many chunks, meaning I get a LOADING... message every couple mins, totally reminding you that this in a game. (total break from immersion) For petes sake its 2004, the technology is there to create a seamless world with a lot less data loading. (See Far Cry and World of Warcraft)

3) Steam - I used to like Half Life and Counterstrike till Steam came along. Since then it take forever just to get into a game, not to mention the many bugs and crashes, lag, and resources this horrible app takes up.

4) The game stutters horribly. I have top of the line system and the game runs terrible. Moments of 100 fps mean nothing when it goes to 1 fps ever so often.

All in all this game feels 2 years old played on a 4 year old computer. I would expect a much better product from the makers of the greatest fps of all time. Half Life. Maybe next time..

 

[DarkDude]

Im sorry, but I have to rate this game a stinker. Here are my reasons

1) The Graphics are not up to par with say FarCry, nor is the story and action.

2) The world is seperated into many chunks, meaning I get a LOADING... message every couple mins, totally reminding you that this in a game. (total break from immersion) For petes sake its 2004, the technology is there to create a seamless world with a lot less data loading. (See Far Cry and World of Warcraft)

3) Steam - I used to like Half Life and Counterstrike till Steam came along. Since then it take forever just to get into a game, not to mention the many bugs and crashes, lag, and resources this horrible app takes up.

4) The game stutters horribly. I have top of the line system and the game runs terrible. Moments of 100 fps mean nothing when it goes to 1 fps ever so often.

All in all this game feels 2 years old played on a 4 year old computer. I would expect a much better product from the makers of the greatest fps of all time. Half Life. Maybe next time..

1.) I laugh at this. The only thing in Far Cry that could compare to HL2 graphically is the water. Everything else is either a low-res texture, or a low res bump-mapped texture. The action in Far Cry was stale and boring at best when compared to HL2, mostly consisting of crawling around in the grass while the enemies with their uber eyes could pick you out from 100 meters, even in the dark. Wasn't that fun now that I think about it... Story is the most laughable one, Far Cry's story was a sci-fi rehash with no originality and crappy delivery. FC wasn't known for it's story, you and I both know that.

2.) I agree loading times were too long and often, but citing Far Cry as an example? Far Cry had veeeery long loading times, and they occured pretty frequently as well.

3.) Have you even used Steam lately? Sounds like you haven't. I connect to games faster than I ever did through WON, and all of the other features such as downloading updates and easily downloading mods make it one of the best gaming apps out there.

4.) Might want to check your drivers. Even on my mid-range system I get 60FPS (30 while in heavy action) on the highest settings, and I've never dropped below 25.

 

[rdytorave]

No story line in first few chapters? Huh? Have you actually been looking and listening or just rushing though to the next part.....explore, watch, listen you'll find a HELL of alot of story line in the first couple of chapters......
Example: here what story you can catch from Point Insertion ONLY


There is more than 1 city - one of the passengers on the train has been transferred from City 14....and its a fairly regular occurance to be 'transferred' around between cities as the Citizen complains about it.

Alot of people never arrive at there Destination - they are spirited away (a woman waiting for her husband that was taken away while on a train), presumably to Nova Prospekt (more explained about this later in game). You are about to board a train labelled 'Nova Prospekt' when Barney pulls you away

Citizens are suppressed, drugged (one of the citizens at the station states the water is drugged) and oppressed (you see a Citizen being 'interrogated' by the Police about his 'Transfer coupon') plus check out the Interrogation Chair in Barneys Offices....also Barney talks about his not reaching his daily 'Beating Quota' - another indication of the violence imposed on the population.

Dr Breen is in charge of the Human population - City 17 is his base of Operations (from another Citizen at the train station)

Dr Breen is the Combines mouthpiece on Earth, sprouting propoganda about how they are here to help 'improve' mankind, how instinct is bad, and how Human reproduction has been suppressed (listen to Breens speeches when in station/outside station). He doesnt seem very popular with the Population (a Citizen says how he had enough of him at City 14 - and another guy tells him to be careful what he says).

City 17 seems to be in Eastern Europe/Russia as shown by some of the Posters, cars & architecture.

Food is dispenced by a machine, each person taking food is scanned - and its pretty digusting according to the Citizens (there is a food line in the ticket office)

Metro cops (ie Civil Protection) seem to be Citizens who joined for better living conditions/Food (one of the people in the Food line at the station talks about joining Civil protection for better food rations).

Any malcontents are hunted down and captured or killed......although we dont know what happens to them if they are caught. Civil Protection arent too bothered about people rights either....they will storm a whole appartment block to find one person,and arrest anyone involved (one of the guys outside before you enter the Appartment block says 'This is how it starts, they'll do the whole block next etc')

The population are miserable, and live in squallid living conditons (check the flats in the apartment block and the woman in one of the flats crying & saying how she cant cope anymore)

Dr Breen is everywhere - aka Big Brother. He appears on all the switched on TVs in the appartments etc



Valves story telling approach is 'Show DONT Tell'.....if you're too lazy or stupid to find or figure out whats happening in the game world around you - tough. There aint gonna be no Cut scenes where Alyx or Kliener sit you down and explain eveything to you so live with it.

Good post. I knew most of what was written, but the stuff about the food was something I missed. I was wondering what those machines in the ticket line were.

From now on I'm going to take this game slower. I don't think people are interested in taking the time to question characters, which is too bad. It's a much better way to tell a story.

Something that caught my attention during Route Kanal were the orders to city cops. "Pacify, Innoculate etc etc" The parts about how Gordon is an "unidentified person of interest" was cool too.

There is plenty of story in HL2 if you take the time to be inquisitive.

 

[donutty_uk]

Here here... most of the info you need to know is right before your face, but some people rush through it and then complain about the lack of it. There are also posters, newsaper clippings etc around the place to read, and the whole ambience and environment give a clue as to the story.

 

[Gordons_nan]

Im sorry, but I have to rate this game a stinker. Here are my reasons

1) The Graphics are not up to par with say FarCry

Absolute bollocks. I have both games and HL2's graphics are easily on a par with Farcry, infact I'd say they were better.

 

[Captain M4d]

There is a story, and it is a big one. It is how you perceive the game. IF you are waiting for a cut-scene to explain everything, you will not find a story in HL2, or HL1 for that matter.

 

[Sharpfish]

All I can say is, once you really get into things (ie when YOU start to take control) you basically make up for any missing story, it is an action game after all. I am already having flashbacks to some of the games most inspiring moments. I just wish the begining had been done better to stop my negativity towards it in the first place. No doubt, I DID feel like I was holed up in a beach hut with ant lions closing in on me from outside.. that is one thing that I am almost convinced I have "been through" lol.. these later parts compared to the starting chapters are like chalk and cheese.

To the original poster. I can see many of your points, and even agree with most of them when the game is at certain areas (ie Far cry does a lot of things better and CAN look better when doing its "nature" thing), but this game has tried to be a bit of everything so I guess it had to tone down it's graphical prowess and not excell at any one area. The settings, or environments do, at least, make up for the actual graphical richness once you are caught up in the world of HL2.

Some areas do look very basic (like coastlines looking off of the winding roads - looks a bit unreal 1 - blocky, not edged off - skybox edges visible etc) but I am now accepting it as the norm and being suprised by the stuff HL2 does better than other games instead.

 

[PHATXUIQ]

Man me too, I have FarCry and water is better than in FarCry, Indoor textrures are way better than FarCry. Making it overall FarCry an old game, unless the make FarCry 2, by that Time There WILL BE HL3 LOL <--- Hopefully!!!!!

 

[fathom]

There's a certain level where you need to set up turrets to defend yourself. That sequence was royally ****ed by Valve. Only extremely skilled hardcore players have a chance to survive. Everyone else can apply their favourite cheats right away. I would use cheats myself, but the console doesn't work. Just like it didn't work in the CSS beta. I have no idea what mappers are supposed to do when they can't use the console. Anyway...

Two points about this Spartan

1, Where you have to defend yourself, you are right about it being very, very hard, unless you know about the little room down one side where you can set up all 3 turrets pointing out and you hiding behind. That makes it very easy.

2, The console needs turning on in controls->advanced.

 

[fathom]

Example: here what story you can catch from Point Insertion ONLY

Nice one shade70. I'm also really enjoying just being involved in the story rather that being told.

 

[Spartan]

2, The console needs turning on in controls->advanced.

Actually it has turned out that some people need to bind the console to "\" to get it working from the tilde key. Turning it on from the options menu doesn't do anything.

There is a story, and it is a big one. It is how you perceive the game. IF you are waiting for a cut-scene to explain everything, you will not find a story in HL2, or HL1 for that matter.

HL2 has cutscenes, just like every other game. The only difference is that your character doesn't talk or otherwise influence them. You just stand around, looking at other characters talk or do stuff.

Here here... most of the info you need to know is right before your face, but some people rush through it and then complain about the lack of it. There are also posters, newsaper clippings etc around the place to read, and the whole ambience and environment give a clue as to the story.

It's odd how everything has suddenly been redefined. Playing the game at normal speed is now "rushing through." Going through every room twice with a comb and stopping to listen to every single piece of random conversation (even the ones that occur in the middle of action, requiring you to stop playing) in the game is now "normal" playing.

Only little kids would be disappointed in HL2, but it doesnt matter what those kids think, the truth is that HL2 is the best game that was ever created.

Can you back this up with 100% objective and factual information? No, you can't. So shut up.

 

[Reaperman]

its up to the game to tell me a story, dont call it "spoon feeding"


what if you got a textbook in school, but they didnt tell you that you needed to use a secret powder so you could see the invisible ink?



what if i said to you "well too bad you failed, do you expect the book to spoon-feed you the lessons?"

 

[nib]

Regarding the lack of curves, this was said:

the develoeprs of this game really didnt master curves, everything including vehicles and every building, room, tunnel, piece of metal, gate door whatever has completely straight sides, it looks ridiculous.

I have to say i called this over a year ago after the stolen build was released. Its personally my biggest dissapointment in the source engine. (next to the small stutter i get during play :/ )

Take a look around. Look at your "normal" architecture, especially in eastern block countries. It isn't really overrun with curves. Normal architecture is NOT very curvy! I'm sitting in my office and just about everything I'm looking at is done at right angles or at atleast with straight edges: the ceiling tiles, the walls, door frames, windows, desk, book shelves, etc.

Curves are cool and perhaps in some of the tunnels they could have done more but never once did I look at the game and say "you know, what this game really needs area curves!"

 

[Captain M4d]

You are in a true first person perspective, you are supposed to tell the story for yourself. That is part of the fun in the Half-Life series.

 

[exodusuk]

just cant please some people