Half-life 2 Dissection by Dan Pinchbeck

[Hectic Glenn]

Edge have teamed up with Dan Pinchbeck from TheChineseRoom, the developers behind Dear Esther and a senior lecturer at Portsmouth University.

Dan compliments Valve on what he feels is their key strength, pacing. However he is less convinced by the progression of scale of the Half-life story arc in the episodes, going from local to universal.

“What Valve are exceptional at is pacing more than anything else, that’s what really makes them as a developer. And it does lag a little at Highway 17, because Ravenholm is still one of the best-designed sequences in a firstperson game – it’s just extraordinary – there’s always going to be a bit of a comedown after that.

And the thing with Half-Life 2 is that it feels quite local: you have a relationship with Alyx Vance, with Kleiner. You’re not having to think in Master Chief/Bungie kinds of universal terms, and that’s much more powerful emotionally than this abstract global meltdown.

His views on the future direction of Half-life are possibly more intriguing as he considers whether Valve themselves know where it is going, this being a side-effect of doing things 'exceptionally well'.

“It’s either that or they’ve written themselves into a corner, which I always can’t quite shake the suspicion of, where do you go at this point? You go to a ship. Erm… right. So I’ve had a city and the world’s about to end, and now you want me to go to a ship?

You can read the full article by Dan Pinchbeck here.

 

[knut]

good read. looking forward to getting stuck into his thesis and other essays on thechineseroom's website this easter.

 

[Lobster]

Interesting stuff.

Though I don't think it is a bad thing that the Citadel wasn't visible during the wasteland sections. I personally think it is a good thing that we get a look at the world beyond its perimeter, and it also helps to focus the third act when it comes back into view. Then again that may just be my taste.

I have to agree with the part about the future. The direction of the story before the cliffhanger has left them in a tricky position. Continuing that story and also creating a standalone product for new players to understand, is going to be a big challenge.

Also while I agree that the genre has grown beyond HL2 in a lot of areas. I do think that there are some areas that have been neglected pretty badly in recent times.

 

[Paulaner]

HL3 will be a tricky game to craft. HL2 was innovative in bringing mood, atmosphere and storytelling in the shooter genre. Now, first person shooters are everywhere and a lot of them have improved the HL2 model. To raise the bar once again, HL3 will have to be a much different game than HL2.

 

[YouKnow]

Very good read. I like how Pinchbeck praises STALKER at the end there. The series has such a great atmosphere.

 

[Asknoone]

I agree to the extent that Valve have written themselves into a corner. I find the storytelling in the episodes unconvincing, as though it's unsure of where it's going and even how to get there. They employ the large scale storytelling of HL2 and mix it up with storytelling techniques best used in episodic bites, and I don't think they play well together.

On the other hand, is the series going into Halo territory? Small-scale storytelling that's thrust, as a result of success, into a much grander and dare I say 'epic' canvas...well, that's certainly what happened to Halo. But I don't think that's where HL is. The action is still very much focused on Earth and keeping her safe from future Combine attacks.