PC Gamer UK - Half-Life 2 Review.

CatBOne said:
WAHOO!

IMO, PCGamer is the best PCgames mag out there. Unlike most others, the layout is proffessional, the writing standard is great, the reviewers are excellent, the editing is good and they have the 'Lionhead Diaries' at the back. What more could any gamer want!!!!![?]
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OH NOES!!!

They're letting pie-eaters loose on the forum!GASP! (LOL catbone- don't worry I'm from Leigh....so it's ok for us to hate each other:D )

- To everyone else- ignore this, it's just a hundred year old fueud between warring villages ;)
Legend has it that:
Wiganers (catbone)- eat pies from sun up till sundown
Leighfers (me!)- have 6 toes (to which I usually say- "aren't you supposed to have 10..." :D . Strange thing is my bro did have 6 toes > But after 25 years of knowing him I've come to the conclusion that he's adopted :p )

Anyhoow, back to topic.
What does it matter what review it gets. Regardless of what it gets, people will still argue that it deserved more/less for whatever reason. But that's the gig you see, reviews are entirely subjective, you can't please everyone or take a census of opinions- it's one mans view (or 2 if its a mag with one of those 3 paragraph second opinion jobbies).
You can only get a rough idea from the review, and if you buy the game, it's fair to say that only rarely will you agree 100% with everything the review stated- and thats with a game you haven't been closely following the development of for nearly 2 years.....

So peeps...Don't go having breakdowns or starting riots if it only gets 93.5% :)
 
el Chi said:
I love that people still say Valve delayed it on purpose. It's just so amusingly ludicrous.
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I could be wrong but the impression I got from the Gamespot article was that Vivendi don't find those claims particularly ludicrous...

Open to corrections though.
 
Yeah I know that part, just re-read the article and cant find anything like what I was referring to though!
Musta dreamt it... Too much HL info/rumours in my head to keep it all straight
 
Vivendi claims that Valve have failed to develop games to completion on time (like Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2). And that this is against the contract they have.

They don't claim that Valve just delayed games for fun.
 
Well I dont think anyone was claiming that they delayed them 'for fun' but having read that Valve may have threatened to delay/halt production of projects in order to force a new contract on Sierra, I dont think it would've been beyond the realms of possibility for them to have delayed HL2 for strategic reasons.

Not that I'm suggesting they did that, just that stuff like the above lends credence to those rumours.
 
they imply Valve delayed development of the games in order to maximize their profits from Steam, and minmise VUG/Sierra's profits.
 
What I mean is that they claimed Valve threatened to delay the games, but their claim is just Valve is taking too long to make games. Not that Valve is delayed them to piss them off.

"For Fun" was a figure of speech.
 
If Valve funded hl2 100%, what obligations do they have to VU? I think it was Gabe or someone who said they made a deal with Sierra that if their first game was a success they would have full control and freedom to create the next one.
 
UKchaos2 said:
If Valve funded hl2 100%, what obligations do they have to VU? I think it was Gabe or someone who said they made a deal with Sierra that if their first game was a success they would have full control and freedom to create the next one.
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Valve funded the development of the game by themselves. They wont be funding the production and shipment and stuff though.
 
daveodeth said:
no Kieron Gillen did, A great chap, just a little off in that case.
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I dont think Kieron was 'off' atall, he rated it for what the game was trying to accomplish, I know Deus Ex fans cant get over this, but Deus Ex 2 obviously wasnt trying to be Deus Ex,

it changed, and alot of people still enjoyed it very much, Im one of them. Kieron was simply being professionally fair about the game, 'Professional' the one word that applies to him, and not any of us wannabe critic's .
 
clarky003 said:
I dont think Kieron was 'off' atall, he rated it for what the game was trying to accomplish, I know Deus Ex fans cant get over this, but Deus Ex 2 obviously wasnt trying to be Deus Ex
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I'm a huge fan of the original, and I personally thought it was just a bad game. With a little more care and effort with balance and bug-squashing, it would have been a lot better. I just found it annoying, and it felt very much like a bad console port. It just plain wasn't fun to play for me, and not because it was different to the original. It's probably a lot less buggy and plays better on a console, because it played a lot like one on the pc.
 
Deus Ex Invisible war is fun.

You can set bodies on fire and throw them at people :D

Also, if you replay the game using diffent bio mods and playing style you really appeciate the non-linearity of it all. Shame the environments had to be so small and the way the storyline wasn't effected by your choices (until right at the end).
 
Feath said:
Have you ever heard of Daikatana?
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Er ok I got you but still these are the people who did such a good job on hl1, I dont see how they could screw this up..well I do actually but it just seems like theyve tooken all precautions.
 
ne-waller said:
Kieron gillen gave deus ex 2 such a high score because Warren Spector once said that Kieron "was the industry"
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That was Peter Molyneux, not Spector.

EDIT: And, yes, it should be reiterated that I gave IW 92%, not 94%. I've always been of the opinion that past 90, review scores tend to be exponentially harder to award. There's a fair gap between 92 and 95 in the critical scale. And I did give DX 95%...

KG
 
Just passing through, partner.

As excited about HL2 as the rest of you though. Gahk!

KG
 
So can we get any word on how the office reacted to a copy of HL2 being passed around the immediate vicinity?
 
Damnit, I just hope it isn't like CZ and comes out 3 months after it was reviewed.
 
Just passing through, partner.

As excited about HL2 as the rest of you though. Gahk!

KG
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Awsome. Dont know why, but the one thing that stick's in my head most about you Kieron is that crazy mime thing in a past PC gamer, last page I think, T'was crazy, and very funny too :).
 
mchammer75040 said:
Nope just two years from what Ive heard, anyone care to correct me or am I right?
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That is correct, development started in late 1996 and ended in late 1998.
 
NeLi said:
Valve funded the development of the game by themselves. They wont be funding the production and shipment and stuff though.
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Who is the chick in your avatar?
 
Kieron Gillen said:
Just passing through, partner.

As excited about HL2 as the rest of you though. Gahk!

KG
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Wow, Kieron Gillen in the... text. Nice to meet you!

I'm starting to see the thread de-rail a little, so let's get back on on topic please guys.
 
Kieron Gillen said:
Just passing through, partner.

As excited about HL2 as the rest of you though. Gahk!

KG
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Glad to see you posting here Kieron!
 
//review
Half-Life 2
Valve
Vivendi
£35

Sometimes I'm not entirely sure why it's worth getting out of my large, journalistic bed, just to put myself through yet another review of yet another Valve game. Will they ever learn? Will they ever listen? Perhaps they don't read their critics. Perhaps they can't read at all. It would explain how their games manage to be such incoherent gibberish on each and every occasion.

But wait, hold on - let's be fair. It is improper to judge Half-Life 2 on the developer's previous back catalogue: it must be rated independently. Maybe this will be the one where they /finally/ get their heads around my to make a game. Maybe.

Perhaps there might have been some chance for the sequel if they'd avoided any semblance of a connection to anything in the dreadful Half-Life. Unfortunately, with the kind of arrogance we've come to expect from Valve, there isn't a moment within that isn't a hopeless attempt to recreate what they got so disastrously wrong before. And anyway, since there are now two, shouldn't this be called Whole-Life? But no, even basic arithmetic is beyond their abilities.

So all we are left with is the usual gun-toting alien blast-fest that has bored our brains out for year after year. Weee, look, a new gun! Stop Press! Maybe we should have given this the cover! Sigh. The police should be investigating the robbery taking place when they put a price on the box.

I think I'd have more fun if I'd severed myself in twain, seeing how long I'd survive without half my life. And I'd be a lot prettier to look at too. Just don't.

6%
_________________
John Walker
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It looks like John Walker was the reviewer, and didn't think much of it.

(It's a joke)
 
the funker said:
Now that's just completely wrong. Only the reviewer has played it.
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that's hard. the hl2 copy is just two rooms away and you can't/you're not allowed to play it. i would bite in the keyboard. ;)
 
the funker said:
Now that's just completely wrong. Only the reviewer has played it.
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how come only the reviewer played hl2?? surely all the staff would have been clamouring to play...?
 
im not sure if ithis is true but i read that they had to go to valve themselves to review the game, they didnt send out any copies
 
Mugato said:
im not sure if ithis is true but i read that they had to go to valve themselves to review the game, they didnt send out any copies
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I sincerly doubt that. They'd have to play through the whole game to review it properly, and I don't think PC Gamer would fly acros the atlantic to spend a week at the Valve offices playing HL2 ( as well as all the other magazines that have reviewed it). It makes more sense to send out review copies and have them sign NDAs.
 
I would fly across to the atlantic to play half life 2 any day :p
 
KagePrototype said:
I sincerly doubt that. They'd have to play through the whole game to review it properly, and I don't think PC Gamer would fly acros the atlantic to spend a week at the Valve offices playing HL2 ( as well as all the other magazines that have reviewed it). It makes more sense to send out review copies and have them sign NDAs.
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Not at all. Valve and Vivendi want to do everything they possibly can to stop leaks and with this being as highly anticipated as it is you can't trust anybody (including the cleaners who might want to make a quick copy while all the magazine staff are away).

If I was editor of a gaming magazine, I would have no qualms in sending a journalist to Seattle for a week or so to play and review hl2. The money recouped would easily pay for it.

As for NDAs - they will have been signed, and I believe they will only be lifted on the 5th of October (notice how PC Gamer UK has pushed back its date by 4 days from the 1st).
 
the funker said:
As everyone else is blowing their cover, we can’t hold back our excitement any longer - Half-Life 2 is reviewed in the next issue of PC Gamer, on sale Oct 5. Our UK exclusive features eight pages on the biggest game ever to hit the PC. We've toyed with the gravity gun, gone toe-to-toe with the Overwatch, and watched in awe as the Striders strut.

Find out how good it is when we hit the shelves on October the 5th.

Here's the other, official announcement from Lord Donald. Just thought you guys should know as well

http://forum.pcgamer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=51308

Yay!
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Hello Craig P, its me form the PCGF. Looking forward to that review.
 
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