The manditory "my thoughs on the game" thread *spoilertastic*

[ríomhaire]

After having waited, patiently, for however many months for Valve to release this game, then a week for EA to ship it to Europe, then five long days for the British and Irish postal services to deliever it and, finally, another several days for Steam to stop being a complete and utter bastard and let me play the game, I feel like collectivly kicking EA, the postal services and Valve in the crotch, then hugging Valve, then kicking EA in the crotch again. I can now finally enter this section and catch up on all the "OMG GMAN ALYX!!1111one11!" threads. Now, my thoughts:

First and most obvious: This was a triumph. Another great game by Valve.

My biggest gripe: Fleeing the helicopter is far more exciting in Water Hazard (One of my favourite sections of HL2). Maybe that's because I've been chased by the choppers once before, or maybe it was just lacking the same atmosphere, but it simply wasn't as great. I was also a bit disapointed with te chopper battle itself. Is it just me or was the chopper more dangerous in on-foot sections of Water Hazard that in is in EP2? It sure seemed that way to me.

That said, the guardian battle (the best in the series), the inn and the rocket defence were fantastic, though I think that in the latter the striders didn't seem to play a major part in the fighting. They seemed to ignore the player far too much, which is disapointing to say the least. They'd only attack me if I stood directly in front of them.

The advisors were another disapointment. We saw so little of them. I was expecting at least one fight with them. Hopefully we'll see it in EP3. I'll get my anti-mindrape(TM) helmet ready.

Was anyone else annoyed with the ending? Not that I didn't like it; I loved it. But the fact that I couldn't move at all, even after the advisor dropped me annoyed the hell out of me. Not that I wanted to be able to afect anything. I just wanted to take a few pot-shots at the advisors as they flew off, like you can at the first advisor battle. I just found in frustraiting.

Good to see the g-man back in action and being as mysterious as ever. I seem to be out of practice with g-man sightings though; I only got one, and I got all of them in HL2.

I love er...how do you spell it? Magnasum? I don't remember. I found myself agreeing with him a good bit. Also, according to the commentary he's based off the exact scientist that I thought he was going to be "Gordon doesn't need to hear all this". But he's also the cassarole scientist. TIME PARADOX!

 

[Cheomesh]

Just wait till EA buys Valve and then you can get with the kickings.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Don't you mean Valve buying out EA?

With the exception of maybe a piece or two of the mines/Antlion hive, the game was awesome, action-packed, asskickery.

 

[Apocalypse89]

Just wait till EA buys Valve and then you can get with the kickings.

The combination of Valve being privately-owned and Steam's success means that won't happen any time soon.

 

[Frraksurred]

I certainly think we'll get some form of a "anti-mindrape helmet" before we face the Advisors. Maybe that will be part of what we discover on the Borealis.

On topic however, I agree this episode was another great addition. The battles were great and the pacing was great. I wish the "Guardian" was less recycled and more of a new creation (Queen antlion!). I wish when I wanted to interact with Alyx I could get more then "Yes?". When the Stalker fell on her in Ep1 I wanted to do more then just watch her freak out afterwards. I think I pressed the "interact" button a dozen times trying to give her a hug or show my support in SOME manner (save your obsenities please). In Ep3 she is going to be distraught and I'm hoping to be able to be there for her in a more tangible way then just fruitlessly spamming a button. Lastly I think the final battle fell a little flat for me. It not that it was not challenging, it's just that I expected the whole Combine army to be coming down on me and all I got was Striders and Hunters. It was fun and I understand why they removed the soldiers from the final game, I just wish they would have reworked it to feel more epic.

Other then that, I think Valve is right on target.

 

[Nitre]

Yup, loved the game. Did have a few flaws but they were worth overlooking in favour of the sheer brilliance of the game. I loved the ending and at the same time hated it. I wanted to chat to Eli

 

[Przemek]

My personal game of the year, right next to Portal.
Too little Advisors, though.

 

[knut]

It was fantastic, but it also had a good fair share of just plain annoying parts and rehashes of stuff we've seen and done before. Not that I care, I'll always find it fun, it just started to ruin the immersion a bit in places.

I'm not going to go into a huge post about the goods and bads but theres one thing I noticed today that really - and I mean over-the-top-really-shouldn't-of-pissed-me-off-but-did-because-it-was-so-stupid-way - was the Starsky and Hutch like stacked up crates you come across when being chased by the chopper, placed convieniently in the middle of ****ing nowhere just on the off-chance that some guy is going to come barreling along with techno music blaring in the background and a chopper kicking up dust behind him. Seriously, Valve, what the hell? I know I shouldn't be picking up on something so minor but it just screamed ''yeah, we placed them there so it would look awesome to the max! EXTREME!''

That's how Bungie work for godsake, not you guys.

EDIT: Also, I thought the Hunters were a major letdown. I played through on Hard and not once did I have to run from one, or hide. They just stood around and absorbed bullets, albiet quite a lot of bullets. I had to start making it challenging for my own benefit later by actually giving them a chance to do something truely interesting like minimising the amount of shots I fired, and using as much cover as I could - just for dramatic effect - but still they posed no deadly threat and didn't seem challanging in any way. I was kind of hoping there would be a chase sequence of sorts, where a load of Hunters would ambush you in the Hotrod and would try and catch you up, shunting into you destruction derby style to tip you over or slow you down. That would of been really pumping, seeing a Hunter pounding alongside you down the road.

 

[Jintor]

Antipop, you must be a much better gamer than I am, because those Hunters owned me a lot on Normal. :/

I liked the chopper chase, but it felt really really really short. Owning it at the end was pretty cool though.

 

[Planetary]

They already did the crate smash thing in Water Hazard. The trouble was, on land the supplies are harder to see, so they thought to put the supplies in front of a big pile of larger crates, hoping to get players to steer toward them (It worked on me).

Hunters aren't as tough as I thought, especially if you know their weakness (radiators), their charge attack is pretty impressive though, maybe they should do that more often?

 

[Jintor]

I always poured gunfire into the Hunters. :/

Except when I shot logs at them at the Defense of the Armament, but by then it was easier to run them over.

 

[Asknoone]

I agree on Hunters being too easy. It's not so much that they were a letdown, because they are really quite fun to fight, but I also played on hard and I pretty much always had the upper-hand. Throw some GG stuff at them and they are pretty much down.

 

[Antlion guards]

is it normal that my downloading from steam goes EXTREMLLY slow???Like 1% in 5 min??And i have adsl!Sorry if stupid question

 

[knut]

Antipop, you must be a much better gamer than I am, because those Hunters owned me a lot on Normal. :/

I liked the chopper chase, but it felt really really really short. Owning it at the end was pretty cool though.

I dunno, they just never came at me as a deadly target. I did enjoy fighting them, but I was hoping for a little more. Maybe I have to do specific things in the level/area to trigger them to do their own tactics, because when I was fighting them they either a) stood around, shot me and occasionally charged me or b) charged headlong into a peice of cover and daze themselves.

I did like the chopper chase, it was a really heart racing few minutes, it's just as soon as I saw these perfectly stacked up crates that you could smash up it kinda ruined the atmosphere. A bit. I mean, they didn't even look like they were trying to be barricades as they were that spaced out, flimsy and in the middle of nowhere. Also, I was hoping the chopper would do a little more to make that chase the extra bit exciting. I loved in Water Hazard when it would be kicking up the water right around you as it tracks you with it's weapon, but in this chase I don't remember it ever being that close to me.

I also kind of wish I could take it down there and then because I'd love to stretch my legs in that pretty long area that the place takes part at.

 

[Asknoone]

I liked the chopper chase, but it felt really really really short.

Pretty sure this is a very good thing. Water Hazard had 2 or 3 maps dedicated to dodging mines.

 

[ríomhaire]

Hunters are too easy when you just use the heavy grav gun ammo. Using a mix of firearms and guns is more fun.

Did anyone else notice that the turrets in the antlion-defence section seem to fire ordinary bullets instead of pulse rounds?

 

[Cheomesh]

Hunters are too easy when you just use the heavy grav gun ammo. Using a mix of firearms and guns is more fun.

Did anyone else notice that the turrets in the antlion-defence section seem to fire ordinary bullets instead of pulse rounds?

No I didn't. Cool.


ALSO the hopper mines have a lamda, and one has a on it.

 

[ríomhaire]

I noticed that too

 

[The Mild Gatsby]

I'd just like to come and out and say that I too have noticed, and appreciated, the custom insignas adorning the hopper mines in the human sanctuary featured prominently in the early stages of the game amongst the antlion caves.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

I guess you'd call this a easter egg:

You know in 'Under the Radar" level? When you go to destroy the gun, a rebel says "Um, is that your boyfriend?"

After you have disposed of the gun, if you don't go in the car and just roam around alittle bit (I did for 5 minutes or so), Alyx will say "Hey, boyfriend!" if you don't hurry up.



Is this the wrong thread for a post like this? D:

 

[Jintor]

That... is... AWESOME.

 

[Cheomesh]

That... is... AWESOME.

THIS...IS...HALF-LIFE!