The PC PowerPlay Hands-On... Possible spoilers...

[Brian Damage]

Okay fellas, just got my new issue of PC PowerPlay today... and what did I see on the cover...

"Half Life 2: 10 reasons why it's gonna rock your world"

Yes, the dude in charge went to VALVe's offices and had a bit of a fiddle with the latest build... To sum up the article (Only including really new things or clarifications):


1. The menu appears to feature a set of options in front of a bleak but atmospheric backdrop depicting a chilly mountain range.

2. You will be immediately immersed in the game from the moment you click "Play"... no cutscenes, no cinematics...

3. Gordon cannot remember anything since the end of the first game... not really new, but it was one of those things that was a little uncertain, IMHO...

4. The dude describes the people in the game as "Uncannily real". Greetings and aknowledgment of the player's existence feel "Perfectly natural".

5. The level geometry is incredibly convincing... there are none of the usual signs of "uniform geometry" or "templated building blocks"...

6. In the Graveyard, the previewer came under attack from "Vaguely humanoid shapes", which, "Dash along the top of the ridge", and a "troop of recently deceased creatures" (Most likely those Prowler things and the "Deadcrab" zombies)...

7. "I fumble the mousewheel for the first available weapon and luck out with some sort of assault rifle"... I just think this quote is funny.

8. Apparently "Manipulator" is actually the Manipulator's official name...

9. The Manipulator has two modes: Attract and Repel (I'd assume these are tied to the two different mousebuttons). Attract pulls things towards you, levitating them if they are light enough, and Repel pushes them or shoots lighter objects.

10. The Manipulator can really change and enhance the normal style of FPS gameplay.

11. Headstones in the graveyard are Manipulateable...

12. The dude found something else to do with the crane that I haven't heard mentioned before...

Spoiler

He used it to pick up a large metal crate, then used it as a flail to splatter a bunch of Combine...

13. You can accidentally flip the buggy...

14. ... Fortunately, the buggy is Manipulateable... and apparently rather good for smashing Combine...

15. Roller mines appear to pop out of the ground... and they stick themselves to things like the buggy...

16. ... using EMP blasts to send the controls haywire... making the buggy jump about all over the joint

17. Basically, the dude got the distinct impression that HL2 is a game apart, encouraging the player to find their own way of solving problems... and of kicking arse...



New screenshots:

(R = recently seen elsewhere)

Obligatory shot of the Deadcrab jumping (R).
Three shots of the Combine fighting Antlions (R).
Highly detailed shot of a combine with a stun prod (Poss. R).
Shot of the player using that weird gun from Tunnels to shoot at a Gunship (Poss. R).
Shot of a concept pic of the Combine Citadel and Wall.
(Very pretty) Shot of a cliff with a couple of old buildings and a bridge.
Shot of a white-shirted fellow stepping off a train in a train station.

In the train one, what I believe to be a Combine banner hangs on the wall in the background: It features the "C/Clamp" symbol from the posters in Bugbait... :naughty:



Any questions or requests for clarification?

 

[PigeonRat]

Australian PC PowerPlay right? I'll have to pick it up tomorrow morning...

If I have the cash

 

[jonnyapps]

nice work - have to wait for those pics to release online somewhere as I'm strapped for cash

(what's the literal meaning of that?)

 

[Varsity]

1. The menu appears to feature a set of options in front of a bleak but atmospheric backdrop depicting a chilly mountain range.

Placeholder or hint..?

9. The Manipulator has two modes: Attract and Repel (I'd assume these are tied to the two different mousebuttons). Attract pulls things towards you, levitating them if they are light enough, and Repel pushes them or shoots lighter objects.

I guess holding both buttons keeps it a uniform distance away. Does the gun have ammo or anything?

 

[leadfish]

Looks like I'll be making a bee-line for the newsagents after TAFE tomorrow morning Thanks for that Brian :thumbs:

 

[fuzzy_aus]

Oooh, aus version, awesome. Maybe i will have to buy my first PC mag

(or at least hang around in the shop reading it untill the 7-11 guy gets cut)

EDIT: how much is it?

 

[Brian Damage]

It's $11.95 for the DVD version. CD is $9.95, I think.

Varsity: By the description it sounded like there was no ammo needed. Also, it didn't go into deep specifics on how the manipulator worked, just that one button was Attract and the other was Repel.

 

[Xtasy0]

Placeholder or hint..?

I guess holding both buttons keeps it a uniform distance away. Does the gun have ammo or anything?

one button holds objects, the other shoots them (its used in one of the E3 movies, to pickup the camera...), you dont need to hold them both down or anything, you just click once. and i dont recall an ammo meter in the E3 movie......

 

[Bubblegum_Punk]

I got the issue tonight. The half-life 2 stuff is really cool and so is the rest of the mag because it is their 100th issue. Go out and buy the DVD version and you could score a free copy of Far Cry. They have 100 copies spread around Australia with the DVD edition. I didn't win though

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I'll pick this issue up tomorrow!

 

[RoguePsi]

I think the manipulator works quite simply (like in the Strider video for example). You pick up something with the attract button and drop it by letting go, but if you want to fire it you press the repel button and it will 'fire' the object. Perhaps you can repel things without picking them up too. I'd imagine so.

 

[SFA]

Oooh so the repel function on the manipulator could act like that gun Tom Cruise had in Minority Report!

 

[Varsity]

one button holds objects, the other shoots them (its used in one of the E3 movies, to pickup the camera...), you dont need to hold them both down or anything, you just click once. and i dont recall an ammo meter in the E3 movie......

No, the quote I posted says there are attract and repel modes, presumably mapped to lmb and rmb respectively.

 

[Brian Damage]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: The cover has a new official-looking piece of artwork showing a frightened-looking Alyx standing behind a mildly pissed-off-looking Gordon, who is holding his crowbar and a Pheromone Thingy.

 

[Sparta]

Awesome, im buying that mag

 

[SMT]

No, the quote I posted says there are attract and repel modes, presumably mapped to lmb and rmb respectively.

Umm... then the quote is wrong. Xtasy0 is right, for common sense (and other) reasons.

 

[Xtasy0]

No, the quote I posted says there are attract and repel modes, presumably mapped to lmb and rmb respectively.

isn't that what i said? you click left mouse button and it "repels" (it really just throws/shoot stuff, but we can call it repel if you want), and the right button picks stuff up (attracts...)..............

gabe has answered questions regarding this anyways, probably in the info from valve thread.

 

[Feath]

I think it's good to read in the previews about how the different journalists played through the levels. They would've done slightly different things. It seems like this PC Powerplay player got to grips with physics, and they PC Zone player had to get hints from Doug.

Wow. I'm rather excited.

 

[Jarman]

12. The dude found something else to do with the crane that I haven't heard mentioned before...

Spoiler

He used it to pick up a large metal crate, then used it as a flail to splatter a bunch of Combine...

Yeah, this was mentioned in the Italian mag as well. The people who wrote me already know that :E

15. Roller mines appear to pop out of the ground... and they stick themselves to things like the buggy...

In the Italian mag I read these mines can control the buggy, but it isn't clear how you can get rid of them.

Nice post, of course :thumbs:

 

[-JeZ-]

Great info BD! :thumbs:

 

[Mr. Redundant]

No, the quote I posted says there are attract and repel modes, presumably mapped to lmb and rmb respectively.

as Xstasy said, thats just another way of saying
Primary fire: Pickup object. (you press it once, and if the object is close enough/manipulatable it will suck it up and hold it in front of you like a magnet) -see E3 vids especially traptown.

Secondary fire: Throw/shoot object. (you press the button once, and the object that you are currently holding becomes a projectile. it simply "shocks" the item and it flies forward from the blast.. see Strider vid for more of the same)

you assign whatever controls you want it to have, however in most FPS nowadays, using the W A S D setup they already have
Primary fire bound to the Left mouse button
and Secondary is usually bound to the Right.

 

[Alec_85]

Hmm why does the text say "top 10" things when there are 17 listed? Nice list though.

 

[Dougy]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: The cover has a new official-looking piece of artwork showing a frightened-looking Alyx standing behind a mildly pissed-off-looking Gordon, who is holding his crowbar and a Pheromone Thingy.

PC Zones got the same cover.

 

[Mikey Canuck]

I read these mines can control the buggy, but it isn't clear how you can get rid of them.

From the PCZone gameplay preview:

Spoiler

"Switching to the Manipulator, I suck the mine up and cast it over the ravine..."

 

[Jarman]

From the PCZone gameplay preview:

Spoiler

"Switching to the Manipulator, I suck the mine up and cast it over the ravine..."

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[CrazyHarij]

This rocks.. The excitement is so thick you can cut through it with a.. err.. Crowbar!

 

[DEATH eVADER]

(Very pretty) Shot of a cliff with a couple of old buildings and a bridge.

This one has been seen in PCZONE too, besides that, everything seems to be in order. I'm hoping to see that concept art of the citadel

 

[DEATH eVADER]

In the Italian mag I read these mines can control the buggy, but it isn't clear how you can get rid of them.

Nice post, of course :thumbs:

A guy from PCZONE used the manipulator to grab hold of one, then flung it off the cliff edge

 

[wbcheater]

guys there two different weapons one beam is blue the other orange.
teh blue moves things. retract and ect. the orange picks up and shoots.
take alook

 

[DimitriPopov]

Im sure someone posted this , but for godsakes A CHILLY MOUNTAIN RANGE!? Thats the freaking citadel, mein gott this guy must be a huge fan of impressionist art.

WB, where did those shots come from? In the E3 videos that blue beam still comes from the pistol(no model for specific weapon). Its cool to see how they fixed that.

 

[Xtasy0]

Im sure someone posted this , but for godsakes A CHILLY MOUNTAIN RANGE!? Thats the freaking citadel, mein gott this guy must be a huge fan of impressionist art.

unless they changed it since then....

 

[Darkside55]

You know what I think is the most exciting news out of this mag? The screenshot Brian described of the white-shirted man getting off the train at the train station. I know you might think, "How the hell is THAT exciting," but if you think about it, it could mean a couple important things.

First, it needs to be remembered that:

Spoiler

Gordon gets to City 17 via train.

It's previously been thought that City 17 has been under lockdown, but if there are people coming in from trains, that might not be the case. Or, it's possible that there are people working outside the city who come in and go out that way.

And the other, more exciting speculation is that only important people are allowed into City 17 from outside areas. And if the screenshot only showed this one guy getting off the train, we may be looking at a future important or semi-important character in the game.

Either way, interesting things to to think about.

 

[Brian Damage]

Actually, it looked a little like one of the resistance guys...

And the way the preview dude got the rollermines of, was to shoot them off with the shotgun... right into a group of Combine :naughty:...

 

[Mikey Canuck]

guys there two different weapons one beam is blue the other orange.
teh blue moves things. retract and ect. the orange picks up and shoots.
take alook

I'm pretty sure only the Manipulator with the orange glow is in the final game.

 

[Mikey Canuck]

WB, where did those shots come from? In the E3 videos that blue beam still comes from the pistol(no model for specific weapon). Its cool to see how they fixed that.

Actually, the blue beam weapon had that specific model in the E3 presentation, not a pistol in its place.

 

[EVIL]

Im sure someone posted this , but for godsakes A CHILLY MOUNTAIN RANGE!? Thats the freaking citadel, mein gott this guy must be a huge fan of impressionist art.

WB, where did those shots come from? In the E3 videos that blue beam still comes from the pistol(no model for specific weapon). Its cool to see how they fixed that.

thats the background from the alpha I suggest you remove it before the mods spank you silly

 

[kaf11]

what happens when you throw a roller mine at combine soldiers? i just thought it had an emp attack. and dont anybody go into the "comBines aRe teh ROBOTS!!1!" they bleed. theyre organic. i think the most it would do is break down all of their electronic equipment, which i doubt is in the game. combine: "damn it! that bastard went and broke my hello kitty cell phone. its personal now!"

 

[EVIL]

I think they explode.

 

[kaf11]

oh, they might. just in the article i read they attach to your car and suck power. also heard they mess with your control and can send you flying off a cliff if you dont get them off.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

wbcheater: The blue beam is the Physics Gun put into E3 for the sole purpose of showing off the physics. It will not be in the final game, only the manipulator (yellow beam) will be. I really want to see the citadel concept piece!