Laivasse
Companion Cube
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2005
- Messages
- 4,813
- Reaction score
- 31
I've never considered the puzzles in HL to be ingenious but then I've never expected them to be, any more than I expected Portal to have lots of cool combat.
HL's puzzles serve as nice breaks in the pacing, as an incentive to explore the area, etc. Some of them have actually been pretty clever (the core puzzles in Entanglement spring to mind). In puzzling terms, however, the HL series is at a disadvantage compared to platform-puzzlers like Ico, Portal, God of War et al since those games can afford to contain bizarre, surreal, unrealistic environments that exist solely for the purpose of forcing the player through the steps of a puzzle. HL can't contain areas like this without detracting from its greatest strength: narrative drive, which requires intuitive game environments that make some concessions to suspension of disbelief.
And while none of the puzzles in HL2 have obstructed me for more than 5 minutes, if the games were made any harder then it would prevent a significant amount of people from enjoying it as much (you've seen all the help threads; that's who I'm talking about). I sympathise somewhat with the sentiment that a Mature-rated game should perhaps be marketed more at a mature intellect, but one thing that backseat gaming will teach you is that you should never underestimate the infuriating ability of some people to get lost and screw up in simple sections, regardless of their age.
HL's puzzles serve as nice breaks in the pacing, as an incentive to explore the area, etc. Some of them have actually been pretty clever (the core puzzles in Entanglement spring to mind). In puzzling terms, however, the HL series is at a disadvantage compared to platform-puzzlers like Ico, Portal, God of War et al since those games can afford to contain bizarre, surreal, unrealistic environments that exist solely for the purpose of forcing the player through the steps of a puzzle. HL can't contain areas like this without detracting from its greatest strength: narrative drive, which requires intuitive game environments that make some concessions to suspension of disbelief.
And while none of the puzzles in HL2 have obstructed me for more than 5 minutes, if the games were made any harder then it would prevent a significant amount of people from enjoying it as much (you've seen all the help threads; that's who I'm talking about). I sympathise somewhat with the sentiment that a Mature-rated game should perhaps be marketed more at a mature intellect, but one thing that backseat gaming will teach you is that you should never underestimate the infuriating ability of some people to get lost and screw up in simple sections, regardless of their age.
