Half-Life 2 Discussion (Spoilers)
 

Well ladies, so many online sites and print mags have pegged this as Game of the Year and its certainly got the Reviews/Scores to backup that claim. Having just completed it less then 10 minutes ago, I gotta say the game was a slight letdown. Here are some brief comments on the game

Theres 1 awesome level right near the end, 'Follow Freeman'. Feels like you are in a huge sci-fi movie. ****ing get to blow massive camera tripods up. So cool. The ending explains the game and what you were doing there. Its just ashame the story that is played out in the actual game (discounting the ending), is a disappointment. The 3 levels where u get to control vehicles, get boring real quick. The others are all excellent. Ravenholm and the afore mentioned Follow Freeman being particular highlights, even though Ravenholm stole a lot of its ideas from Resident Evil :P. I cant wait to see an FPS try to top 'Follow Freeman'. Theres a level right at the end that looks like its been lifted from a certain Xbox game too. ;-)

Overall 9.5 out of 10

Could have been a 10, were it not for the story that is played out in the game. The problem is there is no godamn story played out. Which is why its a disappointment. The actual ending is cool though. Another problem with the game, is that theres barely any variety in the enemies you face. Theres only a certain amount of zombies you can kill before tedium kicks in.

Back to the AWESOME ending. If, from what I understood about it, Gordan Freeman is basically a gun for hire. A mercenary or hitman if you will. ****ing Gordan Freeman, the geekiest looking Hero of any game ever, is a godamn Hired Gun :D G-Man (the old man from the original, who you see wondering around Black Mesa) hires your services out to the highest bidder. That was a nice payoff to Half-Life 2 and, personally, I cant wait to see where Valve take that particular storyline .

In closing, its more of an evolution rather then revolution of the FPS Genre.

So, theres my brief view on the game. What did YOU think about it?

The stryders reminded me of the spaceships from the movie War of the Worlds! The whole game looks like it had been ripped off from lots of other games or movies, you already mentioned Resident Evil etc.
The game did look very trick though.
I'm also wondering if Australia ended up with an Edited (Cut Down) version of it? There is a part in a Trailer I had seen that wasnt in the game itself!

Exactly, all this game did was take good ideas from other games and just throw them into one game. Well every level besides that Follow Freeman one, that was something I never expected to happen in a game for a while yet. That one really made me happy to be a gamer again :)

I dont think Austrailia, or anyone for that matter, got an edited version of the game. There were quite a few scenes I saw in the alpha (which as I mentioned over a year ago on here, I played), and the trailers that did not make the final cut of the game. Or maybe not everything has been unlocked via Steam yet? Someone from Valve has mentioned on the Steam Powered forums that a Surprise is coming soon.

As I said last night, the story in the game is a huge letdown. Unless I was not paying attention I didnt catch anything that mattered. It was only in the last level that Valve made an effort to actually explain what the hell was going on. By then, I felt it was too late. Also, what the **** was with that Alex chick actually doing trusting that Dr Mossman/Mothman or whatever that other chicks name was. This, after that Doc, had already double crossed her and her father. If I was Alex, I would have pinned her down and forced some lesbianism on her. ;)

Again, if it was not for the G-Man payoff at the end. This game would have been an even bigger let down. I always had a feeling that Valve would end the game on some kind of cliffhanger after they announced Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 3 together some time last year. Lets just hope they go the way of the Original Star Wars Trilogy or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and not the way of the Matrix Trilogy.

Firstly i have to say people that havent played HL1 wouldnt enjoy HL2 as its a continuation of the storyline, Also there was something really weird about all the C17 Army Vehicles, they all looked very XEN, some biological **** going on there maybe?

I thought the game was rather well laid out. The fact that you didnt know what was really going on story wise untill the very end was what keept me playing, I wanted to know what the deal was. I think you guys are right that they did borrow things from different games, but I also think it would next to impossible for the developers not to. Think of how many games are out there in the world already, then think of making a new game. Someone in the world is always going to say "they ripped off that from *insert game name here*"
It would be almost impossible to make a game and have it so unique that everything is 100% theirs, after all a FPS is an FPS and I doubt they will ever change that much.
Back to the game, lol. I agree the vehicle levels got bleh after awhile. After driving that air boat I was all "man im glad that's over, now on with the game and i hope no more vehicle levels". Then the Buggy level and i was all " damnit , not another one". The part I liked the most was actually 2 different levels. I liked the prison level, breaking in was great. I also liked the level at the end where you had to break in to the building ( I think it was a library) and kill the generators.
Now I don't mean to compare games here, but HL2 IMO was great beacuse you could see that you were doing. Doom3 on the other had was so dark I had trouble in some levels seeing. I know Doom3 was supposed to be a Dark Scary freakshow, but I got annoyed with the darkness. Doom3 on the other hand seemed to have wicked lighting effects and scare tactics that would make you crap in your pants. HL2 never got me scared like Doom3 did, but it did make me think more in order to advance along in the game. ( like pileing up bricks on a teedering board so i can make a jump)
Over all I think HL2 was Amazing and I can't wait to see a HL3 :)
Doom3 was also amazing and I guess each game has its place in the industry and gamers hearts.
I can't really bash or say anything bad about them though because both were done very well for what they were supposed to be :)

I think right now is a great time to be a gamer. Back in the early 90's we went through a technology transistion in the gaming industry and got our first FPS games like Castle Wolfinstein and Doom. I think we are going through this again with Games like Doom3 and HL2 because of the advancement of the gaming engines abilities. It's great to be a gamer and I can't wait to see what the sick minds of future game developers come up with next :)

@Mookers
Very well written indeed. ;) You mentioned two very good games in HL2 and Doom3, but have you played, my personal favorite, Farcry?
I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on it, and yours Joyboy. You both write an interesting review.
(Do we really have to call you 'Joyboy'!?) :)

Thanks Grumpy. Unfortunately I have not been to Walmart to pick up Farcry as of yet. Everyone I talk to says it's a very good game. maybe I will go grab a copy this weekend and write a little about it. I have seen it played at the local LAN parties though and from what I have seen it's a great game experience.

As I'm pressed for time, all I gotta say is Far Cry is overated and DOOM 3 I still havent bothered to finish. Its a blatent 1 trick pony and I just cannot be bothered to continue with the game. If you want to play a seriously good FPS go check out the criminally underated Chaser. Before Half-Life 2 came out, that was the last good game I played on the PC. Actually, based on the Chaser storyline, I gotta say I enjoyed that game more then Half-Life 2 :eek:

Although doom 3 has sentimental value as doom was the first scary game for me LOL (bless me) i have to agree with batty,i mean, joyboy (hehehehe), i cant be arsed to finish it, as of farcry, i agree its a nice game, but highly overrated kinda like what happens with halo except halo is a crap game from the word go.

Man I'm dissapointed to hear both (Luciel and Joyboys) your opinions on Farcry! :p But just because I thought it was great doesnt mean everyone is going to agree. I will look for the demo for Chaser to see for myself. ;)

Yeah, I noticed that first with the Gunships. The moment a rocket would hit them, they would let out a scream (at least it sounded like a scream to me). Same thing with those Striders too... Damn, the Gunships had awesome vocals :) Then again, maybe Valve stole that sample from the Metal Gear Solid Series :p
Heh, just thinking back to Follow Freeman, where you run down a tunnel with 1 lone combine soldier at the other end. You think to yourself, this is piss easy and I know I am being setup for something bigger. Within a few steps a Strider smashes through the wall behind you and gives chase all the way to the end of the tunnel. You barely have enough time to even turn around and investigate what the hell that loud crash was behind you because the ****er is charging so fast.

Actually, speaking of Striders, did anyone manage to beat the last Strider you meet in the very last level (Dark Energy or Dark Tower or something Dark like that). The suped up gravity gun obviously had no effect on it, and it was only while running round trying to dodge the thing looking for an exit that I saw those energy balls. Quickly as possible, I ripped them out and basically discarded them without even thinking about firing them at the Strider, I just wanted out of that place. Did they make a difference?

Yes the balls did kill the last stryder! I just kept running around, ignoring the men just in front of me and blasted the balls at the Stryder. It soon dropped then I could safely kill of the remaining men.
Some of the effects in this level looked very good. Sometimes I just kept picking up the people with the gravity gun and swinging them around in the corridors, :D Loved the sound effects, also just kept tossing people high into the air and watching them come down and thumping onto the ground. And the bubble thing, where you could throw someone into it and they would float about, sort of slow motion effect, this looked quite good!

yeah the balls did in deed kill it lol, and grumpy, didnt say it wasnt a good game, just said it was overrated ;)

That citadel is great. That trip you make in that cabin floating around inside gives me the creeps. Like you are in some WW2 style war factory, makes you think those guys are in for the total control over human-kind. And you are right. I think the story is continued from HL1. This Gordon Freeman, is an ordinary doc(proof that everybody knows you around Black Mesa, so you cannot be a stranger form outter space :D ). He accidentaly opens a gateway, and ugly evil XENOs starting to invade the complex. He is not involved in this "accident" proof that he just seeking to get outta there. And the mercenarys also out to get him.
If you say so, but just think for a minute: It doesn't make sense. Why would sombody use Gordon to unleash an evil Xeno infestation(HL1), and then kill them off using some faithless rebels(HL2)? It doesn't make any sense. In HL1 Freeman is not even in the service of G-man, Gordon joins him at the end of HL1 becouse he got no other chance. G-man notices him becouse he alone slaughters a whole f*ckin army of xenos and mercs. (Or 'cuz he alone wears that funky looking orange HEV suit that talks :D ) This G-man is a crature of mystery. Who is him anyway? He is there in HL2 everywhere, just keep your eyes open: in the airboat mission when you reach the dam, he is watching you from the top of the dam control room then walks away. Or he is on a tv screen for a moment in the ruined house where you find the doll and the suitcase in the elevator(dunno wich mission). He is everywhere, he has control over time and space. He must be some powerful alien or smthg like that. You killed that huge floating overmind thing in hl1 right? Then who the hell is that ugly alien sonofabiach Breen was talking to in the almost-end of the game? Ok, well I'm waiting for HL3 now, or some expansion pack. I really like to know what's behind this story becouse HL2 just made more questions, and didn't answered any.

@Play
Now look what you have done! Made me want to go back and play for that closer inspection! :D
I did notice the guy at the Dam and in the TV but didnt pick exactly who it was! But now, Thanks to you, I will have to start the game again and be a lot more observant! :D ;)