Half-Life 2 Discussion (Spoilers)

[JoyBoy]

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 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?

[Grumpy]

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!

[JoyBoy]

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.

[Luciel]

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?

[Mookers]

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

[Grumpy]

@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'!?)

[tombo800]

After playing Half-Life 2 through a couple of times I think that the G-Man is an alien like the Vortigaunts a.k.a. the alien slaves from the first Half-Life (the ones that shoot electricity at you) because throughout the game there are numerous parts where you see the G-Man communicating/talking to the Vortigaunts through a T.V. At the start of the game and as well as the fact that he can move around the place so quickly for example the bit where you get the boat for the first time you drive down the river for a while and you see the G-Man looking at you from a balcony then about 10 kilometers down river hes watching you again as if he somehow beat you there. When you try to follow him he seems to vanish without a trace and what's up with the way he talks? speeding up and then slowing down as if he isn't comfortable with human speech like it says in the prima guide?