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Half-Life 2
the_exile
Kupo!
in Zocalo v2.0
[QUOTE][i]Excerpt from PC Gamer[/i]
[B]It just gets worse. Your last memories are of the desperate scramble out of the Black Mesa test facility; the mind-bending showdown in the alien dimension of Xen; and a final, chilling encounter with the mysterious "G-Man," whose mandatory offer of mysterious employment resulted in a shot of sodium pentathol and a one-way ride to Sleepville. But all that was just a prelude...
With no idea how or why he's appeared here, Gordon Freeman is now one of the opporessed denizens of City 17, an Eastern European metropolis under the heel of alien occupation.
And so it was that I, your humble [i]PC Gamer[/i] representative, emerged blinking into the sun of City 17, ready to play.
As in [i]Half-Life[/i], you start off with no weapons and with the distinct feeling that you're just one microscopic cog in a catastrophic plan. Only this time, your masters aren't government scientists. As you walk the streets, you're shocked by images of otherworldly occupation--the long-legged "strider" machines on their ominous patrols, the masked "cops" searching Human citizens, and flying probes that swoop in for random scans. Humans all seem to be in a state of submission and intimidation by the controlling force of the aliens.
But before long, whispers of revolution reach your ears, and you can be sure that Gordon Freeman is gonna break off a little sumthin'-sumthin' for Earth's new alien overlords.
[b]Sensorial Overload[/b]
Half-Life 2 is a feast for the eyes and ears. Much has already been written about the physics of the Source engine, and they're indeed impressive, as we'll describe in a bit. But the sheer detailed beauty of the environments made a much more immediate impression on me. City 17 is a place you could wander for hours -- and, in fact, Valve Managing Director Gabe Newell fully expects a lot of people to do just that. ("Who are we to tell the player how to enjoy the game?" he says.)
From the moment you steup out of the train station into this eerie future city, you're drinking in plenty of incidental detail and interactive bits. You could spend hours scarign pigeons into flight, kicking over trashcans, or just standing around in the city square watching presentations on the Orwellian TV monitors that broadcast in a steady monotone.
The feeling is of complete immersion in a surreal and threatening city made scarily realistic by the rendering of so many lifelike urban details.
[b]New Ghouls, New Guns[/b]
Our playtest offered some tantalizing scrapes of as-yet-unseen alien enemies. The most memorable were a breed of animal-like attackers that spring around in packs, looking like some kind of abominable howler monkeys. Leaping down from high ledges, they slash with claws and pounce on you with very bad intentions.
One of the levels we played (which takes place several missions into the game) showed the influence of classic zombie movies. You accompany a local priest, Father Grigori, on a nighttime race through a cemetery. After dispatching the howler monkeys, you're faced with that most dependable of graveyard menaces, the good ol' zombie--headcrab zombies, in this case. Side by side with the shotgun-toting padre, you have to blast your way through a mob of shambling horrors. (We found it was a smart idea to rely on the classic Colt .45 revolver for this part--one headshot with that bad boy, and that zombie in front of you is going down.)
The Colt isn't the only new cannon I got to test out. Gordon's packing a veritable arsenal for this adventure. You have a number of real-world firearms, including the Hecker & Koch MP5 submachine gun, a Glock pistol, a shotgun, a crossbow, and, of course, the time-honord crowbar for when headcrabs are getting a bit too up-close-and-personal.
The cemetary provided some great examples of how the Source physics deliver surprises. In this case, you could use Gordon's "gravity gun" to gather radial saw blades that lay scattered around the graveyard, and then aim them at the unprotected zombie necks for a nasty decapitation. Not pretty, but very effective.
Another terrific example of the interactivity of the environments came up when I chucked a grenade into a cluser of zombies and accidentally detonated a flammable barrel--the zombies nearest the barrel were doused with flame, which continued to burn as the creatures took additional damage. (In later levels, I even observed that fire actually [i]spreads[/i] through burning structures. In a totally unscripted manner, if you choose to start a fire in a building, you will eventually find the whole place going up in flames.)
[b]High Gear Through Hell[/b]
We're used to thinking of [i]Half-Life[/i] as an indoor game. But the sprawling outdoor levels we played through in [i]Half-Life 2[/i] will soon be turning that perception on its head.
I played through a level that stretches over virtual miles of outdoor terrain--along a beach, through a warehouse district, and then along a coastal road in the mountains. And Gordon no longer needs to rely on his tired feet to get him around these open spaces--there are vehicles to commandeer. I got my hands on the wheel of a slick dune buggy, complete with onboard cannon. The buggy also has a temporary speed burst that can come in handy for timely leaps off ramps and over chasms.
As with everything else in [i]Half-Life 2[/i], the game's tangibly realistic physics engine impacts your driving. The handling experience is convincing, complete with slides and rolls. You can drive through glass facades, ram the occassional barrier, and, if you're not careful, end up over the edge of a cliff and into "the drink." (Valvo told us that testers sometimes found themselves in a precarious position, teeter-tottering on the edge, with only gordon's virtual mass halting a sharop drop.)
Vehicles aren't the only environmental addition to gameplay. Valve's designers have clearly had a field day implementing puzzles based on the new physics. One such puzzle actually involves the buggy--or, more accurately, the problem of how to get yourself and your buggy across the gap between two docks. The solution presents itself in the form of a tall construction crane--you can climb the crane and take its controls, swinging a giant magnet around to slam into a raised drawbridge, knocking it into place, and then hoist your buggy to a safe landing on the other side.
[b]Your Game, Your Play Style[/b]
The level of environmental interactivity makes for a high degree of choice in how you play through any given mission. If you're more violently inclined, there's nothing stopping you from "pullin' a tool out and goin' the old-school route" (as rapper Black Thought would say)--you can shoot your way through an enemy checkpoint and have a supremely satisfying gun battle. But if you're more of a sneak-around type, you'll find ample opportunity to approach the checkpoint stealthily, sniping at a distance and taking out guys with your crowbar at close range.
I went through one road-blockade encuonter with both play styles in mind. My first time through, I proceeded with guns blazing, engaging the guards with machine gun fire and grenades. This flurry alerted their comrades, and forced me into a running showdown with several heavily armed nasties--nothing I wasn't able to handle, but definetely a loud and lethal exchange.
So then I went back through the same locale with the entirely opposite attitude in mind. I snuck around piles of crates until I was in position for a sniper shot with my crossbow. Lining up headshots, I was able to bad the bad guys individually, limiting the ruckus and taking a lot more time to eliminate the checkpoint. (Though even this approach yielded a hilariously destructive moment. One of my crossbow bolts ignited a flammable barrel, which exploded and sent a bad guy flying through the air--only to have his flaming corpse land on [i]another[/i] barrel and blow [i]it[/i] off. It was a savage and delightfully unscripted demonstatrion of some advanced game physics at work.)
[b]The Epic Struggle[/b]
The plot of [i]Half-Life 2[/i] involves more than Gordon's efforts to figure out why he's appeared in this girm new future. He's got bigger problems--like how to dismantle the alien occupation. Gordon finds himself involved with an underground resistance network that includes the lovely Alyx and her father, the good Dr. Eli. Thus begins a campaign against the alien overlords--but there's a crisis within the ranks of humanity's last stand.
It seems that scientists have advanced two theories about how to fight the aliens. Gordon and his allies champion one of these approaches, and it's plenty risky--but a rival scientist and [i]his[/i] acolytes advance an even more aggressive plan, one with dire consequences for the morality of humankind. ("One group is wrong, but another is [i]spectacularly[/i] wrong," as Newell puts it.)
[i]Half-Life 2[/i] makes you the key player in a showdown between two opposing visions of human resistance to the occupation. Can profound soul-searching and an epic struggle for humanity be far behind?
Alas, a poker-faced Gabe Newell wouldn't enveil the ending of the game to us. But it was more than plain after our playtest that [i]Half-Life 2[/i] represents an ambitious step forward for Valve--and a whole new nightmare for our friend Gordo.[/B][/QUOTE]
[B]It just gets worse. Your last memories are of the desperate scramble out of the Black Mesa test facility; the mind-bending showdown in the alien dimension of Xen; and a final, chilling encounter with the mysterious "G-Man," whose mandatory offer of mysterious employment resulted in a shot of sodium pentathol and a one-way ride to Sleepville. But all that was just a prelude...
With no idea how or why he's appeared here, Gordon Freeman is now one of the opporessed denizens of City 17, an Eastern European metropolis under the heel of alien occupation.
And so it was that I, your humble [i]PC Gamer[/i] representative, emerged blinking into the sun of City 17, ready to play.
As in [i]Half-Life[/i], you start off with no weapons and with the distinct feeling that you're just one microscopic cog in a catastrophic plan. Only this time, your masters aren't government scientists. As you walk the streets, you're shocked by images of otherworldly occupation--the long-legged "strider" machines on their ominous patrols, the masked "cops" searching Human citizens, and flying probes that swoop in for random scans. Humans all seem to be in a state of submission and intimidation by the controlling force of the aliens.
But before long, whispers of revolution reach your ears, and you can be sure that Gordon Freeman is gonna break off a little sumthin'-sumthin' for Earth's new alien overlords.
[b]Sensorial Overload[/b]
Half-Life 2 is a feast for the eyes and ears. Much has already been written about the physics of the Source engine, and they're indeed impressive, as we'll describe in a bit. But the sheer detailed beauty of the environments made a much more immediate impression on me. City 17 is a place you could wander for hours -- and, in fact, Valve Managing Director Gabe Newell fully expects a lot of people to do just that. ("Who are we to tell the player how to enjoy the game?" he says.)
From the moment you steup out of the train station into this eerie future city, you're drinking in plenty of incidental detail and interactive bits. You could spend hours scarign pigeons into flight, kicking over trashcans, or just standing around in the city square watching presentations on the Orwellian TV monitors that broadcast in a steady monotone.
The feeling is of complete immersion in a surreal and threatening city made scarily realistic by the rendering of so many lifelike urban details.
[b]New Ghouls, New Guns[/b]
Our playtest offered some tantalizing scrapes of as-yet-unseen alien enemies. The most memorable were a breed of animal-like attackers that spring around in packs, looking like some kind of abominable howler monkeys. Leaping down from high ledges, they slash with claws and pounce on you with very bad intentions.
One of the levels we played (which takes place several missions into the game) showed the influence of classic zombie movies. You accompany a local priest, Father Grigori, on a nighttime race through a cemetery. After dispatching the howler monkeys, you're faced with that most dependable of graveyard menaces, the good ol' zombie--headcrab zombies, in this case. Side by side with the shotgun-toting padre, you have to blast your way through a mob of shambling horrors. (We found it was a smart idea to rely on the classic Colt .45 revolver for this part--one headshot with that bad boy, and that zombie in front of you is going down.)
The Colt isn't the only new cannon I got to test out. Gordon's packing a veritable arsenal for this adventure. You have a number of real-world firearms, including the Hecker & Koch MP5 submachine gun, a Glock pistol, a shotgun, a crossbow, and, of course, the time-honord crowbar for when headcrabs are getting a bit too up-close-and-personal.
The cemetary provided some great examples of how the Source physics deliver surprises. In this case, you could use Gordon's "gravity gun" to gather radial saw blades that lay scattered around the graveyard, and then aim them at the unprotected zombie necks for a nasty decapitation. Not pretty, but very effective.
Another terrific example of the interactivity of the environments came up when I chucked a grenade into a cluser of zombies and accidentally detonated a flammable barrel--the zombies nearest the barrel were doused with flame, which continued to burn as the creatures took additional damage. (In later levels, I even observed that fire actually [i]spreads[/i] through burning structures. In a totally unscripted manner, if you choose to start a fire in a building, you will eventually find the whole place going up in flames.)
[b]High Gear Through Hell[/b]
We're used to thinking of [i]Half-Life[/i] as an indoor game. But the sprawling outdoor levels we played through in [i]Half-Life 2[/i] will soon be turning that perception on its head.
I played through a level that stretches over virtual miles of outdoor terrain--along a beach, through a warehouse district, and then along a coastal road in the mountains. And Gordon no longer needs to rely on his tired feet to get him around these open spaces--there are vehicles to commandeer. I got my hands on the wheel of a slick dune buggy, complete with onboard cannon. The buggy also has a temporary speed burst that can come in handy for timely leaps off ramps and over chasms.
As with everything else in [i]Half-Life 2[/i], the game's tangibly realistic physics engine impacts your driving. The handling experience is convincing, complete with slides and rolls. You can drive through glass facades, ram the occassional barrier, and, if you're not careful, end up over the edge of a cliff and into "the drink." (Valvo told us that testers sometimes found themselves in a precarious position, teeter-tottering on the edge, with only gordon's virtual mass halting a sharop drop.)
Vehicles aren't the only environmental addition to gameplay. Valve's designers have clearly had a field day implementing puzzles based on the new physics. One such puzzle actually involves the buggy--or, more accurately, the problem of how to get yourself and your buggy across the gap between two docks. The solution presents itself in the form of a tall construction crane--you can climb the crane and take its controls, swinging a giant magnet around to slam into a raised drawbridge, knocking it into place, and then hoist your buggy to a safe landing on the other side.
[b]Your Game, Your Play Style[/b]
The level of environmental interactivity makes for a high degree of choice in how you play through any given mission. If you're more violently inclined, there's nothing stopping you from "pullin' a tool out and goin' the old-school route" (as rapper Black Thought would say)--you can shoot your way through an enemy checkpoint and have a supremely satisfying gun battle. But if you're more of a sneak-around type, you'll find ample opportunity to approach the checkpoint stealthily, sniping at a distance and taking out guys with your crowbar at close range.
I went through one road-blockade encuonter with both play styles in mind. My first time through, I proceeded with guns blazing, engaging the guards with machine gun fire and grenades. This flurry alerted their comrades, and forced me into a running showdown with several heavily armed nasties--nothing I wasn't able to handle, but definetely a loud and lethal exchange.
So then I went back through the same locale with the entirely opposite attitude in mind. I snuck around piles of crates until I was in position for a sniper shot with my crossbow. Lining up headshots, I was able to bad the bad guys individually, limiting the ruckus and taking a lot more time to eliminate the checkpoint. (Though even this approach yielded a hilariously destructive moment. One of my crossbow bolts ignited a flammable barrel, which exploded and sent a bad guy flying through the air--only to have his flaming corpse land on [i]another[/i] barrel and blow [i]it[/i] off. It was a savage and delightfully unscripted demonstatrion of some advanced game physics at work.)
[b]The Epic Struggle[/b]
The plot of [i]Half-Life 2[/i] involves more than Gordon's efforts to figure out why he's appeared in this girm new future. He's got bigger problems--like how to dismantle the alien occupation. Gordon finds himself involved with an underground resistance network that includes the lovely Alyx and her father, the good Dr. Eli. Thus begins a campaign against the alien overlords--but there's a crisis within the ranks of humanity's last stand.
It seems that scientists have advanced two theories about how to fight the aliens. Gordon and his allies champion one of these approaches, and it's plenty risky--but a rival scientist and [i]his[/i] acolytes advance an even more aggressive plan, one with dire consequences for the morality of humankind. ("One group is wrong, but another is [i]spectacularly[/i] wrong," as Newell puts it.)
[i]Half-Life 2[/i] makes you the key player in a showdown between two opposing visions of human resistance to the occupation. Can profound soul-searching and an epic struggle for humanity be far behind?
Alas, a poker-faced Gabe Newell wouldn't enveil the ending of the game to us. But it was more than plain after our playtest that [i]Half-Life 2[/i] represents an ambitious step forward for Valve--and a whole new nightmare for our friend Gordo.[/B][/QUOTE]
Comments
I didn't read most of that, to avoid spoilers, but have a good idea what most of it is. :D
HL2 is gunna rock! :D Another review said that even in an empty room, the detail of the engion is such that you can see dust moving in the air in front of a window...now THAT is impressive. :)
[B]HL2 is gonna rock! :D Another review said that even in an empty room, the detail of the engion is such that you can see dust moving in the air in front of a window...now THAT is impressive. :) [/B][/QUOTE]
Link??
[B]oh gosh...that was the first PC gamer review last year...I doubt it exist online anymore. [/B][/QUOTE]
I guess I just don't remember it then, because I did read that magazine. Several times. :p
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by SpiritOne [/i]
[B]well then its part of the same review I read in PCgamer today. It still sounds cool though, I like the idea of using the environment. Not enough games do that. Thats my principle beef with CoH right now is my Jean Grey inspired char cannot lift objects and throw them at enemies, only the enemies themselves. [/B][/QUOTE]
While I do agree that it's very cool to be able to destroy the scenery, you do have to admit that there is a LOT of work involved in creating an MMOG... Besides, can you imagine what a state of disarray the city would be in, if every telekinetic could toss garbage cans around? :p
-Φ
I think you'll find that most, if not all, of the ITF developers play Sierra games. I don't think they really put any effort into a boycott; that was mostly the fans doing.
[B]ok, NM , NOT PC Gamer, I have the scans here, but it just says "Computer Games" on the bottom corner.... [/B][/QUOTE]
Show me!
Sam: very nice. :p
some students took a trip to valve, saw ALOT of stuff (The office, and alot of the work being done on HL2).
one interesting thing to note:
one of the images of a Valve employee has a witeboard behind the guy, on it is a list of dates, with what look like goals to complete.
the last date is 6/3
now, either the board is always just kept a month in advance, or....something. the guy is blocking most of what is said for the goal on 6/3, but interesting eh?
Just that those explosions also do some visible damage. (in Far Cry explosions doesn't break bodies for example)
Gabes pretty stubbornly saying it WILL be out this summer...that gives them until early september. :)
Everyone talks about how sales will be hurt, but if you're not going to buy a game like HL2 because it was delayed, then you're no gamer. :p
[B]If Doom III comes out before HL2... :mad:
Everyone talks about how sales will be hurt, but if you're not going to buy a game like HL2 because it was delayed, then you're no gamer. :p [/B][/QUOTE]
I won't buy it because I know I won't play it through. :p
[B]Any one who only buys one of them and not the other simply because one was out first is deffinetly not truly a gamer [/B][/QUOTE]
Yep. I don't know about Doom III, because while it sounds good, I don't know if they can pull it off, but there's really now way they can screw up HL2. HL1 ended with a trampoline fight vs. a giant baby, in which you won by cracking it's head open and pouring explosives in... and it's the greatest game of all time. HL2 has HOWLER MONKIES! :p
4 hour long tech demo for 50 bucks = no thanks. :D
[B]
While I do agree that it's very cool to be able to destroy the scenery, you do have to admit that there is a LOT of work involved in creating an MMOG... Besides, can you imagine what a state of disarray the city would be in, if every telekinetic could toss garbage cans around? :p [/B][/QUOTE]
Oh I know, but think about how fun it would be :D
Of course, I dont have time for half life 2 to come out yet. Ive got City of Heroes, Battlefield Vietnam and the World of Warcraft Beta Im playing right now.
[B]I'm not buying D3 unless a good mod is made for it. It looks really really bad. (Like playdough models in plastic suites in a plastic envoroment) and the gameplay...looks well...even less existant then in painkiller.
4 hour long tech demo for 50 bucks = no thanks. :D [/B][/QUOTE]
I'm being a bit more optimistic than you, it seems, but I am worried that this will become a tech demo.
I know, I can find fault anywhere. ;)
one interesting thing to note:
one of the images of a Valve employee has a witeboard behind the guy, on it is a list of dates, with what look like goals to complete.
the last date is 6/3
now, either the board is always just kept a month in advance, or....something. the guy is blocking most of what is said for the goal on 6/3, but interesting eh?
__________________
[/quote]
If you look at the rest of the whiteboard, you'll see that the word "start" appears quite a few times in addition to the final "start disc---something" at the bottom.
The text on the whiteboard is describing deadlines for working on scripted sequences in the game and has nothing to do with release dates.
Also, does anyone know of any way to remove the Sierra startup logo or movie or whatever?
[B]Also, does anyone know of any way to remove the Sierra startup logo or movie or whatever? [/B][/QUOTE]
You just close your eyes until the logo is gone. :p