Loading ...Half Life 2 revisited, ant lions, combine and dune buggys!
Have not posted in a while…..too busy working and replaying Half Life 2. What a game…..what an excellent game!
I’m mostly a fan of free-form FPS. I loved the idea STALKER presented (and almost pulled off perfectly) of a huge world (divided up into squares!!!) where you could pick and choose what quests and jobs to undertake. That said this type of approach opens up a list of bugs the length of your arm! You just can’t be sure what the player will do, and in what order!
With Half Life 2 you are very much on the linear path. However I don’t look at Half Life 2 as an FPS “on rails”. I approach it as an unfolding story. The second time I played it through I saved far less, and as a result I found it much more fluid and compelling. The control the developers have over the animation and interaction when using a linear approach enables them to create hugely entertaining scenes. One that springs to mind: “Dog” ripping a door open and then jumping on top of a dropship!!! Although its all scripted I still found it hugely enjoyable as I was thrown straight back into the story and the sense of immersion was not lost.
The game element I enjoyed the most had to be the ant lion bugbait system. An evil smile cracks across my face when I toss some bugbait into a sealed combine control room….and then watch from the mesh window as the soldiers inside fight a futile battle against my hordes of ant lions! Watching the bodies flung from the towers in Nova Prospect was also a highlight!
For my favorite level I would probably say Ravenholm. The interaction with the crazy gun slinging hic is excellent and the ingenious traps to kill the zombies provide laughs! In terms of looks I don’t think the Source Engine needs much done to it! The visuals are fine. If the graphics were Crysis good I don’t think the game would play any better. So Valve leave your shiny engine alone and concentrate on churning the content out!
So roll on Episode 1. I’ve heard its very short, but excellent all the same. By the time I get around to installing and playing it Episode 2 will probably have been on the shelves for months!
