One thing I noticed, when you are near hazardous material the entire screen get's a film-grain affect. It looks really nice. I wish the game had this film grain by default. I wonder if there is a way to turn it on?
I just got to parts where I noticed this too, and I really like it. It's very cool.
However I fully disagree that it would be good to have on at all times, that's silly IMO.
But man... I just got to the part where you kill something very large (keeping it vague for newbs) and I am just completely loving this.
This is really, really well done and I'm having a hell of a fun time. For the last several years I've played plenty of games I loved, a recent example being Max Payne 3, but there hasn't been anything that really hit the nail on the head in a while, or if I thought there was... it wasn't hitting quite the same nail in quite the same way as this is.
This is just a great old school experience, with enough new stuff to make it all the better. This is reminding me why I loved Half-Life 1 so much. And games of that era so much.
Great as some current games are, like Max Payne 3, or Deus Ex: Human Revolution, etc etc... there is something really great about this older type of game that is more bare bones.
What I mean is, Half-Life 1 didn't constantly pull you out of first person to show you a cinematic conversation from a third person perspective, it didn't constantly present you with cutscenes and dialogue trees. Those things are fine but sometimes I think they pull you out of it in a way... I'm not saying they should be done away with, I'm just saying there's something really fun about going back to one of the older style games that didn't use them.
It's very immersive. And another thing is that HL1 didn't hesitate to put you in some expansive, desolate, lonely environments... it had the restraint to let some periods of time pass without enemies, and put you in big hollow chasms deep underground. Talk about atmosphere... it also gave you the time to really get comfortable in your character's skin. You had the time and opportunities to really learn how your character controlled, and you felt like you had total control of him.
HL1 gave you the crouch/jump thing and then it gave you plenty of reasons and times to use it, some modern games you get these powers or weapons and then the game suddenly ends. Or you pour all these points into advancing your character's stats and then the game ends. Games are too short these days... and you never feel like you can explore much. Generally. Obviously stuff like Skyrim is a big exception.
I know HL1 is very linear but it did a good job of making you feel like there were exploration opportunities, and I'm enjoying taking my time, exploring every nook and cranny and trying to find little easter eggs.
I think some of you who talk about how far you are into this game are cheating yourself by blasting through it so fast. Especially whoever said they did it in one day. I've been guilty of that sort of behavior before, but I'm glad I'm savoring this a bit more. It's worthy of it.
That's why 1998 was the golden age of gaming, there were enough advancements to bring things out of the era when games were TOO simplistic, but not so many as to endure the problems we have now where they are a little too contrived, too many camera tricks, third person dialogue moments, etc...
and another thing, HL1 wasn't afraid to have long periods of no music. I like that. Sometimes I find myself wishing there was more but, I think it's done well to have it just be occasional.
I can't wait until they finish this and I really hope they do, soon. I know Xen always got a bad rap but I loved it. Lair of the Gonark ftw.