canadianpsycho: I agree with your review, felt the same way on almost everythin except for the turrets. Am I the only one that didn't find it hard. Played it on normal. I also didn't find the team annoying for getting in my way.
Maybe other people noticed this but I felt as if some content was missing. The blue tentacle monster that kills a combine soldier in one of the teaser videos never actually took place in the game, did they have to shorten the game a bit to finally release it?
I also felt like content was missing.
indeed. perhaps you are sub-human ? This is the best game ever man, period. Nothing is anywhere near as good as this game, console, pc, checkers, chess whatever
happen to like doom3 better. It's like HL2 got B- and Doom3 got a B+.
Although I disagree with just about every aspect of your review, this one aboslutely blew me away. I thought the dark scenes, especially Ravenholm, were done perfectly. Unlike Doom and other "dark" games, the levels were never too dark or over-done to the point where the darkness was not effective anymore. As for the poor detail bit, were you playing the same game as the rest of us? lol...
I think he might of meant the dark scenes on every other level but that one.
not once did I know where I was, where I was going, and why I was going there.
me too.
You know its sad. There are always haters, people who always have the sorry need to slag something just because they do. I'd love to hear from everyone what game(s) are better than HL2. Specifically which titles and why ? You tell me what game you think is better than half life 2 and what about it is superior. I hear a lot of crap about this being of a so-so game. But of course no mention of where you drawing your comparisons from to say so. HL2 is the best game, ever, period. No hype, doom3 was a letdown. HL2 was a step-up.
UNREAL. Unreal makes a chump out of HL2. Sure the graphics aren't great, but the sound, the world, you actually get a feeling for the people you are saving, great length, so many different types of environments, the story. Everything is great about Unreal. But with HL2, action packed, but so is quake. Another better game. Quake. Definitely a lot cooler. HL2 was sort of just a lame excuse for a game. Although it had really nice looking water and great physics, when they worked, and plenty of action, it had nothing else. Just an action game. And not even hard. Quake was immersive. HL2 was too fast paced to be immersive.
Another: MAFIA. The story and setting and music made you feel like you were really there. Only thing that was really messed up was the final boss and some bugs, but other than that, the game ruled. I want a sequel to that badly.
Another: XIII. I had forgotten about this game, but this game is F-ing awsome. Just the right amount of gameplay, graphics, sound and story made this game an instant hit.
Another: Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I don't know if I have to say anything else. This game is Classic.
HL2's greatness even falls short of Unreal II. A great ending to a game makes a big difference.
HL2, seems very poorly slapped together with some mediocre ideas. What were they working on all that time making the water look nice. In fact, HL2 maybe deserving of a C instead of a previously stated B-. Considering how I noticed how linear it was, how they try to show off their physics, how easy it was, how lack of story it was. It was a walk in the park.
And you people talk about HL like it had an amazing story. It didn't, it was the way that the game was presented, and there's no way you can say that HL2 didn't improve upon this presentation. There was virtually no development through the game, besides the military coming to clean up and you going to Xen. I couldn't go very far in HL2, on the other hand, without any character development (of which HL had none), or extra details or twists concerning the story.
I agree there. HL2 has the exact same story elements as it's predecessor. It is presented, a twist, and a anticlimatic end. The story isn't my biggest complaint. The ending and the gameplay although was fun, there are annoying things like linear, easy, some fillers, and you were rushed throughout the entire thing, or at least you could. It's one of those games where you can rush because you have nothing to fear about doing so. Even in Doom3, after I got the hand of it and started to rush, I still rushed nowhere near the speed of HL2. 15 of play time. Now even on hard its easy to rush.
What I didn't like about HL 2 was how you couldn't kill any good guys. Thateould make it alot funner.
Yeah, but that would've messed with all those scripted events and then the game would crash. Because the game isn't the free world it portrayed it out to be. I can't knock everything over, like the preview with the nade and the water tower, just things that they setup to be knocked over. And what's the freakin explosive barrels everywhere. Just coincidence.
Ditto. Again, it may just have been my settings or my specific hardware, but I was getting a echo going on when people were talking to me. That, and if you aren't right next to people, you can't hear them talking.
Never had problems with sound like that, the sounds in the game were great.
I agree with Injury about the AI. I had guys ducking behind cover and throwing grenades all the time. Even so, I hear the AI is much better on hard. It's one of the reasons I want to go through the game again.
Not really, they have more responsiveness after they know your location, they are harder to kill, because you bullets hurt them less, maybe they might throw more grenades, but harder, not really, just a little extra sweat from the engine.
I just remembered what I was going to add to my complaints/rants/whines.
The "puzzles"!
The most difficult aspect of the game was probably the 2 instances where you need to use the machine gun turrets. Maybe also a spot or 2 in Ravenholm... And the strider stages near the end. Is it just me, or as the games get better looking, the degree of difficulty is more or less based on reaction time as opposed to problem solving?
I mean no offense to those that got stuck on some of the water rafting segments, but regardless of how linear I found the plot, the "puzzles" were extremely easy. And I'm not trying to sound superior here HL1 seemed to have more challenges in it.
Agreed.
greed, I would definitely list Thief3 as contendor for game of the year. Unfortunatly, for most people it wouldn't even be a consideration, since it didn't sell xxx million copies, and doesn't involve big guns and blowing people up.
Thief was a good game, but sometimes I just wanted it to end. All that waiting for this guy to move just got annoying. But the story was cool and the different types of people really made the game more interesting.
Far Cry. Give me a few reasons why Far Cry is a better game than HL2. Better gameplay? Nope. Better story? Nope. Better graphics? Nope. Just what the hell did Far Cry achieve? I've been asking this question since before Doom3 got released and people were kissing the ground that Far Cry walked on. The game had PRETTY WATER. It also had huge lifeless maps that had absolutely nothing going on, something Chaser and Chrome had already done into the ground of utter boredom.
MUCH more challenging, the crap that Far Cry put me through at Challenged level of difficulty, with balanced A.I. on, fogettaboutit.
This had to be one of the few games where I picked up and was annoyed because there were too many things to read. Game wasn't worth tha BS, took out of the immersiveness.
I was in Ravenholm and Father Grigori just tossed me the shotgun, and I jumped across the other other building and the fast alien/zombies were climbing up the walls after me. So i ran inside and shut the door and they ran to the door stopped, climbed up the walls and jumped in throught the ceiling windows... if that isn't good AI i don't know what it.
Scripted.
I think it's time to mention right now that it's just silly to include a spoiler warning since the thread warns of it already.
1. Final Fantasy VII
1.(tie) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Chrono Trigger
5. Starcraft/Brood War
6. Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Super Metroid
8. Warcraft II
9. Metal Gear Solid
10. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
11. Final Fantasy IV
12. Chrono Cross
13. Metroid Prime
14. Half Life 2
15. Unreal Tournament
16. Halo
17? Far Cry
OOh... A lot of good ones there. And if I was to dip into the console section, HL2 aint got nuttin on them and would probably be stuck somewhere in the 30's or 40's.
yes. 15-20 hours of time to get a to a minmimalistic drawing of a headlight. En-thrall-ing.
LOL, 55 dollars worth.
I didn't spill the milk. I was vitually imbued in it. Tantalizing every sweet drop of it...until the last chapter...when the glass was knocked over...and the glass was propped back up with the half of the amount of milk remaining.
Now I'm thirsty. Nice analogy.
This is where we get into what Insomniak was talking about. The reasons haven't been revealed to Gordon yet. When playing Half-Life and Half-Life 2, we are not supposed to be audience members. We are supposed to be actors; we are to take on the roll of Gordon Freeman. Since the reasons for Gordon's predicament have not yet been revealed to him, it is only natural that they would not be revealed to us. Yes, it would have been nice if they had been revealed, but they weren't.
Reasons not being revealed or not, no matter how much sense it makes, if the game doesn't have a sense of completeness, then the game sucks. No use try to justify it in your heads. Even if it was a chapter of the whole, I would still like some completeness. I didn't feel this let down after each of movie of The Lord Of The Rings or the Matrix. Each had a worthy conclusion. HL2 did a complete 360 where now we are back where we started as far as the game story goes. Just another job.
Sorry for the long post.