Pete Nattress Cheesy Bits img src/uploads/sccheesegif
Registered 23/09/2002
Points 4811
14th December, 2004 at 16:27:04 -
it's not nearly as revolutionary as you might be led to believe, but it's still fun and worth a purchase. if you can be arsed with Steam, that is, which personally i can't. gamespot.com's review of it is the best i've found.
Half life 2 is the best shooter ever! in basic.
What i hate about half life 2 is that it has very little advertisement, and some crappy halo 2 has loads of advertisement because bill gates has been corrupting the world... i better stop
Half-life 2 IS awesome. The physics actually add something to the game, here if you can think of something really cunning to do, you probably can. Like when someone throws a grenade at you and you pick it up and throw it back, or when you find a can of gasoline and throw it at an enemy before blasting it with the shotgun, or when you pick up an object to use it as a shield... The combat is resultantly far more real, and more cinematic. And to think, in most shooters your options end at just shooting the guys. But yes, steam is a pain, but if you're here you can obviously get on line (although you may have problems if you try it through a university/campus internet connection, I know I did).
Why the hell am I on the computer at 1 in the morning? No, don't answer.
It's not perfect, but it's certainly the best FPS at the moment, and probably for a while to come. The gravity gun is probably the best weapon ever in a game.
Very little advertisement? Hardly. HL2 has more hype than any game in history (besides maybe WC3 and Diablo, depending on where you look) .
HL2 is the best looking game I've ever seen. Never before have I seen a game with realistic dust.
However, I think the 'realistic physics' thing is a bit overrated. Its physics is about as good as the old HL, just that everything's a lot prettier that you don't notice. Sure, you COULD use every single bit of physics to your advantage, but the levels are so poorly designed and the enemies rush in so slowly that it's not very fun to do so. I got bored of throwing saws and explosives at the zombies and watching them die in the exact same fashion.
Personally, I tried to enjoy the game, but I can't. It's a tad too repetitive and as with the old HL, the sounds are annoyingly lame and most of the game consists of jumping from one point to another, using the background to your advantage. Though if you love Prince of Persia: SoT, you should love HL2.
It's not for me. Doesn't have the stress factor I like in action games. The fact that Freeman doesn't have hands also disconcerts me. Thus concludes my unofficial review of HL2 .
BTW, my 10-year old brother won the game in 3 days, WHILE he was recovering from surgery. If a 10-year old handicap could win it in 3 days, how long should it take the rest of you hardcore gamers?
Edited by the Author.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Half-Life 2 wasn't advertised on TV, PC games rarely are. The only hype HL2 got was from magazines and the internet and it wasn't generated by Valve as such.
Half-Life 1 didn't actually have a proper physics engine, the best thing the engine could muster was slideable crates.
I think the reason why people are so impressed by HL2's physics is because they're actually useful to the gameplay, rather than there to look nice like in pretty much every other game before, eg UT2003, Max Payne 2, Painkiller etc.
I've no idea what the thing about being repetitve was all about. Doom 3 is repetitive. HL2 has completely varied levels and concepts, one minute you're riding a buggy, then you're covering zombies in white paint, then you're summoning crazy ant-lions to maul your enemies, it never got boring for me personally, and although it was straight forward and easy to complete, at least that means it didn't get frustating which I hate in games.
HL2 was probably the most enjoyable game I ever played, each level had something new to offer.
Edited by the Author.
Dustin Gunn Gnarly Tubular Way Cool Awesome Groovy Mondo
Registered 15/12/2004
Points 2659
15th December, 2004 at 00:42:15 -
"However, I think the 'realistic physics' thing is a bit overrated. Its physics is about as good as the old HL, just that everything's a lot prettier that you don't notice. Sure, you COULD use every single bit of physics to your advantage, but the levels are so poorly designed and the enemies rush in so slowly that it's not very fun to do so. I got bored of throwing saws and explosives at the zombies and watching them die in the exact same fashion."
well CD-Wow are out of stock, nice of them to tell me after they've taken my order. bastards... anywho is it wise to buy it through Steam? hell is that possible? or did i dream it
Yeah, you can buy it through Steam. The advantages of that are you can buy different packages that come with extra things, and you don't have to have the DVD-ROM in to play the game. The disadvantages are you don't get a tangeble medium (i.e. DVD-ROM) for your game, it's not really any cheaper, and it probably takes ages to download the whole thing.
It only took me a few days to download everything from Steam, and I didn't have to leave my computer running constantly. I bought the Silver package, which is by far the best package available. For only ten bucks more, you get Half-Life: Source and the soon-to-be-released Day of Defeat: Source, and also Valve's entire back catalog (that means you get EVERYTHING else, though most of it is useless due to all of the Source remakes- the only worthwhile extras are Opposing Forces (if you didn't already have it, like me) and Day of Defeat (until Source comes out) and uh, Condition Zero is okay). The only real downsides are what Trevor mentioned, and the fact that your Steam client has to update every now and then before you can play (a minor annoyance, really).
im downloading Bronze now. only 500 minutes to go such a huge figure but it would have taken weeks by mail. besides all im missing out on is a DVD, apparently theres no manual in the box.
been watching trailers ever since cant wait for this
Radiofrog, that Steam updating and varification shit you have to put up with on the DVD version also. It's a bit annoying sometimes, you just wanna have a quick blast on HL2, then Steam says it's gotta update for twenty minutes before you can play it.
bit pissed off. i took my desktop PC to my room months ago to play Doom 3 on ma TV... only i took out the graphics card so its running in some monkey-ass weird resolution that my TFT cant display... sooo i cant instal the drivers with the card in (out of timing error) and ATI detects no graphics card when i attempt to instal it using the Intel card.
i swear someone upstairs dosnt want me to play this
Yesterday i wanted a quick go on counter strike source but had to wait 20 mins for an update, then when i played it the thing was lagging like hell!
everyone elses ping was 200+ and most have cable connections.
It was fine as it was!!!!
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Dustin Gunn Gnarly Tubular Way Cool Awesome Groovy Mondo
Registered 15/12/2004
Points 2659
17th December, 2004 at 12:27:31 -
The update didn't cause the lag, genius, you were playing on a non-dedicated server.
Pretty much the best game around I would say. Source may not be able to render corridors with as much shading as doom 3, nor huge outdoor spaces as good as far cry but source is deffinatley the best all-round engine out there. Plus the water almost looks better than in real life Animations are all fantastic, especially facial animations on the main characters are so much better than anything that has been done before.
Ok, I dont know what the deal is with people syaing its repetitive. There are a huge amount of ways to kill and variety. The gravity gun makes anything poissible especially combined with the top-notch physics engine, and the normal weapons are all great. Muz, I don't really know what you mean when they say they rush in too slowly, have you been against the super zombies, head crabs, combine guards and ant lions?
i like HL2, pity it dosnt work well with my control pad and my laptops monitor... ah its mad! it runs really well on my laptop which couldnt get Doom3 in 640x480 in lowest quality settings. but im happy with it! and its physics. funny i thought they were making thier own physics, i was kinda suprised to see Havok on the copywrite stuff.
Dustin Gunn Gnarly Tubular Way Cool Awesome Groovy Mondo
Registered 15/12/2004
Points 2659
18th December, 2004 at 09:20:01 -
Control pad? What the hell? You just slaughtered one of the best control schemes in history, then said one of the dullest and most repetetive games in history was better...
"The update didn't cause the lag, genius, you were playing on a non-dedicated server."
how the hell would you know what server type it was? (you may have a point though)
but please dont be sarcastic toward me, its embarassing to be insulted by someone with that avatar and a n00bl@r rating.
besides it was the other players that came to the conclusion that it was the update not me and nobody corrected them.
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Dustin Gunn Gnarly Tubular Way Cool Awesome Groovy Mondo
Registered 15/12/2004
Points 2659
18th December, 2004 at 18:58:30 -
"its embarassing to be insulted by someone with that avatar and a n00bl@r rating."
"Control pad? What the hell? You just slaughtered one of the best control schemes in history" or maybe i would like to hook up my laptop to my TV so it looks better and sit back in a comfy chair and play
"then said one of the dullest and most repetetive games in history was better... " OR maybe i just prefare Doom 3? i dont care what it is, i loved playing it. the story was more up my street for one.
Ive been playing Half-Life 2 for about the past week, probably the first game to make very good use of the Havok physics engine. I was surprised with how smoothly it ran on my machine (AMD XP 3200, 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600XT) compared to Far Cry and Doom 3, and I personally think it looks miles better than Far Cry and Doom 3, although Doom 3 has better lighting effects & bump mapping.
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Edited by the Author.
cant wait for this
Animations are all fantastic, especially facial animations on the main characters are so much better than anything that has been done before.
