Half Life 2 - Pal XBOX

[Kevvy Metal]

You can fully customise the controls.

[jimmbob]

Even the thumb sticks?

[bingowings]

hmm. i'm having a ****tier than usual day at work and this is looking very tempting, despite the various grumbles about the framerate and whatnot. i've never played the PC version as i have a Mac and my previous PC was almost clockwork in it's age, so to have a playable version of this game, hobbled or not, means a lot

[Concept]

A stunning conversion. Up there with the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 when you consider that this is running the same as a mid-range PC on four year old hardware, a third of the minimum specs.

There are quite terrible frame-rate drops on Water Hazard, but the rest has been relatively smooth up to now (I'm up to Ravenholm). The few drops however, do happen in the places where the game on the PC stuttered the most, so again, it does lead me to believe that Source has problems efficiently caching data (on PCs, I won't pick on the Xbox version too much considering what it's having to render whilst streaming). Thankfully, the hitches aren't laced with sound looping, so they don't impact on the immersion as heavily as they did. Apart from lower resolution textures, frame-rate problems, lower-scale water effects (Valve still got in the real-time distortions under the surface) this is remarkably close to the PC game. I'm especially impressed how Valve got in several high-end effects, and kept the character models/facial animation and physics so true to the original.

How they got such a complete version on to the 'Box I'll never know.

[Concept]

Oh yeah... and the load spots are all in the same places as the PC original up to now (and load faster than they do on my 1GB Ram PC, at usually five or so seconds). Very impressive for a machine with 64MB.

Those complaining about the loading are being very harsh. They don't hit the game negatively, and are actually an improvement on the original,

[Kevvy Metal]

A stunning conversion. Up there with the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 when you consider that this is running the same as a mid-range PC on four year old hardware, a third of the minimum specs.

I do def agree that it is mind boggling that they got it running at all but is it really a Stunning conversion?
It's real cool that i actually exists and in Bingowings case i would say go for it, you will find it a very rewarding experience.
But if you just take the xbox game at face value, it really isn't the same experience. I find Frame rate and AI interaction to be of the upmost importance. interacting with the AI is half the game and Frame rate is SO important to the general playability of the thing. sometimes it's so bad you can't aim at anything.
I would of been happier with even more of a reduction in Visuals if it meant the frame rate stayed steady.
At least the Physics are well represented in this version. I found the most enjoyable part of the XB version to be the first few mins of RavenHolm. Chopping down the Zombies with the Gravity Gun and anything that comes to hand.
Battling the Combine is a Bore feast which it very mush IS NOT in the Pc version.



and Jimmie2K, Sorry don't know about the thumb sticks. i just know the buttons can be redefind.



I also found the loading to be WELL impressive
Load points are same points as PC are really fast.
on the bright side it is amazing that any version of this exists on a current gen console.

[Space Monkey]

It gets particularly bad in Ravenholm when the running zombie all charge at you. It drops to a single figure frame rate . And you are expected to be able to shoot them?

Some earlier areas have been quite jerky but Ravenholm was running perfectly smooth for me, I never noticed any frame rate drops even when there were rakes of zombie bastards onscreen. I`ve been running it from HD though.

[Kevvy Metal]

It's toward the end of Ravenholm when it gets super jercky.
when

->Open Spoiler<-

the running Zombie overwelm you on the roof, when they are running up the drain pipes.

It was so bad that it was borderline unplayable at that point.

[Space Monkey]

I honestly can`t remember that bit being jerky, I had almost zero health and I was leaping about like a terrified fool so maybe I just didn`t notice. Like you were saying though, I hadn`t played the PC version so I`m really really enjoying this.

[Kevvy Metal]

That's cool dude. i do def think that is great that a lot of people that were not able to enjoy the PC version are now able to play the game on the xbox version
but it's not for me

[Concept]

I do def agree that it is mind boggling that they got it running at all but is it really a Stunning conversion?
It's real cool that i actually exists and in Bingowings case i would say go for it, you will find it a very rewarding experience.
But if you just take the xbox game at face value, it really isn't the same experience. I find Frame rate and AI interaction to be of the upmost importance. interacting with the AI is half the game and Frame rate is SO important to the general playability of the thing. sometimes it's so bad you can't aim at anything.

I'll agree with you on the frame-rate now. It is a bit of an eye sore at times, but considering what the Xbox is having to churn out I'll forgive it. The worst parts are Water Hazard (which looks noticeably rougher than the PC version until the end) and the concluding parts of Ravenholm. City 17, the coastline and Nova Prospekt (up to now) have been okay. As I said before... Valve have managed to squeeze in some of the PC version's high-end effects (water distortions, the slime tube refractions in Klinear's lab, the magnifying glass bending, the forcefield texture overlays on gates/windows, cut-down HDR-style effects, the video fuzz on Breen's broadcasts etc. etc.).

It's impressive stuff.

The main problem I have with the game are things I thought were specific to my PC (for example the game going heywire to 1-2 fps for a couple of seconds after loading a section), or jumps that are still there but avoid the sound stuttering as they happen. For that reason alone, while I'm convinced of Valve's game design and storytelling, and half-convinced of Source (facial animation, character modelling, effects), I still think Half-Life 2 is let down by certain aspects of its technology. It is, however, far more forgivable on the Xbox than it is on the PC.

Anyway... I'm enjoying it a lot. Partly as a curio to see how far the Xbox can be pushed, and partly because the little ticks don't slice into the immersion as much as the PC version.

As for the AI... to me it's exactly the same as the PC version. I was never impressed with Half-Life 2's AI (not compared to Halo which to me is still the genre leader in this field), because I feel the impetous of the game is on its fantastic set-pieces, level design and sense of progression.

Everything is more or less in there from the PC version (technically both good and bad), apart from of course, a more consistent frame-rate. However, I have heard rumblings that this will be sorted for the 360 Xbox emulation of the game.

[Mr Fujisawa]

im glad you guys are finally getting to paly it, its an exceleltn game.

btw, maybe its worth waiting a couple of weeks and palying it on 360? 720p, AA, better framerate!

[Team Andromeda]

I can't help but think people are missing the point when bringing up the PC. version . This is not meant for people with the PC version, its that plain and simple .
For me it one of the best console FPS I've ever played , that really is the point.

[Yoshimax]

Absolutely TA - while it runs a good bit better on my PC I found myself motivated to play it last night and ended up putting in about an hour or so. Rattled a fair bit and thoroughly enjoyed it - The 5.1 sound is fantastic.

Framerate I don't see a problem - some slowdown but Christ if there was none it would be a technical miracle.

Anybody who hasn't already played through the PC version should be rushing out to buy this - still an incredible experience all this time later and moreso given the host platform.

9/10 I'm very impressed !

[Team Andromeda]

Very true mate the 5.1 is just somthing else. No game as come close to giving me that feeling of 'being there' as this game does.

XBox is a console, not a PC.