The Orange Box (PC/PS3/360)

[rmoxon]

In Half Life 2, how come nearly always as soon as you sneak round a corner, the enemy always seem to spot you instantly? Surely there should be some level of sneaking ability.

Won't play episode 1 and 2 until I have finished HL2 obviously, though I hope those games improve on the point I make.

Half Life 2 isnt a stealth game, its an action game, I dont think there is a point in the game where it would be worth sneaking around even if you could. For a game with so much variety I guess it is a little odd not to have any kind of obligatory stealth section in this day and age, but thats a good thing IMO.

and so no, Ep1 and 2 dont have sneaking either sorry.

[ChrisF]

I fear you are underestimating the sneakiness.

[rmoxon]

....eh?

[ChrisF]

Sorry, just felt like quoting a bit of Mr Deeds

[peeveen]

I played a LOT of this over xmas, leaving SMG and CoD4 for another time.

I finally finished HL2 for the SECOND time (had it for xbox180), and it was a total drag, though it was great first time round. If it wasn't for the achievements to brighten it up and add some extra challenges, I'd probably still not have it done. The only pisser is that I'll have to do most of it AGAIN for the bloody lambda caches achievement (oh why didn't I use a guide?!).

In comparison, Episode One was fab, and now I've just started Episode Two, which I hear is even better. </drool>

[Supergoal]

I didn't mean sneaking as a main feature, what I meant was, why do the enemy see you with almost x-ray vision, since they take aim and shoot even if you peep your head around a door, even from distance. Do they have infra-red goggles or somthing??

[Brats]

I guess their masks are for something?

I finally got myself going and finished HL2 again on the 360. I enjoyed this last bit more than when I first played in on the PC when I was happy just to be done with it. As others have said, the achievements really lift the game and going for the five soliders with one energy ball was fun. The final third of the game is definately much stronger than the rest, partly due to the fact that you seem to have a worthwhile purpose this time and the setting improves greatly from drab sewers and canals.

It's still too linear and shooting any of the big boss type enemies is still just a simple case of getting to an ammo crate and firing, but it is helped by the fact that the enemies look and sound so great.

In the end I just accepted the games many limitations and got on with it, which made it much more enjoyable. I can't bring myself to do Episode 1 and 2 yet though. I need a break.

[anephric]

Just to continue ranting, the lack of a melee really narks me off something rotten too. Combine bastards can run up and melee you - why is Gordon incapable of hitting back unless he's got a crowbar in his hand? Hmmmmm?

I've gone straight into Episode One and I think I should probably take a break as I got a bit bored playing through HL2 again. It seems a bit samey and I've got fed up with it.

[Brats]

Just to continue ranting, the lack of a melee really narks me off something rotten too. Combine bastards can run up and melee you - why is Gordon incapable of hitting back unless he's got a crowbar in his hand? Hmmmmm?

I agree with that, it seems so retrograde to have to select a melee weapon to perform a melee attack. Likewise, it takes so long to select a grenade and then select back to a decent gun that aside from the snipers they are pretty much a useless weapon.

Like I said, there are so many naff things about the game from a purely 'mechanical' point of view. I just had to shrug my shoulders at the bad bits and let the game take me for a ride.

I tried to get the achievement where you complete Ravenholm with just the gravity gun. It would be easy if it wasn't for the glitchy physics. At one point I was in a corridor with explosive barrels and I knew a load of zombies were on the other side of the door. So I pick up the barrel and open the door....only for the door to open in my direction which somehow crush the barrel killing me in the process .

And yet why is it that I push smack barrels around the room by just using the right trigger on the gravity gun, nothing happens to them?

[peeveen]

The engine is definitely showing it's age in a lot of aspects, and the actual game of HalfLife2 has some sections that are just tooo loooong (especially second time round), but I can forgive it all for the creepy atmospheric story and world that they've created, and even with it's shortcomings, the gravity gun is still something special.

[Brats]

I still think the engine holds up very well from a techincal point of view so much as design decisions. Valve could have easily implemented a melee button or a grenade button but chose not to.

As Bill says, modders have implemented many improvements to the gravity that could have been in there from day one. The concept of the gravity gun is fantastic, the execution of it is slightly marred.

[rmoxon]

I really doubt there would be a point in a melee button seeing as if you shoot any standard enemy at point blank range it will die very quickly anyway. The only FPS I ever use the Melee button is Halo where its a vital part of the game in some situations. HL2 simply isnt designed with it in mind so i doubt the adition of it would help. just becuase thyings arent included dosent always mean its bad that they arent there.

I've never really had much trouble with the gravity gun either.

Im not really sure these are bad design decisions so much as bad decisions from someone playing the game, the thing you mentioned, trying to open a door while using the gravity gun to make a barrell float infront the said door.... Not a smart idea really unless you want the door to hit the barrel when it swings open.

[anephric]

Yeah, but trying to do Sandtraps without touching the sand really brings home the gravity gun clumsiness misery. If you're just using it to pick up stuff/Combine and throw it/them, fine - trying to stack objects gets vvvvvv annoying when you can't rotate them.

And a melee attack would be very nice, actually, towards the end of the game when you're running through rooms full of Combine reloading on the fly.

[Brats]

Im not really sure these are bad design decisions so much as bad decisions from someone playing the game, the thing you mentioned, trying to open a door while using the gravity gun to make a barrell float infront the said door.... Not a smart idea really unless you want the door to hit the barrel when it swings open.

But if you think about it, it is Gordon who is opening the door whilst carrying the barrel, so the idea that he would force the door so hard as to explode a metal barrel he is holding is just silly. If it were an automatic door with a motor I would understand, but it's not.

Some of the doors in HL2 have actual proper physics on them and will swing freely and realistically, so Valve can obviously do it. It's a design decision that for some reason some of the doors open with some kind of massively powerful spring on the door so that when they open, they crush anything in their path. And for a game that's based around physics, that seems a bit daft (as do the doors closing automatically in haunted mansion style).

And melee would be useful as anepric said whilst reloading, but a grenade button would be a lot nicer. They could have easily made the X button a melee button, so that when you are face to face with a combine it becomes melee (which makes sense as the button is 'interact'). I would have liked to have grenades on the alt-fire button when the ammo on this has run out (again makes sense).

[rmoxon]

But if you think about it, it is Gordon who is opening the door whilst carrying the barrel, so the idea that he would force the door so hard as to explode a metal barrel he is holding is just silly. If it were an automatic door with a motor I would understand, but it's not.

But if you think about it, you are controlling Gordon, he has no control over his own body so to speak. So its not really his fault is it? If it makes you feel any better I'm sure he thinks to himself "what is this fool doing!??" when you cause him to commit suicide though....

Yeah, but trying to do Sandtraps without touching the sand really brings home the gravity gun clumsiness misery. If you're just using it to pick up stuff/Combine and throw it/them, fine - trying to stack objects gets vvvvvv annoying when you can't rotate them.

I've never had that trouble either, usualy when you drop somthing it will just fall down flat, like the ravenholm achievment, I found the sandtraps achievment one of the easiest in the game to get.

And I still don't belive there would be a point in a melee attack, its easy to change weapons, you have loads of ammo, and you have loads of energy most of the time even when playiong on hard so I really cant see why youd ever need one. The Combat is easy enough as it is really.