Half-Life 2 (PC)

[Nijo]

I've just got passed the magnet bit... had to go back to the buggy twice to position it right yet leave me a short enough dash to the ramp.
Now passed the 'crossbow' checkpoint as well. I guess I'll figure out how to deal with those mine balls, but my standard strategy was simply to punt them off the cliff with my grav gun.
The vibration devices (when switched on) hold off the ants, although they'll sometimes fly over. More effective is standing in 3cm of water... they'll fly in to attack but start to drown on contact.

[yashiro]

What are the vibration devices for on the beachs? They don't seem to anything, I thought they would at least have some affect on the ant lions.

If you stand near them the antlions can't attack you.

[Hodge]

Well i`ve just completed it and my final thoughts are great level design, great graphics and some of the best set pieces ever seen. But it has one big flaw and that is the story or lack of one. And people complain about halo2 ending, wait to you see this ending it makes halo2 look like a master piece. This persons thread (snowster) on gamefaqs pretty much sum up my feelings of the plot or lack of. Look at his 2nd post as his first gives his feelings on Halflife 1. Overall after finishing the game I`d give it an 8. http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gen...topic=17602352

[Kotatsu Neko]

There's also another post just after the one mentioned which gives a plot synopsis for HL2.

Seems there is a story there, just most of use missed it as it was so subtly told.

I shall play it again, and really take my time.

[Hodge]

I read his post aswell and i still wasn`t convinced. All he was essentially doing was putting a spin on how the G-man got from point A to point B. I have to agree with snowster that it had plenty of chances to answer questions but never did. All it did was send you onto the next bit. Don`t get me wrong the game is still a master class in how to design a quality single player experience but from a story perspective it leaves alot to be desired.

[Loc]

Just finished this...
Ending was pretty bad really, nothing amazing
The weapon on the last level though...
Best weapon ever.

[ascender]

I finally got my Steam extras last night after they'd been trying to deliver them for a week....

The Prima guide looks pretty expansive and I've avoided looking at it apart from a look through the first couiple of levels. It points out all the appearances of the G Man and little plot points, objects that appear in the game that mean something etc. I'm sure someone will go through it at some point and try to join the dots, fill in the blanks etc.

[Spatial]

Well, I've just finished it.

What can I say except its brilliant, and everything I wanted it to be.

(Spoilers from here on in )

The last level with the enhanced Gravity Gun was too much fun. I couldn't help but whoop out loud as I tossed The Combine around and those bouncing energy spheres are just brilliant once you get your hands on them.

Those pillars with the energy fields were literally something else. The way that anything entering them slowed right down was a joy to behold.

The ending was what I was expecting. I thought that it would end in a similar fashion with Gordon being but back into suspension.

The slow motion ( almost bullet time ) bit at the end was great. I loved the way the Gman picked a bit of glass off Alyx as he talked.

Job offers aye ? Wonder what wierd and wonderful places Mr Freeman will be off too in Half Life 3 ( which is a foregone conclusion really, but lets hope it doesn't take another 6 years ).

My biggest dissapointment was that there wasn't enough of the Gman in this game. He has to be one of the best video game characters created, full of mystery and very insidious in nature. I know you can spot him in various places, but I would have loved for Gordon to run into him at some point and for him to give another mysterious monolog.

Oh and we should have seen more of DOG in action. I actually swore out loud when he came riding past me on that Combine riot van

Concept, its nice to see that the spoilers which you had read were untrue (see, I told you not to worry). By any chance they weren't the ones of Alyx dies and Gordon = Gman were they ? That was the rubbish I had heared ages back.

Roll on the expansion packs I say

[Len]

Just finished myself an hour or so ago. What can I say that hasn't already been said, just a wonderful, wonderful experience. Brilliant and well executed story, great characters, basically everthing I wanted it to be and more. And what an ending... 8)

Now I think I'll go straight back in again...

On another note, I think Half - Life is the Zelda of fps's. Bare with me, just made me think of that with all the sfx and nods taken from the first game and the feel of the world. Which is exactly what you get in the Zelda games, ok there have been a lot more and that might be a bit tenous but sod it I'm going with it. Surely you know what I mean...?

[Inertia_]

Okay, joined the swelling mass of people who've finished it today. My thoughts:

Half Life 2 is definitely a sequel in the James Cameron sense of the word, i.e. 'this time it's WAR'. It was just brimming with technical wizardry, heavy technology (Dog, particularly) and generally jaw-dropping set-pieces. I absolutely loved the fact that every level was entirely different to the last - what an experience.

The only flaw was, as many have already said, the lack of a general overview. City 17, for instance, is either seen in extreme close-up or - as you rise through the Citadel - from a great distance. There was never a snapshot of the cityscape or, in fact, any real sense of geography beyond one level leading onto the next. That said, the lack of separate cutscenes was commendable and led to a far more immersive campaign.

The Citadel was the highlight for me, reminding me a lot of the X-Files Movie in its depiction of being inside an unimaginably large and complex machine. The gravity gun was priceless at this point. A shame, really, that the final 'boss' was barely a boss at all - more a procedure.

Technically, once the stuttering had been sorted out the game was a dream. It never once slowed down to a noticable degree, regardless of the visual effects being churned out by the graphics card. The graphics themselves were essentially photo-realistic (except those up-close textures) and I totally agree with Valve's comments regarding the law of diminishing returns kicking in from this point on. Topping the looks of this game will essentially require a ton of imagination, some enormous view distances and stupidly complex geography.

Finally, regarding the end ...

It had always been my belief that Freeman and G-Man were the same person (having been told this was to be the game's big twist). It's true that if you compare the names and faces of the two characters, the likeness is there. I had this image of the game's finale putting you unknowingly in the shoes of G-Man himself, visiting those locations in the two games where he makes an appearance, watching over Freeman as he progresses through Black Mesa and City 17. Perhaps this will be a future revelation - it'd certainly require a helluva lot more exposition than was present here.

But yeah, greatest FPS ever, greatest game experience ever. Greatest 'game' ever, though? Hmmmm...

[Harmony]

BTW, in the stage where you first drive a vehicle, that weird buggy that can move in the water, when you come to the part where you have a tunnel on the left and a log, you emerge outside the tunnel on top of the water, and you can basically walk on, when you encounter an area with toxic waste. How do you get the vehicle there?

[Ciaran]

Use the floating barrels to lift the ramp where you got off the air boat.

[Spatial]

@ Inertia_

I'm not too convinced about the Gman = Gordon thing.

They're totally different in features it would be a bit of a forced plot twist to to it - but hey, when has that ever stopped anyone



While some are dissapointed in the actual ending, there whole last two levels were the ending for me ( much like the whole opening sequence till you get your weapon was this versions `train ride`

There are some interesting things said by Breen towards the end, and there are lots of little snippits of information in the last few sequences, which provide more than the actual ending with the Gman. I'm going to look at these a few more (thanks to some save points ) before I post some ideas I have on the plot and where it may be going

I've started playing through this again this afternoon ( addicted ? me ? ) on normal mode and tbh I'm glad I played through on hard first as I could see me havign completed this far too soon otherwise. Aside from removing some barnacle enemies and making all enemies take less shots to kill, the game is essentially the same.

edit:- Noticed the Gman twice more on the second play through so far. Who would have though person spotting could be so much fun ?

[ascender]

I've changed it to hard as I was flying through it on normal without really dying.

BTW, has anyone played HL:S yet?

[Mad Gear]

Help me!!!

Stuck on the follow freeman bit where laser death is raining down from the heavens.
Dunno where i'm meant to go. Everywhere is shut off with the blue force-fields.

What to do??