Marek

Half Life 2 First Impressions

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I've played it for like 4 hours now and let me tell you: it is worth the wait. So far, it looks like the best shooter I have ever played.

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I have also been playing since my last post, 4 hours or so...it is indeed incredible. I know the term 'cinematic' is over-used, but no game has ever done it as well as Half-Life 2, and without a single cutscene. Brilliant.

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I've only played for 1,5 hours and it is pretty fantastic. The first part is more like an adventure game.

But it's not technically perfect. There are cracks in the sound a lot and one time I managed to get completely stuck in a pile of rubble.

Does anyone else have problems with the sound? It could be just my computer.

And yeah, especially lately the gamespot reviews are very dry and the some of the reviewers seem like they're angry at something.

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I do have some hang-ups in the sound occasioanlly but haven't ever gotten stuck or had a crash because of it.

The wierd thing about these Gamespot reviews is how they're viewing games as achievers in rigid categories. (oh, Half-life 2 does not innovate as much as the original, but it sure as hell innovates more than any FPs I've played since then. And to say it relies on comfortable suprises and suffers from sequilitis is absurd, this game is absolutely different, I can't even comprehend how someone would arrive at that conclusion.) Gamespot is kind of notorious for low-balling games like Metal gear Solid, ICO, Rez, because it seems they need to add up categorically to be spectacular. I can tell you right now that Hl2 has the kind of atmosphere, flawless pacing and exciting writing that puts every other game I've played this year to shame (except Katamari D. but thats completely different).

Very odd. And now I'm stuck at school until 5 so I can't play it anymore. :deranged:

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I think I feel a 'not being able to play halflife 2 while others can'-headache coming on, is that a good enough reason to tell my boss I want to go home early today? :shifty::confused:

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Wow, all this talk really makes me wish it was five years from now so I had the right PC and would be able to find it in the budget bin :deranged:

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I didn't get stuck because of the sound. And haven't had a crash. The getting stuck and the sound are just two things that aren't perfect so far...

Has anyone found a way to run the game otherwise than from Steam? Hl2.exe gives an error about not being able to find a file when I try to run it directly.

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Man, some of the physics puzzles are awesome (obstacle courses). Someone really should make an adventure game with this engine.

(I won't post a spoiler because I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone...)

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Yeah I think they're great too, but I wish there were more of them. I'm sure a mod will be made based around this in some sort of puzzler form.

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I was hoping HL2 wouldn't disappoint me, but.... this game rocks! I haven't played that far into it yet (a few hours), but so far it's been fun all the way.

This is a real spoiler, you can look at it if you've already met Alyx

Did anyone else love the "scene" when you met Alyx? I panicked when I saw the combine coming towards me, ran into the door, and tried to run up the rotten stairs, and they broke under my feet. Very cinematic!

The whole game is very cinematic. Great voice acting and lip syncing, graphics, feel, everything!@£$ :tup: Finally a game that lived up to the hype (and its predecessor)

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Has anyone found a way to run the game otherwise than from Steam? Hl2.exe gives an error about not being able to find a file when I try to run it directly.

Ah.. I tried right-clicking in steam and there was a choice "create desktop shortcut".

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Wow, the opening 20 minutes or so were completely amazing! Haven't played something that awesome since Half Life 1, though that's basically what I was expecting.

I am a little frustrated that, where I'm at now (about 2 hours in), the game has for the time being devolved back to "gordon is alone in a stone corridor being chased by stupid jumping things that are hard to kill with a crowbar, raising and lowering water levels," but I know as I progress it will mix it up a bit.

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Absolutely fucking amazing.

The "special weapon"

the gravity gun

is incredibly awesome in every way. Most fun I've ever had in a game...

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I agree with Jake -- the various shooting segments with no friendly characters are too long. Right now I'm driving around on the air-boat through completely linear levels. Tthe linearity was expected and I don't mind but it's getting a bit tiresome. Could have been shorter.

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My sister got married! What does this have to do with HL 2?

They're going to the Hawaii, and his husband is buying a copy of HL 2, and another one for me! :sombrero:

I'll have to wait a several weeks for Half-Life 2 my sister to return though... :shifty:

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My sister got married! What does this have to do with HL 2?

They're going to the Hawaii, and his husband is buying a copy of HL 2, and another one for me! :sombrero:

I'll have to wait a several weeks for Half-Life 2 my sister to return though... :shifty:

Or just get him to phone/email you with the serial code...

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Yes.. you can still download it from Steam. You just won't be able to do anything without the serial.

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I agree with Jake -- the various shooting segments with no friendly characters are too long.
I (mildly) agree with that. I never actually got bored though. I mean holy shit, the game is jam-packed with stuff to do.

Fortunately there's slightly more variety after you have completed the hovercraft thing. I've been playing the game for 10 hours now, and I'm still shocked and awed.

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Just got to Ravenholm, but stopped playing now for a while. I also got Flatout today, gotta play some of that too.

And yes, it never actually got boring, but for me it was pretty close to that and to be fair, they did include some nice variety in the hovercraft section (the physics puzzles, and where you must get out to find on-foot routes to open gates)

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Most importantly though, if you get real close to her and peek down the back of her pants, you can just see Alyx' panties. For me, this was the most important innovation.

That, and chopping zombies in half with gravity-propelled saw blades!

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Most importantly though, if you get real close to her and peek down the back of her pants, you can just see Alyx' panties.

Good to see the nerd voyeurs are being indulged.

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