toblix

Half Life 2: Episode 2

Recommended Posts

Just started playing it, and after about fifteen minutes I had to stop. It's been like that with the HL games ever since the first ones. Because I think they're so great, and the experience is so intense (even without combat), after a short while I feel I have to stop so I don't play through it all at once. I want to savour it, and that's not something I want to do with all games.

Anyways, I hope everyone who's now gotten HL2 and Ep1 for the first time make sure to play them, complete them and do it right. That means no running and gunning. All the locations are so wonderful... the sounds, the debris, the physics... just take your time. You've got a fucking ton of Best Game Ever ahead of you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just finished it (took me 5.2 hours according to steam) and yeah...Best game ever made. No question.

I'm just sad that Valve are the only ones out there doing games of this quallity. Really, the color alone is absolutely beautiful.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm up to the point with the car and apart from some tedious traipsing back and forth under(gorgeous)ground I've found the experience as good as expected. Fantastic set pieces and a continuation of the non-stop roller-coaster ride that is Half-Life.

I fell over laughing when leaving the underground area in the lift. One of the rebel soldiers told me to 'be adequate' or something to that effect...

It was just such a nice moment, not because the written line was hilariously laugh out loud funny - but because I'd only earlier been fighting alongside these two characters where their personalities came to the forefront. Finally reunited I can hear them bickering amongst themselves about terminology and it's so amusing at that precise point because you've just saved Alyx and you're soon to be back on the road again, ascending up the lift in a triumphant mood

It's hard for me to explain, but it just works :D Certainly the best $27 I ever spent... Team Fortress 2, Portal and Episode Two. Valve ftw!

The car is still a bit of a bitch to drive though in my opinion :shifty:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

One thing I don't understand though; why didn't Valve implement the depth of field effect? It works so well in TF2 that I'm sure they could have tweaked it to a realistic level? Shame.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, that last fight is tough.By far the hardest battle in HL2 so far.

The game was great. Although the first half I felt was going over old ground a bit too much - please please let that be the last of radioactive zombie-infested swamps :P Luckily once the car was obtained the pace really picked up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm up to the war of the worlds moment, just having the freedom to drive around and plan your attacks, it's just so fucking good! The character exposition is much greater this time around as well, really loving it.... don't want it to end :frown:

...and then it does fucking end. How tragic on so many levels

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Man, those hunters are frustratingly good at

stafing out of your way when you're trying to run them over during the last fight, but it's by far the quickest way of dispatching them. Also really easy to get the car tangled up in the legs of the tripods.

In the first fight with Hunters, near the antenna when you've just got the power back on, as a couple more turned up outside I thought "Fuck it, I'm getting the car" and was surprised at how well it worked :)

I thought the zombie infested swamp wasn't too bad in this one, certainly less annoying than the tunnel full of zombines and toxic waste in City 17. On that note though, quite a few bits of Episode 2 felt almost like repeated bits of HL2 and Ep1, and I kind of missed downing dropships and gunships :)

The

stickybombs

are really well implemented, there's something really visceral about watching a

tripod carapace

explode and send the

legs

teetering off in different directions. So much so that a bystander watching me do it for the first time exclaimed "fucking hell!" with a big grin :)

They also seem quite balanced: Very powerful, but they take some skill to use properly. The enhanced physics gun, in contrast, was great fun, but I'm glad they only had it in HL2 briefly because it was pretty unchallenging.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, the hunters are the toughest enemies so far. Aggressive, agile, and with a mean weapon.

I didn't think to use the car at the antenna, but it was the only way to get rid of them fast enough in the strider battle.

I was talking to bob and he said "they're not that tough, just use a double-shotgun blast at point-blank!. It transpired he was playing on Normal Mode.

So, in Episode 3

Do you think we'll meet Chell (Portal girl) or GlaDOS in the Borealis? I like the allusions to the Philidelphia experiment that they've used there, and what looks like an arctic landscape - which I imagine will look fantastic in Source.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Normal is too easy to be honest, and the AI is also much more interesting on Hard mode.

Most FPS (oh yes, and TPS) games and many action games benefit from being played on hard, if only to make the good ones last longer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

depends on how they implement difficulty

often it's just buy lowering resources and increasing hitpoints and numbers

although in same games this works perfectly (like Serious Sam)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have to admit that I play on easy, but I'm sure my FPS skills are far below the average gamer so I have to do it just to get through. For example,

in the ending battle the first time I played, the striders destroyed the rocket launch pad about 10 times before I finally defeated them. The second time I played, despite knowing what was coming and having a better knowledge of the map, they still destroyed it once before I won. I suck.

My only complaint is the same as alluded to before. That some of the settings and enemies are a little too repetitive. But since HL2 was so great, I don't mind a little repetition in Eps 1 & 2. I'm looking forward to:

The Borealis and that arctic environment

Seriously, no comments about

Eli Vance dying?

That's an Empire Strikes Back type of ending right there. I've got major anticipation for Ep 3. Hopefully, we won't have to wait another year and a half for that episode.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, it's not really an east egg, since it's listed as an accomplishment right from the start.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There is a

gnome in the transmission house of the second (?) hunter encounter, when Alyx is trying to talk to Magnussen and you have to turn the power on.

That's the last place I saw one, so you could probably grab that one and keep it in the car.

My memory might be deceiving me though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That's the only place the gnome is as far as I'm aware.

It's such a sexah gnome at that. Pity I don't have the backbone to take him with me as it'd be a pretty neat achievment to posess :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, now that I've completed both Episode 2 and Portal twice (once with commentaries), it's just a matter of waiting for the next games. Are they going to do another Box with Episode 3, too, or was the Orange Box just a coincidence of sorts?

I also expect Portal 2 (or whatever it'll be called ) to be announced shortly. I never expected Portal to be so thoroughly loved by everyone as it was. Surely they have big plans for it now. I love it when other people love the same things as me, so people make more of it.

So, let's see. HL2 was released in November 2004, Episode One June 2006, Episode Two October 2007. That's intervals of nineteen months and seventeen months, respectively. That means we can expect Episode 3 early 2010? Jesus, that's... crazy. I'll be an old man by then. And let's not forget Half-Life 3.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm in awe at how well Valve have done the whole digital distribution thing, and the way they've managed the Half-Life IP.

I'm certain they'll be another Portal game, but I'm also pretty sure they're going to wait and look at user created maps for Portal before they build a second one (Yet another smart move). In one of the first bits of commentary, Gabe Newell said he's certain they've only just scratched the surface of portal gameplay.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh now I got to play these games and I don't even need to say it how amazing these were!

Portal is my GOTY definitely and HL2:EP2 was maybe the best HL experience to me so far, simply amazing! :tup:

I saw that gnome as well in the beginning, I also thought that might that be some joke on Amelie or something?

How about the G-man, did you guys make any spottings of him.

I saw him walking away from the bridge where you get the cool car. That was the only time I saw him walking or standing anywhere.

Why do I have this strong feeling that:

In Episode 3, Gordon will encounter the Portal gun and Aperture Science's HAL9000 GlaDOS AI. Because clearly the teleporting ship is heavily involved with the Portal technology.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There's another one, at least

He appears on the monitors just before Alex tells Eli "Prepare for unexpected consequences".

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I never saw GMan once! :getmecoat:getmecoat:getmecoat

Amelie is one of my favourite films and I didn't realise the gnome connection :getmecoat:getmecoat:getmecoat:getmecoat

Nevermind...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just started playing it, and after about fifteen minutes I had to stop. It's been like that with the HL games ever since the first ones. Because I think they're so great, and the experience is so intense (even without combat), after a short while I feel I have to stop so I don't play through it all at once. I want to savour it, and that's not something I want to do with all games.

Anyways, I hope everyone who's now gotten HL2 and Ep1 for the first time make sure to play them, complete them and do it right. That means no running and gunning. All the locations are so wonderful... the sounds, the debris, the physics... just take your time. You've got a fucking ton of Best Game Ever ahead of you.

Wow. I didn't get it at first. I played through most of the game at a leisurely pace, savoring it, but not really drawing it out. Of course I loved every minute of it, it's just so much more original than Half-Life Episode 1 (which I'm glad I got as a freebie). But now, 7 hours in, I'm up to where I suspect the final fight begins.

Alex has just said "... prepare for unforeseen consequences.", which, by the way, was a brilliant scene. I knew the words sounded familiar but it took me just long enough to make the connection to the G-Man's speech. This is digital storytelling at it's evolutionary peak.

I played through all 7 hours during the weekdays, when I had much too much stuff going on already. But this weekend, I haven't been able to bring myself to sit down and finish it. I love it so much that I can't bear the thought of the final battle not living up to my expectations. If it's anything at all like the end of Episode 1, I might cry. :grin:

The scene was fun but anticlimactic: The moment was a good one, but it was the single memorable scene in the entire episode, and felt like it was leading towards some final epic battle with the Strider.

Luckily, from what I've heard, it's the most epic scene in any Half-Life game so far.

On a completely different note, I've been trying to think about how they could integrate Portal into Episode 3. Strangely enough, I feel like the aesthetic and level design of Portal was so unique and so tailored to the target game-play that if they tried to just give Gordon the portal gun it would only stifle the level designers. Plus, since the style of play is so different, Episode 3 would either become incredibly easy (see

) or simply not be a Half-Life game. Plus, frankly, I think the bold graphic quality of the portals would simply muck up the beautiful Half-life aesthetic. It would be like a cake made of bacon: Cake is delicious and bacon is delicious, but they have to be enjoyed separately. :mock:

However, if Half-Life Episode 3 improves upon Half-Life Episode 2 as much as Episode 2 improved upon Episode 1, I doubt we have anything to worry about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now