Half Life 2 - what do you think?

[TheYak]

So... is anyone else playing the single player game and jumping and screaming like a girl!?

The section with the priest in had me TERRIFIED! Specially playing it on a 5.1 surround sound system in a dark study! I felt so sad when he got cornered by all those monsters, and there is nothing that you can do about it... that was cr@ppy.

This game is absolutely phenominal! Allthough I am slightly irritated with the stupid buggy, it's difficult to drive and just goes all over the place! I've lost count of the amount of times I've rolled it! :D

Never the less this is an EXCELLENT game and I LOVE it! I haven't played CS yet, mainly because I know I'll get my arse wupped, but I'll get around to it :p

Anyway, what do you guys think about HL - did it live up to all the hype - I certainly think so!

[bb_matt]

It was ok.

Nothing ever lives up to the hype, as you'll discover toward the end of the game - the last few hours of gameplay certainly seem rushed and really dissapointed me.

The replay value is not what I thought it would be either - it's then that you see how scripted the whole thing is. You can also see a lot of things fall apart when you try to do things differently, like absolutely rotten player and monster clipping.

The lighting is buggy in places too.

Overhyped, but good fun.

And as for steam ... well, it's a pile of steaming TURD.
I will NEVER buy another PC game with such a distribution system.
It took me 6 hours to install and start playing and I still have trouble with it every now and then.

I understand it's value for multi player games, but for single player - my God, I have to have Steam running and the CD in my drive to play the damn thing.

[Perdition]

You can always get the Vengeance release of HL2 floating around the P2P networks. It has a Steam emulator which makes HL think it is connected, pretty slick. I'm assuming anyone doing this is a LEGAL owner of the game and just wants to play without waiting 10 minutes each time you start up while it checks Steam!

I haven't played it yet, I'm waiting for my new vid card to arrive in about a week so I can get the full experience. I'm looking forward to it but certainly not expecting it to be the best game ever.

[TheYak]

It might not be the best game ever, but it sure as hell is the most realistic one I've ever played!

There have been a good few bugs where I got stuck etc, but nothing too serious. As for the light bugs, haven't managed to see them, I've been too busy hiding away in a dark corner!

Oh, btw: Another irritating thing, much more so than the buggy: those BLOODY antlions!! You accidently step on the sand and that's it, they keep on knocking you back onto it, and the more you step on the sand, the more antlions come out. Then again, they're pretty cool when they're fighting on your side! That was wicked!! :)

Anyway, having a quick lunch, then it's back to my game.

In case you were wondering: I'm on leave :D

[wab512]

Installation and setup was crap, even on ADSL. I believe that if you buy a game it should work out of the box (no downloads, etc). If you start playing online it is ok if you need to load patches etc. It took me about 40 minutes to get playing (with an official pack)......

The game itself.....according to me it is excellent :-) Haven't played online too much due to time constraints but i hope to catch up as soon as I get some time.

Now the question is if the game itself make up for the crappy installation....Yes, but only if you have ADSL :-)

[TheYak]

The Steam part of my installation took me about an hour and a half, I'm sure I have another post here somewhere where I rant about that.

I think the game makes up for it though - I'm having a ball!

It's an immersive, scary, realistic rollercoaster ride!

[James]

*****SPOILER - ONLY READ IF YOU FINISHED THE GAME **********







I was so impressed when i first started. The game was awesome!!!! then as mat points out it feels rushed and when I finished the game, the ending....Well it left lots to be desired. I thought I was half way and gonna go to Zen again or another planet but that was it....No boss...no big end sequence just a big fat anti climax to a game with such huge developement and potential. I honestly feel they had the same folly as ID and doom3. All graphics and physics and with such a great engine they employed inteligent monkeys to do the story!!! And i do me the primates!

[Andre]

I thought it was a really good game on the whole. What really annoyed me was when your squadmates kept getting in your face.

I thought the last level was rushed too, but had already read a spoiler on the ending so that wasn't a dissapointment. The airboat and buggy parts were simply brilliant.

If I'm not mistaken the latest patch for the game removes the CD check.

[TheYak]

well, it's 00:15, and I just finished the game!

*SPOILERS!*

The last "stage" had me FURIOUS! Jumping from one "lift" to the next had me so irritated! I kept on getting knocked off by the stupid combines and falling off - if I wanted to play Mario-Freaking-Brothers I would have bought that!

And that ending... HUH?! I sorta get it, but I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we should open a thread with a spoiler warning to discuss that, 'cos I'm not too sure about the ending, I have my theory though.

*END SPOILER*

It was an awesome game and I thouroughly enjoyed it!

[antowan]

I think the ending is a promise of a new HL coming out soon. Maybe they will spend less time on developing the next one and just build on what they have done so far and bring out the new game in a year or so. The ending makes the whole saga feel as if it was one big test. Anyone feel the same?

[lewstherin]

Brilliant game, awesome graphics, cool story line...all round a great gaming experience.

The souped up gravity gun at the end is WICKED :) :)

My 2 small gripes:
-> squadmates kept getting me killed - eventually I would just send them off to get killed :D
-> ending was a little too wierd, left you wondering what the whole point of the story is...

[TheYak]

I have to agree lew, the souped up grav gun was AWESOME! I was chucking Combine guys all over the show, into energy beams and pretty much everywhere else - TONS of fun! At one point I ripped one of the TV screens out of the wall while listening to that bearded idiot's unremitting ramblings... of course I might have missed some mission critical information, but what the heck - it made me feel good! :D

I'll prolly put a review of the game on my site at some point in time, right now, I'm too lazy!

*yawn* Being on holiday makes you sleg!

[mikkelz_za]

Once you've got it fully loaded, 100% updated etc. unplug your network cable/disconnect from the net, run steam, choose offline mode and no more waiting forever to start playing.

[Andre]

Once you've got it fully loaded, 100% updated etc. unplug your network cable/disconnect from the net, run steam, choose offline mode and no more waiting forever to start playing.

Note that if you haven't got the very latest patch, Steam will want to go online in one months time from the last time that you connected. You'll be unable to play until you connect again.

[TheYak]

mine doesn't take that long to connect though, just the updates that irritate me. I'm ecstatic to see that the latest patch negates the need for the CD - good one!

I played CS: Source yesterday afternoon and last night. Basically: I SUCK at FPS multiplayer, but it was quite enjoyable never the less! Might give it another shot, and who knows, if I get enough exercise, I might even get good at it! :D