Half Life 2 , game of the year 5 disc set...

[DVW5150]

MAN ... holy sh*t . This is an awesome game . Theres' zombies that have these black chicken like things that are attached to them , they jump off and try to infect you . I know I am behind the state of the art gaming crowd , but man , this game is more like an experience .The antlions are really freaky ( remind me of the bugs in Starship Troopers)...The gravity gun can be powered up w/ the tilde (~) so you can pick up trucks and stuff . I saw it on G4 ... Anybody else journied through this thing ? If so , please share your observations , positive & negitive . I friggin love it ! :skull:

[capncnut]

"Rise and shine Dr Freeman, rise and... shine!"

[DVW5150]

"Rise and shine Dr Freeman, rise and... shine!"

OH man ... I love this "game" ... Barney is kinda goofy ... and the robot dog , is really awesome ...:elol:

[Danny]

indeed its a cracking game, and i loved the sequel more than halo or the origional half life, it was so graphically and techniologically impressive, and one notch of fun.

too bad i sold my xbox version but i cant wait for the 360 version with the episodes on.:cool:

[DeadJonas190]

Yeah, it was a great game. I had a lot of fun playing it, but never beat it.

[MinionZombie]

Indeed, a great game, shame about that Steam thing though ...

Have been through the game 5 times now from start to finish, played through Episode 1 a couple of times as well - looking forward to Episode 2, which should provide something new unlike Ep1.

HL2 was a great game, and still is, the graphics too still hold up. The whole High Dynamic Range lighting thing is also rather spiffing. It's a very cinematic game, yet devoid of cinematics themselves, the whole story plays out as you play it yourself, you don't have cutscenes, but you're playing what feels like a movie, an adventure.

One thing I was a bit "hmmm" about was it felt a bit like "this big chunk is for learning the environment, this big chunk is for the boat, this big chunk is the for car, this one for the prison, this one for the city and this one for the Citidel", if there was a bit more variation throughout, rather than what - to me - felt like defined chunks, it would have been basically perfect ... oh yeah, get rid of Steam and then it'd be perfect. :D

[Danny]

some people are just never satisfied:rolleyes: :p

c'mon man ravenholm kicked ass!

[DVW5150]

Man , the steam aspect was (is) abit of a drag .Sometimes at a critical part , "bam" ill get knocked off ...thank god I save always . The expressions on the faces are incredible .I used the cheats for the physcannon , holy sh*t! man you can pick up stuff and whack! I love it ... thanks for sharing everyone >>>>:skull: I have yet to beat it either . At the end you havbe to catch the power orbs and shoot them at the nebish thats trying to escape ... I cant seem to do it enough ... the combat stuff it great , just love fragging the "thought" police ... he he . I hope this isnt the type of world we are headed twards ... I better get to work on my M.I.T. degree ///:elol:Oh Hellsing Ravenholm was terrorfying , I thought Doom 3 was scary ...Doom was a picnic .

[MinionZombie]

Doom 3 was obviously scary, Ravenholm in HL2 was subtly scary - a build up of tension, suspense and a sense of "prior evil" in a way. Ravenholm still creeps me the hell out, it's videogaming at it's highest level of precision crafting.

Never had any problems with the game crashing I don't think, but initially I remember when it first came out Steam didn't work properly and while you were supposed to be able to play it offline, it didn't at first, which was a pain in the ass, but the fix was rushed out quite quickly, which was at least something.

Another thing with Steam - takes forever and a day to update anything. Also, an update I did before moving back home from uni for the last time left the sound out-of-synch, which was rather annoying (yet I played the game twice more with the fudged up audio!) - fortunately recently updated it, however, if the data can't be saved from my old, dying hard-drive (comp is in the shop at the moment) then I'll have to re-install the whole damn thing and update for about 8 f*ckin' hours just on Steam. :mad:

Still, such a great game. I love going to that house on the coast (before the buildings/bridge area) which gets invaded by Civil Protection officers when you go upstairs - I block the doors off big style and then listen to the officers attempting to get inside and shoot them through the window. Rather fun to just blockade yourself indoors. Shame that doesn't come in that much anywhere else in the game...

[Tricky]

Man,coincidence!ive just been playing it through myself tonight,& its amazed me all over again,quality game!anyone else get a real sense of vertigo & fear while edging across the girders on that huge bridge? :eek: i love all the subtle effects on it as well,like when you shoot someone & their hanging over the edge,and just one arm is swinging,or when a dropship comes in & the telephone wires start flying about from the downdraft :cool:

[Danny]

all good moments, but i liked the raiding the old houses on the beach the walking on the items in the sand was the worst part, but i definatly think its the best story mode shooter since when you first discover the "only enemy the flod has ever feared".

[MinionZombie]

Indeed, I also love it when the phone wires jiggle around with the downdraft, little touches like that make it such an immersive game. Don't you just love watching a dead CP slowly start lagging over the edge of something, then you shoot him a couple of times in the body part hanging over and watch him fall. :elol:

Also, using the scoped crossbow, especially from below like when entering Nova Prospekt, they get pulled up and nailed to the wall, then you can nail their jiggling limbs to the wall and then shoot them in the gut to make their middle jiggle. :elol:

[capncnut]

I kinda agree, it's the simple stuff with HL2 that really dazzles; putting the soda can in the trash at the beginning, when the chick goes through the teleporter, the rooftop ride down to the cemetary, the big brother-esque video screen messages etc. I just got rid of my original Xbox copy and I'm awaiting the 360 version with rabid frenzy (has anyone seen how HOT this version looks?). It certainly appears there's more life in this game yet, especially with the upcoming HL2 zombie mod 'No More Room In Hell'. Rise and shine indeed.


anyone else get a real sense of vertigo & fear while edging across the girders on that huge bridge?

Don't even get me started on that bridge dude.


the walking on the items in the sand was the worst part...

Yeah Hellz, that part sucked big time! I also had some transport handling gripes too, what is up with that damn buggy?


OH man... I love this "game"...

So DVW, we spoke last night on chat and you were telling me you was having trouble completing the final level. Did you do it man or what?

[DVW5150]

I kinda agree, it's the simple stuff with HL2 that really dazzles; putting the soda can in the trash at the beginning, when the chick goes through the teleporter, the rooftop ride down to the cemetary, the big brother-esque video screen messages etc. I just got rid of my original Xbox copy and I'm awaiting the 360 version with rabid frenzy (has anyone seen how HOT this version looks?). It certainly appears there's more life in this game yet, especially with the upcoming HL2 zombie mod 'No More Room In Hell'. Rise and shine indeed.



Don't even get me started on that bridge dude.



Yeah Hellz, that part sucked big time! I also had some transport handling gripes too, what is up with that damn buggy?



So DVW, we spoke last night on chat and you were telling me you was having trouble completing the final level. Did you do it man or what?

Nope , I have been putting it off so to speak , persuing other antics in the game ... The tilde~ function is quite interesting , picking up big rocks , cars , the gas tanker is fun ....I really like the driving section of the game , kinda -sorta like Road Warrior , without the opposing gangs . I have an instinct for approaching stopped vehicles ... Dont stop too close . Ill get around to it , good advice thanks .

[Cody]

this seems like a great fkin game im gonna have to buy it

[DVW5150]

So , After some great advice from Captnspaulding , I was able to beat the Half Life 2 'experience' . The word 'game' dwindles the experience for me . In my opinion , Tetris , Gta (any of 'em ) , even Area 51 (ps2) and Ret. to Castle Wolfenstien are games . HL2 has brought it to almost like you are in a sci-fi novel , or film as a intrigal part . The characters you meet along the way who are fighting /helping you , are as well done as could be , for thier general statements ( though them reminding me to re-load got miffing , looking for a doorway out of an area they would say : "scuse me D. Freeman" , ect) . In one section of hwy 17 you go through an encampment , where you are introduced to D. Cubbage , get the rpg .I actually had genuine regard for these 'sentient' programs , ie, the wounded in the basement , I actually p/u a few medkits and set 'em next to them to help them . I just kinda got into it , my girlfriend says even though its' pointless to do so , it shows my character . This game has topped (for me ) all the FPS I have completed : Quake 2 (pc,ps) Duke nukem(n64, ps,Duke not FPS but you could do some things in that vien ) the entire Medal of Honor series upto Rising Sun (rising sun was sort of yawn), Return to Casle Wolfenstien (ps2, pc), Half Life (ps2) , Brothers in Arms , Darkwatch (did it in 3 days ps2 ho hum) , Area 51 (ps2), Black ( real good if you are a good user of weapons and firearms, tactics , or mayhave done "black wet-work " , in othr countries for covert reasons) ...Theres some I have left out , but basically I really started getting into Games in 1999 . A roomate in Orlando (whn I did some halloween horrornight acting) who was A+ cert. on computers had Q2 , installed it on his IBM in the living room , invited me to try it , I was like what the...? And I was hooked ... But Half Life 2 , really pushed the barriers for me . 1 thiing I doubt many others have caught , is just aftr ravenholm you cut through a trainyard , before you go into the wherehouse past the junk cars and a few combine , if you go all the way past the last tainker-
traincar , look between the car and the brickwall : You will catch the G-Man walking with his suitcase , also in the high close quaters combat in city 17 , to the right of the bottom of a staircase , little tv w/ him on it . there are few other times youl catch him . This for me , was really friggin the best gaming experience I have had ...I have loaded 2 demos fro HL2 ep. 2 from steam , its very fast paced , more kick -ass . I just hoped that Gordon was gonna repopulate with Eli Vances' daughter , Alyx . She had sincere expressions , the vocal actor was really good and well directed . So , thanks for sharing , thanks for reading my op-ed on this 'experience' -cd rom trip ( anybody ever play Obsidian ? ) lol ... :skull:

[MinionZombie]

Hell yeah, Alyx Vance is a nice piece of ass alright. ;)

HL2 really does drag you into the whole experience, it is like an unravelling novel or film and all the nice little touches here and there are excellent. Yes indeedy, the unprecedented level of "humanism" brought to the AI is fantastic, the glint in their eyes, the facial expressions - fantastic. There are other games which have fancy ass graphics and play really well, but do they have soul? That's something HL2 has - soul. There's an unspoken subtextual story going on, you feel many things have happened before in the over all story, before you turn up and start experiencing things first hand.

If only it didn't involve that friggin' Steam thingy *sigh*.

[DVW5150]

Hell yeah, Alyx Vance is a nice piece of ass alright. ;)

HL2 really does drag you into the whole experience, it is like an unravelling novel or film and all the nice little touches here and there are excellent. Yes indeedy, the unprecedented level of "humanism" brought to the AI is fantastic, the glint in their eyes, the facial expressions - fantastic. There are other games which have fancy ass graphics and play really well, but do they have soul? That's something HL2 has - soul. There's an unspoken subtextual story going on, you feel many things have happened before in the over all story, before you turn up and start experiencing things first hand.

If only it didn't involve that friggin' Steam thingy *sigh*.

Agreed Minion , Steam seems like it doesnt want to "... give you the steam off its' sh*t ..."

[capncnut]

I'm glad you were finally able to complete it buddy. As I said before, "anything to help a brother out". :)