Half Life 2

[eor123]

I just completed a marathon session of "Half Life 2" -- part of "The Orange Box" package. I played it on the XBox360.

At first I didn't care for it and put it aside, but on the second chance I got into the mindset and began enjoying it.

It is a linear game but the map seems very large and the action is seamless. There are objectives but they are not well-defined missions. It is actually difficult to find a good stopping point -- at least that is my justification for staying up all night last playing it.  ;D

It is several years old but the repackaging of it with the HL2 Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 for $15 retail, give or take, is a great deal.

Voices of the main characters are done by Robert Guillaume, Robert Culp, and Lou Gosset Jr. Even with those big names, the voice acting seems a little weak to me.

I didn't play the first Half Life and don't know the set up but the story's protagonist is Dr. Gordon Freeman, an astrophysicist who is assisting and is a inspiration to the human resistance to an alien occupying force known as the Combine.  Some humans are collaborating with the aliens. And there are numerous mutants, hybrids, zombie like creatures, and radioactive cesspools that make the earth a pretty inhospitable place. You do have a protective suit that gives you some shielding.

The graphics are good  but the game shows its age a little when compared to more recent releases. The weapons are reasonably realistic, with the exception of the gravity gun and the pheromone pod "thingy" you carry to control swarm of ant lions that harass you in the first half of the game but become allies in the end. The gravity gun is interesting and it takes a while to get accustomed to the things you can do with it and incorporate it into your problem solving.

Seemingly impassable obstacles can be eliminated with the gravity gun and objects can be moved to assist you in making your way through radioactive goo and such. In one instance I wrecked my dune buggy into the ocean and couldn't get it started  to drive it back onto dry land. I went ahead on foot but discovered that I had to have the vehicle to progress further in the game. My wife had been watching and blithely remarked..."Why don't you use that big gun to move your buggy out of the water?" Well...duh.

Before you get the gravity gun, you have the ability to pick up and stack boxes, barrels, boards, pallets, and etc. And of course, you start the game with a crowbar. Nothing strikes terror into the hearts of Civil Protection forces like an astrophysicist armed with a crowbar.    ;D

For the majority of the game, you are acting alone but there are some segments when you can direct a squad [ humans or ant lions ] or allow them to follow you. It would probably be best if you send the humans away because they do little but get in your way. At least they are polite when they do, often repeating, "Excuse me "Dr. Freeman or "Sorry, Doc."  ;D

One time, while appearing to be in my way when trying to jump a crevice I was having trouble with, an ant lion was actually there for me to jump on as a spring board for successfully making the jump. You do have to open your mind to alternate solutions in this game....and that did impress me.

The human and pseudo-human AI  aren't very bright but the other creatures and alien technology are pretty aggressive and can easily overwhelm you. I played it on Normal Difficulty but by the end of the game when the enemy becomes more lethal, I began to wonder if I should have played it on Easy.

One creature is called a head crab but looks humorously like a jumping frozen turkey.  It apparently attached to the heads of humans and turns them into hybrid zombie things. One of the most annoying creatures hangs from the ceilings  and traps people and anything else that is within range of its long, sticky tongue that hangs down

If you get caught by one of these, it pulls you up into its jaws, assuming of course that you don't kill it on your way up. When it dies, it pukes yellowish/greenish stuff on the floor. I have to admit, I enjoyed that visual.  ;D

HL2's strongest asset is the problem solving that you must undertake in order to get from Point A to Point B. I enjoy a challenge and there were a few situations that took me quite a while to figure out. You do have to think "out of the box" at times and utilize the gravity gun to do what otherwise seems impossible.

One of my favorite moments in the game occurred when I used a large magnet equipped crane to drop a metal shipping container on several enemies. The game prompted me to do it. After doing so, it unlocked an achievement called "OSHA Violation." That was a true laugh out loud moment for me, especially given my time as Safety Director for a manufacturing plant and having dealt with OSHA regulations for several years.

I later had to use the crane to move my dune buggy from one side of the facility to another to continue on the highway -- an typical example of the problem solving.

The cut scenes of the alien's citadel at the end of the game are really impressive in conveying the immensity of the alien structure.

HL2 is several years old but well worth a look at the discounted  Orange Box price, even for a new one.

[fragger]

Great review, eor, very well summarized :-X :-X :-X

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, it's a bit creaky in the joints these days, but I still find it fun to dip into once in a while.

The first HL was a ground-breaker in its day, in a variety of ways. One was the elimination of levels, so that the whole game was a seamless FPS from start to finish, uninterrupted by animated cut scenes, splash screens, end-of-level stats or any kind of third-person sequences, making it one big long adventure and thus giving you the sense that you were "living" through it all. Another innovation (at the time) was the concept of having allies, in this case scientists and security guards, who could accompany you on your travels and help you out. There was also the fact that your game persona was something like a proper character, and a fairly original type of one for an action video game - a research scientist, as opposed to some sort of muscle-bound super-soldier, and that you played against the backdrop of at least a halfway-decent storyline. Prior to HL, almost all FPS games were of the same format: find the secret switches to unlock the doors, find your way to the Level Exit and blast anything that moves along the way, and usually this was done around the barest skeleton of a rough idea of a nebulous premise - if there was even that (Quake).

HL2 retained most of these concepts, though they're no longer anything to write home about. One thing that really stands out for me with the HL2 games is the physics engine. It's very real-world, in the way things fall, roll, bounce and break, and the ragdoll effects of the recently deceased are hilarious at times, especially when in close proximity to explosions (my sense of humour is warped, I know).

$15 or so is an excellent bargain for the Orange Box :-X

Just on a sadder note, the actor Robert Culp passed away earlier this year, or late last year, I can't remember when exactly. Apparently he was just out for a stroll when he stumbled on the kerb, fell, hit his head and died - a terrible and tragic end for the poor man.

[Art Blade]

Look what we've got..

[smg id=3827 type=link align=center width=500 caption="HL2 001"]

How? Why?

To play Portal (1) I bought a box with HL2 (I believe the "orange box") and as a gift, a "side note" to the HL2 game, they slapped Portal on the list. So I played portal but never touched the rest of the package. Now, looking at the STEAM library with my installed games I thought, those greyed-out games, HL2, Episode 1, 2 and whatnot, why not try if.. and I actually downloaded the English version of HL2 (half a gig, 5 minutes download time) which I find incredibly nice of STEAM since I bought the German version on disk. However, I'm delving into HL2 which I didn't play back then for one reason: I boycotted online registration and by that their champion STEAM...

[PZ]

Look what we've got...

... said the merc...  :-()

[fragger]

Hope you enjoy it Art :)

You'll find it's very linear, but quite immersive and an intriguing game world, sort of like 1984 meets War of the Worlds. It's one of the very few linear FPS games I've enjoyed multiple playthroughs of.

Gordon rules! :-X

[Art Blade]

I had hoped for you to see it and pick it up, kind of. :)  :-X (that goes for PZ and fragger, individually, for PZ and his merc and fragger for being an old HL2 addict)

For the HL2 guys, particularly fragger: I reckon those pics sort of whet your appetite (please ignore the sewer water)  :-D

[smg id=3828 type=link align=center width=500 caption="HL2 002"]

[fragger]

Great water effects in that game  - you can almost smell the sewers :-() There is clean water too further on, it's not all scungy-looking.

Let me know when you get hold of the Gravity Gun (you've got a ways to go yet before you get it). I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about it :)

[Art Blade]

I tested the gun and then realised I was ahead of schedule and needed to restart (had the suit before I should so I couldn't take the suit in the lab and the game wouldn't progress.. so I started a new career without "enhancements"  :-D )

I think it is interesting. I played around with barrels, grabbed them, shot them into the sky, caught them on their way back and hauled them up again. That sort of thing. I am considering a slight tuning, increasing the capacity of how heavy the stuff can be that you may pick up with that gun. I'd like to throw pet mammoths around with it  :-()

[fragger]

Trying to get my head around how you got the Gravity Gun already - don't tell me you cheated? I'm shocked... not :-D Wait until you get towards the end and the GG undergoes a "change" - then the game becomes like rag doll city. You'll see what I mean...

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[Fiach]

I remember playing the game on release and exiting the train station at the start, to be greeted with such awesome graphics at the time, the lighting was really spot on, kinda wintery eastern european (to me) sunlight in a dishevlled city.

A great game, I seem to remember a zombie section that seemed out of place, but the angle grinder frisbees kinda made up for it :)

[fragger]

LOL @ "angle grinder frisbees" I also like using the Gravity Gun to fling gas cylinders at the baddies and watching them burst into flames >:D

The "zombies" don't really seem so out of place if you've played the original Half-Life. They're not actually zombies as such (even though characters in the game call them that), they're people whose bodies have been taken over by alien parasites (the "head crabs"). In HL2 they're all dressed the same, in blood-spattered white coats and black pants - this is a hold-over from HL1 when these "zombies" were all hapless white-coated scientists who had been possessed by the aliens after an experiment in teleportation had gone awry and created a cross-dimensional breach, allowing alien nasties to drop into our world and wreak havoc. Your character is the same one you play in HL1 and he's not a soldier or anything - he's Dr. Gordon Freeman, PhD, Theoretical Physicist and Alien Butt Kicker Extraordinaire (that's him in my avatar). In HL1 you take an active role in performing part of the teleportation experiment in a really cool interactive sequence. Freeman survives the resultant accident by dint of his hard-shell Hazardous Environment suit, but many of his colleagues end up victims of the alien puppeteers, hence their attire. It would have made more sense if their clothing had been changed for HL2 but it seems the devs just didn't get around to it or something, so they still look like zombified scientists instead of civilians. Presumably the head crabs have been taking people over all around the world, but events outside the game areas such as City 17 are never mentioned. The zombie-infested area in the game (Ravenholm) is ostensibly just one place out of many where all the inhabitants have become possessed - you just never see any other such places during your adventures. So the part with the zombies is not really out of place, is what I'm getting at in this long-winded fashion :-()

[Fiach]

TL:DR, there are zombies, deal with it  >:D 

[Binnatics]

HL2 was the first game I played where I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the graphics. It's all so damn smooth. When I read through this topic I can hear the specific sound effects again when using the gravity gun or entering a new place. Some if these sounds are still present in Portal. In fact, the graphics have some sort of mystic serenity comepared to other great graphics in other games. Allthough it all seems so real.

HL2 is a masterpiece. I played the prequel (HL) after having completed HL2. The graphics there are a huge step back in time, but the story is great. I'm glad I did that playthrough and finally killed the Nihilanth. I remember it was quite a tricky bossfight. Never had to do so much thinking to kick a badass boss  :-()

I'm still hoping for Episode 3 to be released. That will be something extraordinary I think :-X

[nexor]

About 100y ago I bought my very first pc game Half-Life USS Darkstar, I could only read the booklet after unwrapping the disk when I got home, it seems to be a add on to Half-Life.
For some time I looked everywhere for Half-Life but gave it up when I couldn't find it

Spoiler

[smg id=3829]

[Dweller_Benthos]

Never heard of the Darkstar one, is that like Blue Shift? Oh I see it now, Opposing Force don't think I played that, though maybe I did.

[nexor]

That was my one and only attempt in playing half-Life

[Binnatics]

Through steam the game Half-Life is still available. Quite expensive though. €9,99.

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[Binnatics]

Well, it IS!!!

For a game that was originally released in 1998 (!)

1998   Half-Life
1999   Half-Life: Opposing Force
2001   Half-Life: Blue Shift
2001   Half-Life: Decay

Never heard of all these 'DLC's' or whatever they were called back then.

[Art Blade]

 :-D + :-D

[Binnatics]

:-\\

[Art Blade]

  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

I didn't actually play the first Half-Life until just before the second one came out. When HL1 was released, I was busy playing the first Unreal and all it's variations and didn't really pay much attention to HL at the time, even though it was getting good reviews in magazines (no real internet back then). So when HL2 was a few months away, it was getting a lot of talk and it looked like something I wanted to play, so I got the first one in one of those combo-packs with a bunch of the sequals. I'm thinking Opposing Force must have been in there, but at this point most of them all just blur together.

So, I played HL1 for the first time then a month or so later played HL2 when it first came out. First exposure to Steam as well, back then on the old dialup it wasn't pretty. I played offline most of the time, thus didn't get hardly any achievements.  :'(

Then again, I did play with the dev console on and knew quite a few tricks for "upgrading" the game, like being able to carry unlimited ammo. It didn't give you ammo, but let you pick up as much as you could find. So, at one of the resupply crates for rockets, I grabbed about 100 and played the rest of the game like that. Thing is, at one point one of the stilt-walkers has to blow a hole in the wall for you to proceed, but I had enough rockets to take him out before he could, which you weren't supposed to do at that point, so I was stuck and had to load a previous game.

That's what you get for cheating, kids.

[Art Blade]

Cheating is good for you.

Because you'll get to know the game better than the ones who don't cheat.

They don't know that at one point one of the stilt-walkers has to blow a hole in the wall for you to proceed and that you can't proceed if you take him out before he can, which you aren't supposed to do at that point, so you are stuck and have to load a previous game.

:-()