Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Great review! I cannot wait for the weekend. I've decided I want to play it all in one go. It is the only way.

Uhm.. why are you playing with those crappy textures? I'm using a 2 year old graphics card and I aint having no problems with maxing the game out.
Great review, havent gotten thru the game yet, but I'm getting there!

last time i neglect real life was halo 3 and i took time off work to play it also. looks like i'm going to have to do it again..... oh what fun i will have.

Originally Posted by cjoyce1980
last time i neglect real life was halo 3 and i took time off work to play it also. looks like i'm going to have to do it again..... oh what fun i will have.

:D

Personally I'm finding Ep2 to run much slower than Ep1 on my system (A64 3700, 1Gb Ram, nVidia 6800XT), and the graphics don't seem to be quite as pretty as before, even running slower.
I'm guessing it's the new physics system, and I think it's CPU bound, because in the first few minutes, when you send a mine cart or something down some rails to smash a baracade my system slowed down to about 1fps, then HL crashed.
So I played Portal yesterday and all was good :) (except water effects which also hit my pooter hard, roll on enough cash to upgrade)

Oh, and hooray for this man flu that's had me off work for two days... ;)

/boast
Mine runs at about 60 -80fps with everything maxed out :D I had photoshop running in the background as well :p

Originally Posted by phuzz
Personally I'm finding Ep2 to run much slower than Ep1 on my system (A64 3700, 1Gb Ram, nVidia 6800XT), and the graphics don't seem to be quite as pretty as before, even running slower.
I'm guessing it's the new physics system, and I think it's CPU bound, because in the first few minutes, when you send a mine cart or something down some rails to smash a baracade my system slowed down to about 1fps, then HL crashed.
So I played Portal yesterday and all was good :) (except water effects which also hit my pooter hard, roll on enough cash to upgrade)

Oh, and hooray for this man flu that's had me off work for two days... ;)

The updated Havok engine does a LOT more than before by the looks. Couple in the fact that it's a lot more out doors which the Source engine has never done before and it's a suddenly a lot more intensive.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 is by far the best game I have played in years.... if you do not own this game, you should get it as you will NOT be disapointed.

Great game. I started playing it about 11:30Pm, and now it appears I'm up at 5am my time. Thats when you know a games good:P

but take my advice and make sure that you play it in as few separate sittings as possible. This isn’t the type of game you should dip in and out of for five minutes at a time, though you easily could. This is the type of game you should spend some serious time on, exploring the world that Valve has delicately crafted for you.

Couldn't agree more. I did it in one sitting, and couldn't imagine beign dragged away from my computer for whatever reason (school, work, whatever) just as some epic story-related thing happens (gman)

I'm gonna have to wait until I've upgraded my graphics card at least, I think ( I currently have a 6600 GTOC). I still haven't completed HL2, never mind bought episode 1.

I just realised this isn't out retail yet... ah well steam its going to have to be i think.

I want this so bad and yet am having to force myself not to buy it as I am leaking money like a sive atm and need it for books and electronics components :|

think I will probobly last untill half term...

I've been waiting this soooooo much! The HL2 and Ep1 are some of the three games I've played through on single-player campaign! You can pretty much figure I really like these. I think it's the atmosphere Valve has created... If I have to find a downside then it must be the down-right booring too easy puzzles there are some times. It flattens the feeling when you have to wait for Alyx or someone to speak for ten minutes and then just plug something in ( ;) for those who have already played this).

Superb. 10/10.

I have to agree, EP2 is really really good

Its ALOT longer then E1 (which i think took me like 3 hours?) and way more fun
The tweaks to the source engine are fantastic, and the maps really rock (decompilation ftw :D)

I'm really impressed with valve, but i do disagree with one thing, Ep2 took far too long, they have updated the source engine, but the core remains the same, it really shouldn't have taken a year (?)

Portal took me about an hour to complete, i was a bit disappointed tbh, but it was fun ... just not as much as i though
TF2 is good, but i preferred TFC tbh, and i don't think TF2 will have the same impact

So, episode 3 in 2 months time - OK valve ?

its the mutts nuts ....... still playing it ATM , but what i have seen so far ....... it was worth it , well done valve

So far E2 is pretty wicked, Valve does not disappoint with the action, plus Portal and TF2 are great games too. They did a good job making your money worth it, you get some story, a whole new Deathmatch for endless fun at LANs, and something else fun that Im sure will not be the last time you hear from.

Anyway great stuff...but Striders...STRIDERS EVERYWHERE!

such as stealing so many grenades from a charging zombie with your physics gun, which unlocks an achievement called ‘HotPotat0wned’.

Actually stealing one grenade from a zombine gets you "Grave Robber" and you get "HotPotat0wned" for killing a combine soldier with his own grenade, which I found incredilbly difficult, given how quickly they will kill you if you have the physics gun in hand instead of shooting them and how rarely they actually use grenades this time.

if i wrote that article, id give it 9/10 instead, JUST because it took so long to release. some may say its worth every second waiting, but not me. im not that patient. a few years to get a 6hr game that uses same graphic, same engine, similar story, to be released??? come on... whats the biggest obstacle? writing the story? ill buy that, its that good.
but no game this short is worth the amount of time waiting.

episode 3 better come in less than a year, or else Valve will be loosing many many players.

Originally Posted by Redbeaver
if i wrote that article, id give it 9/10 instead, JUST because it took so long to release. some may say its worth every second waiting, but not me. im not that patient. a few years to get a 6hr game that uses same graphic, same engine, similar story, to be released??? come on... whats the biggest obstacle? writing the story? ill buy that, its that good.
but no game this short is worth the amount of time waiting.

episode 3 better come in less than a year, or else Valve will be loosing many many players.

Can understand where your coming from, but if they rushed it out and it flopped, the developers would never hear the end of it from the gaming public. This franchise is as important to PC as Halo is to Xbox. All credit to the developers, for giving the respect to this franchise that it deserves. Just a little bit faster next time please:D

i personally thought the fight at the end was a bit naff, it was annoying and frustrating simply down to how shitty the car handling was
like driving a barge on an icerink

aside from that (and getting lost in the tunnel place with the big thing ¬_¬) i thought it was awesome
and i was amazed how good it looked, ran maxed out at 1920x1200 on my x1900 getting like 50fps+ all the time, was awesome :D

Originally Posted by Redbeaver
if i wrote that article, id give it 9/10 instead, JUST because it took so long to release. some may say its worth every second waiting, but not me. im not that patient. a few years to get a 6hr game that uses same graphic, same engine, similar story, to be released??? come on... whats the biggest obstacle? writing the story? ill buy that, its that good.
but no game this short is worth the amount of time waiting.

episode 3 better come in less than a year, or else Valve will be loosing many many players.

a few years? it's been 18 months. movies which last 2 hours take longer to produce than that (and more goes into a game, trust me)

i wish i had your job Joe, i really do.... (knocks back a box of paracetamol and washes it down with vodka)

Originally Posted by Fod
a few years? it's been 18 months. movies which last 2 hours take longer to produce than that (and more goes into a game, trust me)

yes but valve already have the engine

Its like making a movie when you have all the sets, the cameras, and the actors, you just gotta film it

Hmmm .. you mean just like a movie sequel? ;)

I have to say I've been looking forward to this one, all the ones in fact .. first ever game I played was HL2 .. blew me away .. I never knew it could be so fun, spent many hours at it .. I've found that I like the spookyness .. liked FEAR for the same reson

"Download Complete"
OK ... see you in a few days :D