well, episode one, personally i was happy with, but it had some, goofs in the game. but over all it was good, this one from what I've hear (ep 2) looks to be well worth the wait... Half life Story is one of my faviort, and always will. We'll see if the ep2 is worth the wait, throwing team fortress and portal, in with it really helps with that oen year wait. but gotta give them credit, there pretty much pumping out top notch (but fairly short) games, well 3 this time.. in less then a year. and who dosn't play a half life game a billion times the first month they own it.
Originally Posted by completemadness 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
they did a LOT of work to the source engine for ep2 - the new lighting, physics, multithreading (this is a PAIN, ask any dev - myself included), and efficiency stuff. so that's not really fair to say.
besides, you will no believe how much work goes into the 'game' part of a game. i had a glimpse into the games industry while looking for a job this summer - the amount of work that goes into turning a tech demo or clunkily scripted encounter into a playable experience that players will enjoy is immense. When i try to appreciate just how much work Valve must have put in to make ep2 such a tightly coordinated and cinematic experience, my head hurts.
you people seem to think that making a game is easy...
I have to say that until I played it I was of the same "have engine, shouldn't take so long" way of thinking. Afterwards though, I can see that it was worth the delay. There's so many little things in there which are just right and Valve have clearly paid attention to what gamers liked from HL2. Ep1 was ok, but this is far far better and, in my opinion, better than HL2 the original.
Also, you can argue that the engine tweaks weren't needed but, when you examine the content it's clear that they needed to make open spaces and gloriously cinematic physics in order to portray battles of the scope they wanted to do. Bear in mind all this will roll forward with the rest of the engine too (i just wish it rolled back though). They've also added in more extensive commentaries which take a while to record, as well as a whole load of new achievements and the like on multiple platforms.
It left me tired, panting and lusting for more at the end. I agree with the bad handling on the car, the rest of the physics is so amazing, but the car lets it down. But oh my god, the motion blur,full details, my eyes were tearing it was so beautiful. I do miss the kind of Doom 3-esque zombie you can't see anything outside of your flashlight tunnel battle though. I loved the Russian silo theme, very badass. Also gives it a nice place to base it all, makes it seem a bit closer to reality even though it is a game. But overall, AMAZING game, if you're reading this and haven't bought it yet, WTF I MEAN WTF BUY IT
You hit the nail right on the head - EP2 is a defnite 10 and the other two are extremely close but leave you wanting just that extra bit more. Great reviews!
The orange box is the best buy I've ever seen tbh - three new games, with strong singleplayer map creation possibilities and multiplayer followings, as well as two of the last years best games ever all for thirty quid or less. Not half bad.
I get annoyed at people whining because they don't "think we should be paying for games we already own". What they don't get is that we aren't paying for them. They are freebies. Very clever freebies. If you think about it. If someone has played half life 2 and episode 1 they probably already have episode 2, so no worries, and they get to give away some games. The people that don't have episode 1 might be persuaded into buying episode 2 if they get ep 1 for free. The people that have neither will probably not have steam and so be introduced to it for the first time. Thus opening up the opportunity to buy all the other games available. I think they could have done more to put that across and shut the whiners up though but I bet they got some money of all the other developers on steam, or at least a big cake...
Annoying end, an old man with 1 leg can stand up, turn around and wack that bug thing with a metal pole, yet I'm floating there twiddling my thumbs? was great apart from that :)
its very very good but still too short it only took me 4hrs on medium dificulty. The plot twist with one leg dude revealing he too has had contact with the GMAN almost made me fall off my chair. I was not expecting that and it was so well done
To some of the people with spoiler tags above me do you seriously not know the names of the things you are talking about or are you just trying to make it less clear for people that haven't played it, but still read your post?
I also don't understand why you don't just put the difficulty up to hard before you play it through when you already know that itâs going to be pretty short. I like doing this with most games, because the game is always more fun the first time you play it through and often playing it through later on hard doesn't seem much harder because you already know where the hidden stuff is.
Originally Posted by LeMaltor I honestly do not know the names, the bloke with 1 leg is Alyx's dad etc but basically I know Gordon Freeman, Alyx and Dog rofl :D
:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
You make me so angry and sad. A team of hundreds of people work on a game like HL2 for years, crafting story and plot and manipulating and tweaking gameplay mechanic and you can't even remember the name of the main characters from a series which is in it's third/fourth installment depending how you count it?
Originally Posted by CardJoe :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
You make me so angry and sad. A team of hundreds of people work on a game like HL2 for years, crafting story and plot and manipulating and tweaking gameplay mechanic and you can't even remember the name of the main characters from a series which is in it's third/fourth installment depending how you count it?
To actually come up with a concept? Yeah, probably a week or two. To write all the dialogue and work with the art and sound and design departments to carry that idea through from a single concept through into a fluidly told story with great gameplay but very stringent design rules (no speaking, taking control of character, 3rd part cutscenes)? Takes a lot longer.
Comments 26 to 50 of 59
Replythey did a LOT of work to the source engine for ep2 - the new lighting, physics, multithreading (this is a PAIN, ask any dev - myself included), and efficiency stuff. so that's not really fair to say.
besides, you will no believe how much work goes into the 'game' part of a game. i had a glimpse into the games industry while looking for a job this summer - the amount of work that goes into turning a tech demo or clunkily scripted encounter into a playable experience that players will enjoy is immense. When i try to appreciate just how much work Valve must have put in to make ep2 such a tightly coordinated and cinematic experience, my head hurts.
you people seem to think that making a game is easy...
Also, you can argue that the engine tweaks weren't needed but, when you examine the content it's clear that they needed to make open spaces and gloriously cinematic physics in order to portray battles of the scope they wanted to do. Bear in mind all this will roll forward with the rest of the engine too (i just wish it rolled back though). They've also added in more extensive commentaries which take a while to record, as well as a whole load of new achievements and the like on multiple platforms.
this is why you should preload :p
i got up on the 9th, restarted steam and started playing about 10 minutes later, smoothest major steam release i've ever experienced
use spoiler tags people!
Absolutely brilliant so far! I've been playing it in two hour stints pretty much all day and each time I come away I feel a sense of achievement.
I also don't understand why you don't just put the difficulty up to hard before you play it through when you already know that itâs going to be pretty short. I like doing this with most games, because the game is always more fun the first time you play it through and often playing it through later on hard doesn't seem much harder because you already know where the hidden stuff is.
:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
You make me so angry and sad. A team of hundreds of people work on a game like HL2 for years, crafting story and plot and manipulating and tweaking gameplay mechanic and you can't even remember the name of the main characters from a series which is in it's third/fourth installment depending how you count it?
:(
Have a cup of lol.
Grrrr ;)
Years to write the story? More like a week or two
Honest.
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