Rating: 
Summary: Not just the graphics... the physics and AI
Review: Now, obvioiusly I havent played the game but I have had the privelage of watching the 2003 E3 video of it. It is THE most breathtaking game ever to be produced. You wonder why it took them 6 years to make it? You wont once it comes out. Physics: You can shoot a gurder bar hanging on top of a construction room and watch it come swooping down to crush multiple enemies, but wait.... one got back up.... but then the bar comes back down from the other side and takes him out again.
AWESOME!!! Graphics: The graphics are next to life-like, if they bring out an half-life 3 the graphics will be life like. The walls of buildings actually look like bricks. Grass actually looks like grass. And water, well the water is life like. Enemy AI: They are as smart or smarter than you. Say they chase you into a room in a house. You run in block the door with a table. Feel safe for a while right? WRONG.. the shoot the windows and come bursting through.... AMAZING! I cant say enough about this game. It will likely get game of the year and possibly best game ever made if it lives up to its video which it likely will.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I can not wait for the game to come out. I would give this game a 6 if i could. This is gotta be one of the best games of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Brace Yourself
Review: From What I Have Seen about this game, I am sure that this game is going to set a very high standard for all the upcoming first-person shooters. I really doubt that any games will match it. Yes, including Halo 2
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS, VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!
Review: The new half life requires an internet activation. Now dont panic, it's not that big of a deal. the makers of the game just dont want anybody using illegal copies. When you activate the game, a steam file will be sent to the makers saying that the half life is not fake. Then you can play your game without needing to use the internet again. Obviously you have internet, but warn the people who dont have internet that they are wasting their money since they cant make that single internet connection. The internet dosent have to be high speed or anything special eather. I totaly recomend this game and dont ever let the single internet activation change your mind.
Rating:
Summary: Best Game Ever
Review: This is single handedly the best FPS I've ever played. The graphics are insane. I played CS: Source for about 15 minutes and single player for about an hour, and I couldn't let go of the mouse. This game had me glued. The story line and gameplay as well as graphics and the occasional comic relief, all adds up to one great game. This is like no game I've ever played before. Can't wait for DoD: Source.
Rating:
Summary: Nasty
Review: I haven't got round to playing this game.
Install #1: Install got to the 4th CD and gave me a 'fatal error' which meant I had no option but to start the install process again from CD1.
Install #2: Install got the end of CD3 and it choked my CD drive; when it asked for the next CD the drive wouldn't open. Reboot...
Install #3: Got through the CD's, logged in to Steam (I have an old account from 18 months back when Valve released this control freak with CS 1.6). Unfortunately the login stalled and crashed everything and I was forced to reboot again. I then tried to run HL2 using the provided shortcut and I got a dead response. I looked in Task Manager to find Steam running surreptitiously in the background with a 13MB footprint. I then open TCP/IP view to find an established connection running.
So there you have it, this customer has got 2 hours of frustration and a pig on his HDD for his money.
Rating: 
Summary: A great physics engine does not a great game create
Review: Just got this game and put in a couple hours last night.
Excellent graphics, excellent physics, smooth gameplay. I particularly liked the realism of the other people and the "body" physics they use -- no more dead zombies falling into walls or laying horizontal on a slanted staircase, the interaction with the environment is perfect (just watch the way someone falls down a staircase...)
I had two problems, though:
1) Load times are too frequent. Maybe I'm spoiled by RPG's that offer huge, seamless worlds, but I was annoyed at having to pause what seemed like every 10 minutes for "Loading". If every RPG in the world can offer seamless loading of a huge environment, why can't HL2? I'd gladly sacrifice some graphics if it meant they could do away with pauses to load between areas.
2) Gameplay was way too predictable. Maybe I've just played too many FPS games, but HL2 was really formulaic. There's only 1 path to take, any other path is just a deadend with supply crates, it felt very arcadish (as opposed to immersively realistic). Like oh, the way is blocked! Well, good thing someone left a big ramp here, which I can't use because it's not at the right angle, but luckily someone left just the right number of floating blue containers here that I can use the jack it up to the correct angle to make the jump!
I mean come on, okay, you have a nice physics engine, we get it, you didn't have to set up a time consuming yet completely obvious puzzle just to demonstrate the fact. It was interesting in a "it's neat the physics engine can do this" sort of way, it was not interesting in a "this is a fun aspect of the game" sort of way.
I almost feel like I'm playing a demo moreso than a game. Like they set things up to say "look what our engine can do" rather than setting out to create an awesome level that's fun and immersive to play.
So here's my advice to Valve:
Stop letting your programmers do level design. Design levels that are fun and immersive and don't worry about whether or not every nuance of your physics engine is being demonstrated. That's pretty annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Dont believe what they say about Steam
Review: First let me say that you should not read any of the reviews that gave this game 1 star because of steam. Steam is an excellent idea; updates and patches download automatically, and you can play the game on any computer if you purchased it through Steam. Many people (like the person who wrote A two faced piece of garbage) gave this game 1 star because of Steam. In the case of "A two faced piece of garbage" it was because they have dialup. Many people had problems registering when HL2 first came out, but these issues have longe since been resolved. If you have a good internet connection then steam will not take "an HOUR to send information (just a username and password)". (By the way Metal Man, it helps when youre computer meets the system requirements on the box). And no, Steam does not "[boot] up for about 15 minutes every time you turn on your computer". Its a setting you IDIOT!! Uncheck the little box! Duh! And no, an Xbox version of this game is NOT coming out. This game on any console (consoles are aka wastes of money) would be horribly bad.
Now then, onto the game....
It is INCREDIBLE. The best FPS and probably the best game ever made to date. If I may quote the PCG review "it beats Doom 3 into the ground with its own flashlight". I dont think I can describe it any better. There is no aspect of this game that needs improvement. It is the closest thing to a perfect game I have ever seen. If you ever get bored of the single player and multiplayer (which also rocks) then there are MODS. Physics fun mods, singleplayer mods, multiplayer mods are all abundant on the internet. In a nutshell, this game is amazing so buy it NOW. As a final note to those who gave the game 1 star because of steam, DONT BASE YOU'RE GRADE OF THE GAME ON SOMTHING OTHER THAN THE GAME!
Rating:
Summary: A great game but not the best game of all time
Review: Okay...
so everyone has cracked open the wine and poored champaigne over themselves... the balloons are popping in the background... and hatfuls of confetti are being sprinkled in the air as we speak....
Does this sound like every review regarding Half Life 2...... ZZZZZP (Cassette pause!!!) Hold that thought, because Im a about to tell you... Half life 2 isnt the best game I've ever played.
Sure, its a great experience, with heaps of effects to delight all of the senses. Heck, they've even managed to put together a very atmospheric universe... There is certainly much to be impressed about.
But lets just stop for a second and look at what is wrong.
Firstly, its no rumour that STEAM (launching device for half life 2) is a Bast@rd of a program. It attaches to the lifeline of your computer like a trojan virus. It even manages to sneak in a few advertisements while its suspiciously working away... BROADBAND $25 a month... bahhhh what is this spyware..!?!. Folks, there is a reason why this program is called STEAM! Just have your extinguisher ready.
If your hoping to install this game in a few minutes... I can only laugh at what awaits you... Setup camp... because towards the end of the first hour of my installation conquest, I had to turn to God for salvation.... C'mon... please... C'monnnnnn!!!!!!!
So finally, the game starts booting... And with all the energy I'd put into it... I was hoping for a portal to open up. hehehe, the game begins.
So I hear that half life 2 had a budget of over $40 million.
The game begins much like the original. Stepping off a train Im immediately greeted by a world straight out of Total Recall... COOOOOL! If you love your futuristic depictions... Half life 2 is a fantastic addition.
As I move through the sequences, Im constantly driven by a need to know what is around the next corner. I got so caught up in the whole atmosphere, I started throwing bottles at the soldiers... to which they replied "Step BAck now!!!"
By all means this game is great!
However, As I proceeded through the levels, I beagan to notice a pattern. Have we really come along way in Half Life 2? It feels much the same as the original. Sure it has a storyline... but sometimes I felt like I was running after a train, running a very linear line. It DOES have a more advanced physics engine that DOES allow you to interact with the environment... but often these interactions still dont go beyond picking up, bashing\shooting or moving.
Two hours into the game, Im well entertained, but in the back of my mind, Ive grown tiresome of moving through dark rooms, bashing planks of wood and sniping off law enforcers. Its just alley way after alley way...door to door, tunnel to tunnel...?.??... Health pack... and move on.
And then we have the Multiplayer... which is non existent.
In the end... half life 2 feels like nothing more than a new generation FPS, with a few more inevitable technological advances.
Is it the best game Ive ever played... Is it another break through in pc gaming.... no its not. $40 millin dollar budget... I expect much more... a more immersive world (how many civilians do we come across?), with character development, and a more expansive plotline (sick of this go and find Mr.X business????). There are times when HL 2, for a short moment, comes close to this vision I speak of e.g. when the soldiers are raiding a room as I pass through a building. But that experience quickly falls flat on its face when I realise its purely scripted, and I cant change its fate.
In all honesty, I think HL2's immersive atmosphere isnt too far ahead of FAR CRY's. Its character development is inferior to Deus Ex. Technically, CAll of Duty has a smoother multiplayer experience, and Fallout 2 (made 10 years ago) had more freedom.
Rating:
Summary: Best Game
Review: Saying this game is great or fantastic or anything that is complimenting is an understatement. The developers sure took a lot of care in making sure this game lived up to expectations. It certainly exceeded them. Finding "useful" items aren't a chore and the means to get them are certainly intuitive and make sense throughout the game. In other words, things aren't just spread out for you to just pick up...there are reasons why things are where they are. It's up to you the player to figure out why and put them to good use. If you have a powerful enough PC to play Half Life 2, then you'll benefit by enjoying the beautiful graphics at it's fullest potential and at the speed it was meant to be played. If you're even luckier enough to play this in wide-screen or even through a projector, you will certainly be fully immersed in this game and it'll become an experience you hope never ends.
|
