Gaming Ten Years On: Half Life 2

I've never played Half Life 2 and vaguely remember playing some HL1 when i was at a school...granted it was on team death-match though!

However I have all the HL games on my steam account...not sure if they were free or not?

For me HL in general didn't provide what i was after at the time. Back in those days i was into my hard core FPS's. R6 Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon and Operation Flashpoint.

 

The first of only 3 games that have managed to hold my rapt interest .. Sad that they have not continued the story as they said they would.

 

As this article so wonderfully conveys HL2 was, and still is, a game of near perfection.

As has been said by so many before, on so many occasions, Valve should close out the HL2 storyline once and for all.

Either complete the experience in gaming terms, or release a novel, graphic novel, audio play... or plot outline scribbled on the back of a napkin. It's a story and stories have arcs - this story has no ending.

The 'We really can't be arsed to work on this and watching you squirm is right funny' approach from Valve became stale a long long time ago.

It feels like Valve is refusing to close out HL just to keep a meme alive.

 

I know some of the purists will hate on me for this, but mod it upto the latest Cinematic version and it looks breathtaking, I'm currently playing through it:







...runs to bunker awaiting the incoming hate

 

Oh no, the article mentioned HL3. I can feel the Valve hate rising again..

Back on topic - I frikkin love HL2 and the episodic additions. I still play through them once in a while (including The Lost Coast).

 

Not at all, you are just taking one of (if not the best) FPS ever made and making it better. I see no downside to that!

I adore HL2 (and HL1 / Black Mesa for that matter). Such epic games that hold up easily against anything released today.

EDIT: I want HL3 now..... like right now.... NOW.... FFS NOW VALVE NOW!

 

People still wait for HL3? I've convinced myself based on absolutely no facts whatsoever that it will never be released.
Why? Valve knows nothing short of the best game ever by a long shot will have any chance of matching expectations.

 

Yeah, I've given up on the idea of HL3. And you know what, I'm totally fine with that. HL1 and HL2 are two of the best games (for their time) ever, so I'd actually rather leave it there than end up with Valve feeling that they have to release something just to satisfy the sense of entitlement that some gamers seem to have when it comes to this series.

 

I whole heartedly agree. While it would be nice to have some closure to the story, they're not obligated to produce anything. If anything, it might even go down like Duke Nukem Forever; an anachronism from a different time when FSP's were a different beast altogether, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth akin to meeting a childhood hero whom you realise is an utter arse.

 

I've been meaning to play through with cinematic mod.
I would keep the character models the same (The new models look like crap, always)
I'm also hoping there's a way to choose a few other options. I've seen a version where lots of trees were added to the coast levels, but they make no sense since they are in the flood plain of low and high tide. It's like the people making the mod have no idea what's happening in the setting.

On HL3.

It's going to come. I have some long theories as for why the delay is so long. I'll try the brief version here.

1) Episodic releases were a bust. Strategy was changed.
2) Portal was placed in the HL universe as a way to ground it in what players already knew, but then became a crazy, unexpected twist. It's likely the story of HL3 was adapted to better integrate Portal's new canon.
3) Portal was a hit, so Portal 2 was made to bridge the story gap between the HL and Portal Games.
4) F-Stop Happened (and no I don't think the P2 gels are what F-stop is/was)
5) Video games shifted from hand/procedurally animated to motion capture. Valve has traditionally had live-rendered cutscenes where you can still move around and characters look at you. This is hard to do with motion capture, but I think they are still committed to both.
6) Source Engine 2 is/has been in development. HL2 was premier Source Engine game. Would make sense that HL3 would be premier Source Engine 2 game.
7) Valve has become much more than just a game company. The sad truth is that making another HL game is probably not high on their list of things that will make them the most money.

So . . . yeah. I'm pretty sure it will happen, and I do think it's in active development. There's enough evidence to that point, and it's their flagship game, so I think we'll see another HL game soonish.

 

I thought Halflife was interesting and unique because of how cinematic it was, but as a shooter I felt like it dragged on nearer end. I remember having more fun with some star wars shooters at the time. I thought Halflife 2 was a bit mediocre. I liked the physics bits but the rest seemed par for the course. I also played the episodes and I liked one of those more than HL2 itself.

I can't imagine making a revolutionary corridor shooter these days, it is just an oxymoron. Especially when games like Arma let you fly around in choppers transporting tanks on a battlefield the size of a country etc. or Planetside 2 has huge multiplayer battles etc.. I would only be interested in playing a single player campaign shooter if it totally revolutionised shooting and combat.

 

Loved Half Life, that's where I got my nick name so long ago when I used to play it online, and Half life 2 was just amazing it just drew you in and you didn't want it to end. Love Skyrim too played it through several times.

 

crackin` it is definitely one of my most treasured gaming moments which makes the lack of completion to the series so disappointing. It really should have had the closure after so many people invested so much into it, all we can hope of is something quite exceptional with a steam box and oculus. Still, very dis-heartening there hasnt been a sniff about the end to the series.

 

I agree with you. I found the atmosphere constructed in HL2 at times effective, but somehow also remote from the player. At times I found the game lacked flow. There were these annoying parts, which saw one only able to progress after crawling under / around / over some poxy part of the scenery. I found these sequences somewhat interrupted the game play and built frustration. The stream and stupidity of the enemies sometimes bordered parody, and I felt this did not square with the circumstances that we were being asked to believe for the game's immersive qualities to operate. I really did try to like HL2, but in the end realized that my time was better spent doing other things.

 

The first FPS I played on PC that gripped me completely, Episode 2 is something else too. CSS pulled me in for a very long time afterwards too.

I'd love a sequel, but it'd have to be very, very good to come close to the masterpiece that is HL2.

 

Trying to run CM again, but it's just not working for me. Start a new game at point insertion, loading bar gets up to full and then CTD with no messages.

I'm not really sold on CM though, some of the graphical improvements look quite good, but pretty much all of the character models just look wrong to me, too far from the originals. Plsu the fact that I've never found it to be very stable, CM7, CM11 and CM2013 now have all had issues whenever I've tried them.

 

If you happen to have a Rift, check out the SteamVR enabled HL2. There are so many little touches I missed the first time that become clear. For example, during the airboat chase with the helicopter, at one point you are about to drive through a series of loosely connected concrete tubes with the helicopter flying ahead of you. As the helicopter passes over the tubes, the gaps between them send little sheet-plumes of dust down into the tubes you're driving through, all positioned volumetrically rather than just as screen-space effects.

 

SENSE.OF.PLACE.

 

HL3 can take as long as it wants, if it never come out so be it. Valve don't rush or pander to their customers, why do they remain loyal? Because everything they release is of excellent quality and not purely made to dazzle you, take your money rinse/repeat.