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First Person Shooters (Games)

Journal MonTemplar's Journal: HL2 First Impressions 11

Journal by MonTemplar

I fired up Half-Life 2 last night and got stuck in for about three hours. First impression weren't brilliant - it took a while to load up, but I suspect that may have been it detecting my sound and video cards and adjusting settings. The opening screen, with the view across the square, made up for the wait. I was playing at 1024x768 (will have a go at 1280x1024 tonight to see how that fares) and the views are awesome!

Lots of familiar faces show up during the game - the G-Man, Barney, Dr Vance and his daughter Alyx - as well as a lot of the aliens from the original Half-Life, although some have changed a bit in the interim (talking Alien Slave!)

It's a long wait before you get to put on the HEV suit, and you have to run for it at one point, but once you get there it,s like a family reunion (complete with 'pet' headcrab to muck things up!)

The scripted stuff with the citizens and the Combine soldiers is pretty good, and really makes you want to press on and find out what the heck is going on in City 17.

I've managed to get to the point where you get to take the skimmer for a ride down the river - this is quite a departure from the original Half-Life, and takes a lot of getting used to, particularly where steering and braking are concerned.

Only downsides so far have been the long delays between levels, and occasional stuttering sound in some parts of the game. But overall, I'm really enjoying this game.

You'll probably not be surprised to learn that my ID on Steam is 'MonTemplar'... :)

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HL2 First Impressions More

HL2 First Impressions

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  • The river part goes on and on and on... everytime you get stuck somewhere, have to get out, fix things, and go back and travel on.

    I'm actually getting a bit turned off by it. I know its necessary to have a lot of action to get out of the city and to this group of scientists, but the plot is at a standstill for at least a few hours while you are travelling down the river....

    Hopefully things will pickup again tonight (I hope I'm at the end of the airboat section, at least).

    Oh, and those floating saws?
    • Oh, and those floating saws? Total pisser!

      Don't worry, they get much, much easier, comparatively as well as actually. I kinda was gonna play for about 10 min while the laundry was finishing up and then head to town. That was at 3pm. Next thing I know, it's 5:30am and I'm tired. Oops.

      I'm pretty far into the game, now making a run on the Citadel. I'd have to say the plot progresses nicely, with some big surprises.

      The main thing about the game is that it's long. Like, I could have played through Paink
    • Actually, I've found the river part to be great fun, especially where you do the various jumps, and when you're dodging missiles and mines. Also, it's satisfying to ride up banks and run over the Combine soldiers. :)

      You'll get a weapon for the boat just over halfway down the river section, which will help take out copters, tanks and soldiers along the way. Also, you'll spot the G-Man watching you a bit further on.

      Keep an eye out for open drain-pipes along the river - they usually lead to secret areas with
      • I musta missed G-Man... where'd you see him? Looks like we are in the same place. Ravenhome. Spooky, eh? Like haunted house spooky.

        Do you think that you 'lead' the combine into the black mesa east facility? That's why they got attacked?? I'm starting to wonder about that...
        • There was a stretch of the river with port warehouses on either side. There were two Combine goons on the bridge connecting the two sides, and the G-Man was on a balcony on the left side watching you take them out, then walking inside... this is from memory, mind you, so perhaps not authoritative.

          As for the the attack on Black Mesa East, I'm wondering if someone in there may be a mole for the Combine... ;)

          As for Ravenhome, have you tried using the gravity-gun on the sawblades to take out zombies? :)

          -MT.
          • YOU CAN PICKUP THE SAWBLADES!??!?!

            Ugh... I'm having fun and enjoying the game and missing out on EVEN MORE fun stuff! Sweeeeet.... I can't wait to cutup some zombies tonight!

            I had a ton of fun turning off the gas fire, attracting a buncha zombies into the area, turning on the gas, hit the electrical switch, and listen to them scream as they burn. Dropping the cars on their head was fun, too... but not as much as seeing them run around in flames :-D

            Any idea why the vortics (the electrical alien dudes
  • Only downsides so far have been the long delays between levels, and occasional stuttering sound in some parts of the game.

    What type of system do you have? Are you running the game with texture quality set to high?
  • Dr Vance and his daughter Alyx

    I really do not remember those two from the original Halflife. G-Man, sure... Barney, of course... Doctor Vance and his daughter: Nope.

    Would you mind refreshing my memory? I'm still playing HL1 on PlayStation2 (when I have time: read about 1 level every 2 weeks or so)

    Of course, if I buy Halflife I'll be jawtheshark on steam. (I'm jawtheshark everywhere, I don't think someone else uses that nick) I have a trademark on it ;-)


  • Definately one of the best games of this year, despite Doom 3 claiming that prize. Maybe Halo2 also comes close from an AI point of view, but HL2 is still much more impressive both technologically and gameplay wise.

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