Half Life 2
 

Post your initial thoughts on Half Life 2.
I've been playing the game for around 2.5 hours and I'm really enjoying it. The pace of the game is great. The use of the physics engine in the puzzles is innovative. I really think the game has managed to stay true to the original as well as bringing in lots of new and fun gameplay elements. The graphics are also amazing . I recommend you get this game.

I've got about an hours worth of play time into it, and so far I am absolutly loving it. :)
Facial expressions are somthing that has never been done this well, and what I've seen of the story has great potential.

I cant give it a rating yet since I havnt played it long enough but I'm sure it'll be up there in the 9's.

Destrox, the facial animation is what impressed me too. The other people in the game also seem to have a certain mass to them, they look like they have weight. I havent got far, in fact, I havent got anywhere lol

Steam will apparently "notify (me) as soon as the transaction is complete". This annoys me. Was anyone else waiting a while before they could actually play? If so how long?

I had to wait for the files to unlock, but I have had a steam account for a long time with the files preloaded. I would give them a little while, I am sure there servers are being bombarded right now.

Well I've played for almost 2 1/2 hours. The game ROCKS!!!! I got goosebumps when I stepped into the HEV suit and the Valve theme started pump through my speakers. The only problem I can complain about (and it probably has more to do with my slowish processor) is the load time between maps.

The Facial animation is definitely the best.

Best line so far in the game is Dr. Kleiner. "Well Gordon, I see your Hazardous Environment suit still fits you like a glove....at least the glove part that is!" :D Fuckin' Hilarious!

I am at work right now and on the way I just picked up the game and a new hard disk to install it onto. I now have to wait until I get home in 10 hours to install the disk and the game. Let's also factor in that I have only an hour window from when I get home to install the disk and the game and play for a bit until my lady goes to sleep. This sucks. To quote the King of Town: "My life is a joke..."

-Ali

I can't believe this is finally out. I need to cash in that free copy that came with my vid card. I'll get the game but I probably won't play it for several months. San Andreas is my #1 gaming priority right now.

im wondering if i got all the stuff in my box... it contained 5 cds and two little paper cards. is that it?

Now I know they were reducing the amount of things in game boxes, but not even a manual? Sheesh!

Played it for almost 4 hours (west coast USA, midnight to 4am). I'm paying the price this morning but it was worth it.

This game defines the term "cinematic" as it applies to games; the environment is beautiful and oppressive, and the sense of tension is not derived from some silly expositional cut scene where the situation is laid out. You're just dropped into the world and left to discover what is going on. And there are things to play with right off the bat! Try picking up bottles and cans off the ground and throwing them at a random NPC, or better yet a guard. The results are much as you'd expect in real life...

The visuals are fantastic. This isn't a game world where every surface has a shiny metallic sheen just because they can; the city itself is beautiful, but things look realistically grungy and worn and there is trash everywhere. That said, the water is to die for in terms of hi-tech bling, while looking quite realistic.

The character models and facial animations are a few steps above anything I've ever seen in a game. And the dialogue fits wonderfully, whether it's the hopeless mumblings of the oppressed populace or the wry humor of your old friends from Black Mesa. There are some neat references to the original game, but nothing that will be particularly missed if you never played it.

The gameplay is interesting and the pace varied, and the puzzles do not seem especially contrived in the context of the action (although it's clear that many of them were constructed with showing off the physics engine in mind). You need to get somewhere, there's an obstacle, here's a way to get past it. And some of the more elaborate contraptions that help you on your way are consistent with the situation, with an underground resistance movement planning escape routes and such.

Anyway I didn't mean to write an essay on the subject, I just felt the need to gush a bit. Short version: this is a great game, it raises the bar for PC games in many areas, and the development problems and the extra year's wait don't seem important any more now that I've seen the result. I can't wait to play some more.

edit: Yay I'm tilted now! No more rookie for me!

yeah seriously, no manual.. just a "quick reference card" :|

Holy Mother Of God!!!!!! I have never really thought a game looked beautiful but I have seen the light. When I played Doom 3 I thought the graphics looked outstanding but this is a whole new ballpark. I thought maybe about getting this game a little later but I am so glad I did. This game makes Doom 3 look like Lode Runner. The Valve people should be very proud of themselves.

omfg! this whole steam bs is so fucking annoying!!!!!!!!>?!@#!@!@#!

its paused up on me while creating an account... then it locks up when i was validating my cd key... wtf!

man! now "unlocking steam files".. longest most boring process to play an fn game.. wtf

This game is pretty impressive, especially like everyone is saying, the facial animations in particular.

After about an hour or so I have to say that I don't think it's all that amazing like the hype said it'd be but it's still very very good. Inevitably people will start saying it's better than Doom 3, they're different types of FPS games but I think that Doom 3 is better, that is, I enjoyed Doom 3 more in the first hour of play than I did HL2. Nevertheless I can't wait to get back home to go crazy on this one!

so whats the story on number 2?
is he working for gman which i would think so considering the other option at the end of game 1?
im looking for like the booklet with the game story not plot
or do they have it on their site?

This game owns. I got about 2, 2.5 hours into it this morning... Absolutely incredible.

To everyone complaining about Steam, I feel you. Excellent idea, but still needs some more work. A hell of a lot better than it was when it was first introduced, though.

There's really nothing that explains things like that, and that's one of the reasons I like this game so much. There's a brief "dream sequence" type thing (or is it real?) with the Gman indicating it's time to go back to work, then you're on a train arriving at the first main location of the game, City 17. That's it, the rest is up to you to figure out as you go along. You kill monsters of course, and there are bad guys with guns, but it's not always clear who is working for who or what the Gman's motivations might be for placing you in the middle of it again (if he is in fact responsible).

Freak! I've been waiting forever to play it, and when I FINALY get it installed, Steam gives me some crap about "Failed to find Master AuthenticationServer"

Just let me play the freaking game!

This is absolute bullshit!!!! I can't even log on to Steam. I've had this game preordered for it seems like almost a year with that deal that came with my 9600xt. I've waited through all the bullshit delays, push backs, and pre-installs, and now that the game is actually released, I can't even fucking get to it. I know my steam account works, I just played Counter Strike Source last night. Somebody's head is going to roll!!!

"Updating Half life 2.....Ready to play in aproximately: 618 minutes...617 minutes...616 minutes..."

You've got to be fucking kidding me. Steam is a bad joke. My connection is blazing fast and this is just about unforgiveable. Fuck this game if this is the only way to play it.

Holey fuck...I went out and bought the fucking CD and I still have to wait for a fucking hour or play this fucking game?

fuckfuckfuck

Yeah, I feel your pain the_marq,

I just got the game from EB and it's taking forever to "unlock" the game files. Honestly, wtf is wrong with these people? I paid $60 for this damn game, now let me play it!

yeah, that whole creat account, validate cd-key, unlocking, then updating bs really pissed me off.. i just wanted to install and play bu the wait is worth it! the gravity gun is freaking amazing esp. in that forbidden city place.. cutting those things in half is so fun.

If anyone gets error 1334 there is a known error in the standard edition. If you try to install the game and choose not to install counter strike the installation will crash.

So, install counter strike and half life 2 and then uninstall counter strike after the installation is complete.


I tried to install the game twice and got to disc 4 both times before it crashed on me. I went to the sierra website and found the answer. There's a hour of my life I'll never get back.

Here are some other problems they know about. Sierra Support

Bought it, installed it, couldn't register because apparently they are to busy to process that action :p so it is unlocking the files now..never ever had to go through this much to play one game.

A few things to love:
1. I too have to say facial expressions. (Does anyone else see a resemblence in barney looking like Matthew Broderick?)
2. The Combine pushing you around...then later seeing thier blood splatter all over walls when you waste 'em.
3. The V-aliens voices
4. The Gravity Gun
5. It's completely different from Half-life 1. HL1 felt more like the trypical FPS. very little dialogue etc. This game has a personality...you feel more like a person in the game...less like a man with a floating weapon.
6. all the little things including the birds :).

Things to hate:
1. That you have to be online to play (effing steam servers get too loaded)
2. Long Load times and jerky movement for about 2 seconds after

So far i give it a 9.3...it'll probibly be a 10 once i get some sort of shotgun :).

P.S. does anyone know how to get out of the gravity room playground with alex and dog? Is there something special i have to do?

Spoiler: You have to play catch with the robot for a little while untill Alex says "Ok dog thats enough, try throwing somthing heavier" then somthing *special* happens and you leave that area.



Oh and to all of you complaining about waiting for file checking, and slow waiting and such...

ITS WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats weird that everyone is having these problems unlocking it. I unlocked it this morning at about 9 a.m. Mountain time and it unlocked just fine in like 2 minutes. And i downloaded the game off of steam yesterday at 1MB/s and I am just on a 1.5Mbs DSL line. I think Steam rocks.

Anyone else think the airboat levels took too long to finish?
After the first small bit I was ready for it to end... but it kept going forever.

I heard that the unlocking of files, the problems with registration, etc. were all part of the security regime for Valve. A little late to jump on the security bandwagon aint it fellas? Live and learn, I guess.

Yup! My friend picked up the Collectors Edition today and told me that at least the DVD came in a Jewel case and not the little paper condoms. The big beef though about the Collectors edition he had was that the "Strategy Guide" was just a mini teaser to both Raising the Bar and the actual Strategy guide.

Oh well. Glad I just paid for the Silver edition.

Yeah the airboat was cool but definitely a bit longer that it probably needed to be. But at the same time I gotta ask....Whenever you hit a big ass jump and got some serious air did you ever find ourself shouting out the General Lee's horn?

Right now Ravenholm is kickin my ass. Freakin zombies from all sides. Sheesh. Some seriously creepy moments though.

It's an amazing game, but I'm currently having a audio stuttering problem that's pretty much ruining it. A lot of people are having the same problem though, so hopefully they fix it soon.

Other than that, simply amazing.

Three words: OH MY GOD

Hopefully they get the Steam stuff straightened out. I had no trouble, although I entered my ATI coupon code months ago, and I kept up with all the preloading stuff. It took about 10 minutes to authenticate the files and I was rockin'.

You have to hand it to Valve... they're 2 for 2. HL1 was revolutionary and HL2 makes a similar leap. I'm only about 30 minutes in, but I'm already blown away.

I'm up to Section 5's gates being closed while I'm in that Fan-Boat... I'm actually incredibly bored by the game... mainly due to the fact that I have no idea what's going on nor where the heck Gordon is going. It just feels bland.

I'll keep on trucking though...

So far I think this game is great. Really my only complaint so far is how often it has to load between level-sections... I would rather it happen less often and have longer load times (à la Doom3) than happening as frequently as it does. It wouldn't bother me as much if it didn't happen during suspensful scenes too... Like at the start when you're running from the police guys or several times during the airboat sequence. I'm like "Weeee this is aweso... oh ffs LOADING NOW??"

But otherwise it is kicking my ass sideways for fun!

Wait a second . . . So you're telling me I have to be "logged in" whenever I want to play a single-player game. You're kidding me, huh?

It put me on "unlock hold" for hours. Very obnoxious. Why are we complicating the simple?

What amazes me, as many others have said, is how great the game looks. And I have a Radeon 9600. Luckily I had no unlock issues, I did it around 8am EST the day it came out.The gameplay has been fun and fast paced, time for more.

Well, now that Steam seems to be working for me, and I've had a chance to play, I'm really impressed by this game. The level design and amount of environment interaction is amazing and unprecedented. Also, being left in the dark as to what exactly is happening ads a huge amount of realism to the game. Most games that attempt to do this end up bungling it badly and just leave you in mass confusion. Everything about this game is groundbreaking. Nothing I've played before can hold a candle to it.

I'd have to agree with the good Doctor.

The game is awesome, it plays quite well on my PC, even tho I just barely hit the recommended specs (I'll have to upgrade my RAM soon). I have not gotten too far in the game yet, still in the Kanals trying to get away from the guys in the Stile gas masks.

Even tho I like the game it will still be difficult to convince me to buy anything from Valve again. This Steam thing is utter BS.

**First, Steam is spyware. All I want is the single player game, why do I have to be online to play? Why does Steam have to update my files when the game is only a few hours old? What other information are they gathering from my computer?

**Second, Steam is slow and annoying. I bought the CD's so I could get up and running quickly, I expected that downloading the game on release day would be problematic. Why then did it take me over 2 hours to install the damn thing?

If you are insterested in a laugh go have a look over at the planethalflife.com forums, the death to Steam posts here (like mine) are tame compared to what's over there. Valve really fucked up this release, after delaying it for months on end and then totally screwing people when the tried to activate it, I have to wonder how much of an impact this will have on their bottom line. Then again maybe the fanboys like myself will be so enamoured by the game we'll forget how much Valve pissed us off.

----Steam is Spyware-----

Got the Collector's Edition today, no problems with Steam luckily. Nice T-shirt.

Only up to the airboat - I'm taking my time. I spent a LONG time replaying the train station with graphics maxed out (got a little bit choppy but well worth it for just wandering around in the non-action opening sequences). The early sense of dystopia and deep immersion is mind-boggling; great fun before the real action begins. I don't know what kind of skills it would take to create such beautiful maps from scratch, but I'd love to see some RPG type mods along with all of the action stuff that'll surely come along.

And I loved harassing those metro cops. "What's that officer? You want me to pick up the can and throw it at your face". :D

i disagree with the RPG aspect...i think that there is just enough. it's in perfect equilibrium...we wouldn't want another deus ex...as fun as it was, it was kind of annoying, and i'm glad that they threw in all the little things instead of making Gordon a moddable character.

(spoiler maybe but...) The Gravity gun playground, i did it right the first time, i guess there was just a glitch and it wouldn't let me out so i just started from a previous save. Speaking of which, is it me or does it make like 80 save game files for you?

I've got a AMD XP 2000 processor (1.6 Ghz) and 1 gig of ram and I notice audio stuttering only at the beginning of a new level loading.

What speed is your processor? How much memory do you have?

The fan-boat episode is long and difficult but not boring. Infact it's very intense. Hint: when the action stops and you're no longer being chased that's a clue to get out of the boat and look around for items or a way to get out. You'll have some obsticles to deal with.

The best part about facial expressions was Alyx and Dr. Mossman arguing and then Alyx talking shit later about her behind her back to Gordon. Two girls acting like girls do in a fps!! :lol:

im stuck in sand trap! how do i get past that big antlion and what is that big pump? you turn on for? please help!

and yeah... they vehicle levels are a bit long. after the third airboat level i seriously started thinking to myself if i was playing hl2 or waverace. :confused: :crazy:

destroying the flying things in the "waverace" level is the worth the length...taking damage from falling debris is as cool as it is annoying...realistic as crap. I'm in the middle, maybe towards the end of ravenholm...those poisonous spider things suck lol...I love the fast running zombies...scarey as resident evil shit. I have to give it a 10 at this point...i don't think i've ever had this much fun with an FPS...usually by this point i get bored, put on god mode and run through it just to see how it ends. But i'm sticking this one out!

How do you get the gates to open on the airboat level? I see the blasted shorted switch, but I can't figure out what to do next.

Once the files are all unlocked and your key has been registered steam will still load and try to connect, but you can play the game without needing a internet conection.

i didn't realize you could make a desktop icon...muhbad

Look to your right and you'll see a few flammable barrels and what appears to be several large beams bundled together hanging from a very long cable. I'll let you figure it out from there :thumbsup:

The antlions are afraid of the big pump. The easiest way of getting past the big antlion is to run to the end of that area, were a friend is waiting on top of a barricade with a machine gun.

I just finished the game, and dont worry, no spoilers from me.

Let me just say, I have never completed a game all the way thru, simply because i get frustrated and bored. HL2 kept me on my toes from start to end, superb game, frustrating at times, but very entertaining.

I just beat it this morning too. One of the greatest games I've ever played.

Just finished it. Without a doubt, the best game Ive ever played. Amazing.

I'm gonna have to wait till they fix the damn sound / graphics stutter before I can beat it or even play it.

this game is simply awesome, it has nice puzzles that made tickle my brain, but I am frustrated of the fact that I am not enjoying it at full because of my suck-ass video card. I need to upgrade it.

Oh my God!!!! I just got to the dunebuggy part and that might just be a dealbreaker!! Holy Shit this is terrible!!! Its infuriating to say the least!! The novelty of the graphics are starting to wear a little thin in light of the annoying loading and delay they cause. Thats get real old, real quick. Sorry, just had to vent.

um, the load times aren't bad for me at all. The dune buggy is very fun too. The novety of the graphics has not worn down on me at all. I still feel a sense of awe everytime I load the game up. And it never gets boring unlike other games (*cough*doom3 and farcry*cough*). Best FPS ever made.

I'm really liking this game so far...the graphics remind me of Myst they are so photorealistic. The details are insane. The landscapes are post-apocalyptic, minimalist masterpieces. You could have fun just wandering around the levels, with no bad guys. The offbeat details are a big part of what makes this game so interesting in my opinion: an empty refrigerator, a bicycle leaning against the wall, a sofa chair sitting next to consoles, overturned semi-trucks, half-capsized ships, just endless intriguing detail and atmosphere. Water rendering is phenomenal, if not the best Ive ever seen. When you're in the water, and you shoot a dead guy next to you in the water, the ragdoll effects are hilarious and well done.

Explosions (grenade, fuel barrel) are done better than in any other game Ive ever played. So organic and realistic. Weapons models are excellent. I agree that the facial modeling and expressions are the best ever done in a PC game. The level designs so far are just unbelievable. I'm enjoying the quiet, solitary, Omega-Man feel to the levels. Not sure where in the game I am; I have the armed AirBoat and just jumped through the opening in the damn into the Black Mesa complex.

I'm on an Athlon XP2000+, 1GB Ram, Radeon 9800Pro, no problems at all. Frame rates are fine. Dislikes are Steam...wtf is Steam?? Why do I have to sign up for an account and give out my email address to play a game?? Why is Steam running in my taskbar? I hate Steam. And the load times are really long.

A really, really, really, really, really, really cool game. :thumbsup:

i beat it last night and love it, another cliffhanger setting up for HL 3, the physics are great, the facial expressions are astounding, the visuals are stunning.

wow

9.9/10

An amazing engine by Valve. The game itself is rather dull, but worth playing for the eye candy. The cities remind me of Fallout.

CounterStrike runs nice and smooth now, nothing new though, played it for a few hours and got bored.

Can't wait to see what other companies will do with this engine it has amazing potential.

I seriously was giddy with excitement at the sheer awesomeness of this game

Best game I have played... ever... in my entire life.

ive spent more time throwing things at other things than actualy playing the game so far.

weeeeeee *throws book at box*

Hah, I just finished playing it at my friends for hours each taking turns at the controls. Never had so much fun just throwing crap at people in a game ever. Half the time we were just going around trying to think off different things to throw. Damn fun game that's for sure.

HOLY SHIT ITS OUT ITS OUT FINALLY O GOD I LOVE YOU ALSO -=SHIKAMARU=- WHY DIDNT YOU HEAR OF THIS EARLIER YOU ARE A F'ING TARD FOR NOT BUYING THIS THE DAY IT CAME OUT!!!

Highly recommended. It's been awhile since I've been this excited to come home and play a game. Definitely worth the money. The most surprising thing is how smooth it runs. I've got:

AMD Athlon 2600+ (runs at about 1500Mhz)
512 MB Ram
ATI Radeon 9200

All settings are on medium and I've even nudged some up higher and it runs as smooth and clear as a bell. Hope that's helpful for any of you who are afraid of the Farcry/Doom 3 spec requirements.

I think the crossbow bolts pinning people to walls is a little perverted.

Actually, that sounds pretty fucking awesome to me.


Why must I be a poor college student who can't afford to play this game because of lack of money and abundance of coursework?

*curses the gods*

Its really good, I loved the game!! *Remembers the old time with HL..lol*