They're not bad.
The games are pretty. They have the best water I've seen in any video game. I wish they'd found a way to put in Lost Coast.
The introduction to the world was compelling. I love the premise of Earth under Orwellian occupation by aliens. And for me it was a good surprise because I thought humanity won HL1. The scanner drones in civilian areas were cool. Being photographed just for existing in public and having the screen go an unpleasant #FFFFFF was a great piece of immersive world detail, but they should have had the sense not to put them in fights amongst other enemies.
Unfortunately I was soon aggravated by the fact that you immediately leave this setting and go do what we spent HL1 doing: fighting the same enemies in drab industrial environments. Maybe it's my fault for not waiting years between instalments. There are good refreshing new locations — particularly the citadel, the abandoned villages, Ravenholm, the beach.
HL2 has even less enemy variety than HL1. Most of them are variations on Zombies, Headcrabs, and dude in uniform. There's no reason they couldn't have had more variety. Most of the time you will be fighting the same two guys with guns. Déjà vu.
HL2 enemies pretty much only have mêlée or hitscan attacks, meaning that the strategy is usually to look at an enemy and m1.
The stand-out enemies are:
The stand-out enemy in HL1 was the Vortigaunt, which had well telegraphed ranged attacks that made you run in and out of cover to get closer. The Houndeyes and Bullsquids similarly had telegraphed attacks that made you move around. These enemies did not return.
The most enjoyable parts of HL1 are when running around in an arena-like area, avoiding attacks, running up to something and blasting it. HL2 has few areas like this and it gives you a stamina meter which was good for the horror areas. But most of the time I much prefer the buttery movement of HL1.
Perhaps my ideal is simply not what they were interested in going for. Maybe I should be playing Doomer Turtle.
Join me next time when I review: "Half-Life: Opposing Force".
The upside is that HL2 has lots of temporary gimmicks that change combat, which prevented it from feeling stale, like HL1. Each of these segments tends to last a bit too long however.
The worst parts of HL1 and 2 were getting shot continuously by something and attempting to fight it exposes yourself to dying faster. HL2 makes that more obnoxious by making the hitscan aimbot fly around in the air above you, and you have to stand exposed for a while to guide a rocket at it, each one requiring too many hits to down. This concept was appreciable as a different kind of challenge, but it reoccurred countless times.
I had genuine fun against that one helicopter in Ep2 where you throw the bombs it drops back at it. You have to move around a lot under cover and then pop out for an instant to throw a bomb. It's a satisfying fight. The first time was also was not so bad; you duck behind cover and run while it reloads. Then the game makes you do that while fighting Combine on ground level, smh. It was also ok in the final battle of Ep2 because they die in one hit and there are other interesting elements to that sequence.
The Gravity Gun adds good variation to the combat, but over the span of three games it loses novelty. I generally like the light puzzle elements as they modulate the pacing. However I didn't care for a lot of the puzzles at the beginning of Ep1 because it felt too much like a very lame version of Portal.
The three game structure of Half-Life 2 gave Valve time to come up with new ideas. But again there is very low novelty density. You will have seen all of the weapons by half-way through Ep0. Both HL1 and HL2 would benefit from a remixed version that showcases the best elements of their games.
I have looked for a HL1 mod that shortens the official game, but alas. I have considered I might be the only guy who likes HL1 enough to mod it but dislikes it enough to take a chainsaw to it. Although I found HL2 to be more compelling to play more of the time, I think that the best of HL2 can't rival the best of HL1's gameplay, feel, and variety, even though Ravenholm (HL2Ep0) is the stand-out chapter across both games. HL1 has an atmosphere more memorable and more worth experiencing even in the current year.
There are lots of great story ideas. I really liked the character of Breen. He had a well conceived philosophy for a villain.
I think it makes sense the characters understand very little about the wider forces at play and that adds to the experience in one way. But I can't help but think that the drip feeding of story is too slow. Most of the events are just impetus to go to the next chapter.
The theming of The Combine is top-notch: Their headcrabs possess people; they augment/de-augment human beings; they extract resources from Earth; they re-purpose what we've built; they are a parasite on humanity. I mourn for the scene in Lost Coast where you find a church adapted by The Combine to shell nearby towns with headcrabs.
The story leaves lots unexplained that it feels like we are expected to know. Particularly about the relationship between the Nihilanth, The Combine, and the Vortigaunts. I listened to all the Vortigaunt dialogue and so if I missed something important, it needed to be driven in harder.
Unfortunately, Gordon and Breen act unbelievably dumb in the climax of Ep0. I like the touch that the Gravity Gun is heavy for everyone except Gordon. I think the Stalkers are great for being so creepy and fitting. The Vortigaunt dialogue is stellar. But the characters speak too quietly from even a short distance away, relative to the normal game volume.
Ep2 ends the series in a horribly unfortunate place. I shouted "what?" a lot of times when I saw the credits roll.
The game autosaved me in a couple of places at low health, forcing me to go back 20 minutes to a manual save. HL2 otherwise has a total abundance of health between set-pieces. This affects the feel of encounters because you can tank a lot of shots. This is probably for the worse. HL1 somehow managed to make sensible checkpoints and not feed you health. HL1 autosaves don't overwrite each other, which is good because you will get stuck in the floor a few times.
Personal nitpicks: In HL1 I interpreted the Vortiguants to be wrinkly like a scaled up raisin and the Headcrabs to be leathery but not shiny. The Headcrabs are nowhere as toothy as before, so they're not as frightening. To me, both look significantly worse. The Headcrabs look too big on Zombies' heads.
With the amount of shooters that have come since, I'm assuming it doesn't hold up against the better zombie/military shooters and fps puzzle games available. It's worth playing if you're interested by its place in gaming history or the Gravity Gun or by the story and haven't played tonnes of shooters. It's easier to recommend than HL1 only because I think you're more likely to finish it.
You could just play Ravenholm on someone else's copy /10
Taking my own advice, I managed to shave about 700 words off of the original review, bringing it down to a relatively readable 1294 words.
The games are pretty. They have the best water I've seen in any video game. I wish they'd found a way to put in Lost Coast.
The introduction to the world was compelling. I love the premise of Earth under Orwellian occupation by aliens. And for me it was a good surprise because I thought humanity won HL1. The scanner drones in civilian areas were cool. Being photographed just for existing in public and having the screen go an unpleasant #FFFFFF was a great piece of immersive world detail, but they should have had the sense not to put them in fights amongst other enemies.
Unfortunately I was soon aggravated by the fact that you immediately leave this setting and go do what we spent HL1 doing: fighting the same enemies in drab industrial environments. Maybe it's my fault for not waiting years between instalments. There are good refreshing new locations — particularly the citadel, the abandoned villages, Ravenholm, the beach.
HL2 has even less enemy variety than HL1. Most of them are variations on Zombies, Headcrabs, and dude in uniform. There's no reason they couldn't have had more variety. Most of the time you will be fighting the same two guys with guns. Déjà vu.
HL2 enemies pretty much only have mêlée or hitscan attacks, meaning that the strategy is usually to look at an enemy and m1.
The stand-out enemies are:
- The Fast Zombie which forces you to drop what you're doing to deal with them, and maybe run away from nearby slow enemies, so you don't get swamped.
- The Zombine holding a grenade (not in Ep0) who forces you to move to not be caught in its blast, or whose bomb you can snipe.
The stand-out enemy in HL1 was the Vortigaunt, which had well telegraphed ranged attacks that made you run in and out of cover to get closer. The Houndeyes and Bullsquids similarly had telegraphed attacks that made you move around. These enemies did not return.
The most enjoyable parts of HL1 are when running around in an arena-like area, avoiding attacks, running up to something and blasting it. HL2 has few areas like this and it gives you a stamina meter which was good for the horror areas. But most of the time I much prefer the buttery movement of HL1.
Perhaps my ideal is simply not what they were interested in going for. Maybe I should be playing Doomer Turtle.
Join me next time when I review: "Half-Life: Opposing Force".
The upside is that HL2 has lots of temporary gimmicks that change combat, which prevented it from feeling stale, like HL1. Each of these segments tends to last a bit too long however.
The worst parts of HL1 and 2 were getting shot continuously by something and attempting to fight it exposes yourself to dying faster. HL2 makes that more obnoxious by making the hitscan aimbot fly around in the air above you, and you have to stand exposed for a while to guide a rocket at it, each one requiring too many hits to down. This concept was appreciable as a different kind of challenge, but it reoccurred countless times.
I had genuine fun against that one helicopter in Ep2 where you throw the bombs it drops back at it. You have to move around a lot under cover and then pop out for an instant to throw a bomb. It's a satisfying fight. The first time was also was not so bad; you duck behind cover and run while it reloads. Then the game makes you do that while fighting Combine on ground level, smh. It was also ok in the final battle of Ep2 because they die in one hit and there are other interesting elements to that sequence.
The Gravity Gun adds good variation to the combat, but over the span of three games it loses novelty. I generally like the light puzzle elements as they modulate the pacing. However I didn't care for a lot of the puzzles at the beginning of Ep1 because it felt too much like a very lame version of Portal.
The three game structure of Half-Life 2 gave Valve time to come up with new ideas. But again there is very low novelty density. You will have seen all of the weapons by half-way through Ep0. Both HL1 and HL2 would benefit from a remixed version that showcases the best elements of their games.
I have looked for a HL1 mod that shortens the official game, but alas. I have considered I might be the only guy who likes HL1 enough to mod it but dislikes it enough to take a chainsaw to it. Although I found HL2 to be more compelling to play more of the time, I think that the best of HL2 can't rival the best of HL1's gameplay, feel, and variety, even though Ravenholm (HL2Ep0) is the stand-out chapter across both games. HL1 has an atmosphere more memorable and more worth experiencing even in the current year.
There are lots of great story ideas. I really liked the character of Breen. He had a well conceived philosophy for a villain.
I think it makes sense the characters understand very little about the wider forces at play and that adds to the experience in one way. But I can't help but think that the drip feeding of story is too slow. Most of the events are just impetus to go to the next chapter.
The theming of The Combine is top-notch: Their headcrabs possess people; they augment/de-augment human beings; they extract resources from Earth; they re-purpose what we've built; they are a parasite on humanity. I mourn for the scene in Lost Coast where you find a church adapted by The Combine to shell nearby towns with headcrabs.
The story leaves lots unexplained that it feels like we are expected to know. Particularly about the relationship between the Nihilanth, The Combine, and the Vortigaunts. I listened to all the Vortigaunt dialogue and so if I missed something important, it needed to be driven in harder.
Unfortunately, Gordon and Breen act unbelievably dumb in the climax of Ep0. I like the touch that the Gravity Gun is heavy for everyone except Gordon. I think the Stalkers are great for being so creepy and fitting. The Vortigaunt dialogue is stellar. But the characters speak too quietly from even a short distance away, relative to the normal game volume.
Ep2 ends the series in a horribly unfortunate place. I shouted "what?" a lot of times when I saw the credits roll.
The game autosaved me in a couple of places at low health, forcing me to go back 20 minutes to a manual save. HL2 otherwise has a total abundance of health between set-pieces. This affects the feel of encounters because you can tank a lot of shots. This is probably for the worse. HL1 somehow managed to make sensible checkpoints and not feed you health. HL1 autosaves don't overwrite each other, which is good because you will get stuck in the floor a few times.
Personal nitpicks: In HL1 I interpreted the Vortiguants to be wrinkly like a scaled up raisin and the Headcrabs to be leathery but not shiny. The Headcrabs are nowhere as toothy as before, so they're not as frightening. To me, both look significantly worse. The Headcrabs look too big on Zombies' heads.
With the amount of shooters that have come since, I'm assuming it doesn't hold up against the better zombie/military shooters and fps puzzle games available. It's worth playing if you're interested by its place in gaming history or the Gravity Gun or by the story and haven't played tonnes of shooters. It's easier to recommend than HL1 only because I think you're more likely to finish it.
You could just play Ravenholm on someone else's copy /10
Taking my own advice, I managed to shave about 700 words off of the original review, bringing it down to a relatively readable 1294 words.
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