Taste of Thomas

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...

The beginning and end are strong. The beginning in particular has great atmosphere. The game is at its best when it's surprising you. Most of the middle is repetitive filler. The middle 40% or so has no new enemies or mechanics. There's like 2 new weapons, but we're talking across ~8h. The enemy variety already felt lacking even before the middle. My reference point for that era is Spider-Man 2 for the PS1 (2001). Maybe for some people it's an upgrade from military shooters in that regard. There are only a few points of plot progression (including the subtle ways information is given to you), which would be fine in a much shorter game. Felt like giving up on it many times; nearly didn't do the end because of a glitch with Gonarch that stopped it from entering the boss arena. I started HL2 at some point, but it annoyed me so I went back. For some reason I kept feeling determined not to be bested by it. There are times when it seems like something might change for the...