So, last weekend I started playing the game, and this evening, I've played through most of the final mission... overall, this is the best HL game yet, IMO. I might be a bit burnt out, after going through the original game and episode one, but this is much better balanced and relies much less on trial and error, or repetitive puzzles.. has more story than I'm used to from the series, and the levels are fairly concise and to the point, aside from the cave level, which tended to drag on a bit too long. So yeah, this is a good episode, and I'm looking forward to the next one, after I take a break from the series for a bit :P
Still, the damn
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Strider attack on the missile silo
at the end of the game is REALLY fucking pissing me off... you don't seem to get nearly enough ammo to take down the hunters :(
I think the next HL will definitely include some gameplay elements from Portal. That would seriously give any gamer a raging hard-on.
There's that HL mod that lets you use the portal gun in coop mode; when it doesn't break the game, you really realize the potential multiplayer gaming can achieve combining traditional FPS elements with portal guns.
In a word: fan-farking-tastically amazing. Try it if you haven't. The gameplay's there; I bet Valve are still racking their heads thinking of the myriad ways they can go about maximizing that experience because the combination of gameplay possibilities are mind-boggling.
Well, last night I passed the part in Ep 2 where
spoiler (click to show/hide)
You run into Alex, Dr Breen and Dr Magnusson in the missile silo, and they show video of recovering a near-mythical Aperture Science barge where some special test projects were going on... this pretty much confirms, in my eyes, that the portal gun is gonna be in Ep 3...