No one ever told me how.... magical Half Life 2 is. Episode 0 spoilers.

[GilloD]

I knew it was a great game with a fantastic reputation and I'd had a chance to log an hour of the get-go a few years ago. But the game is magical, so well tuned, so well paced. The feeling of being on an adventure is unmatched in nearly all of gaming. The subtle shift of day to night and night to day with no rest is exhuasting and gives such a tremendous sense of the ceaseless assault Combine forces have organized. The trip along the coast road with Combine forces occupying the small bungalows and houses along the cliff side gives a great sense of what it would be like to live in an occupation. The weariness of the resistance seems genuine and the sheer variety of location gives HL2 a sense of scope, of openness greater than that of any Grand Theft Auto game.

Why didn't anyone tell me? It's stunning. Incredible. I like the subtle genre shifts- Ravenholm as survival horror, the sand trap as platformer and the driving sequences. Even if the waterboat thing was about 15 times too long. Oh! The foreshadowing for Ravenholm was great. And then it turns out to be a WHOLE FUCKING CITY and not just a creepy tunnel <3 <3. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. I just made it to, uh. I'm right outside Nova Prospekt, I know that.

[Himu]

Huh? HL2 is great GilloD

Yeah, the game is pretty awesome. Glad you like it! I dunno about the pacing though. I felt the vehicle levels ruined the pacing and if it weren't for them it'd be perfect.

[SpudBud]

Half-Life 2 is awesome. Defiantly in my top 5.

[GilloD]

Huh? HL2 is great GilloD

Yeah, the game is pretty awesome. Glad you like it! I dunno about the pacing though. I felt the vehicle levels ruined the pacing and if it weren't for them it'd be perfect.

It has a great reputation, but so does Gears of War. So do a lot of games. But this such a different, unique experience. I wasn't expecting it.  I like the vehicles because they give the game a sense of openness, they lend the adventure a kind of scope that you don't see in FPS where all the travel takes place in cut scenes. The water boat thing was WAY too long, but I thought the Dune Buggy with all the alternate stops along the way was great. Well paced with the ability to pop out and do something on foot, unlike the water boat.

[Himu]

Yeah i liked the dune buggy level. the vehicle level I'm talking about was the water one.

And yeah, HL2 deserves the reputation. Some may say it doesn't but whatever.

[Fragamemnon]

I'm right outside Nova Prospekt, I know that.

The strongest part of the game is from this point forward, IMO.

If you liked what you had so far in HL2, Episode One and especially Episode 2 will really make you happy.

[tiesto]

I think I'm gonna start Episode One this Saturday, as I'm gonna be so exhausted from going to Armin Fri nite that I won't want to do anything, and I'm really close to the end of BOF:DQ. How long are Episodes One and Two?

[SpudBud]

I think I'm gonna start Episode One this Saturday, as I'm gonna be so exhausted from going to Armin Fri nite that I won't want to do anything, and I'm really close to the end of BOF:DQ. How long are Episodes One and Two?

Each are about 5-6 hours long.

[bluemax]

I got to Ravenholm and then stopped playing for months.

Then I started again and got to the bridge with the train and stopped again.

Then this summer I picked it up again and got past that point and quit again when I hit Nova Prospekt. I dunno why but I can't play HL2 for more than a few hours without having to go away from it.

[Smooth Groove]

You must be living in a cave if you've never heard of how great Hl2 is.  It's only the game that's most often called the best FPS ever. 

[demi]

Half Life 1 is better

[Fragamemnon]

Half Life 1 is better

If you stepped back and compared the games to their peers at the time of their respective releases, then yeah I'd say Half Life is better.

If you asked me which game I would play right now if given the choice between the two, I'd play HL2 over the first without a second thought.

[Synbios459]

Unreal Tournament 2004 is better.

FIXED.

[demi]

The last level of Half Life 1 =  :'( :'(

Nova Prospekt = 

Citadel =  :'(

[Fragamemnon]

The last level of Half Life 1 =  :'( :'(

It really is best at its middle-stuff like Surface Tension and Questionable Ethics are in my estimation the work that redefined the genre.

The end jumping puzzles and alien funtime? Not so much, whenever I used to play HL through I would always quit at the point right before going to Xen.

[Fragamemnon]

Nova Prospekt = 

Citadel =  :'(

Nova Prospekt only gets dorky in one part due to the weird turret mechanics, other than that point I think it's a high point in the game-the over the top infiltration of the facility, the prattle from Breen, fighting combine (always better than fighting zombies), it's good stuff.

I think the citadel stuff is really a matter of taste. I liked it-it was entirely alien and thought the setting was really ace, but the grav gun thingy there really turns a lot of people off, apparently.

[demi]

I think they just gave up and tacked it on. Hey, lets give them an uber-weapon and double their armor!

[Smooth Groove]

Citadel was amazing for me the 1st time.  It was fun just to walk around and look at the amazing architecture.  But I guess you could hate it if you hate museum-like levels. 

[tiesto]

I thought Citadel was kinda cool, getting the uber-gun (I didn't quite expect that!), but the final "battle" if you will was pretty distinguished mentally-challenged, one of the low points of the game. On to Episode 1 I guess!

[GilloD]

The thing I really love is so many games have you FIGHTING THE INVASION. And here, the invasion is over. It's an occupation and the resistance is clearly losing. It's nice to be on the wrong side of the battle for once, fighting and over coming ridiculous odds.

I mean, I knew the game was good. I just didn't understand how good. How completely unique. And sitting alongside Portal, it's a testament to a true creative powerhouse.

I really, really liked Ravenholm because I liked the subtle genre swap from FPS to Survival Horror. And right before that was the bit with teh Ninten-DOG LOLZ. I liked settling in for that bit of exposition before WHAMMO an attack. It did a great job of showing how tense and unpredictable the lifestyle of the resistance is.

I think what I really love is that it manages to do so many things so well without stepping out of it's FPS costume. You see so many "buzz games" that are DIABLO MEETS ADVANCE WARS and you pop it in and give it a run and it's like someone duct taped Diablo to Advance Wars. It's sloppy and cumbersome. But Half Life 2 manages to do so many of those "fusion" genres without ever resorting to cheap tricks like RPG-skill leveling or upgradeable weapons. It really does paint in it's own colors.

[drohne]

everything about half-life 2 is great...except the basic shooting. the encounters with combine soldiers are really dull, though sometimes you can invent your own fun with the gravity gun. it does have great combat moments -- striders and gunships are always fun, and that part at the end of sandtraps where you're storming the gates of nova prospekt with a bunch of antlions is probably my favorite thing in the game. but i wish the root-level shooting was more interesting. anyway, yeah, i really admire the variety and elegance of the level design.

i think portal kind of upstages it, though!

[GilloD]

everything about half-life 2 is great...except the basic shooting. the encounters with combine soldiers are really dull, though sometimes you can invent your own fun with the gravity gun. it does have great combat moments -- striders and gunships are always fun, and that part at the end of sandtraps where you're storming the gates of nova prospekt with a bunch of antlions is probably my favorite thing in the game. but i wish the root-level shooting was more interesting. anyway, yeah, i really admire the variety and elegance of the level design.

i think portal kind of upstages it, though!

Agreed. I don't mind the very few enemy types (Again, occupation blah blah), but the weapons aren't particularly interesting nor do they have the "punch" that Bioshock weapons did. That said, they do the job just fine and they show up and fun times to keep things from becoming a machine gun fest. I'm just about the storm the gates, I'm pretty psyched. The pheremone pod or whatever was unexpected and delightful.

[GilloD]

I finished up Episode 0. Nova Prospekt was kind of a bore, but watching those ant lions chew through the jail and pop up and help you fight some bad asses was swell. I literally felt thrilled when I realized that they'd followed me in. Also, great gaming moment: The shilouettes of Antlions swarming a guard tower against a full moon. The following sewer/warehouse-y stuff was kind of a snooze, but the very end where Alyx is reworking the portal and all you hear is BOOM BOOM BOOM as the enemies are kicking in the door was a stunner, total gold.

I adored the uprising and another subtle genre shift to squad based shooter. Too bad the squads felt shoe horned in. They rarely follow orders, are absolutely replaceable and often seem to only function as bait. I liked having them around, but they were way too disposable. Still, a shift towards urban combat ala GRAW was cute. The strider battles were fun, although the one outside the museum was far too long. But watching Dog come busting through a barricade at the last moment was killer.

The citadel looked like a Halo level. Take that as you will. Becoming a walking man-god was delightful, although I would have been pissed that that was "it" if I didn't have Episode 1 and 2 available. The end was neat with the time-pause and the start of Episode 1 is engaging, although I think I'm gonna take a break before I continue on. I have Ace Combat 6 and Battle for Middle Earth 2 sitting on the table, untouched.

All in all, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun playing a video game. It just kept throwing exciting shit at you every 10 minutes. I'm usually sort of moderate in the amount of time I sit down and play, but I just couldn't keep from filling every free moment with HL2. What's the general feel on Ep1?

[GilloD]

I got to Ravenholm, played for awhile. It feels like RE the FPS. I want to go on, but it's hard. Also the controls for the boat thing suck ass on the 360.

I really liked Ravenholm, but it's definitley an acquired taste. It's not too long and once it's over the game really picks up the pace. And the boat is over.

[Smooth Groove]

the thing is - Half Life 2 spoilt the X360 when it came because the feeling i had was "This is next gen?! But ... erm... i played Half Life 2 a year or so ago .... hmmm.... "

HL2 is a big bronzed adonis of a game , it's a good job the combat is a bit ropey to at least give them something to sort out in the next game.

Have you tried EP2?  There's quite a bit of an upgrade visually. 

[GilloD]

the thing is - Half Life 2 spoilt the X360 when it came because the feeling i had was "This is next gen?! But ... erm... i played Half Life 2 a year or so ago .... hmmm.... "

HL2 is a big bronzed adonis of a game , it's a good job the combat is a bit ropey to at least give them something to sort out in the next game.

I was shocked at how great the game looks given it's age. Fuck DX10. Make it exciting and no one notices the little stuff, anyway.