mine arrived this morning, typed in the key, spent half a fucking hour waiting for it to unlock, then wheeee.
blocking gunfire with barrels is fun, the flying things are a pain in the ass until you remember your crowbar
Yeah the flying things do get a bit annoying.
Some of the physics set pieces are excellent.
The game world is one of the most immersive I've ever played, definitely for an FPS.
The art quality and consistency is extremely high. Everything looks like it "belongs", and pretty much all the materials (metal, wood, especially water) are accurately represented by weight, reflectiveness, bumpiness and sound.
The pumpin' soundtrack when you get into big fights is nice too.
I've just got past the "air-boat" part ... that part was great fun, and looked awesome too!
I'm taking a break so I don't forget to eat or something.
Marine: Heh, mine took about 10-15 minutes to unlock. All the time I was sitting there going "HURRY UP!!"
Anyone who tells you Halo 2 is better singleplayer- or graphics-wise is out of their mind. I haven't really tried CS:S yet so I can't comment on the multiplayer...
It runs very well on my (somewhat modest) GeForce 4200.
So far the only complaints are the shadows and the LOD popping... but considering the size and complexity of the maps, you really can't expect them to have DOOM3 lighting.
lkraan: As an FPS, yeah. I can compare it to Doom3 and say it's a much better game.
It has just as much "atmosphere" as Doom3 (although the TYPE of atmosphere is very different usually), but it feels a lot more epic.
There are characters with much more prominent roles - something that brings you into the game far more than Doom3 ever managed with it's 1-dimensional "here for 2 minutes, never seen again" characters.
The graphics, while not as "technically" good, are brought together in such a way as to appear as seamless and well-crafted as any of Doom3's assets. The consistency of art is excellent (as it was in Doom3, also).
The story is where HL2 is way ahead of Doom3. It involves you in the game a lot more, makes you wonder about the world you're in, rather than just what monsters the next room will contain.
Personally I am enjoying this game a LOT more than Doom3. The last time I enjoyed a single-player game this much was probably the first time I played Deus Ex, or maybe Morrowind at a pinch.
Of course, these are all just my opinions! But I'm thinking that most people will agree...
Well, I dunno what falls under the category of "gameplay", but...
The player movement is pretty good. Paces the game nicely, although sometimes jumps can be awkward. The vehicles are fun to drive, going to the arcade-y side of things (not exactly "realistic" vehicle physics, but definitely fun).
The weapons (all the ones I have encountered so far) are well balanced and good to use. It's not like some games where as soon as you get a "higher level" gun, you're just using that all the time - all the guns have their uses in different situations, so it doesn't get boring.
The enemies (i'm playing on Normal mode, not easy or hard) are not so easy to defeat that it makes it feel like no effort is involved, while also not being too ridiculous so you're near death all the time. Going up against the Combine soldiers and machines is very reminiscent of the Grunts in HL.
The physics have been used well in the game, they're not just "eye candy", there are often puzzles using physics objects to advance through levels, although not so many that it feels like a gimmick (yet).
There have been a few levels where I've spent a *bit* too long wandering around because it's not immediately obvious which way you have to go next, but maybe that's just me being dumb.
There are no "cinematics", all the plot unfolds while you're controlling Gordon, and interacting with the other main characters is good. They've put a fair bit of emotion into them, the facial expressions are neat, and the voice acting is pretty good, but not amazing.
It all adds up to be a good gameplay experience IMHO!
If you liked HL and/or Deus Ex, you will like this a lot.
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I haven't heard anything about the system specs for it.
Can you compare it to Doom3?
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Tehcnically, I think Doom3 looks better. Normal maps on virtually everything and the 'ultra' high-res textures give a more detailed look. But Half-Life 2 definitely feels more cinematic, in the way that the story is presented. Very early on, in the part in which you get your HEV suit, there's an amusing bit with the scientist's pet headcrab. The way the characters act in that scene, particularly Barney, is so natural that it seemed nothing like a game, but like a movie. Very awesome.
I'll be glad to give you a first impression. When somone graciously sells me thier ATI voucher. Whats with games going up in price by $5 bucks lately? It's like the longer we wait for something to finish, the more expensive it is?
My 2 cents: I just had to close the game half-way in to the airboat bit so I can go to work.
So far, the game rocks my god damn fucking socks. This game, this environment... its so immersive. Everything is "alive". The sound is awesome, when you get into fights the music kicks in and it rocks. The flying things with the blades on them are awesome - easy to take out with a crowbar. The pistol is my favourite weapon. I love killing a combine then hearing that "flat line" noise like from an EKG machine. Totally rocks!
Anyway, I have to go to work - but all I'm gonna be thinkin' about is City17.
This game is really amazing so far. Im still on the "Air-Boat" portion. I was up till 4:30am or so playing it after my just-after-midnight run to Walmart to pick it up.
Im counting the hours until I can get back home and fire it up again.
My only gripe so far is that I wish the textures were higher res. Im running at 1600x1200 with everything (AA, filtering, etc) at max, and I still get tearing, which means im getting some great framerates still. So with that type of performance, IM sure they could have upped the rez on many items a bit.
Is it just me or is there no "objective" screen? I forget where Im supposed to be going in games all the time, because Im staring at the scenery.
I get that a lot too. Just remember... the game is pretty linear so you can only go the right way.
*SPOILER*
If you're on the airboat I think your overall mission is to get to Alyx and Dr. Vance (since the teleport went wrong).
EDIT: I wanted to mention how cool I think the Metro Cops are. When they community and get authorative.. push you around. Threaten you with prods.. fricken great!
I started my journey at exactly 12:03am. The install went ok, especially seeing as I had downloaded it all weeks before hand, but the "Unlock" took around seven to ten minutes. It was pure torture. I was talking to my buddy Nick while this happened and he was experiencing the same thing. The process will get to roughly 82% (it did for both of us) before jumping forward to virtually complete. Nick vanished before mine finished so I was left alone in my own private waiting room in the seventh layer of hell.
When it completed I tried to jump directly into the game which is when surprise #2 showed up. Steam decided my drivers were out of date but it provided me with a convenient link to just where I needed to go to update. I feel pretty good about this feature. You hardly ever know if you're going into a gaming experience with substandard shit. Valve tried to head me off at the pass on this just to make sure I got the best game possible. Thanks guys. Fast forward to me even getting to the game's goddamned menu and it's already 12:33.
The game. Sweet jesus it's pretty. On my system, with everything turned on, running at 640x480, I'm getting a bit of chop, but nothing that is a true detriment in my book, which likely means virtual unplayability for everyone else. While the shader tech is very nice and it's great to have highly interactive environments (actually thats bloody awesome after you start getting inventive), what really did it for me though were the emotions on the other character's faces. These guys are REAL! They EMOTE! It blows me away that I feel attachment to these characters, because after three seconds of watching them they stop being characters and start being people! Utterly amazing.
Gameplay wise the if you learn how to target for headshots you can take enemies down very quickly after minimal practice. The new enemies have all been pretty cool, and some of the old returns have been given some amazing make overs. Head Crab Zombies scare the shit out of me now. I would seriously do just about anything, fight almost anything else, to avoid even coming near one. You'll know why when you meet one of the ones I'm talking about, and you'll know it the second you meet it.
I started playing at roughly 12:30am last night and was going to play until 2am at the very, very latest. After all I had work the next morning and I was driving. Well I over shot that by about five and a half hours... I was trying to weigh out my overwhelming desire to play the game with my need to be awake for work the next day. My compromise was to simply not sleep. Yeah thats paying off like a wolverine petting zoo at the moment. But I've got some serious caffeine so I should be ok.
*Update* No I'm not ok. I'm closing in on a quarter century of life here, my body is beginning to say "Fuck this shit" with more and more frequency and I think last night's binge was the final nail in the coffin...
Final thoughts for last night's play session is there have been a lot of hints dropped about several thing but not a single explanation of anything. You have no idea how long it's been since HL1, though there are hints that it's been at least a decade. I really really need to know that answer and the answers several more sensitive questions that I wont divulge here for your benefit.
Bottom line? Valve kept their word; this game is redefining all sorts of shit minute by minute as the game goes on.
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I haven't heard anything about the system specs for it.
Can you compare it to Doom3?
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Tehcnically, I think Doom3 looks better. Normal maps on virtually everything and the 'ultra' high-res textures give a more detailed look. But Half-Life 2 definitely feels more cinematic, in the way that the story is presented. Very early on, in the part in which you get your HEV suit, there's an amusing bit with the scientist's pet headcrab. The way the characters act in that scene, particularly Barney, is so natural that it seemed nothing like a game, but like a movie. Very awesome.
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I meant more how HL2's the system demands compare to Doom3. For instance I can run Doom3 smooth with all the options on with my P4 2,4, 1gb DDR RAM and Ati 9700pro. Will HL2 run just as smooth with these kind of specs?
Eh. Valve lost my money. I wanted to play HL 1 to get up to speed, and installed it from my platinum pack. Thier patch updates it to a steam only version. That was fine until steam went down, like everyone said it would. So I have to log onto steam every time to play something I bought years ago. No thank you. I can't play HL 1 until the servers are back up, let alone register my HL 2.
I'm returning it for Vampire: Bloodlines in a few hours. Biggest flop in new release history. They just keep on dissapointing.
We've been over this. Steam doesnt have to connect to the internet to run it's games. It has an offline mode that should kick in whenever it cant find a connection. You selecvt yes and then keep playing. Easy as eating pie.
damn i cant wait, iam about to buy the game right after i get out of class, looks like i wont be sleeping tonight, anyways iam wondering does the retail store version allow you to get hl source and cs source, or would you have to buy them as well, iam more interested in hl source since that will be technically the multiplayer version of hl2
CS Source is the attached multiplayer for Half life 2. HL Source and Day of Defeat Source are ports of the original game and mod to the source engine. As far as I'm aware you can only get them through the silver package available over Steam.
new first impression, Steam is a pile of crap, i was defending it until i actualy tried to use it, i'm not worried aobut my secret information being leaked, i'm just pissed about buying a game and not being able to play it do to shoddy servers or what the hell is going on, i can't create an account at all gives me this! rube in model design is having the same issue. I believe that if you buy a box in the store to keep away from having to download it, its retarded to make you create an account for an online service just to play.
Yes, Steam is pissing me off too. After having played the game for about 6 hours today, I got back from a band practise tonight to find it won't let me log in - the internet is working fine but Steam won't connect... that is mind-numbingly stupid, since all I want to do is play HL2, not online.
HAHAHA! You know, just as I typed that last line, it connected and logged on. Right now. Shame it took close to 20 minutes and several connection re-tries...
lkraan: you have NOTHING to worry about, specs wise. I ran Doom3 on "High", 800x600, and got about 30fps on average. I run HL2 at 1152x864, totally full settings (but no AA), and I get an average of about 80fps. Which is great!
Now that Steam has decided to work again, I'm going off to play some more into the wee small hours... my flatmates are waaaay ahead of me, I need to catch up!
I honestly don't see what all the hassle is for Steam. It's been stated time and time again you don't have to be online to play. Just register once - which fine, takes a bit of time - and you're set. I've been having no problem logging on to Steam and have had to about 3 different times throughout the day today for my own reasons (not because I was having trouble with Steam or HL2). Anyway, I'm overly impressed with VALVE, HL2, and Steam. Great package all around IMO.
This game is amazing. The facial animation is going to set a bar I think in the industry. It took me about an hour to install and get steam to let me in. Not real impressed with steam at all. I wish you could get it off steam or just load it off the CD/DVD without steam. Either way, small price to play for such a great game. Anyone had a chance to look at the Art of book at all? I heard there is one out for it.
brome the hassle is i have had the game 7 hours, AND CAN"T EVEN MAKE A STEAM ACCOUNT! and you have to log in anytime you want to play. so if the server goes down you cant even play singleplayer its a load of cow brownies
Mojo, you don't have to connect to the server to play. Only to login and signup the first time, after that it should be ok if you're offline.
back to the game:
Just little touches like the wires on the telegraph poles blowing in the wind, the birds flying around that get scared at noises (and you can shoot them down!), plus if you throw paint cans at monsters, they get covered in white paint, which is very funny and very cool (although it takes about 4 throws to kill a headcrab zombie, but they die very white!) - little stuff like that all adds up, stuff you don't even notice but you expect to be there, is all there and would be conspicuous by it's absence.
the only thing I don't like is they seem to not have smoothing (ie just faceted shading) on some world objects that should be smooth, but they are few and far between.
well i finaly got the damn thing runing, played a bit, then stopped to get food, fixing to play again.. but when i clicked the Hl2 icon team decided to validate steam files..
which so far has taken over 5 minutes and its at 45% .. will it do this shit everytime i want to play?
I haven't got that yet Mojo - yet. I'm sure I'll run in to something yet.
I do have one problem, but it has to do with my machine. When I start up HL2 my monitor clicks down to the proper resolution... and just sits there. I have to "alt-tab" into the game loading screen. Didn't know this the first time and rebooted my computer thinking it was an error of sorts. Anyway, glad I figured that out. (I'm running a Radeon 9200 for those with curiosity).
Mojo: What are your thought on the game, nevermind Steam?
MoP: Everything is done so well. I keep thinking of the game while I'm here @ work and its honestly making the day go by so much faster.
Hmm weird, Mojo - mine only validated (unlocked?) the files the first time I played it, and that took about 10 minutes. Since then it's just been a matter of clicking the Half Life 2 icon and the game loads up straight away.
I think they could have streamlined the main menu so you don't have to wait for it to load a backdrop if you're gonna press F9 and quick-load straight away, it basically makes the loading time double... they could just have a simple scene or an image instead of a full working level! Seems a bit silly, but eh. Maybe there's a way round it.
so far I'm loving the game, tho i'm not really sure whats going on, i feel like i'm just thrown into a world with no background on it, like i just woke up there
So far I've posted my opinion of the benefit of Steam, and my gratitude towards Valve's attention to the mod community.
I don't have HL2, and even tho I've been waiting forever with big plans for it, I may not get it til after New Years. BUT...my first impression of most of the gamers trying to play HL2 is that they are a bunch of impatient f***cking cry babies.
If I remember correctly, Steam has been around for a while and has been advertised heavily by Valve. One of the little bed wetters on CGtalk asked "why didn't Valve expect this to happen?" Expect what? Why didn't Valve expect a bunch of bottle sucking toddlers to sign up for Steam BEFORE HL2's release date instead of all trying to login at once all over the world at the moment of its release?
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Everything is working fine with my HL2 but that might be because i had steam for some time now
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I've read the most of the HL2 thread on CGtalk, and man is it hilarious. Gwot made an attempt to educate the masses. When I clicked on the last page, the site was down due to overload. OMG WTF mate , can you believe it?
And I know some of these curtain climbers crying over the Authentication system are the same brats who have downloaded several games off Kazaa. Those hypocitical bastards should hang themselves in a doorway. They'll be the ones who drive by you at 100mph on the street only to be stopped at the same light moments later shouting profanity. Honestly, I want to take a crowbar and bash it across their heads.
grind, so using this logic if i want a cheeseburger on thrusday i shold go buy it on tuesday and let it sit around and wait till thursday to eat it? I wanted the game, i wanted it in a box instead of download so i've never bothered to mess with steam, I fugured that like with everyother game i've ever purchased, i would bring it home and install it and play, perhaps they should have put a little time machine in the box so people can travel back intime and get a steam account. I see the benifiet to steam to the people that wish to purchase the game online and download it, but It seems that forcing people who just want to go buy a game and play it to even look at steam is retarded. I know their servers were probably hammered today, but i'm sure not hammered any more than valve expected them to be.
"BUT...my first impression of most of the gamers trying to play HL2 is that they are a bunch of impatient f***cking cry babies.
" this is the first time in my life i've had to wait up to 8 hours after buying a game for it to install and authenticate. thats ridiculous. you shouldnt have to prepare yourself in advance before buying a game just so you can play it when you buy it.
Doom 3, was playing it in about 30 minutes, Halo2, was playing it in about 5 minutes, Half life 2 while being an excellant game.. took 8 hours.
Mojo, to make your analogy accurate, the burger I'd buy on Tuesday would NEVER CHANGE between Tuesday and Thursday. Therefore, it would still be hot and fresh even though I got it earlier. THAT would be an accurate analogy between burgers and HL2/Steam
[edit] For a better analogy, see Vermilion's "cinema ticket" example below! That's the reality.
TBH though, it is a bit silly having "all or nothing" internet activation. I know a few people around here who have the machine capable of running HL2, and might like to play it, but cannot get an internet connection. What's Valve/VUG doing about them?
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grind, so using this logic if i want a cheeseburger on thrusday i shold go buy it on tuesday and let it sit around and wait till thursday to eat it?
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Nah, you're not using logic there ;p A cheeseburger is perishable; a video game is not. Let me ask you a different question, Mojo. If/when you went to see the first showing of Star Wars: Episode 1 back in 1999, did you think it would be wiser to get your tickets in advance of the show instead of buying them fifteen minutes before the curtain went up? If you did opt to get them right before the show, did you expect you could walk right up to the counter and get them or did you think you might have to wait in a potentially long line?
I haven't really had any problems with Steam, but I'm not going to defend it in its present incarnation, either. It's a bit too invasive, requiring I go through it in some capacity every time I want to start HL2. It's also a bit too flaky for me to be comfortable with - buggy downloads and authentication and unlocking hiccups have been widely reported. However, while these things are true, I am very optimistic about what Steam represents. Sure, it's not perfect, but how many first steps into a new way of doing things are perfect? Steam, if successful, might be to content delivery what QuakeWorld and DWANGO were to online play. Obviously, internet gaming has caught on. Imagine if internet distribution *also* catches on! The idea that game development could be returned to gamers rather than remain subject to focus groups or garish movie tie-ins or corporate-studio buyouts seems almost idyllic to me. The days of one man studio and shareware glory are gone, but perhaps the days of indie developers and mod teams competing with established studios is right around the corner. I'm willing to suffer a few difficulties now in the hope that the present speedbumps are the precursor to a smoother road than we've ever known before...
When I start up HL2 my monitor clicks down to the proper resolution... and just sits there. I have to "alt-tab" into the game loading screen.
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I have the same issue Adam. I let it sit at this screen for a bit, maybe a minute or two, and it eventually switched over to the hl2 application as it should. I will have to try alt-tabbing instead and see if it loads any faster.
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I think they could have streamlined the main menu so you don't have to wait for it to load a backdrop if you're gonna press F9 and quick-load straight away, it basically makes the loading time double... they could just have a simple scene or an image instead of a full working level!
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Add -console to the end of the path in the shortcut, that should disable the overly-intense menu.
In the first section there is a childs play area with a tic tac toe.. One of the blocks is missing. Inside the building you will find it. (Don''t go to the other wall of the second floor hallway and you can still go back to the last area with the missing block to the game.
The problem is now I cant figure out how to "use" it if its even possible.. But it does seem rather odd to put the missing block a load area away.
oh BTW
THIS GAME ROCKS!!!! Was worth the hassle waiting for al the unlocking and such. Game of the Year.. hands down.
Well, installation and running the game ( whilst a long winded process ) no real problems here. Maybe I was just lucky.
First impressions:
Gameplay/story: I am absolutely blown away. This is about the most immersive thing I've ever played. I mean damn, Ive just thrown a fricking TV out of a window in a videogame! How cool is that?! Its early days, but I am having an absolute blast. The sound, unravelling story ( love the parallels to Nazi occupied countries ) , atmosphere, its all just totally gripping and very well done.
Graphics/engine: Im gonna go out on a limb here and be controversial. Whilst I have no real complaints about the game visually ( indeed it looks stunning for the most part on my nVidia 6800 ), I dont *quite* see how Source is the second coming of engines that we were lead to believe.
Its still 'just' a lightmapped world ( often with the big jaggy pixels that come with them ) with a character and object lighting engine thats different than the world . i.e doesn't have the lighting engine unification of say, Doom3, which leads to stuff like trees glowing where theyre lit by the sun but planted in a darkly lightmapped ground. Age old videogame lighting problems that remain unsolved basically. Surfaces are not bump mapped and normal mapped like the E3 tech demo suggested. Characters are still 'just' texture mapped polys. There are some damn nice shaders, although for the most part some stuff seems a bit too shiny, and I dont like the floor reflection that follows you around as you walk. It just doesnt behave as reflections do. I guess its an environment map hack, but I dont get why If the water reflects properly ( and it looks amazing ) that the shiny floors cant too. I dont necessarily agree that the quality of Art is absolutely immaculate. It would be hard to use that word in conjunction with HL2 stylistically anyway. Pretty much everything is photosourced, which whilst gives a nice gritty realistic feel to the world, stuff tends to look a bit messy and there are lots of swimming and stretched UV's. ( particularly on characters ). Clearly they are leaps and bounds ahead of any competition with giving realistic characters emotion. The totally static sky texture is my biggest peeve artistically. It just kinda gives you that 'oh, thats a skybox' illusion breaking sensation.
All Im saying about source is that its not doing anything really groundbreaking here tech wise other than throwing a few more polys around than previous engines. ( Im talking about the renderer. The physics is awesome ).
Dont get me wrong, this game is truly amazing. These are tiny tiny nitpicks and the game artist in me talking. Just 'stuff' that popped into my head whilst playing it. Oh yeah, that stuff would be 'first impressions' ;-p
The bar has been raised so very very high. Back to play some more!
A quick Note. Installed it an played it after hours at work. Only my work machine has the ponies to play the game. The install was intermiably long, even with the DVD> all the "Steam" thingies just slowed it to a crawl, during the install.
But the game itself....
Excellent Single Player. None of the feeling of walking through a "Haunted House", like Doom 3. This game you are dropped into a situation and told bits and pieces of the story as you go along. This is the most immersive game I have playe in years. The game engine protrays a convincingly run down Eastern European City in the bright light of day. The texture work, the global Illumination and the realistic water, all morege to give one a feel of a living environment. and the NPC'syou deal with are plausible to the point of that vague creepiness you may feel around realistic mannequins. I got a crick in the neck and a healthy amount of eyestrain from playing it 3 hours straight, with no hint of how much time passed. This is a Very immersive Game. More later, including screenshots and spoilers, but this feels and plays a LOT better than somewhat dissappointing DoomIII.
Oh, has anyone else suffered sound "popping"? Like when two many sound start at once there will be a delay/repeat/pop? Im using a nforce sound system if its related.
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Oh, has anyone else suffered sound "popping"? Like when two many sound start at once there will be a delay/repeat/pop? Im using a nforce sound system if its related.
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Someone from Valve said to try turning down your sound detail (which shouldn't have much noticeable affect on gameplay but may help stop the stuttering) or to turn down the texture detail (this will be immediately noticeable, of course). Another possible solution is to defrag your hard drive. I am still at work and haven't tried any of these yet, but I sure hope one of them works when I get home!
Oh and to note, I am not using the nforce sound system, so it shouldnt be related to that. I think they said it is most likely caused by access to the hard drive.
hah funny pics. Oh yeah, I guess I see it with the flashlight on, but only on some textures and not all. Mainly just floor. Still, hardly a problem. And now Im seeing it on characters for wrinkle maps which is pretty sweet. This game gets more amazing the more I play it. The combat feels awesome.
yeah, if you're getting any major stuttering, be sure to defrag your harddrive. even though this comp is only a couple of years old i needed a defrag pretty badly, and it cleared up any hesitation/stuttering the game had.
I honestly wasnt expecting much, but hot damn, i dont even feel like im playing a game. You can really empathize with everything. Even at the start when you talk to the gaurds, and before they strike, the raise their hand in warning, like you'd do to a dog or a child (if yer into that sorta thing). There is so much life and brilliance to it all. sssiiigh.
Only thing i could do without are the load times. There was one instance where the fog color was white over the ocean, thought it should have been blue, it looked a little janky. The sound stuttering is meh, but it gives me enough time to catch my breath before diving back into Gordon's head.
and the Dog is the coolest character ever.
Generally when ive started to get bored with something, it changes the gameplay and keeps moving forward.
just gotta finish it so i can start Metroid Prime 2.
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blocking gunfire with barrels is fun, the flying things are a pain in the ass until you remember your crowbar
Some of the physics set pieces are excellent.
The game world is one of the most immersive I've ever played, definitely for an FPS.
The art quality and consistency is extremely high. Everything looks like it "belongs", and pretty much all the materials (metal, wood, especially water) are accurately represented by weight, reflectiveness, bumpiness and sound.
The pumpin' soundtrack when you get into big fights is nice too.
I've just got past the "air-boat" part ... that part was great fun, and looked awesome too!
I'm taking a break so I don't forget to eat or something.
Marine: Heh, mine took about 10-15 minutes to unlock. All the time I was sitting there going "HURRY UP!!"
Anyone who tells you Halo 2 is better singleplayer- or graphics-wise is out of their mind. I haven't really tried CS:S yet so I can't comment on the multiplayer...
MoP
Huge open areas are beautiful.
Characters are nothing short of amazing.
Shaders are so hot.
It runs very well on my (somewhat modest) GeForce 4200.
So far the only complaints are the shadows and the LOD popping... but considering the size and complexity of the maps, you really can't expect them to have DOOM3 lighting.
Can you compare it to Doom3?
It has just as much "atmosphere" as Doom3 (although the TYPE of atmosphere is very different usually), but it feels a lot more epic.
There are characters with much more prominent roles - something that brings you into the game far more than Doom3 ever managed with it's 1-dimensional "here for 2 minutes, never seen again" characters.
The graphics, while not as "technically" good, are brought together in such a way as to appear as seamless and well-crafted as any of Doom3's assets. The consistency of art is excellent (as it was in Doom3, also).
The story is where HL2 is way ahead of Doom3. It involves you in the game a lot more, makes you wonder about the world you're in, rather than just what monsters the next room will contain.
Personally I am enjoying this game a LOT more than Doom3. The last time I enjoyed a single-player game this much was probably the first time I played Deus Ex, or maybe Morrowind at a pinch.
Of course, these are all just my opinions! But I'm thinking that most people will agree...
The player movement is pretty good. Paces the game nicely, although sometimes jumps can be awkward. The vehicles are fun to drive, going to the arcade-y side of things (not exactly "realistic" vehicle physics, but definitely fun).
The weapons (all the ones I have encountered so far) are well balanced and good to use. It's not like some games where as soon as you get a "higher level" gun, you're just using that all the time - all the guns have their uses in different situations, so it doesn't get boring.
The enemies (i'm playing on Normal mode, not easy or hard) are not so easy to defeat that it makes it feel like no effort is involved, while also not being too ridiculous so you're near death all the time. Going up against the Combine soldiers and machines is very reminiscent of the Grunts in HL.
The physics have been used well in the game, they're not just "eye candy", there are often puzzles using physics objects to advance through levels, although not so many that it feels like a gimmick (yet).
There have been a few levels where I've spent a *bit* too long wandering around because it's not immediately obvious which way you have to go next, but maybe that's just me being dumb.
There are no "cinematics", all the plot unfolds while you're controlling Gordon, and interacting with the other main characters is good. They've put a fair bit of emotion into them, the facial expressions are neat, and the voice acting is pretty good, but not amazing.
It all adds up to be a good gameplay experience IMHO!
If you liked HL and/or Deus Ex, you will like this a lot.
I haven't heard anything about the system specs for it.
Can you compare it to Doom3?
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Tehcnically, I think Doom3 looks better. Normal maps on virtually everything and the 'ultra' high-res textures give a more detailed look. But Half-Life 2 definitely feels more cinematic, in the way that the story is presented. Very early on, in the part in which you get your HEV suit, there's an amusing bit with the scientist's pet headcrab. The way the characters act in that scene, particularly Barney, is so natural that it seemed nothing like a game, but like a movie. Very awesome.
So far, the game rocks my god damn fucking socks. This game, this environment... its so immersive. Everything is "alive". The sound is awesome, when you get into fights the music kicks in and it rocks. The flying things with the blades on them are awesome - easy to take out with a crowbar. The pistol is my favourite weapon. I love killing a combine then hearing that "flat line" noise like from an EKG machine. Totally rocks!
Anyway, I have to go to work - but all I'm gonna be thinkin' about is City17.
Im counting the hours until I can get back home and fire it up again.
My only gripe so far is that I wish the textures were higher res. Im running at 1600x1200 with everything (AA, filtering, etc) at max, and I still get tearing, which means im getting some great framerates still. So with that type of performance, IM sure they could have upped the rez on many items a bit.
Is it just me or is there no "objective" screen? I forget where Im supposed to be going in games all the time, because Im staring at the scenery.
*SPOILER*
If you're on the airboat I think your overall mission is to get to Alyx and Dr. Vance (since the teleport went wrong).
EDIT: I wanted to mention how cool I think the Metro Cops are. When they community and get authorative.. push you around. Threaten you with prods.. fricken great!
I started my journey at exactly 12:03am. The install went ok, especially seeing as I had downloaded it all weeks before hand, but the "Unlock" took around seven to ten minutes. It was pure torture. I was talking to my buddy Nick while this happened and he was experiencing the same thing. The process will get to roughly 82% (it did for both of us) before jumping forward to virtually complete. Nick vanished before mine finished so I was left alone in my own private waiting room in the seventh layer of hell.
When it completed I tried to jump directly into the game which is when surprise #2 showed up. Steam decided my drivers were out of date but it provided me with a convenient link to just where I needed to go to update. I feel pretty good about this feature. You hardly ever know if you're going into a gaming experience with substandard shit. Valve tried to head me off at the pass on this just to make sure I got the best game possible. Thanks guys. Fast forward to me even getting to the game's goddamned menu and it's already 12:33.
The game. Sweet jesus it's pretty. On my system, with everything turned on, running at 640x480, I'm getting a bit of chop, but nothing that is a true detriment in my book, which likely means virtual unplayability for everyone else. While the shader tech is very nice and it's great to have highly interactive environments (actually thats bloody awesome after you start getting inventive), what really did it for me though were the emotions on the other character's faces. These guys are REAL! They EMOTE! It blows me away that I feel attachment to these characters, because after three seconds of watching them they stop being characters and start being people! Utterly amazing.
Gameplay wise the if you learn how to target for headshots you can take enemies down very quickly after minimal practice. The new enemies have all been pretty cool, and some of the old returns have been given some amazing make overs. Head Crab Zombies scare the shit out of me now. I would seriously do just about anything, fight almost anything else, to avoid even coming near one. You'll know why when you meet one of the ones I'm talking about, and you'll know it the second you meet it.
I started playing at roughly 12:30am last night and was going to play until 2am at the very, very latest. After all I had work the next morning and I was driving. Well I over shot that by about five and a half hours... I was trying to weigh out my overwhelming desire to play the game with my need to be awake for work the next day. My compromise was to simply not sleep. Yeah thats paying off like a wolverine petting zoo at the moment. But I've got some serious caffeine so I should be ok.
*Update* No I'm not ok. I'm closing in on a quarter century of life here, my body is beginning to say "Fuck this shit" with more and more frequency and I think last night's binge was the final nail in the coffin...
Final thoughts for last night's play session is there have been a lot of hints dropped about several thing but not a single explanation of anything. You have no idea how long it's been since HL1, though there are hints that it's been at least a decade. I really really need to know that answer and the answers several more sensitive questions that I wont divulge here for your benefit.
Bottom line? Valve kept their word; this game is redefining all sorts of shit minute by minute as the game goes on.
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I haven't heard anything about the system specs for it.
Can you compare it to Doom3?
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Tehcnically, I think Doom3 looks better. Normal maps on virtually everything and the 'ultra' high-res textures give a more detailed look. But Half-Life 2 definitely feels more cinematic, in the way that the story is presented. Very early on, in the part in which you get your HEV suit, there's an amusing bit with the scientist's pet headcrab. The way the characters act in that scene, particularly Barney, is so natural that it seemed nothing like a game, but like a movie. Very awesome.
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I meant more how HL2's the system demands compare to Doom3. For instance I can run Doom3 smooth with all the options on with my P4 2,4, 1gb DDR RAM and Ati 9700pro. Will HL2 run just as smooth with these kind of specs?
I'm returning it for Vampire: Bloodlines in a few hours. Biggest flop in new release history. They just keep on dissapointing.
Spoiler/easter egg, a real melon of a spoiler at that, dont look if you dont want it spoiled, afraid i didnt take a pic before i shot it.
http://www.hairy-cockroach-fairy.co.uk/~tpe/hl2spoil.jpg
Where it is and what it is in that order
tpe
@mojo2k yes i totally agree...
HAHAHA! You know, just as I typed that last line, it connected and logged on. Right now. Shame it took close to 20 minutes and several connection re-tries...
lkraan: you have NOTHING to worry about, specs wise. I ran Doom3 on "High", 800x600, and got about 30fps on average. I run HL2 at 1152x864, totally full settings (but no AA), and I get an average of about 80fps. Which is great!
Now that Steam has decided to work again, I'm going off to play some more into the wee small hours... my flatmates are waaaay ahead of me, I need to catch up!
MoP
back to the game:
Just little touches like the wires on the telegraph poles blowing in the wind, the birds flying around that get scared at noises (and you can shoot them down!), plus if you throw paint cans at monsters, they get covered in white paint, which is very funny and very cool (although it takes about 4 throws to kill a headcrab zombie, but they die very white!) - little stuff like that all adds up, stuff you don't even notice but you expect to be there, is all there and would be conspicuous by it's absence.
the only thing I don't like is they seem to not have smoothing (ie just faceted shading) on some world objects that should be smooth, but they are few and far between.
which so far has taken over 5 minutes and its at 45% .. will it do this shit everytime i want to play?
I do have one problem, but it has to do with my machine. When I start up HL2 my monitor clicks down to the proper resolution... and just sits there. I have to "alt-tab" into the game loading screen. Didn't know this the first time and rebooted my computer thinking it was an error of sorts. Anyway, glad I figured that out. (I'm running a Radeon 9200 for those with curiosity).
Mojo: What are your thought on the game, nevermind Steam?
MoP: Everything is done so well. I keep thinking of the game while I'm here @ work and its honestly making the day go by so much faster.
I think they could have streamlined the main menu so you don't have to wait for it to load a backdrop if you're gonna press F9 and quick-load straight away, it basically makes the loading time double... they could just have a simple scene or an image instead of a full working level! Seems a bit silly, but eh. Maybe there's a way round it.
I don't have HL2, and even tho I've been waiting forever with big plans for it, I may not get it til after New Years. BUT...my first impression of most of the gamers trying to play HL2 is that they are a bunch of impatient f***cking cry babies.
If I remember correctly, Steam has been around for a while and has been advertised heavily by Valve. One of the little bed wetters on CGtalk asked "why didn't Valve expect this to happen?" Expect what? Why didn't Valve expect a bunch of bottle sucking toddlers to sign up for Steam BEFORE HL2's release date instead of all trying to login at once all over the world at the moment of its release?
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Everything is working fine with my HL2 but that might be because i had steam for some time now
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I've read the most of the HL2 thread on CGtalk, and man is it hilarious. Gwot made an attempt to educate the masses. When I clicked on the last page, the site was down due to overload. OMG WTF mate , can you believe it?
And I know some of these curtain climbers crying over the Authentication system are the same brats who have downloaded several games off Kazaa. Those hypocitical bastards should hang themselves in a doorway. They'll be the ones who drive by you at 100mph on the street only to be stopped at the same light moments later shouting profanity. Honestly, I want to take a crowbar and bash it across their heads.
Don't hate Valve. Hate yourself.
"BUT...my first impression of most of the gamers trying to play HL2 is that they are a bunch of impatient f***cking cry babies.
" this is the first time in my life i've had to wait up to 8 hours after buying a game for it to install and authenticate. thats ridiculous. you shouldnt have to prepare yourself in advance before buying a game just so you can play it when you buy it.
Doom 3, was playing it in about 30 minutes, Halo2, was playing it in about 5 minutes, Half life 2 while being an excellant game.. took 8 hours.
[edit] For a better analogy, see Vermilion's "cinema ticket" example below! That's the reality.
TBH though, it is a bit silly having "all or nothing" internet activation. I know a few people around here who have the machine capable of running HL2, and might like to play it, but cannot get an internet connection. What's Valve/VUG doing about them?
grind, so using this logic if i want a cheeseburger on thrusday i shold go buy it on tuesday and let it sit around and wait till thursday to eat it?
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Nah, you're not using logic there ;p A cheeseburger is perishable; a video game is not. Let me ask you a different question, Mojo. If/when you went to see the first showing of Star Wars: Episode 1 back in 1999, did you think it would be wiser to get your tickets in advance of the show instead of buying them fifteen minutes before the curtain went up? If you did opt to get them right before the show, did you expect you could walk right up to the counter and get them or did you think you might have to wait in a potentially long line?
I haven't really had any problems with Steam, but I'm not going to defend it in its present incarnation, either. It's a bit too invasive, requiring I go through it in some capacity every time I want to start HL2. It's also a bit too flaky for me to be comfortable with - buggy downloads and authentication and unlocking hiccups have been widely reported. However, while these things are true, I am very optimistic about what Steam represents. Sure, it's not perfect, but how many first steps into a new way of doing things are perfect? Steam, if successful, might be to content delivery what QuakeWorld and DWANGO were to online play. Obviously, internet gaming has caught on. Imagine if internet distribution *also* catches on! The idea that game development could be returned to gamers rather than remain subject to focus groups or garish movie tie-ins or corporate-studio buyouts seems almost idyllic to me. The days of one man studio and shareware glory are gone, but perhaps the days of indie developers and mod teams competing with established studios is right around the corner. I'm willing to suffer a few difficulties now in the hope that the present speedbumps are the precursor to a smoother road than we've ever known before...
When I start up HL2 my monitor clicks down to the proper resolution... and just sits there. I have to "alt-tab" into the game loading screen.
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I have the same issue Adam. I let it sit at this screen for a bit, maybe a minute or two, and it eventually switched over to the hl2 application as it should. I will have to try alt-tabbing instead and see if it loads any faster.
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I think they could have streamlined the main menu so you don't have to wait for it to load a backdrop if you're gonna press F9 and quick-load straight away, it basically makes the loading time double... they could just have a simple scene or an image instead of a full working level!
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Add -console to the end of the path in the shortcut, that should disable the overly-intense menu.
The problem is now I cant figure out how to "use" it if its even possible.. But it does seem rather odd to put the missing block a load area away.
oh BTW
THIS GAME ROCKS!!!! Was worth the hassle waiting for al the unlocking and such. Game of the Year.. hands down.
First impressions:
Gameplay/story: I am absolutely blown away. This is about the most immersive thing I've ever played. I mean damn, Ive just thrown a fricking TV out of a window in a videogame! How cool is that?! Its early days, but I am having an absolute blast. The sound, unravelling story ( love the parallels to Nazi occupied countries ) , atmosphere, its all just totally gripping and very well done.
Graphics/engine: Im gonna go out on a limb here and be controversial. Whilst I have no real complaints about the game visually ( indeed it looks stunning for the most part on my nVidia 6800 ), I dont *quite* see how Source is the second coming of engines that we were lead to believe.
Its still 'just' a lightmapped world ( often with the big jaggy pixels that come with them ) with a character and object lighting engine thats different than the world . i.e doesn't have the lighting engine unification of say, Doom3, which leads to stuff like trees glowing where theyre lit by the sun but planted in a darkly lightmapped ground. Age old videogame lighting problems that remain unsolved basically. Surfaces are not bump mapped and normal mapped like the E3 tech demo suggested. Characters are still 'just' texture mapped polys. There are some damn nice shaders, although for the most part some stuff seems a bit too shiny, and I dont like the floor reflection that follows you around as you walk. It just doesnt behave as reflections do. I guess its an environment map hack, but I dont get why If the water reflects properly ( and it looks amazing ) that the shiny floors cant too. I dont necessarily agree that the quality of Art is absolutely immaculate. It would be hard to use that word in conjunction with HL2 stylistically anyway. Pretty much everything is photosourced, which whilst gives a nice gritty realistic feel to the world, stuff tends to look a bit messy and there are lots of swimming and stretched UV's. ( particularly on characters ). Clearly they are leaps and bounds ahead of any competition with giving realistic characters emotion. The totally static sky texture is my biggest peeve artistically. It just kinda gives you that 'oh, thats a skybox' illusion breaking sensation.
All Im saying about source is that its not doing anything really groundbreaking here tech wise other than throwing a few more polys around than previous engines. ( Im talking about the renderer. The physics is awesome ).
Dont get me wrong, this game is truly amazing. These are tiny tiny nitpicks and the game artist in me talking. Just 'stuff' that popped into my head whilst playing it. Oh yeah, that stuff would be 'first impressions' ;-p
The bar has been raised so very very high. Back to play some more!
But the game itself....
Excellent Single Player. None of the feeling of walking through a "Haunted House", like Doom 3. This game you are dropped into a situation and told bits and pieces of the story as you go along. This is the most immersive game I have playe in years. The game engine protrays a convincingly run down Eastern European City in the bright light of day. The texture work, the global Illumination and the realistic water, all morege to give one a feel of a living environment. and the NPC'syou deal with are plausible to the point of that vague creepiness you may feel around realistic mannequins. I got a crick in the neck and a healthy amount of eyestrain from playing it 3 hours straight, with no hint of how much time passed. This is a Very immersive Game. More later, including screenshots and spoilers, but this feels and plays a LOT better than somewhat dissappointing DoomIII.
Scott
Alyx: "Whaddya mean you won't take your top off?"
Doctor: "OH NO YOU DI'NT!!"
Alyx: "Whoa whoa whoa... that wasn't me who farted. Now put that thing away we got business to take care of."
Oh, has anyone else suffered sound "popping"? Like when two many sound start at once there will be a delay/repeat/pop? Im using a nforce sound system if its related.
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Someone from Valve said to try turning down your sound detail (which shouldn't have much noticeable affect on gameplay but may help stop the stuttering) or to turn down the texture detail (this will be immediately noticeable, of course). Another possible solution is to defrag your hard drive. I am still at work and haven't tried any of these yet, but I sure hope one of them works when I get home!
Oh and to note, I am not using the nforce sound system, so it shouldnt be related to that. I think they said it is most likely caused by access to the hard drive.
and the game continues to rock my face clean off.
I honestly wasnt expecting much, but hot damn, i dont even feel like im playing a game. You can really empathize with everything. Even at the start when you talk to the gaurds, and before they strike, the raise their hand in warning, like you'd do to a dog or a child (if yer into that sorta thing). There is so much life and brilliance to it all. sssiiigh.
Only thing i could do without are the load times. There was one instance where the fog color was white over the ocean, thought it should have been blue, it looked a little janky. The sound stuttering is meh, but it gives me enough time to catch my breath before diving back into Gordon's head.
and the Dog is the coolest character ever.
Generally when ive started to get bored with something, it changes the gameplay and keeps moving forward.
just gotta finish it so i can start Metroid Prime 2.