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  1. Member 888888's Avatar
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    Jan 2004
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    I am not a huge gamer but I do subscribe to PC Gamer and like to read their reviews. They gave Half Life 2 an incredibly good review and virtually stated that it was the best game ever made. Not one to wait on lines to get something when it comes out, I took my sweet time and only got a chance to play it yesterday. I never played Half Life 1 btw.

    Anyway, I am a little bit... disappointed. I am currently well into chapeter 4: the "Water Hazard" level and frankly, I don't see what the big deal is.

    The game is a mix of easy though sometimes confusing puzzles and almost "shooting gallery" style FPS. I am not a puzzler so maybe that's why anything with cranks and switches immedietly reminds me of Myst-style boringness.

    The enviroment did not feel as "immersive" as people claim and the shoot-puzzle-shoot gameplay was jarring and quickly became tedious. But I only played up to the 4th level you say? Well, that's the problem, I don't really feel like playing more!

    The game ran pretty smoothly at 800x600 with high detail on my system and I would have kept it at 1024x768 if not for the slowdown experienced at very busy times. The graphics are nice. That said, I don't think they are that nice. Unfortunatly, the fact is that making something like a dark metallic hallway or a moon-base look good on a computer is easier than something more realistic like a cardboard box. That is why IMO Doom 3 or even Unreal Tournament 2004 is much more pleasing to the eye. I thought Doom 3's graphics were better in general too.

    I have been playing Unreal Tournament 2004's single player campaign a lot these last few weeks (as well as getting my ass kicked in multiplayer). I think UT2004 is an awesome game even in single-player and is more fun and more engaging than Half-Life 2.

    So there's my review of Half-Life 2. Definitely NOT one of the best games of all time. Civ3 probably deserves that prize. Or Fallout2 if it wasn't so buggy.

    BTW, I would give Half-Life 2 a thumbs down just for STEAM. I don't like the idea of "authenticating" software and prefer not to ever have such "spyware" like STEAM on my PC.

    What do you guys think of Half Life 2 now that it's been out for months?
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  2. Member Grimey's Avatar
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    Half-Life 2 is by far the best game i have ever played. i finished it already on medium, now i'm playing it again on hard and i'm almost finished it again.

    I'll admit the graphics aren't as good as i was expecting considering the game took 6 years do develop, however i do have most of the visual options set to about medium quality so the game will run on my computer. thats my only beef with the game, is the absurd system requirement needed to run the game, let alone make it look good.

    the games environment is completely immersive and amazing to play in. theres something about the physical layout that makes it easy to know where to go, but not painfully obvious. it's a perfect balance. Oh, and 888888, I can tell you with confidence that the game gets infinitely better farther on.

    The story of the game is partly what makes it so amazing. and it just keeps getting better.

    I highly recommend this game to everyone(everyone who has a computer that can run it that is). It is by far the best game i've ever played.
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  3. I'm not a big gamer either, and was a little disappointed with HL2, especially since HL1 was the last game I really liked. However, I found that as it progresses it does get better. It's a long game, just like the first one, so don't give up on it yet....
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  4. Member shelbyGT's Avatar
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    The game that still gets about 75% of my game time dedicated to it is Day of Defeat, still on the original HL1 engine.

    It's just so damned fun.
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  5. I played 1hr of HLF2 and then went back to my game of pong...
    SmileSmile
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  6. Member
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    Apr 2004
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    You've got to remember that the default level of difficulty is easy, turn it up and watch things get a tad bit harder. You've got alot ahead of you, have fun. :P
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  7. Originally Posted by shelbyGT
    The game that still gets about 75% of my game time dedicated to it is Day of Defeat, still on the original HL1 engine.
    But the original HL1 engine was actually based on the Quake 2 engine!

    But anyway, I have been playing it for a few days now, and I think it is great! Graphics not quite as good as Doom3, but runs much smoother on my system. Gameplay is more fun. HL2 is Puzzle-fight-puzzle whereas Doom3 is fight-fight-fight. The story is progressing nicely and it is simply a fun game!

    As for the Steam system, yep, this is a pain in the A** and will put me off any future games using this or similiar systems. Not only do you use it to authenticate the game on installation and each time you play, it forces updates on you and even advertising! If the game was not so good I would have asked for my money back. Valve really need to think again about this.
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary...
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  8. I read somewhere that you can play in offline mode and Steam won't load (if memory serves)....
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  9. Member gooberguy's Avatar
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    May 2003
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    Is even single player HL2 online? If it is it really sucks for us dial up users that like the phone. Steam Really Sucks and if it wasnt for cs i woudnt use it.
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  10. Member 888888's Avatar
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    BTW, I have also been playing Doom 3. Although I have to turn down practically all the graphical settings to make it playable, IMO it is still awesome! A very pleasant surprise really.

    I believe Doom 3 is extremely well designed, geniunly scary and immersive, and graphically and aurally amazing. I am enjoying it very much. My only wish is that I could run it better on my current hardware.

    Anyway, anybody else think Doom 3 rocks? And is... better than HL2!
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