Comments on: RPS Advent Game-o-Calendar: December 16th

By: PleasingFungus

PleasingFungus — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:45:10 +0000

Dr. Snofeld: That behavior actually caused me a bit of grief. I was playing through the battle, trying for the “all buildings saved” achievement, and must have tried a dozen times to drive fast enough to get to a building before the Strider hit it. When I realized that it was waiting for me, I thought about loading an earlier save, but gave up.

Still neat, though. Snazzy blue death-beam.

By: Dr Snofeld

Dr Snofeld — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:20:25 +0000

Lots of neat little touches mentioned in the comentary. For example, apparently in the final battle once the Striders reach the buildings they wait to destroy them until you can see them. Which shows some pretty deep thought on Valve’s part. Apart from it looking so cool, it means you don’t suddenly hit a GAME OVER for seemingly no reason.

By: danny

danny — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:01:11 +0000

stick – actually, i kind of hope she won’t do it if i replay it and go looking for it.

By: The_B

The_B — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:13:32 +0000

I would take offence at using CoD4 as a bad example. As it does do some things very right. Just in a different way to HL2.

By: Stick

Stick — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:49:51 +0000

danny – oh yes, the wink. That had me practically burst my face with grinning. Darn it. Must replay now.

By: Nallen

Nallen — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:47:38 +0000

Serious question to the people who post after every FPS topic saying ‘it’s okay but it’s not great’. If you’ve posted saying you don’t really rate Bioshock, Half-Life 2 and Crysis what the hell does push your buttons?

I’m going to take a guess and say the responses will be F.E.A.R: G.E.N.E.R.I.C. C.O.R.R.I.D.O.R. or Call of Duty 4: Onrails Warfare. Please prove me wrong.

By: danny

danny — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:46:37 +0000

Once you get into the open with the car, right after “Under the Radar”, look at Alyx.

She winks at you, and you just know she’s telling you to put your foot down.

That one moment made the whole game worthwhile.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:40:55 +0000

people often talk exposition a lot more with half life than other games, which in itself is a good thing I’m thinking.

By: The_B

The_B — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:19:48 +0000

I don’t think it’s a case of them taking two episodes to make the story enjoyable, but I think Ep2 makes it a bit more obvious and in your face than the previous two.

By: Garth

Garth — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:57:20 +0000

Dunno how I missed this, but:
“On a more on topic note, I really liked Episode Two and Episode One, but for entirely different reasons. And I think those that were criticisng the way exposition is done in HL2 probably need to play Ep2 to really understand a lot of the reasons why people like the HL2 story.”

I’ll skip over the obvious ‘if it took them two expansions to make the story enjoyable…’ argument and just point out that the criticism is generally that it’s good, but not great. And I think that is the perfect description of the Half-Life story.

By: Garth

Garth — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:55:23 +0000

“I always thought HL2 was overhyped, good game but not a masterpiece. But both Ep 1 and 2 improves the style of game which began HL2.”

This pretty much sums up how I feel.

I agree with the ant-lion sentiment, and underline/highlight/embolden the request for less rails, more open.

By: The_B

The_B — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:43:05 +0000

So where did the window go? I know, I’m being anal, but it looks weird without it. Plus I think Jim deserves an ON NOM NOM NOM :(

On a more on topic note, I really liked Episode Two and Episode One, but for entirely different reasons. And I think those that were criticisng the way exposition is done in HL2 probably need to play Ep2 to really understand a lot of the reasons why people like the HL2 story.