Tag Archive

Valve Drop Hints About Episode Three

Written by John Walker on October 14, 2008.

Valve never seem to take traditional routes for announcing new games. Their head of [Insert Appropriate Title Here], Doug Lombardi, likes to leak teeny bits of information to people when they’re least expecting it. To Kikizo, in an interview published last night, he dropped in something about Episode Three. Like you do. Apparently we could hear news about the game before the end of the year.

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TaserStick Included

Written by Jim Rossignol on September 12, 2008.

Kotaku spotted this awesome piece of homemade costume-craft up for sale on Ebay. It’s a full Half-Life 2 Combine Metrocop outfit, which apparently even has a voicebox thing to make you sound even more like the game’s grumpy evil policemen. The reason for this authenticity is that it was a prop from a short movie, “The Combine Interview”, which - along with a closer look at the item itself - I’ve linked after the jump.

It’s currently bid for at $202.

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Half-Life Wars

Written by Alec Meer on July 23, 2008.

Older and more spiteful readers may immediately be thinking “but Meer already wrote about the RTS mod for Half-Life 2 months ago. Let’s burn his house down and tell his mum that he’s rubbish.” It’s true. I did. But! Stow those Molotovs, for I thought it well worth checking back in with HL2 Wars, what with the last version I squinted at being little more than a proof of concept.

Its development’s been ongoing, and now, three of four iterations down the line, it’s really starting to come together. V0.5 was released a couple of weeks back, and saw a shift to The Orange Box evolution of the Source engine - making for ultra-pretty. It’s still very early days for the mod, but if you’re any sort of Half-Life 2ophile, you really should go look-see.
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Half-Life 2 vs Eve Online: Clear Skies

Written by Jim Rossignol on June 2, 2008.

Clear Skies isn’t anything to do with Stalker. Instead it’s an epic 40-minute piece of Eve Online machinima which uses the Source engine to provide for its voice-acted characters. Eve pilot “John Rouke” is the chap responsible. “[It's] a mix of Half Life 2 and EVE, an actual plot and acting, all put together for a 40 minute ‘pilot episode’ format film,” says Rouke. “Two years of my hard work culminated in this, I’m very proud of it and I hope you like it.”

For a quick taste you can check out the 26mb trailer. If you like that then the full 450mb episode is available here as a direct download (slowish) or here as a super-fast torrent.

To Alleviate The Waiting For Episode 3

Written by Alec Meer on December 14, 2007.

While the internet rumour mill’s been getting itself in a speculative tizz over the well-duh! revelation that there’ll be more Half-Life after Episode 3, I’ve been playing a rather good fan-made HL2 episode.
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City 7: Toronto

Written by Jim Rossignol on November 23, 2007.

This is reasonably amusing: a Half-Life 2 mod project that recreates large areas of central Toronto.

The website explains:

City 7: Toronto Conflict, is an action packed Half-Life 2 mod with a variety of unique levels and game play. Explore what has become of City 7 in areas like Dundas square, Eaton Center , Mel Lastman square, St. Michael’s Hospital and TTC system under the Combine rule. This version features Gordon Freeman as the main character, stuck in Toronto due to a teleporting accident in Kleiner’s lab. Try to escape this war torn city by finding any type of teleporting technology and send him back to City 17.

Next week: City 13 - Battle For Basingstoke.

HL2’s Ravenholm: Yours, For Free

Written by Alec Meer on November 15, 2007.

Nick sends a piece of Half-Life 2 fan-art ingenuity that’s not only awesome, but also going for free to anyone interested. Free! If only I a) lived in Minneapolis b) had an empty warehouse to keep this stuff in.

Seems a chum of his held a Ravenholm (spooky HL2 zombie level) theme party this Halloween, and now he’s not sure do to with all the gigantic and impressive props he made for it. To whit: a headcrab rocket, a stack of authentic HL2 ammo crates and eight replica buzzsaw blades.

Nice work, Nick’s friend Jarrin.

So, have a gander at the ad on Craigslist, and if you’re able to go collect this huge haul of unique Valve tribute, you know what to do. And if an RPS reader does grab this stuff, we fully expect to see what you’ve done with it, m’kay?

Half-Life 2: The RTS

Written by Alec Meer on November 7, 2007.

Really, saying Gordon Freeman toppled the Combine is like saying Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr won the war in the Pacific. Tibbets had the Enola Gay and the first Atomic bomb - Freeman had the HEV suit and the Gravity Gun. Of course he was going to win - but you can’t discount the guys who fought hard to get him to the right place at the right time.

Half-Life 2 Wars pays tribute to all those brave men and women who held off the Combine long enough for Freeman to break into Citadel 17 and randomly chuck some energy orbs at the walls. Or tribute to all those brave, er, mentally-enslaved Combine Soldiers who butchered half of humanity at the behest of a sinister alien power, depending on who you play as. Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Verdict: Half-Life 2 Episode Two

Written by John Walker on October 10, 2007.

A New Day

It’s imperative that you play another first-person shooter immediately after finishing Episode Two. Any – it doesn’t matter. Because you need to remind yourself, after the six or so hours, that games aren’t anywhere near this good. Games aren’t so precise, so damn perfectly laid out. Games don’t hide tutorial and training such that you never notice them. Games aren’t built with such ludicrous care that they never leave you lost or frustrated. But Episode 2 is these things with such an air of nonchalance, such a relaxed ease, that it’s vital to remind yourself it isn’t normal. You’ll need perspective.

It’s like a perfectly constructed sentence. You likely don’t notice a perfectly constructed sentence, just won full off mistakes. Errors and niggles stand out, well written text is absorbed. The great book’s structure sits modestly in place, letting its tale sweep you up and carry you somewhere wonderful. Videogames tend to have a nasty habit of reminding you they’re a videogame. We accept this – it’s part of the deal. When it doesn’t happen, it’s only upon reflection that you realise.

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Riot TrActors

Written by Jim Rossignol on October 6, 2007.

Inspired by the highly enjoyable Minerva, I spent a few hours this afternoon playing through Half-Life 2 mods. I was a little disappointed with the limited farming action in TractorSource, but nevertheless pleased that the ongoing intimate relationship between games and tractors continues apace. I look forward to the completed mowing add-on.

Far more satisfying was the single player Half-Life 2 mod Riot Act, which is set in Nova Prospekt at the time of Alyx and Gordon’s original hell-raising. You play as an escaped prisoner fighting his way to freedom, and fight alongside other prisoners and so forth. There’s a bit of shaky pacing and some annoyingly narrow corridors in there, but mostly the design is up to a professional standard. The scene setting visual effects as you fade in and out of consciousness in the opening moments are jolly impressive. Riot Act also boasts the third prettiest mod website I have ever seen. These chaps will soon be in gainful gaming employment, I’d wager. (If they aren’t already.)

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