Half Life 2 Reviews

[Ardent]

Gamespot: 9.2

"When you combine the strong single-player campaign of Half-Life 2 with the popular online play of Counter-Strike, the result is one of the most complete and compelling first-person shooter packages available. While Half-Life 2 breaks little new ground, it's still a superb and engaging first-person shooter, as well as an amazing technological accomplishment."

Summary: Tons of fun, amazing graphics, disappointing story.

IGN: 9.7

"Half-Life 2 doesn't do anything particularly new; it doesn't really innovate in many ways. But what it does is set a new height for all other designers of first-person shooters to reach. It still isn't exactly perfect, but it's about as close as I've seen in my tenure here."

Summary: How do you get spooge off a monitor?

[MrHat]

Gamespot: 9.2

"When you combine the strong single-player campaign of Half-Life 2 with the popular online play of Counter-Strike, the result is one of the most complete and compelling first-person shooter packages available. While Half-Life 2 breaks little new ground, it's still a superb and engaging first-person shooter, as well as an amazing technological accomplishment."

Summary: Tons of fun, amazing graphics, disappointing story.

IGN: 9.7

"Half-Life 2 doesn't do anything particularly new; it doesn't really innovate in many ways. But what it does is set a new height for all other designers of first-person shooters to reach. It still isn't exactly perfect, but it's about as close as I've seen in my tenure here."

Summary: How do you get spooge off a monitor?

Doesn't this unlock tonight?

[schild]

1 hour.

[Comstar]

The gamespot review was pretty underwealming actually. I'll wait a bit for some reviews from someone who wasn't a screaming fanboy beforehand.

If it IS worth getting, I'd need a new PC to run it anyway, so I have plenty of time to wait.

[Kenrick]

I'd really like to be playing this game right now.

Unfortunately I was an idiot and blew my personal monthly gaming budget on Evershit 2.  Hmm... Does Santa make early deliveries?

[Shannow]

What I want to know is where are these mythical gaming stores that are open at midnight to sell new releases like halo 2, halflife 2 etc. Certainly not in the Northeast. Rocked up at an EB today as it was due to open (9am) and the guy was just getting there to unlock the store. He gave me a look of contempt and told me to come back in a cpl of hours when hes had 'time to get setup'. I told him that I would go to gamespot (not that they were open either.:P).

[schild]

I am _enjoying_ half life 2. It is very good. It is not as good as deus ex, a little better than Farcry, and nowhere near as bad as Doom 3. I will play through it and then play through Half-Life: Source. Though everything will be put on hold to play Vampire: Bloodlines as soon as I can pick it up.

[Shannow]

What settings are you running on schild and on what specs? Any problems with stutters etc?

[Soukyan]

I am _enjoying_ half life 2. It is very good. It is not as good as deus ex, a little better than Farcry, and nowhere near as bad as Doom 3. I will play through it and then play through Half-Life: Source. Though everything will be put on hold to play Vampire: Bloodlines as soon as I can pick it up.

Bloodlines... mmmmm

Can't wait to get home from work to try out HL2 though. Should be fun.

[eldaec]

Comments after a couple of hours...

Graphics are excellent throughout.
Game feels very much like playing on rails, almost to the point of being a tech demo.
Runs well enough on my AMD1900/GF4400Ti/768Mb of fun, occasional slowdown, but the defaults are set to high.
Loading message is slightly too regular and beginning to annoy.
Steam is bloody slow at starting games up.
Physics are nice. Puzzle solving does feel a bit less like simply taking abstarct elements and combining at random as a result.
No set piece has included anything I haven't seen before (in HL1) as yet, though they are all very well done.
Atmosphere is great.

[Alluvian]

Looking forward to the creations of the HL2 mod community.  Doom3 engine was pretty gimped from the start with the poor multiplayer code and an engine that is questionable in wide open spaces... has anyone made a wide open style level for doom3?  Hell, maybe it was in the original game.  I got too bored to finish it.

[WonderBrick]

Walmart sold Halo2 and Half-Life2 at midnight.  The clerks were less aware of Half-Life2, and there was no midnight crowd gathered like there was for Halo2.

I played the leaked release a year ago and it ran extremely well on my Athlon 2200+/GeForce 4 4200.  Now, there is alot more eyecandy.  I run Athlon 2200+/Geforce 5900, and I get more machine lag then I would like.  The good news is that it is only are areas that the game loads upcoming material(not the "Loading" screens itself).  I run 1gig of Corsair RAM, but a 7200RPM Maxtor HD.  Easily playable still.  By no means a beast of a game to run.  All settings on high, at 1024x768, no anti-aliasing.

[schild]

Runs decently. Particularly if you have the full steam nocd install.

On another note: We've had 1/3 the number of posts today because HL2, MGS3, and Bloodlines are out. Oh and Metroid Prime 2 for you Nintendo kiddies. Read f13 more damnit! :)

[Shannow]

Nothing to read cause no ones posting...and Im stuck at work for another 3 hours + 3 hours of 'family' time (read keeping the wife and child happy) until I can play.

damnit.

Oh yeah and talk about skimpy on the box cntents, nothning but 5 cds in paper sleeves and a 2 sided reference card. Blah.

[Soukyan]

Runs decently. Particularly if you have the full steam nocd install.

On another note: We've had 1/3 the number of posts today because HL2, MGS3, and Bloodlines are out. Oh and Metroid Prime 2 for you Nintendo kiddies. Read f13 more damnit! :)

Got Bloodlines, woo! Now... if this damn workday would only end. Hmm, which to try first, HL2 or Bloodlines?

[Ardent]

Read f13 more damnit! :)

Bloodlines review plz.

[Liquidator]

I'm eager to hear how Bloodlines turned out.  The game has held my interest  during development, but the recent screenshots and videos that I watched have looked rather dull.

[Resvrgam]

Answer: Steam.

Excuse me, I'd like to be able to play something I have spent a considerable amount of money on.

WTF?! I'd have loved to have given a review for this game but, as it stands, I've spent over an hour installing and "creating an account" just to be able to play a non-MMOG.  I can't wait 'til the German H4x0rz get a patch out for this hostile-toward-customers internet requirement.

I've spent less time downloading/installing WoW...and that's still in its Beta stage!

Here's to the downfall of the industry and to the politics/greed that ass-ramed those who still cared about it.

 

[shiznitz]

So you cannot play HL2 at all due to that error? How about if one buys a box version of the game?

[Resvrgam]

So you cannot play HL2 at all due to that error? How about if one buys a box version of the game?

This IS the retail *boxed* version of the game! :(

[Shannow]

You still have to create a steam account and verify your cd key online.
Yaynot.

[Resvrgam]

Mandatory "authentication" for a single-player game is just...wrong in so many ways.  I wonder is Valve and M$ swapped stories during their sleepovers at the Neverland Ranch?

Here's what I've been staring at for the past 2 hours:
http://www.resvrgam.com/files/invasive.jpg

Now I have to get to work and spend the next 8-12 hours thinking over the waste of cash I just blew on a SOE-esque single-player experience :(

How many instances of "steam" can you locate in this picture?  I've had viruses with less invasive qualities.

[schild]

Jesus Christ. Change that desktop theme, whore. That start menu looks like something out of the Big Book of Furry loving Elves. Or WoW. Whichever. Bleh.

Edit: Oh, and yea, a bunch of people here at work are staring at that. Man am I glad I bought it off steam.

[Samwise]

I get kind of giddy seeing all the people who refused to buy over Steam because a box is more "foolproof" or something get screwed while us early adopters get to start playing right away.  Mmmm... schadenfraude....

[Ezdaar]

So those of you who have played it a bit, is HL2 indeed the second coming of baby robot jesus?

I'm on the fence about getting it. I have heard the last levels are in Xen and the ending is underwhelming.

[Resvrgam]

I get kind of giddy seeing all the people who refused to buy over Steam because a box is more "foolproof" or something get screwed while us early adopters get to start playing right away.  Mmmm... schadenfraude....

Your compassion is very comforting.

I hope Karma isn't something you believe in :P

[Raph]

Well, mine crashes right after I select "New Game." I didn't really have many problems with Steam, though.

I suspect Steam and things like it are the future--cuts down on piracy, and allows developers to cut publishers out of the loop and make more money directly.

[pants]

Downloading from Steam doesn't stop you from having to connect to Steam every time you want to start HL2.  My ISP was down for a couple of hours last night, and I couldn't play HL2, even though I had previously connected and unlocked and all that malarkey.  Decidedly unimpressed with that - I expect it will be cracked in a day or two though.

Having said that - the game itself is beautiful from the 30-40 minutes I mucked around this morning.  And ran fine on an Athlon 2600, Radeon 9700Pro and 1 Gig ram.  1024x768, all video details high, no AF or AA though.

[Samwise]

I get kind of giddy seeing all the people who refused to buy over Steam because a box is more "foolproof" or something get screwed while us early adopters get to start playing right away.  Mmmm... schadenfraude....

Your compassion is very comforting.

I hope Karma isn't something you believe in :P

I preached the wisdom of pre-loading as much as I could, hence my conscience is clean.  :D

[MrHat]

So those of you who have played it a bit, is HL2 indeed the second coming of baby robot jesus?

I'm on the fence about getting it. I have heard the last levels are in Xen and the ending is underwhelming.

It's not the second coming of Jesus.

It is very very very fun.  Especially when you get the grav gun.

I love how they recycled a bunch of the sounds.  Others might not.  It's comforting for me.

Edit: Steam works perfect for me.

[Ironwood]

OK, been playing it for a couple of hours.  Got to the 'swift boat' bit and then it crashed and bombed me out.

NOW I CAN'T FUCKING START IT AGAIN BECAUSE STEAM IS FUCKED BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION.

THIS SUCKS.  THIS IS THE WORST IMPLEMENTATION OF SHITE I HAVE EVER WITNESSED.

REALLY SORRY TO SIT ON THE FENCE LIKE THIS BUT IT'S HORSESHIT AND I HOPE SOMEONE IS FLOGGED UNTIL THEIR RIBS SHOW FOR THIS CRAP.

The game itself is great.


Edit - I don't give a flying fuck who it works perfectly for.  It's fucked for me.

[Shockeye]

Decidedly unimpressed with that - I expect it will be cracked in a day or two though.

isonews is listing this today

According to the "release" it says their crack emulates steam.

[Zetleft]

I may have to download that, I can no longer log onto steam it seems.  Played CS source yesterday afternoon and today my account doesn't accept my username/password.  I am very pissed.

[eldaec]

Here's what I've been staring at for the past 2 hours:
http://www.resvrgam.com/files/invasive.jpg

Why, amongst only 6 other icons, do you keep a jpg of a steaming turd on your desktop?

That is really quite strange.

[Ironwood]

Well, mine crashes right after I select "New Game." I didn't really have many problems with Steam, though.

I suspect Steam and things like it are the future--cuts down on piracy, and allows developers to cut publishers out of the loop and make more money directly.

Well, as I've posted elsewhere - I've put my money down and I have a non-functioning TURD.  I will be pirating this thing first thing tomorrow so I can actually play what I paid for.

As a developer, you really ought to take note.

Don't ever do this.  It's bad enough you made SWG.