<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>Had the chance tonight to get onto Steam and have my preloaded files 'unlocked' so that i can play the game. All in all, the Steam thing was a good experience, i didnt mind buying the game through this method. Since nothing messed up, i am completely satisfied. In a few years when i upgrade my whole computer it will be interesting to see what i am allowed to do to continue playing games off of Steam. Because, if it is as simple as DL'ing Steam, logging in, and then playing, what prevents people from logging into Steam at their friends houses and DL'ing HL2 for them? Maybe you are allowed, but you cant be logged into your user name twice?... Not a bad control i suppose.
The beginning of the game so far is heavy on the story, which is fine by me (i'm about 2 hours in). I'm always a fan of story, but i could see some pre-teen getting annoyed at not being allowed to simply run and gun. The first half hour to an hour of the game you dont get anything and yet are still being chased by guards with pistols, it is pretty intense. When you finally get a gun, they, of course, die by 2 or 4 shots and you can take a hundred, but thats a typical game world for you.
The load times between areas is a little longer than what i remember from HL1. Sometimes it can break the mood. If you are running around with some 'mood' music playing only to have it stop for a full 2 minutes while the next area loads you quickly lose that mood. Like in HL1, though, they place the loads in non-intense places like stairwells. You wont be in the middle of shooting a guy and suddenly have the game pause to load, luckily.
Oh yeah, the game itself looks very pretty. I dont have a monster comp or anything, but i can play with the settings on med/high (but no AA). Like the first HL, HL2 seperates itself from the pack with some amazing graphics. The water effects and reflects alone make you appreciate the hard work that was put into this game.
One major gripe... there is no multiplayer. HL2 looks to be a standalone single player game, so it better be relatively long and worth it. I think Valve is banking on CS:Source being its muliplayer, or on the mod community to start their own. If you bought the silver package from Steam, you will also get DoD:Source and HL1 Deathmatch:Source to try and satisfy your fragging needs. In case you dont know, these are the original games remade with the HL2 graphic engines, hence the Source after the title. I dont know if it will be enough, though, people REALLY want an official HL2 deathmatch option.
Official conclusion is yet to be determined, but this is the most fun i have had with a game in a while. It seems like the last few titles i have bought for the CPU or PS2 have not grabbed my attention, but i know i will finish this game for sure. I think Valve has kept with what they origianlly created, which is a very polished and exciting single player FPS experience. Valve, obviously, doesnt try to cater to both sides and make a half ass crappy single player game with the MP option right out of the box. Like with HL1, they would prefer to make an amazing game by itself and let the people and the game itself morph into a good MP later. I do think we'll see a HL2 deathmatch game in the not so distant future.</div>
The beginning of the game so far is heavy on the story, which is fine by me (i'm about 2 hours in). I'm always a fan of story, but i could see some pre-teen getting annoyed at not being allowed to simply run and gun. The first half hour to an hour of the game you dont get anything and yet are still being chased by guards with pistols, it is pretty intense. When you finally get a gun, they, of course, die by 2 or 4 shots and you can take a hundred, but thats a typical game world for you.
The load times between areas is a little longer than what i remember from HL1. Sometimes it can break the mood. If you are running around with some 'mood' music playing only to have it stop for a full 2 minutes while the next area loads you quickly lose that mood. Like in HL1, though, they place the loads in non-intense places like stairwells. You wont be in the middle of shooting a guy and suddenly have the game pause to load, luckily.
Oh yeah, the game itself looks very pretty. I dont have a monster comp or anything, but i can play with the settings on med/high (but no AA). Like the first HL, HL2 seperates itself from the pack with some amazing graphics. The water effects and reflects alone make you appreciate the hard work that was put into this game.
One major gripe... there is no multiplayer. HL2 looks to be a standalone single player game, so it better be relatively long and worth it. I think Valve is banking on CS:Source being its muliplayer, or on the mod community to start their own. If you bought the silver package from Steam, you will also get DoD:Source and HL1 Deathmatch:Source to try and satisfy your fragging needs. In case you dont know, these are the original games remade with the HL2 graphic engines, hence the Source after the title. I dont know if it will be enough, though, people REALLY want an official HL2 deathmatch option.
Official conclusion is yet to be determined, but this is the most fun i have had with a game in a while. It seems like the last few titles i have bought for the CPU or PS2 have not grabbed my attention, but i know i will finish this game for sure. I think Valve has kept with what they origianlly created, which is a very polished and exciting single player FPS experience. Valve, obviously, doesnt try to cater to both sides and make a half ass crappy single player game with the MP option right out of the box. Like with HL1, they would prefer to make an amazing game by itself and let the people and the game itself morph into a good MP later. I do think we'll see a HL2 deathmatch game in the not so distant future.</div>
