Best... franchise... ever.
by AC - permalink
Picked up Half-Life 2: Episode 1 early this morning at Wal-Mart. Officially, I went to pick up a new 20-foot tie-down for Maggie the Abnormally Strong Rottweiller after she broke yet another one last night. Unofficially, I wanted this game. Bad. Good news is, it's all good news. I found a heavy-gauge lead this time, and I don't think our friendly little terror can tear this one apart. Plus, Episode 1, so far, is pretty fucking sweet.
Lately when the gaming itch hits me - which is every day - I've had a yen for the Half-Life series. I played through the Source edition of Half-Life (up to Xen, which everybody loathes for good reason) for just the second time. Once again, I kept wishing I was just playing regular old Half-Life, because the high-def pack that came with Blue Shift simply makes it look better than HL: Source, except for the water and that one part on the cliffside. I haven't let myself play Blue Shift or Opposing Force for a long time, because at some point I'm afraid I'll just get sick of them, and I love 'em too much to let that happen. So I've gone back a couple years and started a new campaign in Ghost Recon. I've said it before, but that really is an all-time classic game for me, especially when you consider its expansion packs, Desert Siege and Island Thunder. You can lose hours and hours to that game without even realizing it.
But getting back to Episode 1. First impression? Alyx is funny. And so well-realized that she seems more real than ever. Her character model and textures have been tweaked slightly, and animation is sharper, quicker, and more varied than in HL2. She flinches and shields her eyes when you shine your flashlight at her, and jokes around when there's a lull in the action. Best example is when you first run across combine-zombies and she calls them the "Zombine," then groans at her own pun. Most importantly, having her tag along very quickly stops feeling like an escort mission, and feels natural and real. I can't stress that point enough.
Although I'm only at roughly the midpoint of Episode 1, Alyx's AI and unexpected interaction has been so good that it actually feels like a co-op game. And I've never said that about any game I've ever played. I know, of course, that she won't seem as real on the second play-through, but this is a Half-Life game. There will be new things to discover.
In fact one of the reasons Half-Life 2 is in my all-time top five is the depth of exploration. The last time I played that game, and it must have been the seventh or eighth time, I found two new areas I'd never come across before in just the first couple hours of the game. The time before, I found two more. Once you know where the lulls in the action are going to be, you can take some time to walk around and explore, maybe gather some crates and barrels, stack 'em up, and see where you can get to. I love that.
Anyway, the HDR in Episode 1 really adds to the game, when compared to Half-Life 2. And I might be wrong, but there seems to have been some optimization done to it, as there seems to be a much smaller framerate hit when it's enabled when compared to Lost Coast. I inadvertantly played through the first section of the game - the part in the Citadel - with Catalyst forcing completely maxed-out settings for AA and AF, and it was still very playable. Reverting to just 8X AF and 4X AA for the next hour made the game silky smooth, even with HDR still on, though at the admittedly low res of 1024x768.
But there is one downside. After installing Episode 1 from the DVD-ROM, I had to wait several hours while I downloaded updates via Steam over dial-up. The retail package is only five days old, but apparently it's so out-of-date that Valve won't let you play it until you've downloaded several hundred MB's worth of updates. That really is irritating if, like me, you drove to a store, pulled cash out of your pocket for the game, and just want to play it already.
Additionally, the retail edition comes with no extras, other than Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Half-Life 1 Deathmatch: Source, which came with Half-Life 2 Game of the Year Edition and are available over Steam for free anyway if you have even the bare-bones HL2. And Episode 1 is short. Again, I haven't finished it yet, but I hear it's very short, even for just $20. $20 really isn't much for a brand new game, but you have to keep in mind that in the world of PC games, $20 can get you a lot if you're willing to wait. I bought GTA San Andreas on DVD, Call of Duty, Halo, Ghost Recon Gold Edition, Far Cry, and Doom 3 for $20. I got GTA Vice City and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for $10, and Unreal Tournament: 2004 Editors Choice on DVD for $15.
But those were old games. I am incurably addicted to the entire Half-Life franchise, and I needed Episode 1 now. And even after playing just half of it, Episode 1 was worth twenty bucks.
by AC - permalink
Picked up Half-Life 2: Episode 1 early this morning at Wal-Mart. Officially, I went to pick up a new 20-foot tie-down for Maggie the Abnormally Strong Rottweiller after she broke yet another one last night. Unofficially, I wanted this game. Bad. Good news is, it's all good news. I found a heavy-gauge lead this time, and I don't think our friendly little terror can tear this one apart. Plus, Episode 1, so far, is pretty fucking sweet.
Lately when the gaming itch hits me - which is every day - I've had a yen for the Half-Life series. I played through the Source edition of Half-Life (up to Xen, which everybody loathes for good reason) for just the second time. Once again, I kept wishing I was just playing regular old Half-Life, because the high-def pack that came with Blue Shift simply makes it look better than HL: Source, except for the water and that one part on the cliffside. I haven't let myself play Blue Shift or Opposing Force for a long time, because at some point I'm afraid I'll just get sick of them, and I love 'em too much to let that happen. So I've gone back a couple years and started a new campaign in Ghost Recon. I've said it before, but that really is an all-time classic game for me, especially when you consider its expansion packs, Desert Siege and Island Thunder. You can lose hours and hours to that game without even realizing it.
But getting back to Episode 1. First impression? Alyx is funny. And so well-realized that she seems more real than ever. Her character model and textures have been tweaked slightly, and animation is sharper, quicker, and more varied than in HL2. She flinches and shields her eyes when you shine your flashlight at her, and jokes around when there's a lull in the action. Best example is when you first run across combine-zombies and she calls them the "Zombine," then groans at her own pun. Most importantly, having her tag along very quickly stops feeling like an escort mission, and feels natural and real. I can't stress that point enough.
Although I'm only at roughly the midpoint of Episode 1, Alyx's AI and unexpected interaction has been so good that it actually feels like a co-op game. And I've never said that about any game I've ever played. I know, of course, that she won't seem as real on the second play-through, but this is a Half-Life game. There will be new things to discover.
In fact one of the reasons Half-Life 2 is in my all-time top five is the depth of exploration. The last time I played that game, and it must have been the seventh or eighth time, I found two new areas I'd never come across before in just the first couple hours of the game. The time before, I found two more. Once you know where the lulls in the action are going to be, you can take some time to walk around and explore, maybe gather some crates and barrels, stack 'em up, and see where you can get to. I love that.
Anyway, the HDR in Episode 1 really adds to the game, when compared to Half-Life 2. And I might be wrong, but there seems to have been some optimization done to it, as there seems to be a much smaller framerate hit when it's enabled when compared to Lost Coast. I inadvertantly played through the first section of the game - the part in the Citadel - with Catalyst forcing completely maxed-out settings for AA and AF, and it was still very playable. Reverting to just 8X AF and 4X AA for the next hour made the game silky smooth, even with HDR still on, though at the admittedly low res of 1024x768.
But there is one downside. After installing Episode 1 from the DVD-ROM, I had to wait several hours while I downloaded updates via Steam over dial-up. The retail package is only five days old, but apparently it's so out-of-date that Valve won't let you play it until you've downloaded several hundred MB's worth of updates. That really is irritating if, like me, you drove to a store, pulled cash out of your pocket for the game, and just want to play it already.
Additionally, the retail edition comes with no extras, other than Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Half-Life 1 Deathmatch: Source, which came with Half-Life 2 Game of the Year Edition and are available over Steam for free anyway if you have even the bare-bones HL2. And Episode 1 is short. Again, I haven't finished it yet, but I hear it's very short, even for just $20. $20 really isn't much for a brand new game, but you have to keep in mind that in the world of PC games, $20 can get you a lot if you're willing to wait. I bought GTA San Andreas on DVD, Call of Duty, Halo, Ghost Recon Gold Edition, Far Cry, and Doom 3 for $20. I got GTA Vice City and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for $10, and Unreal Tournament: 2004 Editors Choice on DVD for $15.
But those were old games. I am incurably addicted to the entire Half-Life franchise, and I needed Episode 1 now. And even after playing just half of it, Episode 1 was worth twenty bucks.
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