3. Oh I Didn’t Realise You Had A Physics Engine
Valve we get it, you did good, pat on head and all that jazz. Having a physics puzzle is meant to draw you into the world more, it’s there to make you think “If this was real life what would I pick up and move” and well done Valve you nailed it. There’s a set of levels based around a canal, you have to get around on an air boat, a form of transport that is loud and boring in real life, let alone in this game. At one point you have to duck under the water to grab barrel and push them into a cage, which in turn raises a ramp for you to use to fly over a fence that’s blocking your path. The reason I bring up the realism of this puzzle isn’t for the floating barrels or physics of the jump, it’s because as I would have in real life I looked at it and thought “Oh for Christ sake, screw that” and walked away for a long time.
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14 Comments
BLASPHEMY! You’re in the minority amongst game buffs, fans and those who know a good video game when it hits them in the face, so it’s more than likely that you’re wrong. Which is impossible, really, because you can’t be wrong on a subjective matter. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course — I just can’t believe you thought it was boring, though.
I disagree with you on every single point. Call me a cynic, but I suspect that perhaps you are posting “controversial” things in the hope of getting hits on your articles.
Assuming that you actually aren’t being disingenuous, I’ll just say that the fact that you don’t care for it doen’t mean that the rest of us are just poor, blind fools who have somehow managed to delude ourselves into thinking we are having fun. It doesn’t mean that you are enlightened and the rest of us are just slogging around, unable to understand that we aren’t actually having fun after all.
Even after all this time, HL2 still holds up….For me, at least. It’s an amazing game, and I can honestly say I’ve never been bored by it. Well, that’s how opinions are, eh? There’s no accounting for taste.
obvious flamebait is obvious.
Saying a game isn’t enjoyable because the graphics aren’t up to your standards, is like saying a movie from the 80′s can’t be enjoyed because it looks grainy. Silly.
Genuinely shocking to think anyone can dislike such a well crafted game. Half Life 2 is one of the the few games I’ll regularly replay and continue to enjoy. Forget Portal, HL2 is Valve’s crowning achievment.
I guess you are just plain wrong.
Half-Life 1 was a classic. I always come back to it. I never come back to Half-Life 2.
If he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it. If I had to guess, i’d say you’re one of those people, that simply because there is a bandwagon, you were determined to not enjoy the game, and succeeded due to your own negative outlook. Your loss.
This seems fair. I still haven’t finished episode2. I just keep getting bored with it.
This game is amazing. Yes, it has a physics engine, and it’s fun as hell. I love pulling things off ledges, breaking box’s, throwing things at enemies. I don’t think it was over used at all. This game is also very creative. It does things no other shooters have done.
I agree that freeman shouldn’t be on the best characters lists – he isn’t a character. But thats the ‘best character list’ maker’s fault, not the game’s. I love the feeling of playing this odd, disconnected character who is dictated by everyone around him – he isn’t a character, but thats whats so amazing about it. This weird, absent, kind of asperges guy … not interesting as a person, but thats not the point. It’s interesting because of what it does to the gameplay.
He doesn’t speak because they intended for the player to feel like hes just a average guy, doing his job, the glasses were just to make him look more science-y
I am not trying to be a troll, but I agree with him. I will say that point 3 is a trivial complaint, graphics should have little place in judging a game. He is not attacking gaming, he just doesn’t like the game. Half-Life 2′s popularity seems bandwagon, and Valve travelling the vaporware path should not be defended.
A couple of years ago I may have gotten upset or tried to set you straight on what I consider to be a great game, and probably MY favorite of all time. However, I realize people have different opinions and no one can be wrong if it’s a subjective opinion. Eye of the beholder and what not. However, when it is acclaimed by so many, can we really be wrong? Oh crap, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is like the fifth highest grossing movie so I guess I can’t use popularity as an argument. Plus, I didn’t really care for Citizen Kane all that much.
P.S. I didn’t play HL and HL2 until 2006 and I came in with little to no knowledge of the games. At the time I was big into Halo 2 and really looking forward to Halo 3. Then my friend had me try out HL2 and it’s been a love affair ever since. So no bandwagon for me.