1. Stoking The Fire
This is the final nail in the coffin in terms of damning this game. I find the hardcore fans of the game to be self righteous. Forums everywhere are filled with fanboys, generally in gaming it's assumed it's all about the console wars, Xbox 360 vs Ps3 vs Wii, the one that's always left out is the PC. This has lead to what can only be described as a Small Man Complex on their part. What makes them so painful to talk to is that because they use a PC they think they're better than all the others. Now I will say this, I am by no means making a sweeping generalisation here, I play PC games and I play all the consoles, not everyone is a flamewar fanboy, I am referring to the extremes here. Anyone who takes issue with that is lying to themselves if they claim never to have seen or experienced it on this site or others. Other than the sense of superiority there is also a sense that they feel like they're owed by Valve. I admitted many times before and I will again now, Valve is messing their fanbase around, they promised more episodes more often and failed to deliver, however, petitions/emails and forum arguments isn't going to bring it around any sooner. I would like to point out a couple of things at this point in the article. I like Half Life 1 and I like Half Life: Opposing Forces, they were both great games, obviously linear, none of this invisible wall or blocked road rubbish, and they were FUN. Something I come back to a lot is the concept of fun in gaming, and how it's sometimes forgotten about. The gravity gun was fun for a bit, especially in the granted amazing Ravenholm levels, which also had the great mental priest, this one bit of praise does not make Half Life 2 a good game at all. Find a diamond in dog mess and you'll still have smelly fingers when you pull it out. I know this is going to be a hard read for some people, it's like I've just told them that their grandmother isn't all that. But please before you comment on this article or send me a tweet, just think, "the whole time I was playing that game was I having fun, or have I just forgotten all the boring bits".