Re: Half-Life 3 Confirmed! For real!

On Thu, 07 Nov 2024 02:22:39 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, 6 Nov 2024 10:18:17 +0000, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, JAB
wrote:

>

On 05/11/2024 16:00, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Oh, don't mistake me. I generally enjoyed the games overall. But some
are definitely better than others. The original "Half Life" stands
tall amongst its peers; "Half Life 2", not so much. "Black Mesa" and
the various expansions are somewhere in between.
 
But if you're new to the franchise and therefore have no nostalgia or
connection to the series? It'd be hard for me to recommend HL2, for
instance. Compared to modern titles (and even some of its
contemporaries) it doesn't really stand out. The original "Half Life"
was revolutionary and deserves a play-through. The latter games rely
heavily on that influence to make them worth playing.
 
TL;DR: we all should go replay the original "Half Life" now. ?

>
I think they did a good job with Black Mesa as instead of trying to just
replicate HL:1 in the source engine they instead went for keep the
essence of it but tighten up some of the levels and also remove some of
the more frustrating aspects (jumping anyone?). On a Rail no longer
drags and the finale of Blast Pit isn't an exercise in quick save/reload
until you finish it.
>
HL:2 obviously didn't standout as much as HL:1 but I still think it's a
good example of how giving levels a different feel keeps the interest
going. Another more minor aspect I like about it is how it's a tutorial
through play instead of press this key messages. Who didn't like getting
used to the gravity gun by playing fetch with dog?

>

IMO, HL2 put its graphics so far ahead of level design that levels were
extremely limited and it became essentially a corridor shooter, with a
few open levels that didn't go anywhere except to another corridor.

>

It was very impressive to look at, at the time, but the gameplay was wash
rinse repeat. So it aged very poorly.

>
I enjoyed HL2 and its episodes. I remember buying The Orange Box from my
local Best Buy during Thanksgiving week. I wasn't planning to play TF2
and Portal 1. Oops, those games were good too! Great package.

Orange Box definitely redeemed "Half Life 2" for me.  The original HL2
was... average. Valve's insistence on keeping Gordon Freeman as a
silent protagonist really ruined the immersion for me; 12 hours of
wandering around a new world and the guy never once asks, "hey, what
the FUCK is going on"? Valve bit too deeply into the idea of
'immersive storytelling' and forgot to make a story worth telling. As
mentioned above, a lot of effort was put into the visuals, but even on
release the game wasn't head-and-shoulders better than its
competitors; it was top-tier, sure, but it didn't wow me anymore than
other AAA of the era did.* And that advantage very quickly erode as
months -and newer games- came and went.**

The game undeniably had some spectacle; when you exited the train
station at the start and saw the city unfold before you... that was
quite a moment. Or the almost surreal environs of the alien tower at
the end*** had a lot to look at. But there was an equal amount of
_dull_ visuals in the game too. That endless boat chase, clambering
about a bridge so shrouded in FPS-saving fog you couldn't see the
other end, the tedious level design of the prison. It didn't help that
"Half Life 2" (and the industry in general) was caught up in the 'real
is brown' phase of 3D graphics, and everything seemed to be cast in a
terrible shade of beige.

"Doom 3" was so pitch-black that you couldn't SEE half of its levels,
and it still impressed me a lot more with its visual design.

Episode 1 was just... boring. It was more of the same; uninteresting
levels and a story that really went nowhere. It felt like filler
material cut from the main game and rapidly scraped together to make
an expansion pack.

But "Episode 2" was different. For one thing, we started seeing the
color green again. We were done with dun! And there was actual drama;
heck, there was actual character interaction! World design is
important, but you then need PEOPLE to make the world come alive, and
that's something HL1 and EP1 sorely lacked. The level design was still
somewhat humdrum, and the combat fairly average, but the stakes felt
higher because there was more to the game than 'just shoot baddies
because that's what you do in these games'.

And then Valve rounded out the Orange Box experience with "Portal" and
"Team Fortress 2". It's true; the latter took up very little of my
time, but you can see the best of Valve in that game; the focus on the
little things like character silhouettes and the gentle balance
between the various classes. Nothing more needs be said about
"Portal"; it's earned all its praise. The entire Orange Box was a
package that hit waaaay above its weight class.


* except maybe the water effects. Half Life 2 had some excellent water
effects.
** In fairness, Valve did continually update the Source engine and
backported those changes to "Half Life 2", which helped keep it
competitive for some years
*** it's been so long since I really gave a damn about the series I
can't be bothered to remember any of the official names of these
places ;-)