yes...

playing episode one now. seems like valve needed some of that DOOM action. stupid flashlight|

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I wish I could play it again but I get massive headaches from many of the previous era FPS'es. I remember buying it as "just another fps" to add to my collection at launch prior to all the game of the year awards and just being flabbergasted at "scripted events." My favorite being sneaking through the vents, then hearing radio chatter "we found him, he's in the vents." Bullets start tearing through the vents from afar to near, creating the only glimmers of light in the dark corridor. Also being knocked unconscious and being detained by the marines.
Aside from Xen, it's an incredible ride with too many memories to recount. The mysterious G-Man who looks from afar, yet never intervenes in the story until the climax. The initial confusion as to the hostility of the marines to fellow scientists and yourself. Friendly AI (Barney). Hostile AI (Marines).

I've been on a 2nd play through(yep, only the second) of HL2 for the past 4 weeks (school and work!) and I can ultimately decide that it does indeed overtake Doom3 as my favorite game of all time. There is an incredible amount of hidden content in this game if one chooses to explore and investigate their environment. From newspaper clippings to photographs to radio transmissions. I discovered this the other night in a building before entering the Citadel.

It's a work of art.

Episode 1, nothing much to talk about there. Aside from the introduction of commentary (easily the best part of the game), it's very empty, and a disappointment to begin "episodic content."

Episode 2, brilliance. It contained a lot of technical additions to the source engine (yeah yeah...). It was also incredibily dramatic, humorous, and emotionally tolling. Everything a game of caliber should be, yet Valve seems to have been the only company willing to take it this far, thus yet. Well, aside from the Van Gogh-type games to come out of Quantum Dream.

Well, I've written too much.


There's also an intersting video on Video Google about an hour or so long analyzing Half Life 2.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...jAw&q=hl2&emb=1

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I still have my copy of HL 1. I remember playing it for the first time and having that massive opening sequence around the lab. Crazy stuff for the time.

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I jumped into the craze around 2000, so the game had already garnered a helluva lot of praise and attention by the time I picked it up. I got the Adrenaline Pack, which included the original, plus Opposing Force (an excellent expansion), and Team Fortress Classic (fucking amazing)

The game really was a revolutionary work of art. The fact that the game really didn't have 'levels', but was really just one long quest...that was something nobody had ever really experienced before. Of course, Valve threw in the obligatory humorous chapter titles every 20 or 30 minutes of playtime, but at the surface, Half-Life is just one really long stage.

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quote:

Originally posted by CONNERMAN2000 I jumped into the craze around 2000, so the game had already garnered a helluva lot of praise and attention by the time I picked it up. I got the Adrenaline Pack, which included the original, plus Opposing Force (an excellent expansion), and Team Fortress Classic (fucking amazing) The game really was a revolutionary work of art. The fact that the game really didn't have 'levels', but was really just one long quest...that was something nobody had ever really experienced before. Of course, Valve threw in the obligatory humorous chapter titles every 20 or 30 minutes of playtime, but at the surface, Half-Life is just one really long stage.

Yep, and the load times were almost nothing so it was pretty seamless.

I used to rick TFC back in the day too.

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New Feb/March Deep, Proggy Mix...click here!
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