On Half-Life 2 [Mar 15, 2003, 1:50 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
German gaming site Gamestar.de
(thanks HalfLife.de) has an article up
(translatable by Babel Fish)
speculating that Valve plans on releasing Half-Life 2 by the end of this year.
Supporting their theory that the game of the year sequel is more imminent than
the lack of updates on its progress would indicate are hints they've
uncovered in an NVIDIA conference call, quotes from an ATI press release, and a
comment from Valve's own Robin Walker.
...Freeman can lose the Long Jump Module.
My inner skeptic expects the designers to utterly forget what made Half-Life work so well--a seamless experience that never once took the gamer out from behind the eyes of Gordon Freeman. Cutscenes? No such beast, any plot twists you saw and heard yourself. Keycard and switch puzzles? Yes, they were present, but incorporated into the environment itself (the "blue keycard" consisted of Barney Guard or Joe Scientist; the switches did something more entertaining than just opening up the next map). The illusory seamlessness of the base was the real winner, though--throughout, there was a constant sense of progress, of going somewhere. (Which baby and bathwater went sailing out the window when you got sent off to Xen, but you can't win em all.)
But I don't expect them to keep that in mind. Mainly, I expect the seamless environment to go out the window right from the beginning this time. Picture Xen, only multiple times spread throughout the whole game, breaking up the entire immersion. Here's Gordon teleported into badly-lit alien sewers. Here's a cutscene with Gordon exchanging stilted dialogue with The Administrator. Here's Gordon telporting into a generic urban level. Here's Gordon teleporting in an organic alien bit of Xen again. Here's...and so on.
My inner skeptic is well-nourished, with rippling thews of steroid-packed muscle.
My inner skeptic expects the designers to utterly forget what made Half-Life work so well--a seamless experience that never once took the gamer out from behind the eyes of Gordon Freeman. Cutscenes? No such beast, any plot twists you saw and heard yourself. Keycard and switch puzzles? Yes, they were present, but incorporated into the environment itself (the "blue keycard" consisted of Barney Guard or Joe Scientist; the switches did something more entertaining than just opening up the next map). The illusory seamlessness of the base was the real winner, though--throughout, there was a constant sense of progress, of going somewhere. (Which baby and bathwater went sailing out the window when you got sent off to Xen, but you can't win em all.)
But I don't expect them to keep that in mind. Mainly, I expect the seamless environment to go out the window right from the beginning this time. Picture Xen, only multiple times spread throughout the whole game, breaking up the entire immersion. Here's Gordon teleported into badly-lit alien sewers. Here's a cutscene with Gordon exchanging stilted dialogue with The Administrator. Here's Gordon telporting into a generic urban level. Here's Gordon teleporting in an organic alien bit of Xen again. Here's...and so on.
My inner skeptic is well-nourished, with rippling thews of steroid-packed muscle.
Date
Subject
Author
Copyright © 1996-2025 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2025 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 19 July 2025, 21:11.