Well I bought the first episode about a month ago for $10. I played it on on and off for about four and a half hours, where each gaming session was forced. This was a month ago, and I have been putting the game off since. Tonight I motivated myself to play again, as I was curious as to how it would look on my 22'' widescreen. Well after about thirty minutes of fairly decent gaming, I reached a very exciting sequence where I had to take down a badass tripod. And I did and the game ended all of a sudden.
To be honest I was secretly hoping for the game to end abruptly when it did. In fact it was a huge relief.
Don't get me wrong, as far as expansions go it was more than decent. The gameplay was innovative, and unique. In terms of development effort, I'd rate this higher than the F.E.A.R. expansion, the Doom III expansion (which was as much fun as being made love to in the ear with a screwdriver), and most other shooter expansions of late. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed this more than the F.E.A.R. expansion. But it has more to do with how HL2 has aged rather than the quality of the expansion.
Also I think Valve reacted to a common complaint in an obvious way. While many considered HL2 to be a masterpiece, even the most die hard fans felt that aside from characters like Alyx and D.O.G., the game lacked heart. So Valve decided to fix that in Ep 1.
How did they try to fix that you ask?
Did they introduce compelling new characters?
No.
Did they make the struggling inhabitants of the world appear more human and vulnerable, ala the desperate sobbing woman being comforted -- in the apartment chase sequence -- early on in HL2?
No.
Did they give us a lot more of D.O.G.?
Not really.
Did they further the storyline any and answer any questions?
Nope. Basically their solution was to give us a lot of Alyx, which was probably a smart move. In HL2 she was made to be warm, intelligent and very human. The fans saw her as one of the few shining lights, so Valve made her your constant companion in episode 1. For the most part it turned out to be a solid decision, as her AI is excellent and you hardly notice her during combat since she holds her own.
In fact early in the game there was a really scary sequence where you were alone in the dark surrounded by fast moving zombies with Alyx at your side. It was frightening because you had only one limited source of light, which Alyx was relying on as well. It was a scary and well designed bit, and was tense because the zombies would attack you whenever your light was recharging. In the middle of it all I suddenly heard a growl from behind me and almost jumped. When I turned around it was Alyx shouting "Gotcha." While it may have been cheesy, it made her character feel real. Later from time to time she would choose to tell a lame joke, and was very humanly self conscious about her poor delivery.
I just think the whole desolate City 17 thing wasn't well established at all. It would have done wonders for the atmosphere to have desperate looking people trying to survive.
The opening thirty minutes of the expansion I found really hard to get through, since you are basically thrown back into the tower and are forced to use the super charged gravity gun again. While the super charged gravity gun is exciting initially, it wears thin fast. Going back into the tower was really disappointing for me, because it made me feel like the story was put back into reverse gear.
The game picked up a fair bit after destroying the tower. There were some clever sequences in the game once into the heart of City 17. When you finally hooked up with Barney again, you learned of a plan to escape with refugees on a train leaving the city.
Unfortunately I felt like I was pushing myself through the expansion. The reason is I find the Half-life 2 engine to be bloody annoying now. Games have evolved a lot since HL2, with titles like F.E.A.R., R6:Vegas, Gears of War etc making combat far more exciting.
I really hate the weapons in HL2, and find them to be some of the worst in the world of shooters. The assault rifles are so useless, it isn't even funny. And combat seems to have very little impact. Each weapon feels like a paint ball gun. Compared to the wonderfully violent firefights of F.E.A.R., this felt very flat, very retro, and very boring.
I also find it disgusting that it takes forever to select a weapon with the mouse wheel. The weapons switch very slowly once selected, and the issue is compounded by the ridiculous weapon switch menu. Plus each number key corresponds to two weapons, which is ANNOYING. By the time you find the weapon you want, you are DEAD.
Then there are the sound effects. Seriously if I hear another EEFFFIIIXXXXXX from a health stations I will cry. Why the hell did they think it would be a good idea to use all the sound effects from the HL1 engine? The sound effects in this game are atrocious! Valve should be ashamed! Some of the sound effects feel like they are from the days of Atari and are just annoying. They just take you out of the game.
So yea, I forced myself through much of this. And while I think they put together a fairly decent expansion, I think this engine has outstayed its welcome.
When I read about Ep2 being delayed, I wondered what the hell. Most successful shooters get one expansion if they are lucky. Games like Prey, Quake IV didn't get expansions, while a better game like F.E.A.R. can't manage more than one.
They honestly think they can squeeze not one, not two, but THREE EXPANSIONS out of this engine? And then they keep delaying the expansions, which just makes the tech look worse.
By the time Ep3 comes out, it will look and feel like a
joke. Ep1 already had its share of excruciatingly painful moments. Other games like F.E.A.R. follow the natural order of things and stick to one expansion at most. The funny thing is that F.E.A.R. came out well after HL2, yet Monolith realized the game would outstay its welcome beyond one expansion.
Meanwhile Valve are resting on their asses and making this old lady of an engine do push ups.
And let's
not sugar coat these expansions by calling them
episodes, shall we? I think Valve should have released one ten hour expansion that wrapped the story up, and then should have started working on the next engine.
