Alright, it's week one of the Gaming club, wooh.
You should all be up to Black Mesa East. I'll have my own comment about my thoughts up soon, but I want your responses!
What do you think of the game! Pros? Cons? Does it hold up today?
For people who've played HL2 but not HL1: how are you getting along having not played the first game in the series?
Favorite parts so far? Let's discuss!
Well...this game still holds up. Thoughts I've had so far, in no particular order: 1. Viktor Antonov is fantastic. City 17's art direction is still amazing to this day. I don't think there has been anything quite like it since. Ok, maybe Dishonored. 2. Gordon Freeman's muteness. I still believe this to be of huge benefit to the story of the game, rather than just a old game trope. It allows you to be protagonist in a way that most games don't these days. If i can be pretentious for a second. There's no risk of ludonarrative dissonance when your character isn't spewing out sentences that you would never utter or sentiments that clash with your play style. His thoughts are your thoughts. If you think what is happening is ridiculous, futile and crazy, then so does he. You are the one free man and he is you. 3. Silence. This games does down time like no other. OK the physics puzzles might be a tad tedious, but what better way to appreciate the action when it's so effectively juxtaposed against the lack of it. So many games these days forget this. Dial it up to 11 all you want, but give the player some damn context in between the gunfire and explosions. 4. Alyx is still one of the best female characters in any video game I have played. Strong, wise, honorable and doesn't need protecting. Also, she actually knows more about the world you're in than you do, so you can't helping looking to her for advice. When she says "we don't go to ravenholm", then you know it's somewhere you don't want to be. Also, she's obviously an attractive girl but shows very little skin; imagine that. It's unfortunate that I can only think of one other example of a strong female character in a video game and that's Jade from Beyond Good and Evil. Hopefully I've just missed some games. 5. Story telling from the first person view point. I forgot this game entirely relies on relaying the story to you from the first person angle. No cutscenes required. You are Freeman, so why would the camera cut away? I think it's actually quite brave to tell a story this way, when the developer has so little agency over where the player is looking. You could easily miss half the scripted events just by looking in the wrong direction. No wonder dev's would rather take the camera off you and force you to look where they want. Also, I'd actually forgotten that not a single second passes for Freeman without you witnessing it. I remember now that Ep1 starts the very moment this games finishes. Very clever stuff. Ok, ramble over. I've had a little too much to whiskey, but I've really enjoyed picking up this classic again. Cheers for the idea!
2,5. Being mute is great, and is backed up by the lack of cutscenes or forcing you to look at things. I just wish there were a little more wiggle room in paths through mazes, and so on. A bit more agency. 4. Haven't played BG&E but hopefully Jade is as good a character as you say. That's still only two... It's not a good game review without the phrase "ludonarrative dissonance" somewhere. I largely agree with your points.
fckgwrhqq2yxrkt swedishbadgergirl psulli camarillobrillo rezzeJ delta zebra2 -I hope the gaming club goes well, it's a good idea, but I would suggest shout-outs otherwise it is very easy for posts to get missed, even when you are following the #gameclub tag.
Since we're relaxing at Black Mesa East with our new gravity gun perhaps now would be a good time to jump back just a few saves and visit this guy. It's my pleasure to introduce the All-Knowing Vortigaunt!
I had forgotten how long Water Hazard can feel, but I managed to take down the chopper in one go this time! I think the pacing is a little slower than many modern games, but that's not always a bad thing. The story takes a little longer to develop, and at first it doesn't really feel like you are affecting the world at all. I love that the game makes you think, some of the puzzles are tough, but satisfying when you solve them. The game does a great job of teaching you as you go. I love the chaos of the teleporter scene, you see important set pieces and characters, but don't really know the significance of any of them yet. Ending up right outside the lab, and having to walk anyways is pretty excellent.
"Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman" So far so good, but not my favorite game ever. I do think it is generally overrated.
Slower pace compared to most big first person affairs now. There's some time to think about what's happening and turn off instead of go-go-go. Art. Teleporters, other sciency things, headcrabs, Overwatch, and the visual characterization of NPCs are all fantastic. Best of all, everything goes together and makes sense in the world that it's a part of. Alyx. A non-oversexualized female character who just is and does what a person is and would do. It's sad that the bar for female characters is still so low a decade later, but Valve easily cleared that bar here. G-man. Mysterious, weird, supernatural, and different from most NPCs in most games. Definitely interesting. Characters in general have little ticks or are a bit neurotic (Dr. Kleiner and Lamarr) which adds life to them. Would have liked to see it on the other side.
The game is a little too explicit or guided. Sample quote: "Pick up some stuff to get through that window." When running along the rooftops fairly early on, there's only one path. There's no way to get lost, or to explore, or to take a wrong turn and be captured. Lots of games do this sort of guiding and I'm not a fan. I know it's a linear story but on rooftops I should be able to run around, trapped by dying if I fall. The semi-enclosed nature is built in, you don't need to constrict me to running on a line. The populace is in some cases openly insolent without repercussions. There is a lack of communication on both sides, which on occasion left me running from a group of soldiers with another one just standing there watching. Overwatch is dehumanized, which is alright for the nameless soldier sort of thing. However, it would be interesting to put some humanity on both sides instead of people being the good guys and featureless half-robots being evil. They become disposable, like the stormtroopers in Star Wars. Trashing minions is hackneyed gameplay (maybe not as much ten years ago, I don't know, but certainly now) and gets old fast. I much prefer the spatial puzzles. The gravity gun is by far my favorite tool. Killing is necessary to moving forward.
Screenshots from the first few minutes Any specs nerds? I guess it isn't that relevant here. Maybe if we play a more intensive game later. Highest settings ran on my laptop just fine.
Things I like:
Not so great:
Agree? DIsagree? I'd like to hear either way.