Half-Life 2 Impressions (Possible Spoilers)

[Caine]

damn, stuck at 63%  come on, hurry up

hey, which one of us will be the first one to crack and actually post impressions?  everyone will be busy playing the game

[lildrgn]

Enjoy!

Peace out!

[Calvin]

I am done. Booting up the game now.

[Ascendent]

I to have jumped from 82 to 99. I shall return with actual impressions before I lapse into a coma in a few hours.

Ascendent

[weeskwee]

that screenshot shows half life source as available. is it true?! sweet!

mines at 82% too. i think it will jump to 99% as well. goodnight all!

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

82->99!

Back to mining in EQ2!

[Xmann]

ok i cant get the dl to start, anyone else?

[disarm]

ok i cant get the dl to start, anyone else?

try shutting down Steam and restarting...did the trick for me, and my d/l just finished!

i'm going in...have fun guys!

[TheOneWhoStoodUp]

Herius Julius stood in the city square of Cyrene, looking at the piles of corpses around him.  It had been a fierce battle, taking back this city from the Egyptians in the name of Rome... but it had been a glorious one.  Both armies about 1,800 strong, it must have been a battle to behold from afar.
   As he took off his helmet, he looked to the sky.
"Shit!  I wasted more than enough time!  Half Life 2 is open for unlocking!!"
   

   I promptly shut down R:TW and restarted Steam.  46%.

[Caine]

damn, it does take a while to go from 82-99.  and then done.  all done.  see you later

[Calvin]

Ok, the game sure looks pretty, but that is just my impression from the menu while I set up my options  :twisted: Now to bed, and not to play until 7pm at the earliest tomorrow!!   :evil:

Enjoy all, and remember, keep this thread spoiler free.

[Xmann]

wohoo, i'm almost there now, thanks disarm

[lildrgn]

Here's my 5 minute spoiler free impression:



 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

[Scoop20906]

I can't believe this. I'm unlocked and Half-Life 2 won't run. The damn program isn't verifying the CD. It just starts and them shuts itself down without an options screen or anything!!!

For cripes sakes, what was the point of unlocking it if it has to check for the CD? I had the same problem with Tron 2.0 and eventually had to download a cracked EXE.

Am I screwed? Anyone else having this problem?

[Kagath]

Woohoo! Pulling down 1.6Mbps for a little bit. Only at 67% though. Booo  

[Hetz]

Heh, my wife just woke me up to hold our newborn for a bit while she took care of something...so of course I went straight to the computer room and started my unlocking....

No playing for me until morning (I'm going back to bed now), but at least I unlocked it!

[warning]

I just woke up, restarted that bad boy and am currently at 38%.  Gah!

[weeskwee]

i'm off to bed. i'll say this... WOW!!! that was just like how i felt about the first time playing part 1, and this one has the best graphics i have ever seen.

[jessie]

ok, played for an hour.  

the facial expressions and lip syncing is nothing short of awesome.  you want to talk to every npc just to see what they have to say and how they feel about saying it.  

load times are frequent and long.  im running a AMD64 3400+ with a gig of ram and a 6800GT and my load times were about 15-30 seconds each, and after each load, it would still take another 5 seconds for me to be able to move.  

**very minor spoiler**

small arms combat..pistols so far...is good fun.  pretty cool to shoot down guys with headshots and watch them tumble.. my favorite part so far was 4 of them shooting at me from a bridge...i shot an explosive barrell under them and the entire bridge collapsed and they came tumbling down with it.

fun game so far. can't wait to see what's to come.

[lildrgn]

Ditto what jessie said.

Didn't see the bridge (no spoilers please!), but had much fun kicking arse.

Atmosphere is amazing, eh?

I have the morning off. Do I play more or hit the hay???

Off to play I go!

[disarm]

For cripes sakes, what was the point of unlocking it if it has to check for the CD?

my thoughts exactly...i was a little surprised when the message to insert my CD came up.  unfortunately, given the nature of Steam and updates, i'm guessing that keeping a working no-CD crack may prove to be a real pain.  the game does use Securom for the disc check though, so it should be possible...

as for the game, i've played up to the point where getting shot matters and i'm pretty impressed so far.  the graphics and animations are very impressive, and i had a good time trying out the physics on a playground...pretty neat stuff.  it's 4:25am right now though...will have to pick it up again tomorrow...

[jessie]

http://www.grandtheftblogger.com/images/gordonsuit.jpg

[belfong]

City 17 sure looked good!
HL2 is really pretty! I am loving it.

Alyx (spell) is amazing especially when she winked at me. Ahhh.. bliss.

I am "installing" Half Life Source now! W00T!

[rrmorton]

Just played up to the point where you get your old trusty, rusty metal friend and enter the canals through the trainyard.

PHENOMENAL.

My mouth was hanging open the whole time in absolute giddy awe. From massive towers stretching into the clouds to tiny details like the magnifying glass on the desk. Flocks of birds flying in the distance, wavy forcefields, paint chipping off the walls, droids following you around snapping photos, the presentation is off the charts.

The characters are appealing and the early plot is actually funny! That cat gag had me really laughing, as did the stuff with Lamar. (Genius name that.) I can definitely see growing to care about these characters as the story unfolds. I like them already. Heck one of them is Benson!

The "cataclysm" isn't nearly as cataclysmic as the first game but it works nicely as homage.

I love the way the Combine soldiers are so instantly loathsome with all that pushing and prodding they do. That soda can moment ("pick that up") is a brilliant piece of emotional setup along with invisible tutorial.

My only complaint is load times. Loooong. The whole seamless effect is lessened considerably when you stare at that word LOADING for half a minute.

I hate to tear myself away but I'll have lots of time to get into it tomorrow night. I'm gonna go hit the sack, content in the knowledge that Half-life 2 is anything but a disappointment.

[belfong]

That soda can moment ("pick that up") is a brilliant piece of emotional setup along with invisible tutorial.

I threw the can at him and he started chasing me! LOL moment! Brilliant!

Edit: WOW.. There is a variation to the main menu where you get to choose New Game, Load Game.. I am now looking at another menu! Totally different environment. The first one I saw was outside the train station in City 17 where there were patrolling guards. After quitting the game to post here and reloading it again, I am looking at a lake! This is really nice!

[warning]

This is good.

Really good.

I'm zombified so back to bed for me.  I'll play more when I have the mental status to appreciate it more.

Final note: Alyx sure is a cutie.   :oops:

[naednek]

anyone having sound issues?  I keep getting cracking, loss of audio, and stuttering, especially when I'm looking side to side.  I have turned off hardware acceleration and it still hasn't helped

[belfong]

I don't have any sound issue. I am using the built in soundcard (in my motherboard). Are you using the latest driver?

[Valael]

Well, I guess HL: Source really did get unlocked.


As for HL2, I'm too tired to say anything but "Awesome."

[lildrgn]

Just played up to the point where you get your old trusty, rusty metal friend and enter the canals through the trainyard.

PHENOMENAL.

My mouth was hanging open the whole time in absolute giddy awe. From massive towers stretching into the clouds to tiny details like the magnifying glass on the desk. Flocks of birds flying in the distance, wavy forcefields, paint chipping off the walls, droids following you around snapping photos, the presentation is off the charts.

The characters are appealing and the early plot is actually funny! That cat gag had me really laughing, as did the stuff with Lamar. (Genius name that.) I can definitely see growing to care about these characters as the story unfolds. I like them already. Heck one of them is Benson!

The "cataclysm" isn't nearly as cataclysmic as the first game but it works nicely as homage.

I love the way the Combine soldiers are so instantly loathsome with all that pushing and prodding they do. That soda can moment ("pick that up") is a brilliant piece of emotional setup along with invisible tutorial.

My only complaint is load times. Loooong. The whole seamless effect is lessened considerably when you stare at that word LOADING for half a minute.

I hate to tear myself away but I'll have lots of time to get into it tomorrow night. I'm gonna go hit the sack, content in the knowledge that Half-life 2 is anything but a disappointment.

I kinda like the loading screens. Gives me a moment to catch my breath.

Absolutely amazing. Why can't all FPS games run this smoothly?

[TheMissingLink]

Those guards sure were scary at the beginning...and damn, that was shocking when one of them pushed me, hahaha.  I was so surprised I said "yes sir" out loud lol lol.

Stellar, so far.  Just great!

[Thin_J]

lildrgn, what are your system specs?

I'm trying to get a consensus on what one needs to enjoy a mostly high framerate on this game.

[Xmann]

i started another thread about performance in anticpation of many performance questions.  
i myself have been getting mediocre performance on a decent system.  gotta play with the settings i guess since everyone else is reporting great rates.

[Ascendent]

Amazing. Spectacular. Superb.

This game is beyond words. The moment it starts it just grabs you. Its like look your going for a ride now. Not sure when your going to stop but your going to enjoy yourself. Are you ready? Good lets go. And it never...ever slows down.

The  graphics are just out of this world. The facial expressions really draw you in. I could of sworn I was looking at actors in a real life film. The way the guards look how ominous. The way the water moves and reflects light to the whole atmasphere (mispelled) of the game itself. While you play you really forget yourself, at least I did. I was that immersed in the game.

Gameplay. Just fun. I mean that I wish I could say anything else about it but I will just be to the point. The most fun I've had playing any game of any system in a very, very, very long time. I had to force myself to stop because I'm so tired, but if I had been resting I can tell you I'd still be playing.

The sound is just great. You hear the footsteps of the guards, the sirens, the horrible buzzing sounds of...well I won't say you'll have to see for yourselves.

Controls are great. A bit sketchy when it comes to vehicles at least thats my impression had more difficulty with that then anything else. Aside from that the rest of the game handles like a dream.

In closing I'm just going to say this surpasses Half Life. In every concievable (mispelled) way. Graphically, Gameplay, Sound, Story, just everything.

Ok I'm going to go lapse into a restfull coma now. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did/will.

Ascendent

[GungHo]

Hehe...Whoa...

THat about sums it up for me.

Going back in.  Wish me luck!

EDIT: and yes the loading times are quite long.  Only complaint Ive had so far(well and I had to turn down a setting or 2 from High to Medium, even though it 'recommended' High for my system..but oh well, still looks fantastic).

[dangerballs]

Playing this game is like having one continous orgasm only without the mess.

[warning]

Oh and hey CryTek?  Notice the Quicksave?  Notice how it is in the shipped game?  Notice how the game is still good?  Even amazing?  Notice how I don't have to use some obscure console command to quicksave?  Notice how I don't have to wait for the patch to provide quicksaving?  The patch that never, ever did provide quicksaving?

Bite me FarCry.

[TheMissingLink]

Was just about to go to bed...but played awhile longer.  I am constantly impressed by this beautiful game.

[BigRedCat]

I woke up at 5(went to bed at nine) and was unlocked in ten minutes. 3 hours later I can say that the wait was worth it. Man is this game ever good. The level of cinema and detail is amazing. Gamespot complained of a sense of deja vu. But what would HL2 be without the constant sense of danger, the sense that you are always getting into situations that are over your head at exactly the wrong time? Who cares if the game is on rails? This is what makes the game brilliant to me.

[Raintitan]

:shock:

That sums it up for me. I've been playing Counterstrike:Source and even that game doesn't prepare you for the Source engine. I mean....W O W.

I really like the more realistic and subtle ways the world is rendered.

The people have to be seen to believed.

And, the first 15 minutes....INCREDIBLE. After that...? Don' t know...had to go to work.