Ok, seriously. Spoilers will follow.
I mean it.
Really. I have screenshots and everything.
SRSLY U GUYSSo, the whole cliffhanger that was hinted at in the video, namely Alyx clinging to a wrecked rail bridge above a dizzying drop, didn't really happen. First time you see Alyx, she's doing this:
OH HAI I FIXD UR DOOR WIT UR ZEERO PWNT NRG FEILD MANIPULAT0rz!!!!!1So, this leads to a rather nice bit of cinematic physics where an entire bridge collapses. Anyhow, after the obligatory plot exposition (this time: "Seriously, what the fuck is taking you so long, meet up with the rest of the resistance already") the whole Alyx nearly dying thing is hit home like....well...
A BIT LIKE BEING STABBED IN THE CHEST BY A HUNTER!!!!!
So, kudos to Valve for really having us going there. (Incidentally, the previous screenshot taken about half a second prior to this looks suspiciously like Alyx was enjoying some surprise buttsecks)
The first task of the game, therefore, is to raid an antlion's nest in order to retrieve some kind of LSD so the vortigaunts can trip out and heal Alyx in the process. This part of the game did get a little tedious. I suspect this part of the game is to showcase all the trippy lighting effects but seeing as the best lighting effect my tired old Nvidia Go FX 5200 can come up with these days is turning the fucking screen on the antlion tunnels for all intents and purposes looked like the tunnels on Xen all over again. Poison antlions are more difficult to beat but just seem to be there to drag out the overall experience, and the boss poison antlion just looks like a regular antlion guard except the poison one probably gets regular questions about his sexual orientation from the other antlions as he's glowing luminous green. On the plus side, you do get to fight through some of it with a Vortigaunt at your side, and you do also get to take part in the first ever turret defence battle in Halflife 2 that isn't a complete chore.
After that, you then have to fight yet more hordes of headcrab zombies to get to your car, the last step of which is a truly impressive cinematic physics puzzle - playing seesaw with an entire bridge. Not long after this, you get to fight your first hunters (think ministriders), which, as enemies in the Halflife universe go, these guys are probably my favourite. They're the exact same size as you, and their luminous timed-explosive darts means there's lots of physically accurate explosions going on as you fight them. Probably one of the best fights in the game is being trapped in an old inn while Combine soldiers and hunters fight side by side to lay siege to the place and gradually force their way in.
I've expressed my misgivings already about the vehicle sequences in Halflife 2, but to their credit Valve have at least tried to make this one interesting. The first improvement is you have Alyx riding shotgun, and she can shoot at zombies as your barrel through some very impressive scenery. The car eventually gets upgraded with a radar tracker that beeps everytime a cache of weapons is nearby. I have to say, this was probably the best idea for a vehicle sequence as it meant you always knew when to stop and hunt for goodies and when to keep driving. It kept the whole vehicle sequence flowing beautifully.
Eventually, you come across your first Combine Advisor. Considering that you rarely lose direct control of Gordon in a Halflife game unless its for a bloody good reason (usually the reason is something incredibly bad is about to happen), the Advisor's telekinesis attacks allow for some truly hair-raising suspense as they carefully probe (for probe read eviscerate) nearby humans while holding any nearby threats with their backs to the wall, literally:
These guys know how to make a good entrance/exit - in this case, this one ripped the entire wooden roof off a building and escaped in a whirlwind of planks.
The rest of the game is defending a rocket facility from Combine attacks. The final battle is, unusually for a Halflife game, very satisfying, as you hold off against waves of Striders and hunters. Disappointingly, this is made somehow a little too easy. The forest you're fighting in is full of comparatively light logs, designed to act as shields from the hunter's explosive darts, and then for flinging back at them in order to inflict damage. It's a very good idea, and an excellent way of seeing physics in combat. However, the easier way to see physics in combat is to drive straight at the hunters in the car and watch them slide off your hood. I'm not sure if this is what Valve intended. All I know is I tried winning the fight without using that trick and it's a hell of a lot more tricky and exhilarating trying to stay alive.
And then there's the ending. This is proving slightly controversial. The area is saved from further combine invasion, and then
I'M CHARGIN MA LASER
A BIT LIKE BEING STABBED IN THE CHEST BY A HUNTER!!!!!So, kudos to Valve for really having us going there. (Incidentally, the previous screenshot taken about half a second prior to this looks suspiciously like Alyx was enjoying some surprise buttsecks)
The first task of the game, therefore, is to raid an antlion's nest in order to retrieve some kind of LSD so the vortigaunts can trip out and heal Alyx in the process. This part of the game did get a little tedious. I suspect this part of the game is to showcase all the trippy lighting effects but seeing as the best lighting effect my tired old Nvidia Go FX 5200 can come up with these days is turning the fucking screen on the antlion tunnels for all intents and purposes looked like the tunnels on Xen all over again. Poison antlions are more difficult to beat but just seem to be there to drag out the overall experience, and the boss poison antlion just looks like a regular antlion guard except the poison one probably gets regular questions about his sexual orientation from the other antlions as he's glowing luminous green. On the plus side, you do get to fight through some of it with a Vortigaunt at your side, and you do also get to take part in the first ever turret defence battle in Halflife 2 that isn't a complete chore.
After that, you then have to fight yet more hordes of headcrab zombies to get to your car, the last step of which is a truly impressive cinematic physics puzzle - playing seesaw with an entire bridge. Not long after this, you get to fight your first hunters (think ministriders), which, as enemies in the Halflife universe go, these guys are probably my favourite. They're the exact same size as you, and their luminous timed-explosive darts means there's lots of physically accurate explosions going on as you fight them. Probably one of the best fights in the game is being trapped in an old inn while Combine soldiers and hunters fight side by side to lay siege to the place and gradually force their way in.
I've expressed my misgivings already about the vehicle sequences in Halflife 2, but to their credit Valve have at least tried to make this one interesting. The first improvement is you have Alyx riding shotgun, and she can shoot at zombies as your barrel through some very impressive scenery. The car eventually gets upgraded with a radar tracker that beeps everytime a cache of weapons is nearby. I have to say, this was probably the best idea for a vehicle sequence as it meant you always knew when to stop and hunt for goodies and when to keep driving. It kept the whole vehicle sequence flowing beautifully.
Eventually, you come across your first Combine Advisor. Considering that you rarely lose direct control of Gordon in a Halflife game unless its for a bloody good reason (usually the reason is something incredibly bad is about to happen), the Advisor's telekinesis attacks allow for some truly hair-raising suspense as they carefully probe (for probe read eviscerate) nearby humans while holding any nearby threats with their backs to the wall, literally:
These guys know how to make a good entrance/exit - in this case, this one ripped the entire wooden roof off a building and escaped in a whirlwind of planks.The rest of the game is defending a rocket facility from Combine attacks. The final battle is, unusually for a Halflife game, very satisfying, as you hold off against waves of Striders and hunters. Disappointingly, this is made somehow a little too easy. The forest you're fighting in is full of comparatively light logs, designed to act as shields from the hunter's explosive darts, and then for flinging back at them in order to inflict damage. It's a very good idea, and an excellent way of seeing physics in combat. However, the easier way to see physics in combat is to drive straight at the hunters in the car and watch them slide off your hood. I'm not sure if this is what Valve intended. All I know is I tried winning the fight without using that trick and it's a hell of a lot more tricky and exhilarating trying to stay alive.
And then there's the ending. This is proving slightly controversial. The area is saved from further combine invasion, and then
I'M CHARGIN MA LASERValve then decided to have Eli Vance killed off. And I've gotta be honest, I did not see this coming at all. I knew something bad was coming, but nothing like this. And it's mainly made so shocking thanks to Merle Dandridge, who voices Alyx - hearing a computer game character act so convincingly in a situation like this is both rare and unnerving and you hear her sobs and screams well after the screen has faded to black.
From the looks of things, the next game will be yet another location change. I don't want to give any more away, but it will take place in the Arctic, so hopefully we'll see the same creativity with the new locations as we've seen with the new forested locations in Episode 2.
Get a hold of the Orange Box. A cluster of games this good doesn't come around often.
From the looks of things, the next game will be yet another location change. I don't want to give any more away, but it will take place in the Arctic, so hopefully we'll see the same creativity with the new locations as we've seen with the new forested locations in Episode 2.
Get a hold of the Orange Box. A cluster of games this good doesn't come around often.
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