|
11-23-04, 7:58 AM
The
right man in the wrong place can
make all the difference.
I
have played through Half-Life 2.
Twice.
 Even
now it seems almost surreal to come
that realization, amplified by my
unhealthy involvement within the
gaming world, especially after such
a long time of almost hopeless
desire. For many, Half-Life 2
was a beast of near mythical
proportions which seemed foolish of
anyone to think it could become the
property of mere mortal men, much
less be able to live up to such
astronomical hype.
So, does Half-Life 2 deliver?
Half-Life 2 doesn’t just
raise the bar for the genre, it
hurls the bar into the sky like a
rocket-powered javelin, taking the
time to point and laugh at its
competitors which now seem quaint
and archaic in its wake.
Never have I experienced a game that
combines all aspects in such a
perfect way. The visuals are
phenomenal, from the water
reflections to the lighting and
shadows to the explosions to the
Citadel that towers above
everything. The facial animation and
fluidity with which characters
interact with each other and the
environment just has to be seen to
believed. The sound effects are
sharp and chillingly realistic, even
the inhuman squeaks and gurgles of
alien creatures sound like they’re
taken from some earthly location.
The gameplay remains in fever pitch
from almost beginning to end,
quickly plunging you into a frantic
fight for survival and liberation.
Everything in its presentation
seems about as close to perfect as
you can get.
The story picks up a few years after
the events of the first game, with
Theoretical Physicist Dr. Gordon
Freeman having survived the horrors
of Black Mesa and beaten back the
Xen invasion, only to be unwillingly
recruited by the mysterious G-Man.
Things on earth have only gone from
bad to worse, with an alien force
known only as the Combine taking
control of the planet in a war that
lasted a mere seven hours. Gordon
suddenly awakes on a train entering
City 17, home of the main base of
operations for Dr. Wallace Breen,
former administrator of Black Mesa,
now the self-elected human
representative to the Combine, and
he controls the city with an iron
fist. With the help of old Black
Mesa friends Dr. Isaac Kleiner, Dr.
Eli Vance, and security guard Barney
Calhoun, as well as Eli’s daughter
Alyx, Gordon quickly finds himself
leading the fight against Breen and
the Combine.
While Valve’s original claim that
the lack of cut-scenes and keeping
the player in Gordon’s point of view
throughout the entire game helped
strengthen the story may very well
have been
 happenstance,
it works incredibly well this second
time around. To have characters
address and react to you creates an
undeniable bond between the player
and the characters, it makes the
game that much more personal,
especially among the resistance
fighters that look upon Gordon with
an amount of mysticism and
admiration.
The voice acting is as close to the
best you’ll ever get and combined
with the detailed player models and
motions, makes for some of the most
well directed scenes you’ll find in
a video game today. Imagine that, a
game where even the basic exposition
is something to behold. The voices
behind Dr. Kleiner (The guy who
voiced every scientist in the
original game), Barney and the G-Man
return for the sequel and are just
as good as any big name talent you
can get. Rounding out the cast are
Robert Guillaume as Dr. Vance (Big
Fish, Benson, Soap, Sports Night and
a St. Louis native to boot), Robert
Culp as Dr. Breen (I Spy, the
original series), and Louis Gossett,
Jr. as the voice of every Vortigaunt
alien you encounter, which he does
very well, but seems like a silly
role for him to take.
Visually, the game is an absolute
treat, almost everything has a
gritty, hard-edge feel to it that
makes it seem that much more real.
The walls plastered with crumbling
papers and posters, the
cracked sidewalks, the rust on a
barrel are all there in striking
detail. The buildings of City 17 are
varied and beautiful, looking as if
it were a real eastern European
city. Everything looks just right to
the small shacks you encounter along
the coastal road to the abandoned
homes of Ravenholm. The enemies are
just as refined, with the zombies
much gory and horrid, the headcrabs
appear more dangerous with their
blood-stained front and red claws,
and the Combine soldiers all that
more menacing with the light glow of
their eyes on their masks. Seeing
glass break in certain locations
depending on where it’s impacted,
dust fly off a wall from the impact
of a bullet or the water ripple as a
helicopter passes low overhead are
only small aspects of the attention
to detail given to the game, and
simply getting into a fire fight
truly puts you in awe of everything
this engine can accomplish.
Speaking of effects, the physics is
one of the biggest stars of the
game. All objects have their own
properties for weight and it shows,
meaning you can use everything in
your environment to take down an
opponent. Throwing an empty Chinese
food container is only going to piss
that soldier off. The physics are so
integral to the game even to the
point where it’s worked into most of
the puzzles in the game. One such
puzzle has you placing cinderblocks
to weigh down one end of a
 ramp
so you can use it to jump across a
gap. Some argue that the Gravity Gun
is just a gimmick, but it’s a damn
fine one. The environments are
littered with enough objects to be
used from tires to barrels to
cinderblocks to those great little
sawblades. A large metal sheet can
be grabbed to be used as a makeshift
riot shield to protect you from
bullets, you can use it to blast
abandoned cars out of the way to
clear a path, or drag a supply crate
from an otherwise inaccessible
location. There’s nothing as
satisfying as taking down a squad of
soldiers without even having to fire
a shot, either by crushing them with
a radiator or flinging a perfectly
placed explosive barrel.
The sound effects in the game are
incredible and almost frightening in
how accurate they are. The buzz of a
Manhack scraping against a wall
hunting for you is really a noise
you will dread. The almost human
screams of a zombie lit ablaze made
me squirm more than once. The sound
of bullets impacting on various
surfaces around you serve greatly in
heightening the tension. Myself, I
find a great deal of satisfaction of
the high-pitched feedback that comes
from after taking down a Civil
Protection officer. Really, I’ve
never heard anything this crisp in a
game before.
So, how does it all play? Try to
think back to a game that a certain
exceptional scene, the kind you went
back and played several times just
because it was so awesome. Half-Life
2 is filled with these kinds of
moments, one after the other,
whether it’s evading the fire of a
helicopter bearing down on you while
driving the airboat or fighting a
massive Strider alongside other
resistance fighters, the game is
filled with classic moments. The
level variety is always changing
from large, open environments to
cramped corridors, and everything
comes out smoothly. You’ll enjoy
driving the buggy across the
coastline as much as you will slowly
creeping around the dark,
zombie-infested streets of Ravenholm.
You’re given plenty of weapons to
dispatch your enemies, and it’s the
firefights with the Combine soldiers
that are the most fun. They will
come at you from different sides,
lob grenades, come down from above
on wires to get you, and it’s up to
you whether or not you want to get
up close with the shotgun, riddle
them with sub-machinegun fire or try
to plant a headshot with the magnum
to dispatch them. Really, the more
satisfying moments come from using
your environment and
 objects
with the physics gun, or simply
reacting quickly enough to use it to
pick up a thrown grenade and fire it
right back to them. You’ll have to
decide whether or not to fight the
swarms of headcrabs or try to run
for your life. Shutting the door on
those agile, fast-moving zombies
won’t help you when they figure out
to come through the skylight.
Really, my only complaint with the
game is that the story is a tad
underdeveloped. There is not enough
explanation throughout the game as
to what has happened as well as what
is happening at the moment, only
bits of pieces of information that
have to be discovered provide any
clues to start speculation.
But
there will be plenty of time for
explanations when Half-Life 3
comes around…
In the end, the enjoyment from the
core gameplay outweighs any gripes
and nitpicks to be pointed out. This
is the future of the genre and if
you don’t like Half-Life 2,
you just plain don’t like shooters.
Final
Score:
(1/8 Adam Sessler out of 5)
-K.
Adam
Sesslers are bad
11-16-04, 6:23 AM
You just
upset the Incredible Hulk, his idiot
half brother, and the two circus
clowns.
So
I've been playing Half-Life 2
since about 2:15 up until now and so
far my review is holy shit.
I'm too tired to continue,
especially with class in seven
hours, but I can say it's been an
incredible experience so far.
After I stopped playing I took a
look at the activity on Shacknews,
if any, and yes, there have been
some people having problems with the
game. What's truly extraordinary is
that guys from Valve have been at
the office and hanging out on Shack
ever since it was unlocked tonight,
helping people out with the problems
they're having immediately. Class
act, all the way.
-K.
rise and shine mr freeman... rise
and shine
11-15-04, 9:22 PM
I'm so
excited, I think I'll brush all my
teeth today!
Music:
Dean Martin - Ain't That a Kick in
the Head
Okay, so due to some
miscommunication I think the
official Holiday Holocaust is being
moved to Christmas break. I'm all
for having a LAN party over
Thanksgiving relocated back to my
basement, but it's probably accurate
when I'm told it would probably be a
bigger event during December.
Apologies to any inconvenience this
may cause.
Updated the What to Think section.
Speaking of which I finished reading
The Running Man quite some
time ago, it comes highly
recommended.
Anyway, a lot of high drama in the
gaming world the past few days.
Starting on Thursday copies of
Half-Life 2 started popping up
in obscure stores around the globe,
and with each passing day it seemed
to be picking up speed. Come
Saturday and all Best Buys are
ordered, by their corporate office,
to put all the copies out on the
shelves. Unbeknownst to them, and
probably 99% of the people who
bought it that day, Half-Life 2
is, still to this moment,
unplayable. Authorization through
Steam is required to play and as
tomorrow is the actual official
release date, Vivendi will not allow
Valve to unlock the game. So the
whole "whenever it is released
anywhere" thing wasn't exactly true,
though if you look at the official,
rather ambiguous, phrasing, it's not
exactly false, either. It was an
interesting time for me and hundreds
of other sad nerds across the planet
as for hours we had no idea what was
happening, just speculation, because
for quite some time there was no
official statements from any party
involved. Finally, it was clear
Vivendi was not going to budge, and
Valve could not act without fear of
another lawsuit from the publisher,
making for a very poor move on
Vivendi's part. I could understand
them being upset for some stores
breaking the street date, which
really isn't allowed, but they've
had the game in stock for days, it's
not like it just showed up.
Worldwide even, and generally it
takes a week or two after a game has
been released in the States to make
it across the pond, so they were
ready to roll. So it's out there,
really the only sensible thing you
can do is let people play, but
throughout this whole ordeal Vivendi
has not be sensible. Vivendi's
inexplicable stubbornness has only
made them look bad, but hey, if I
could see my extinction (Steam) I'd
be kicking and screaming, too.
One thing is for sure, though, I'll
be up for quite a while, because it
is definitely being unlocked at
12:00 AM PST tonight, so 2 AM in my
neck of the woods, and that's
something Vivendi can't legally
stop. I have class at 1 PM tomorrow,
but there's no way I'm missing this,
six years in the making and it's a
mere five hours away. I'm banking on
an all-nighter or very little sleep.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake
Eater also ship out this week. I
also hear the Nintendo DS might be
hitting stores as early as tomorrow
as well. This is going to do nothing
to help the assignments I have
overdue that grow even later with
each passing day.
So I
guess I'll just finish writing this
overdue paper, maybe spend a little
time with a Doctor Who novel
I've had for years and never read,
just so I can make sure there's no
part of me that isn't completely
covered in Geek.
-K.
that's no moon
11-9-04,
2:38 AM
I got a
good mind to join a club and beat
you over the head with it.
|
You Are a Pundit Blogger! |
Your blog is smart,
insightful, and always a
quality read. Truly
appreciated by many,
surpassed by only a few. |
Two
updates within six hours? Yipes.
And
now is the time where I am
hypocritical. I hate it when people
fill their blogs with pointless
quizzes, but I won't say I'm above
taking them from time to time
(Because, really, I need to find out
what Good Times character I
resemble most, DYNO-MITE!). What I usually find
is that the results yield something
I totally disagree with. I just
wanted to point this out to show you
that running record is still intact
and now you have a point of
reference to agree with it. Though I
guess it should be disqualified
considering I don't view this thing a blog in the first place. I'd like to
think of it as a humor site that's
totally devoid of its subject.
-K.
lips like a buick
11-8-04,
8:58 PM
Guys
like you don't die on toilets.
Music:
Iggy Pop - Some Weird Sin
I
apologize for this picture, it was
taken in high school as part of a
photo assignment that had to do with
lighting. I have to say, especially
since it's a little blurry and you
can only see half of my face, it's
the most handsome I've ever looked.
If Warner Bros. ever goes off the
deep end and they start casting for
Batman Eats a Lot of Pizza
I'll have my headshot ready.
So,
it's weird, I can spend several
hours a day of my own free time
sitting in a curiously hot editing
room at Webster, working on the same
goddamned seven minutes of footage,
or run around the city from sun up
to sun down taking pictures, and
then working six straight hours in
the dark room, processing and
printing. I will gladly use up
several hours, like I did today,
printing up a decent DVD cover and
insert for my Half-Life 2
backup. I'll take time to create
Chicago & Geoff strips and do long,
stupid updates on the site pointing
out and expanding upon useless
gaming news. But when it comes to
writing a six-page case study or a
three page analysis I get ADD.
Picked up a copy of Stephen
King's The Running Man
Saturday night, about halfway
through it now and it's good,
definitely about as far away from
the Ah-nold version as you can get.
I just wish King didn't give away
the ending to the book in his
fucking introduction, because
it wraps up quite nicely, given the
setting and style. It's an ending,
though, that pretty much guarantees
a proper film version that does the
book justice could never be made in
this day and age.
Getting that copy proved to be
somewhat of an adventure in itself,
as the lesson I learned from the
day's events, rather harshly, is
that no matter how much precaution
you take to avoid embarrassing
situations they will occur anyway. I
headed up to the new Borders in the
South County Mall, which, like many
of the other stores there, sucks
compared to the others in the St.
Louis area. After spending ten
minutes just trying to find whatever
section they put all the King books
under, I located it in their rather
small and thus ridiculous Horror
section (About one-third Stephen
King, one-third Anne Rice and Dean
Koontz, and one-third people you've
never heard of). They seemed to have
every Stephen King novel except
The Running Man, but I
couldn't really see what was on the
bottom rack. Not wanting to leave
without something and hoping I could
find a collection of his short
stories I thought I would check and,
unbeknownst to me, my pants were in
a somewhat awkward position when I
decided to crouch down, faster than
I should have, and ripped my jeans
from the middle of the fly down to
my upper-left thigh. Reflecting on
the situation now I'm proud I did
not scream but I was rapidly
entering Panic Mode. I was having a
literal fashion emergency. I exited
as quickly as possible, trying to
keep some those chest-high shelves
near the front between me and, well,
everybody. I weaved between cars in
the parking lot to avoid having to
walk people on their way to the
entrance and I'm just that
self-conscious. Later in the
evening, after a change of pants, I
safely picked up a copy of said
novel at Barnes & Noble (My
bookstore of choice) without any
incident.
For those of you with XBoxes you
may find this of interest, though if
you do you probably won't read this
in time, most EB locations are
having a midnight sale tonight of
this game called Halo 2. I
don't see it going anywhere, so I
don't know what all the fuss is
about.
Finally, even though it'll be
relatively useless unless you have a
legitimate copy of Half-Life,
I'd like for all of you to download
Steam because you'll need it (Along
with a unique username and password)
to play Counter-Strike: Source.
If anyone has any suggestions for
games to played at Holiday Holocaust
let me know so I can prepare them
ahead of time. Here's a list of the
games I've got so far, complete with
patches and such:
Doom 3
Ghost Recon
Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
(Hopefully you laptop users will be
fine with the new patch)
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Vietcong and Vietcong: Fist
Alpha
Soldier of Fortune II
Tron 2.0 (Shut it, Travis)
SWAT 3
Counter-Strike: Source
Call of Duty and Call of
Duty: United Offensive
I'm not completely adverse to RTS
games, so feel free to suggest them,
but with our group it's not likely
they'll be played.
Oh, and if anyone wants me to buy
them tickets for the Indy trilogy in
advance, just send along the money,
they go on sale this Friday.
-K.
mail it to
the marx brothers
11-5-04, 10:16 AM
You can't win all the time, but you
can lose forever.
Music:
Moby - Extreme Ways
Yes, friends, it's been a while.
The stress around my birthday was
only amplified after rediscovering
how inexplicably vile someone you
think you know can be, which only
served to bring up a whole new set
of questions. Trying my best to
weigh my accomplishments so far
could've gone without stacking on
trying to calculate my value as a
human being as well. So the funny
may be in short supply for a while,
so no change there then. This is
coming close to a "blog"-ish entry,
so I'll end this thread with a
hilarious strip that's summed things
up for me.
Obviously that's not my work.
I haven't been giving much
consideration to Chicago & Geoff
lately, other than something I
whipped up after hooking up my new
scanner/copier/printer.
There should be no confusion now
about why a career in art just isn't
for me. I hadn't planned on Geoff
coming out looking like an angry
dyke, but there you go.
But enough of that, let's get
nerdy. Plenty of game news to get
through.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
is out, and I've been trying to
spend a good amount of time with it.
It's very impressive, easily the
best in the series so far, and may
find itself among the greatest games
of all time. The essential gameplay
remains the same while there's been
a crapload of tweaks and additions
that push it into a category best
described as epic. Strafing for the
console version is a long overdue
and welcome addition as well as
moving while crouching to
effectively use cover, now the
firefights, while still very basic,
have a more tactical feel, other
than just hoping to get lucky with
the lock-on button while firing. The
new targetting system takes a cue
from Rockstar's own Manhunt,
allowing you to see your enemy's
health as well as be able to perform
stealth kills if you're good enough.
A whole stats system is in
place, allowing you to gain
experience, so to speak, and advance
your skills in the various firearms,
hand-to-hand combat, driving,
stamina, etc. The addition of a
variety of mini-games also helps
improve the experience, including
basketball, billiards, a smattering
of arcade games, low-rider contests
and dancing (Which, oddly enough,
play almost the same), and probably
a few more things I haven't come
across yet. The reason for that
being because boy is it huge, almost
three times the size of Vice City,
there's a lot to do in this game.
I'm a little worried I may have
spoiled some of it for when the PC
version rolls around, which no doubt
will be the superior version, but
that's not coming until the summer
and it'll be worth every penny. The
only thing that has surprised me is
that I haven't been able to
recognize many of the characters'
voices this time around like I did
in Vice City, so far all I've
been able to identify is Samuel L.
Jackson, who, admittedly,
overshadows the entire cast of both
the earlier games. I've been told
David Cross has a small roll, but I
don't think I'm coming across him
anytime soon.
Halo 2 has been released
early in some areas, I'm sure
there'll be a PC port, but I'm
hoping it will be handled by a more
competant developer than Gearbox.
Their port of the original was a
complete mess.
With each passing day
Half-Life 2 draws ever closer,
and with reports coming in that some
stores are putting Halo 2
(Which, oddly enough, has David
Cross in it as well) on the shelves
almost a week early gives me hope
the same may happen with Valve's
blockbuster. I've gone on to great
lengths about it already, but
related to it is another title that
has me ecstatic. Troika's latest,
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines,
powered by the Source engine and
based on the pen-and-paper game of
the same name, is set to be released
mere days after HL2. The
game's been done for a while now,
but due to certain legal restraints
they haven't been able to release
their Source-powered game ahead of
Valve, which has already gone
through a year long delay. This only
means that Troika's had an
incredible amount of time to tweak
and refine their Action/RPG, and if
these awesome
walkthrough videos are
any indication, this could very well
be the next Deus Ex, in terms
of open-ended scenarios, and FPS
gameplay combined with heavy
role-playing, though this looks to
be something much more in-depth in
terms of character. I'm hopeful
these ex-Fallout veterans
will finally be able to deliver an
exceptional role-playing experience
after two very disappointing outings
(Arcanum and Temple of
Elemental Evil).
Speaking of Fallout,
almost two years after its release,
I'm finally getting around to
Bethesda's massive RPG Elder
Scrolls III: Morrowind. I was
never able to get into it when it
first came out, mostly because it
had some steep system requirements
at the time and I just couldn't
create a character that didn't
absolutely sucked. Now that I
finally did get around to playing as
someone who wasn't killed by a rat
in the first five minutes I've found
it to be one of the most addictive
gaming experiences ever. The scope
and size of the game is
mind-boggling, as you can spend
hours, if you wish, ignoring the
story, traveling from town to town
as a wandering mercenary, or
pickpocket citizens and break into
homes under the cover of night, or
take up an allegiance to any number
of guilds and factions, be it of
noble fighters or sorcerers or
feared assassins. It's sad, but it
hasn't been uncommon in these last
couple weeks to take part in 6 to 8
hour play sessions, and still not
want to quit. So what does this have
to do with Fallout? I
probably mentioned it before, but
they're the ones working on the new
entry to the series, and combined
with these
unbelievable
in-game screenshots of
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,
this gives me extremely high
hopes for the franchise that's in
desperate need of revitalization.
A PlayStation 2 port of
Resident Evil 4 has been
confirmed, but not to be released
until the end of next year, where it
will no doubt pale in comparison to
the GameCube version. There's a
reason the PS2 was released ahead of
the other consoles, it's hardware
just isn't as powerful. I hope
there'll be a PC port, but that
isn't too likely.
After trying both the multiplayer
and single-player demos of 2015's
Men of Valor, I have no doubt in
my mind now that every single one of
their truly talented people left the
company to make Infinity Ward (Call
of Duty). You, sir, are no
Vietcong, and it's a shame you
don't look or play any better than a
game released almost two years ago.
Finally, Holiday Holocaust. I'd
like to know who's coming and when
you'll all be available so we can
work out the date.
-K.
i would
stand in line for this |
