Computer Geek Alert
A little background about me and Half-Life.
I don’t like Half-Life. I didn’t care for the all too linear gameplay of the original Half-Life. I wanted to explore Black Mesa, I wanted to kill the fucking scientists that brought the shit storm on Black Mesa. Therefore I would get my ass stuck because I killed every scientist and I saw the guards as extra ammo. I begrudgingly learned that I had to deal with those NPCs to get through the game. I got bored with it. Eventually I used cheats to get through it. One other thing that I didn’t like was Gordon Freeman (the character you play in Half Life). I just hated him. So when Opposing Force came out, I snapped it up, figuring I would have a chance to kill Freeman over and over and over… But no luck 
I think the only good thing to come out of Half LIfe was Counter-Strike, and it took me a LONG time to accept that.
Now onto my experience with Half-Life 2…
Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 have been touted as the Game of the Year, before they came out. I hate hype. Usually I’ll avoid anything that is hyped so much. (I think I was burned the most by hype with Star Wars Episode 1, but I digress). So I read some initial reactions which were saying that Half-Life 2 is the better than sex, the best thing since the invention of breathable air, etc, etc, etc. I tried to take it with a grain of salt. But at work I was surrounded by zealots. I told them I didn’t like the original Half-Life, and it was like I just told them I anally raped their mother whilst simultaneously pouring sugar in their gas tank. Not being one to withstand peer pressure and after reading this comic on Penny-Arcade, I gave in. I went on Steam and ordered Half-Life 2, which comes with Counter-Strike Source (a reworking of Counter-Strike). I figured that at least I’ll have the new Counter-Strike.
I downloaded Half-Life 2. I was pleasantly surprised, it downloaded in about an hour, and was “ready to play”. I opened Steam (the Half-Life content delivery software by ValvE the company that makes the game) and double clicked on Play Half-Life 2. I got a message telling me I needed to upgrade my video driver. No problem, I hadn’t done that in a while anyway. So I upgrade my video driver and make sure I have the latest version of direct X, and reboot. I fire up steam, I click Play Half Life 2. My anticipation has been building. A get a black screen, it must be loading. Four minutes later, I realize my computer is locked up. I reboot. I fire up steam, I click Play Half-Life 2, my screen goes black, and then changes resolution, and then the creepy ValvE guy comes up. Instinctively I press Esc. to get past it. I get an out of focus screen that says Loading… After five minutes, (yeah I’m not that patient) I reset my system, it must have locked up again. Upon restarting, I shutdown all nonessential programs and start fucking HL2. I figure I’m going to wait this fucker out! Creepy Guy, I hit ESC. Blurry Loading… screen, I grab a book. After ten minutes, I get the options screen. I set the video options and click New Game. I watch the intro, it looks nice but has a hiccup with the sound. I figure they did that on purpose, as part of the video. I start the actual game itself, I still get the audio hiccup every once in a while. I spend the first hour or so running around throwing bottles at people, guards, the wall, etc. I settle down into playing the game. I’m immediately hit by how linear it is. I try to explore and there is a guard there to beat me back onto the correct game path, or a door is locked, or there is some silly obstruction. I mentioned this to Beav, and I get the all too true response “Dude, you are playing Half-Life 2, a first person shooter! It’s not a Role Playing Game! If you want to explore, play World of Warcraft” I follow the path. I get through the initial part of the game, thinking that even though the game is very linear, I might be liking the story. It’s kinda like 1984 meets Logan’s Run, but with slightly better special effects. By this time, I’ve died about five times. I wonder if that’s the edge of the building, I wonder if that train will kill me, I wonder… you get the idea.
I get frustrated a little too easily with games. I’m just barely into it by this point, and I run into the first maze puzzle. Looking back it was really easy, it was linear, but I was in explore mode. I got to the end of the “maze” and didn’t look to the left, so I didn’t see the way out, and I went back into the maze until I was killed by guards. Frustrated I quit out and called it a night. I’d played about an hour. I will admit this the graphics are very nice! I got to work the next night and talked to a co-worker about the game. He was trying hard not to laugh at me because I didn’t figure out the first maze, until just then as I was talking to him. I got home, fired up the game and ran through the maze. (It’s not really a maze, I just don’t want to give anything away to people who want to play the game.) Being the freak that I am, I found the cheat codes, and wanted to see what the weapons were like. Not really impressed, I re-loaded my save game and plowed on ahead. I ran into some friendly NPCs. Here is one of the best things about this game: You can’t kill your allies. I tried like hell! I never could damage them.
Flash forward to now…
I’ve played about 5 hours total. I’m probably not as far into the game as most people at 5 hours, because I still try to explore every now and then. The downside I’m already bored with it. Visually its a very nice game, it has a really good physics engine, it’s even fun in some places, other places I’ve over analyzed the “puzzle” aspect and spent too much time and energy on something only to find out that I didn’t have to do any of what I was trying. It is a bit immersive, I’ll give you that. Maybe I haven’t gotten to the part that is supposed to really “hook” you. Maybe I’m letting my prejudice against Gordron Freeman (yes, you play as that fucker in this game too) sway me too much. I don’t know.
Right now, I’m just not “feeling it.” I can’t agree with all the reviews of the game. Maybe I’m not as much of a gamer as I thought I was, I can’t say. If I had to give a 1-10 score on Half-Life 2, right now, I’d say its a 7.
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