Who is excited about Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Raise your hand!
EDIT: The "Raise Your Hand" bit is supposed to be like how Owen Wilson says it in The Darjeeling Limited...
This topic is locked from further discussion.
Who is excited about Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Raise your hand!
EDIT: The "Raise Your Hand" bit is supposed to be like how Owen Wilson says it in The Darjeeling Limited...
yea im excited.about as excited as i am when someone whose aiming a gun at me is about to pull the trigger.
seriously though episode 3 is going to have to be gargantuan because in my humble opinion the last two episodes were rubbish.Dismal expansion packs.but yea im looking forward to what they do with the game and the engine.
If anything the episodes are better than HL2! As I said they are just "tighter".
Like in HL2 that water boat section went on forever. In EP2 you have a much more compressed and enjoyable time with the vehicles!!
What is poor about them? Its the same game play only much, much tighter? biggest_loser
It wasn't the same gameplay at all.
Half Life 2 had constantly shifting scenario. You began with the melancholy exploration of a 1984 style dystopia, then you're in a crazy escape from the law, then you're speeding down a waterway in a hovercraft, you're creeping around a horror movie style ghost town, you're using a giant industrial crane to crush the combine, playing catch with a giant robot dog, you're in your own version of the movie Tremors, you're storming a prison with a team of giant insectoid monsters...
Half Life 2 has bad gunplay. It's just bad. The AI is utterl awful - in fact, Half Life 1 has better AI, and definitely better gunplay. Most of the weapons aren't much fun to shoot, either. I thik HL2 is so amazing because of the way you're doing so many different things in so many different ways. I was always wondering just what was going to happen next. I feel that the gunplay is almost incidental, and I barely consider HL2 a first person shooter. It transcends the genre with its diversity.
The episodes, however, are definitely first person shooters. There's a very strong focus on gunplay - and I find that easily the weakest thing in Half Life 2 - and most of that gunplay plays out in generic scenarios which are just recycled versions of stuff we saw in Half Life 2 anyway.
There's also very little in the way of cool scenario stuff. There are a couple of cool set pieces in Ep 1 and the ending of Ep 2 is pretty great, but in an eight hour experience, three cool moments just doesn't cut it. Not when all of HL2 was amazing. There's also far too many physics "puzzles" in the episodes, and they stink. The first quarter of Episode 2 was basically just running through extremely narrow, extremely linear caverns, engaging in occasional combat which is at best mediocre, and then a ton of those godawful physics puzzles.
Now, don't get me wrong - I think both episodes are still great games. They just aren't Half Life 2. I get the feeling that Valve has just run out of steam, so to speak. But the possibility of the portal gun in Ep 3 has me excited. It could make the experience absolutely amazing and, more importantly, unique. After two episodes which were basically recycled versions of a much better game, it's exactly what we need.
I'm sure, if you reply to this, you will bring up the story, the storytelling and the emotional impact. I don't care. It's a computer game. I love great stories, especially when they're well told, but not if it comes at the expense of gameplay. The episodes are both fine, but they are not Half Life 2.
Oh yes, I'm looking forward to Episode 3!
Mfsa's comments are pretty good IMO. I'd differ slightly though in that I feel Episode 1 is the weak link in the series while Episode 2 gave me about the same highs in enjoyment (albeit less in quantity) as the original.
I loved HL2 when it first came out, one of my favorite games of all time. Bought Episode 1 when it first came out, I started the game and never actually felt compelled to finish it until right before playing Episode 2. Now, I believe that initial reaction was a misjudgement on Episode 1, it's better than that, however, IMO in the end all said and done it still felt like weakest link in the series (still good of course).
Episode 2 forceably pulled me right back into the series in top form though and now I highly wait for Episode 3! :D Yeah, the linear caverns are merely OK, however, the ending was incredibly fun!!! Also, I'm going to let you guys in on something ultra-geeky :P I really dug the car in Episode 2, I thought it rocked :) The combination of looks, throaty-growl engine sounds, driver/passenger aspect, I don't know, I found it very appealing and fun to use, more so than the vehicles in HL2 original. Hey, people can like the companion cube right...I liked Episode 2's car :P
Anyway, absolutely, looking forward to next episode and the use of the Portal gun in Episode 3 can sweeten the deal!
Like in HL2 that water boat section went on forever.
biggest_loser
I thought it lasted just the right amount of time. Not too long, not too short. I liked that you got to spend a good bit of time learning how to handle it. Plus, it's not like you were stuck in it for the whole duration, there were areas where you had to get out and do something on foot to get to something or to continue further in the boat.
The episode layout is bull. "Oh yeah, let's just make short games in episodic format, but release them in in short periods of time, except let's take forever to release them and piss our whole gaming community off, just so they can hate us even more."Dopemonk736
This is no place for haters...and for your information I doubt you could find a more polished game chuck.
I think both episodes are very poor compared with Half Life 2, and I would be indifferent about Episode 3 except for the fact that there's a distinct possibility that the portal gun is going to be in there.
Any game with that gun is automatically awesome.
mfsa
*possible spoilers*
Episode 1 was definately not as good as hl2, but I was very impressed by episode 2. It improved the texture resolutions, the lighting, the AI, character expression, and the gameplay was on the same level as hl2 if not better. Fighting antlions with the vortigons was extreamly cool, and the strider battle at the end was amazing. It's the most fun I've ever had in a half life game.
Who is excited about Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Raise your hand!
EDIT: The "Raise Your Hand" bit is supposed to be like how Owen Wilson says it in The Darjeeling Limited...
biggest_loser
* raises hand, extends middle finger *
The HL:2 franchise was destroyed when they decided to make it 'action-on-tracks' script fest with no AI and a non-existant story.
Half Life 2 has bad gunplay. It's just bad. The AI is utterl awful - in fact, Half Life 1 has better AI, and definitely better gunplay. Most of the weapons aren't much fun to shoot, either. mfsa
Thanks for summing up why I am done with the half-life series. It's just not F.U.N.
I dont want to hear haters! I am asking who is excited about the new installment in this great series!
Also! Who liked the reference to the Darjeeling Limited! Raise your hand!!
NEED MOAR PORTAL.
Really I just want it to end. I don't know how they are going to wrap it all up in such a short game, even if they leave some for future games.
Wrap it all up? Its not a novel you know.
Who is G-Man, what does he want with Gordon and Alyx.
Who are the combine - connection to G-Man.
Its not that much. I suspect ol' G-Man was a scientist for one of the companies like Aperture, Black Mesa. In EP2 where you watch the transmission from judith there is a photo on the wall with Gordon and some others. One of them looks like G-man.
[QUOTE="mfsa"]Half Life 2 has bad gunplay. It's just bad. The AI is utterl awful - in fact, Half Life 1 has better AI, and definitely better gunplay. Most of the weapons aren't much fun to shoot, either. franklinBluth
Thanks for summing up why I am done with the half-life series. It's just not F.U.N.
Odd as it may sound, there's more to having fun in shooters than, well, shooting.
[QUOTE="franklinBluth"][QUOTE="mfsa"]Half Life 2 has bad gunplay. It's just bad. The AI is utterl awful - in fact, Half Life 1 has better AI, and definitely better gunplay. Most of the weapons aren't much fun to shoot, either. JP_Russell
Thanks for summing up why I am done with the half-life series. It's just not F.U.N.
Odd as it may sound, there's more to having fun in shooters than, well, shooting.
Agreed. That's why I love Max Payne 2 - it's pure art!
If anything the episodes are better than HL2! As I said they are just "tighter".
Like in HL2 that water boat section went on forever. In EP2 you have a much more compressed and enjoyable time with the vehicles!!
biggest_loser
Maybe it was the looseness of Half Life 2 I enjoyed? That or it was just the whole section of the story, Gordon coming out of stasis to an oppresses world. He has to fight his way to the rebel research facility only to be attacked and separated. Then he has to fight his way out and he starts a gigantic earth-wide rebellion. Idk.
biggest_loser, the question isn't "Who is excited about Half-Life 2: Episode Three," it is "Who isn't excited about Half-Life 2: Episode 3"
:P
Raises both hands, both feet.
Ya, I am very excited. Feel my nipples.
Anyway, as for the quality of the episodes, I think its half and half: Episode 1 was amazing, but it was so freaking short and some of the gameplay decisions (I hated the whole flashlight part with Alyx) were terrible. Episode 2 I thought was better than HL2 itself; I dont think Ive ever experienced emotions like that in a video game EVER! And the gameplay was simply amazing.
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment