The World Inside: Half-Life 2

Not being a typical fan of the genre, Half-Life 2 is the only First-Person Shooter (FPS) I've played in a while. I greatly enjoyed it, probably because it plays more like a first-person action-adventure in parts than a classical FPS.

Partly because it's been forever since I played an FPS—I played a lot of Threewave CTF back in the day, but not much since—and partly for a reason to put Windows on my iMac, I picked up the boxed version of Half-Life 2: Episode One at Gamestop. Valve uses their Steam system for internet content delivery, for better or worse, and while I feel fine paying cash money for a stream of bits, having the full HL2:E1 on disc let me skip downloading a bunch of it. With a $10 discount for already having Episode One, I bought Half-Life 2 proper on Steam and got both games for $40 total. (You could get HL2:E1 from Amazon, or Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition if you want Counterstrike instead of Episode One.)

It's obvious where all those bits to download are going: Half-Life 2 is a beautiful game. While I haven't written about many non-DS games, one big difference between the DS and games you play on a TV or computer is graphic capability. Namely, the PC and PC-esque consoles have it, and the DS doesn't. That's been mainly a good thing for the DS, as developers have been able to make games with actual play in them, on the relative cheap, instead of spending time and money delivering better graphics.

PC games can definitely deliver on the promise of that power. To see the awesome graphical capability at the PC gamer's disposal, check out Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, an additional download that comes with your purchase of HL2 or HL2:E1, kind of like a DVD extra. It fits into the story during the chapter "Highway 17," so I took a break from the real game and played it when I was near the end of that chapter.

Like HL2:E1, Lost Coast has optional commentary available, wherein folks from Valve describe some of the design that goes into making a Half-Life 2 series map, and the special "high dynamic range" (HDR) technology that's the point of Lost Coast. Part of HDR is to apply the idea of psychoacoustic modeling to graphics. These days, developers of new audio compression formats model sound as the brain interprets it instead of how physical sounds are made. You can determine the best information to leave out of a sound to make it smaller by seeing how well the human ear and brain will notice it's missing.

So, analogously, instead of modeling how light behaves in an objective, physical sense, part of HDR models how human sight works. For instance (and this is all in the commentary) there's a narrow dark passage in the rock you pass through on the bright sunny day, and as you emerge back into the sun, the engine can simulate how your eyes would really adjust to such a change in brightness. Just looking down in a shady part of the map can show how your "eyes" adjust to the darkness, seeing a little more detail after a moment.

However, while all that power is available now in Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 itself isn't perfect. The person models don't quite compare to the amazing Table Tennis models on the 360. As HL2 is on the original Xbox, you can chalk that up to generational differences if you like--especially as the fisherman in Lost Coast, described as "over two times as detailed" as the people models in Half-Life 2, does rival the awesome figures in Table Tennis.

But that's not to say you can't have a beautiful game that plays well too. As I said, I enjoyed it because it was a general action-adventure game more than a single-minded shooter. HL2 features driving, physics puzzles, and, yes, shooting bad guys. (At times the vehicle physics seemed oddly familiar, for good reason.) Half-Life 2 features several variations of Two Guys With Guns, as well: regular FPS action, but also engagement with your simulated AI squad, defending territory with automated turrets, simulated AI co-op (which you get throughout HL2:E1), some stealth assault and survival horror-ish areas, and assault on some pretty impressive enemy vehicles.

The parts I least enjoyed were the parts where the game thought it was a platformer. (What internet reviews I've read seem to agree.) There are some parts where you jump around on floating objects. If you thought it was taxing to jump precisely in an FPS engine, well, let's make the platforms move! Even if they made up some feature of the HEV suit where it could project a simulated third person view, I would have appreciated it.

I enjoyed Half-Life 2 for its variety, but could I call it a purpose-driven game? While Valve didn't do anything as radical as ditch the FPS model, HL2 does contain games besides shoot-and-run, and a story at least as interesting as many movies that make it to full theatrical release. Portal, a pack-in game to be released with Half-Life 2: Episode Two in early 2007, seems even more so: the Narbacular Drop folks made a puzzle game, and they've remade it as a puzzle game with a funny story that happens to use the Source engine.

But HL2 isn't that good a story setpiece, as many people will argue quite convincingly. The story is strong for an FPS, in my limited modern experience, but still pretty weak. In no way could I convince myself Valve wanted to tell the story of Half-Life 2 and decided an FPS was the best way to do that.

Certainly in the third act (perhaps more appropriately called "the last third of the game"), the game devolves into the simplistic shoot-and-run plot, and what little story there is to deliver is handed over wholly in exposition. At the end I didn't feel so much at the conclusion of a fruitful journey as at the end of a series of fun, related games. Even the console platformer trope of a slideshow through the game during the credits would have at least reminded me how I got there, and what I accomplished in all that time I spent. Throw me a bone here!

But you do get some pretty cool FPS action in exchange. In spite of the hollow ring of the ending, Half-Life 2 was fun during the playing of it. I was amazed with the amount of variety of gameplay in, ostensibly, a first-person shooter, and can't wait to start on the episodes.

Comments

[Dynamo!]

Episode 1 is a fun ride, albeit short. Some nice development, coupled with some memorable sequences, but overall it's a continued teaser for Episode 2, which will hopefully push the story along a little more aggressively. I'm almost more excited about Portal, especially after playing Narbacular Drop.

[Kroms]

Half-Life 2 was great, but it as bogged-down by inconsistent puzzles (terrible pacing) and a so-so storyline that didn't blossom into its full potential.

It's a shame it took you that long to play it, though; easily one of the best games of 2004 ... easily one of the best games in recent history.

- Kroms

http://kroms.blogspot.com/

[Steve Litchfield]

You make a good point near the start of your (also er.... good but long) blog entry, that DS developers are more free to develop gameplay, rather than having to spend inordinate amounts of time fiddling with graphics.

In theory anyway. In practice, and after reviewing dozens of DS titles now, I've consistently been a little disappointed by flaws in the gameplay. It's as is game developers are given a budget and timescales and once they hit the buffers are told "Stop now".

Sorry, just ranting....

Steve

[pooopy]

Half life 2 was pretty awesome. It seemed a little short, story did move on some key points, other than that, it was amazing! The only problem was when trying to get the little rocket man achievement. Driving the car was a big part, and the gnome couldn't even stay in for a short turn. Oh yeah, for anyone trying to get that achievement, make sure you close the rocket door... I thankfully put a save right at that spot, so when I beat it, just loaded up the save, closed the door, and got my 30 gamer points.