E3 | Half-Life 2 Impressions
E3 | Half-Life 2 Impressions
Author: Dan "Supermonkey" Reiley
Publisher: VU Games
Developer: Valve Software
Platform: PC
Valve was kind enough today to show the progress of their much anticipated sequel to one of the best PC games ever---Half-Life 2. The demo wasn't so much for showing off earth-shattering news about the gameplay, but rather just to give folks an idea of their progress since last E3, and for the developers to show snippets of some of their favorite moments from beta testing as well as give hints about the beginning of the story. Valve's Eric Johnson, of Valve, was on hand to provide explanation for the scenes we were about to witness.
At the beginning of the game, Gordon is once again at the terminus of a train ride as he disembarks and is allowed to make his way to an imposing-looking blockade and check point overseen by mysterious helmeted guards who may or may not be altogether human. The name of Gordon's new home is City 17, and they really know how to roll the red carpet out…red as in blood… As Gordon approaches the blockade/check point he is detained by the vaguely Star Wars Stormtrooper-esque guards who go so far as to push Gordon around and let him know that they are running the show. Another guard appears at a side door and orders Gordon to come with him.
As Gordon is escorted down the hall, he passes by an interrogation room in which he can hear another detainee explaining to the guard inside that he has done nothing wrong. As Gordon looks on, the guard inside comes to the door and slams the eyehole in Gordon's face. Gordon's guard comes to a stop at the end of the hall and opens a door for Gordon to go through. Looking into the room, Gordon notes a dentist chair, complete with horrific blood stains on the surrounding floor. Gordon looks back at the guard, and then boldly steps through into the room---as he approaches the chair, the scene fades to black.
Eric then went on to show us a favorite moment of his from one of their beta testers. As the beta tester was tooling along in the dune buggy, he was attacked by two small metallic balls that crackled with electricity as they attached themselves to the frame of the dune buggy, which then seemingly drained the buggy of power, slowing it to a halt leaving it half-cocked over the edge of the nearby cliff. The tester then exited the dune buggy causing one of the electro-balls to come after him. The tester then broke out the crowbar and knocked the electro ball back a few paces, but it came at him again. The tester then knocked the ball over the cliff's edge into the water several meters below. Then the tester went over to the dune buggy and used the crowbar to knock the remaining electro ball off the dune buggy and into the water. The tester then used the "Manipulator" to coerce the teetering vehicle back on the road with a series of magnetic-like pushes and pulls. Emergent gameplay such as this is bound to be common considering the power of the underlying Source engine and its ability to emulate real-world physics.
Eric Johnson then showed some of the flow of combat from the game.
The screen came back up and showed Gordon again in the dune buggy, shooting at foes and running down people with the buggy.
Two more electro balls headed towards the vehicle, and Gordon got out and began laying them out with his shotgun.
The guards were all around him firing a hail of bullets.
There was much chaos and things happened much too quickly to recount perfectly, but some of the highlights included Gordon using the Manipulator to throw his dune buggy at a foe, crushing the guard with it. Also the electro balls were pushed away from Gordon with the spray of the shotgun. Gordon then took refuge in the house they were fighting outside of, closing the door on an oncoming electro ball. He ran upstairs and grabbed some ammo using the Manipulator, but then more enemies started attacking him, both from outside and inside. Gordon then took out a weapon that looked really interesting as it vaporized enemies with a field of red energy with a final burst into ashes. This dispatched the soldiers in a visual method similar to that of the Strider's "death beam" we've seen in previously released footage featuring City 17.
Eric proceeded to show off a new vehicle which was essentially a hovercraft with motorcycle handlebars. (It seemed rather odd that no hands were shown holding the grips to control the vehicle once mounted – perhaps that has as of yet to be added?)
As Gordon hopped in and began moving forward, a chopper flew overhead (spraying up vapor from the river it was flying over). Gordon moved out and began maneuvering through the aqueduct-looking waterway. Rockets were being fired into the aqueduct, setting off a fire at one end, forcing Gordon to jump over into a different aqueduct and into a tunnel. Once out of the tunnel, the chopper could be seen dropping mines that either floated in the water or remained immobile on the ground, which eventually Gordon drove over, ending this scene of the demo.
The last part of the demo was showing the AI squad-based aspect of the game.
Some of the citizens of City 17 banded together with Gordon and in this particular part of the game they were going to try and take down a Strider.
Gordon proceeds to lay the smack down on one Strider with his shotgun, then going after another. (not that he took that first one down, it's just that, well, Gordon has like 15 Ph.D.'s so you know he should be smart enough to run away from that situation!)
. But then of course he finds another Strider who is cloaked and *vaporizing* Gordon's allies with a red beam.
And then, well, Gordon falls prey to the red beam himself, ending the Half-Life 2 demo.
Eric left us with a peek at the updated look of Counter-Strike 2 running on Source via narby's popular map 'de-aztec'.
The map sported more than just updated lighting and texturing effects; there was quite a bit of new geometry as well, including an Aztec pyramid towering over one bomb site.
This isn't fact, but it was *hinted* that this might be the multiplayer component that ships with HL2.
Closing the demo Eric stopped shy of giving a solid release date but promised us we'd have it in our hot little hands "this summer…guaranteed."
We here at Gamehelper can't seem to stop giggling with glee at the mere thought of this game finally making its way into our hands.
The boys can't seem to stop rolling on the floor and fantasizing about the time when they can get aboard the Half-Life 2 Express and take that heavenly trip into the twilight of Half-Life 2's development cycle.
--->SuperMonkey
