Caltrops - Article Submissions





	[quote name="Worm"]Alright, this is crap I wrote about the game, at different times after finishing it. ________________________________________________ <b>Honeymoon</b> Okay, lets do this. It has a physics engine. That is to say the game uses physics, If you throw wood into water it floats, if you throw a brick in there, it won't float. Now buckets won't fill with water, but soldiers will roll up the "hood" of your "car" and over your "windshield area". It has a physics engine. Now you can't use anything as a weapon a la Trespasser and you cannot use things to distract people like Garret of Thief fame. Though you can pick anything up and throw it. Now throwing that stuff does damage like in Farcry. I'd like to be using anything as a weapon; but, that’d be unbalancing. The physics engine is perfect as far as I'm concerned. Where Halflife 1 had pushing crates, jumping, jumping with hazards puzzles HL2 has all that, but with a physics engine. Some things you have to work a lever and fill one thing up with other crap, but ultimately you're just moving crates, instead of pushing them you are moving them. The physics engine out of ten is a twenty. It's basically all you could want, enemies lean over bars when killed, they sprawl out, and everything seems very concrete and real. It's not only that there is a physics engine but the ability to pick up almost anything in your hands (and later on with the gravity gun) really let's you use the physics engine if you want as opposed to simply witnessing it in action when you kill people. When I couldn't find a way around something I could make a bridge, ladder, or even my own crate fort to protect me when I was informed troops were on the way. It takes anything previous physics engines have given you and smashes it, that shit doesn't matter. I don't know who did the physics engine, but he is one hardcore motherfucking gangsta in my book. Physics 20/10 Okay, now as for dialogue. Wait, this is a FPS and it has dialogue which is good, right? The facial expressions and dialogue really help the game along. Granted Gordon's last name might as well be tight lips. Maybe they do that because people realize that gamers don't have personalities and would be overridden by Gordon's, though responses during the times of pure dialogue would have been a nice addition. The scripting for these encounters are all really good too, facial animations, inflections, and such all add to it. Many of the things are really for people who've played the first one, though even in inaction the game is very enjoyable, albeit, brief. Unprecedented 7/10 Story It was a good story. It continues from the first game and even you have played the first you probably need it explained to you unless you've played Blueshift, Halflife, Opposing Force, and still I don't even know the aliens names or any of that shit. It's a weird story, but it's satisfying and I think I'd like it if I was reading a net novella, so that's good right? 9/10 Graphics Really, really, really great. Not just for how they look, but for facial structures, lip sync, skin palettes, tones, gait, body language, something about breasts (not that anyone in the game really has any), and the shine on eyes. Every model is not simply high-res, but they are also detailed and very well skinned and drawn. 10/10 Gameplay Unlike the first this eliminates what Metriod, Megaman, and The Japanese baby eaters have taught us about boss fights. HL2 there are no traditional bosses, with the exception of one tough motherfucking helicopter. There is Military hardware like gunships, helicopters that you have to take down, enemies flooding your position, striders (Think of the striders from Morrowind, but robotic). All the combat feels very insurgent, and I might submit a "KILL WHITE DEVILMEN IN OUR COUNTRY" mod to MODDB later today. The normal combat is very good. I feel that one level does what Doom 3 attempted, another does was vehicle/FPS games have been attempting, another does what army games have been attempting. 11/10 Multiplayer DON'T GOT NONE CEPT COUNTER STRIKE 5/10 Of course this isn't including the horrible disc install ________________________________________________ <b>A day after finishing it</b> Okay, let's boil this down. It's a great game, built on an amazing engine. I think much more could have been done. But right now, right here, this is the best thing I've played as far as FPSs. I think applying better ideas to this engine will hopefully create some great games. Halflife 2 was really great. Ultimately I'm upset that it angled for a sequel, and ended in a familiar manner. I wish it had been less of a Halflife fan's sequel. Multiplayer would be nice, but Gamespot and all the other gaming press having been handing out fine scores to Arena games like Quake 3, Tribes, and Unreal Tournament regardless of their lack of single player. So fuck that double standard. I miss the horribly obvious "I AM A BOSS CHARACTER" types of bosses. Now, I guess I'm waiting for Halflife 3. _______________________________________________ <b>Honestly in my right state of mind</b> Maybe sequel fury blinded me, maybe I'm lying to myself, but it really didn't feel like a rail shooter. Shooters that attempt to cover up the rails piss me off, let's all accept the limitations of the technology, the Industry, and the people. You aren't going to see terrain deform, you won't see true A.I., and you won't get true open ended gaming, and companies trying to emulate all the twinkle in your eye bullshit are what is producing shitty games. I never gave a shit about my ostrich's motivation, I didn't care where Vaus came from, or where he was going, and I sure didn't give a shit if my Karate Champ fulfilled his dreams. That is why I liked HL2, it had some honest arcade fun in it; something the world forgot, and something the world doesn't have the fucking reflexes for anymore. I always liked Freeman as a character. He’s not this cliché action hero “Give me a weapon” Master Chief, and he’s not some introspective emotrooper talking about Hall & Oates on the battlefield. He is just an empty canvas; the kind of character more games could use. He isn’t saving the world. He’s probably fucking it up more. He’s a tool. He’s the coolest tool ever. The other characters have satisfying interactions and dialogue. The faces look great. I have no idea how someone could balance dialogue and action without turning the game into a Kevin Smith movie; though, I’d like to have seen more dialogue. Even if I have no clue how they could make it not feel weird. I want the painfully obvious bosses back; complete with the glowing red weak spot. I had fun dropping the striders, and gunships; but, I had more fun fighting the big ball sack crab in Halflife 1. I loved the game, though those fuckers at Valve can do so much better. I believe the modding community is what is going to make the game a real blast. It's like a version of Codewarrior that comes with a pretty decent premade game. That's why I love Halflife, it doesn't stand for company games. It stands for random douchebags’ games. I'd really like for some of the people here to try something with the SDK. I’d like to see ICJ’s A Crimson Spring in source. I’d love to see Creexul’s fairy mod. I think the major fault in the way everyone is gauging this game is that they are not right not rating the SDK and trying to make their own game; I mean, Troika did it. As for HL2DM, with two levels it feels like the Quake 3 Arena demo (or was that a beta?). Though the gravity gun is fun enough to counter most problems. The weapons really aren’t multiplay balanced, which is refreshing. I would rather not give immediately killed from looking at another guy who has a Magnum but it's fun, and it's a death match, you're supposed to die. Both of the maps really cannot suit over 8-10 players very well; any server with 14 people will be hectic. All it needs are a few more maps, few more models, half damage .357, and some saw blades to launch around. Well, that's me honestly trying to get across what I want to get across. Have at me Caltroopers.[/quote]