Posted August 03, 2012
I didn't, but I played through the game twice, and thought this part sucked on both occasions. I guess it just sucks.
But I mean it, the ending is lovely. They learned their lesson from Xen, they really did.
SimonG: But I must disagree in storytelling. The "silent protagonist" approach worked very good in HL 1. But in HL 2 the gaming world had moved on and it just doesn't fit anymore. The "story" is a mess and was, imo, clearly written after the levels were designed to simply tie them together. The fact that Freeman remains silent the whole time just looks stupid considering what is going on. And I'll disagree with you there. The story is great, and the world is really well put together; the only problem is, the game doesn't tell you most of it. There are hints, bits and pieces all over the place, which you have to piece together to get something coherent out of it, but once you do, it all fits very neatly. (They realised their mistake eventually; the Episodes, particularly the second one, are a lot heavier on exposition than HL2 itself.) The first game did that as well, but HL2 really is masterful in this regard.
SimonG: And, so far, I didn't get all the hype made around that Alyx girl. Her AI wasn't really anything to write home about. Maybe it was impresseve ten years ago, but today it is just another gimmick which has been done better in other games countless times. I think most of the hype is because her persona is miles ahead of your average tits-and-guns FPS female. And this part is still relevant today.
SimonG: The very core design is simply flawed and has aged very badly. Unlike HL 1. It is the simplicity that makes HL 1 great. Less gimmicks, but the core gameplay is just very well made. The problem with HL 2 is that the whole game is build around pushing the envelope of the shooter genre. Of 2003. That simply doesn't fly anymore today. After they did all the gimmicks, they forgot to actually make a good game. Yeah, I sort of agree, but on the other hand, it really pushed the hell out of that envelope.
But I mean it, the ending is lovely. They learned their lesson from Xen, they really did.
