Half life 2 review 2018
An interminable wait, a romantic development which is worth all the epic frescoes and the peplums of the Earth and finally, It is there, Half-Life 2, that which one long called Arlesian and which one ended up taking for a myth, a gigantic farce or vaporware, the sound of the wind. And although nay, it does exist and if you want to know it, it was worth the wait.Half-Life is a predator, a Great White. Its prey ? Your social life that he will be happy to tear apart by blocking you 15 hours of row on your PC. The kind of game that pushes you to be adorable with your girlfriend while continuously tanning her until it is SHE who tells you to go play without you having the feeling of leaving her company (that the player having lived in couple without doing that once I balance Everest in the face). Undoubtedly, there was a lease that a game hadn't been as addictive. So, how is HL2 playing? And first of all we bump into an endless loading which only leads to an unfortunate menu, a taste of one of the major faults of the game: untimely loading which occur very frequently, preferably at the most inopportune moment and which freeze the game for a considerable time. Ideal for breaking the rhythm and the atmosphere, you quickly learn to hate the thing.
The price to pay probably for a game that does not contain any break thereafter, neither cinematic, nor chain of mission via a loading screen, nothing. We constantly advance scenes of actions in exploration and meetings of allies practically as in real time and in the skin of Gordon Freeman. Very quickly, it is obvious that what makes the game a must is its immersion force. Landing in the mysterious city of City 17 in which humans live in dark ghettos, terrorized by a strange Militia, the player finds himself, before he even understands that the target is him, pursued by the latter. And so it all begins. During the first stages of the game, we will be hunted down like prey, in town, on rooftops, in a train station, with a real sense of urgency. Looking for the next loophole in the new rat trap in which we have stuffed ourselves, before going to try our luck in an airboat for a new high-speed chase. The rest will give you your place as a hunter, however, and you have to admit that after a start in tears, we quickly find the basics of the genre that the game does not intend to revolutionize, simply, he knows how to put them together brilliantly. If you scratch a little, you realize that HL2, in the end, is an almost old-fashioned shooter, we run, we shoot and we collect ammunition or medi-kits scattered on the ground or stored in the half billion wooden boxes strewn across the levels. After that, we solve puzzles in order to remove obstacles. You see, it's more than classic and in addition, it's ultra linear and scripted. It looks like back in 99. Yet what an efficiency. Puzzles, for example, will often use the physical engine of the game, asking us to weigh down a platform in order to trigger a chain reaction. If the concept is banal, the form is at least original. This is what we say when we have to remove the wedges of an armored vehicle under load on an electric pole in order to make it roll and thus bring down the said pole.
But as I said, if Half-Life 2 is so scotching, it's by its immersion. The anthology scenes are linked, whether it is the hydrofoil sequence or on board the buggy interspersed with stops in order to unblock the passage by floating a springboard or by replacing a battery on a contactor. There are also fights against helicopters from the Militia and others. Valve knows how to continually renew pleasures and draw us into its universe. Here we will play it James Bond in the marshes or the hydrofoil canals, there we will storm an enemy base in the company of mutant creatures maintained under our control using pheromones, just after they have themselves almost ran away, there we will fight in town against a horde of giant spiders (Striders), shortly after attacking a prison etc. However, the game does not avoid a few lengths on occasion. The action is not continuous unlike the progression and it happens that we find the time long sometimes or that the diagram "I roll - I am blocked - I will open the door and I come back in 10 minutes" tires a little . A little, but not too much. And not enough for the other attractive aspects of the title to be obscured or for us to feel ejected from the world in which Gordon Freeman regained consciousness. Despite the lack of cutscenes, it's hard not to say that HL2 is reminiscent of a sci-fi film of which we would be the hero, but in a way much less interventionist and scripted than a Medal Of Honor, suddenly , we believe in it much more.
A strong and very stylish film in which we take a real step forward and whose hostile residents are a treat to face. A question of staging but also of design, starting with the sound design, the voices but above all the effects are a real success and the mastered soundtrack alone manages to give body and soul to this occupied Earth and this invasion . From the noise of the helicopters to the voice of the Militiamen to the sounds emitted by the various creatures of the game, nothing is to be thrown away. And when the excellent music underlines an action phase, the composers of Valve are blessed. Everything is there to ensure real credibility for the universe and to create an atmosphere of oppression that sticks to the initial idea. Between the War of the Worlds and the Longest Day, this is where we stand.
The level design is not lagging behind for its part and if from a technical point of view it is true that Valve may not hit quite as hard as Doom 3 or Far Cry, it is not no less superb and above all refined to the last detail. The general design has nothing to envy to the best SF films and even surpasses some, just see City 17, a city with a slightly Victorian style within which evolves Militiamen who evoke members of the Gestapo who n 'would have failed to remove their gas mask, probes looking for "anti-citizens" and more. And in the middle of it all, the enemy buildings with improbable architecture. We add birds that fly here and there, or a simple train that passes and once again we find a very alive world.
In addition to this irresistible dive into its universe and its scenes of varied actions, the game also knows how to boast other assets, including its physical engine (the inexorable Havok). Why shoot 4 enemies when you just have to drop the wooden scaffolding that supports them? I have already mentioned the puzzles which will require that the solution be found while thinking of the possibilities of chain reactions but we should not forget the Anti-gravity weapon, the only truly original weapon of the game. Thanks to it we can lift objects reasonably heavy or project larger ones, even a car. Needless to say, throwing a car at a troop of fascinating militiamen is fun. But not as much as lifting a circular saw blade and throwing it towards 4 or 5 "zombies" who will appreciate the sharp humor of the thing.
Describing how a game is great when it owes more to the immersion of the player than to a great wealth of gameplay, this is a delicate exercise, so remember only one thing, HL2, when we launch it, we do not 'can not get out of it anymore or we ask a muscular friend to tear you off the keyboard. So Half-Life 2 ultimate game? Game of the century? Well ... actually no. No for various reasons. That it is not the great revolution of the FPS, we are not going to blame him, he makes such a good soup in his old pot. We will cite in the regrets, the famous loadings, certainly inevitable but terribly frustrating and harmful to the atmosphere. Not to say downright heavy. Relative disappointment also in terms of AI which is far from impressive. On the one hand we will find a gallery of stupid and more or less aggressive monsters who rush at you at various speeds. On the other hand, the militiamen, who are more of a suicidal type and who find it very difficult to integrate the fact that the one who wins in the end is you and they would do well to go and hide a little instead of stay in the middle of the way. It may not be said that A.I is bad, but it is far from living up to the expectations placed on it.
But there are also certain shortcomings that are surprisingly lacking. Example boat, friend Gordon can only use his mimines to hold a weapon. Grab an object and you will see it float under your nose as if by magic. Climb a ladder and you will see with a sad little pout that Gordon keeps his gun in his hand and does not grab the ladder. It was a stain in an FPS super-production in 2004, especially for a game that did everything to be credible. We continue by regretting the impossibility of bending over to shoot at a corner, when we can do it in most current games. And finally last criticism, Gordon does not speak. From a point of view of narrative and immersive processes, that is defended, in practice, during the chat scenes, it seems like playing the adventures of Rain Man, we don't answer questions, we don't 'do not pose, we are silent and we play the morons. Besides, the questions remain unanswered since, paradoxically, the HL2 scenario is not really developed and even less clearly explained. A fact as surprising as it is disappointing. What do you want, perfection can only be found in heaven.
The notes
Graphics 18/20
Half-Life 2 bickers with Doom 3 and Far Cry if we want to talk technical but we are not going to find out who wins. We will especially remember that the game is splendid, despite some textures a little messy from time to time. And above all, what a design, neat, licked in every detail. Well done.
Gameplay 18/20
Simple but solid bases which serve a sum of varied and inventive situations which it is futile to want to describe. Despite a few lengths, the game succeeds thanks to clever tricks to fully immerse the player in his universe. Highly addictive. It's a shame to see some gaps and a little light AI.
Lifespan 14/20
15 chapters that will take you about an hour each, do the math. Overall the game is not really hard so force the level of difficulty from the outset story to inflate the life, especially that Half-Life 2 does not contain full-fledged multiplayer and is content with to be delivered with the remake of Counter-Strike.
Soundtrack 18/20
Mastered from start to finish, the soundtrack flatters the honey cages with striking effects, stylish and electronic background music and high-quality VF dubbing.
Scenario 13/20
Much more was expected of the HL2 scenario. Inconsistent, obscure and not really put forward, the latter leaves us hungry.
Who said Half-Life 2 would be a revolution? Nobody and that's good because the game is based on the basics that he himself had laid with the first opus. Notwithstanding, it's been a long time since a game had been able to keep a player in suspense in front of his PC with so much brilliance. Without doubt the most addictive and immersive FPS that we have seen since a lease and such that we will not see it for a while. But it is not perfect however, a few lengths, one or two feelings of replaying the advance / stop / stage too often opens the door and astonishing gaps tarnish the picture a little but all the same, what a foot!
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