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Black Mesa: Coming 2009

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KvP:

--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 01 Dec 2008, 01:23 ---linear
--- End quote ---
This word, it does not mean what you think it means.

(HL2 is no more or less linear than HL1 was, it just feels bigger and more open, because of the more abundant outdoor environs and the driving sequences. But if you play through HL2 twice, no matter what you do differently the second time around you'll see the same locations and the same scripted sequences in the same order. The word "non-linear" has been bandied about as shorthand for "open world" but that is incorrect usage, as most open world games only give the illusion of an unstructured narrative or, more commonly, they feature a lot of exploration. But even if you can take as much time as you want getting from point A to point B, you're still eventually wrangled into the progression the game has set out for you.)

Also I disagree with you in that the only part of HL2 / the episodes I thought was any good was Episode 2, in which they stepped up their narrative game a bit. HL2 had a lot of samey combat (death squads or headcrabs, choose one), City 17 was a bland and uninteresting setting, it had a bland and uninteresting villain, the ending sucked and it was far too long. I don't remember a single thing about Episode 1, except maybe being frustrated and bored by the headcrab elevator sequence. I liked HL1 because it was groundbreaking, more or less, for its time (that System Shock had used a lot of the same techniques first 4 years earlier was insignificant, as that game was not popular amongst the mountain dew set). Nothing happened in the first 20 minutes of the game except (quite effective) atmosphere building, something that was unheard of back then. The setting was vast and interesting and spooky, and the enemy variety was better. When Half-Life 2 came out all I remember feeling was annoyance that Valve had decided to incorporate Bungie's lengthy vehicular transportation and combat sequences into their game, except instead of fighting enemy armor in a low-gravity environment you were gliding over endless rivers of toxic waste and fighting the aliens from Starship Troopers.

Basically I'd challenge anybody to come up with something as creative as the entire tentacle monster level in HL1 that came out of HL2. There isn't anything that comes close. The gravity gun was fun (launching cinder blocks at people never gets old) but the puzzles it was used in were never anything more than entirely straightforward.

teh Dave:
It has a release date now? HELL. YES. Been waiting ages for this. And it looks fantastic!

I wouldn't say it's for those who haven't played the original. It's basically for anyone who was disappointed with Half Life: Source. Which would be most people. If you're going to update a game and only add physics and water effects, you might as well not bother. This is what we wanted from HL:S. It's what it should have been.

KvP:
I suppose "2009" could qualify as a release date.

teh Dave:

--- Quote from: KvP on 01 Dec 2008, 02:47 ---I suppose "2009" could qualify as a release date.

--- End quote ---

Compared to Starcraft 2, it's a godsend.

Spluff:
Black Mesa Forever

Hasn't this been in production for like 5 years?

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