East
10-10-2007, 07:48 PM
Please don't look in this thread if you haven't finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 yet, as it will spoil the ending for you.
I figured we might share our experiences with this game, and discuss it a bit if there's interest.
I just finished playing Episode 2. It was a nice ride, almost on par with Episode 1. A good experience, as expected. All in all it took roughly 4, maybe 5 hours (I don't keep track of time when playing games - who does that anyway?) Time really just flew away and I was seriously surprised when at the end I saw the credits starting to roll.
That said, there's one thing I normally can't stand, and that's running around in slimy underground areas full of creatures that spit acid at me (in this case, the Acid Lions). I don't find it fun in the least, and in Episode 2 I couldn't feel any exception. Which is a shame, because as you remember you spend a good portion of the game in exactly these surroundings when trying to save Alyx after she's been impaled by the Hunter.
So during that time I found myself muttering about how that part of the game just needed to end as soon as possible.
Sadly the game feels a bit aged. There's still the traditional, aged monster triggers and these are usually quite apparent. During the part where you have to stop the auto turrets from firing, and you get close to them by using old scrapped cars as cover, this was glaringly obvious. Remember how you blew the power box thingie to the turrets up with a grenade? Well, I did that, but I failed to notice how a big hole opened up in the wall.
So I kept running around looking for an exit. I realised I came in through the ceiling windows, so I stacked a few boxes, and made my way out through there, onto the roof, and realised there weren't any zombies left in sight. Jumping down onto the ground, I noticed the hole I had blown up in the wall, and curiously went back into the building.
That's when I walked into the trigger, spawning a crapload of zombies which blinked into existence behind me on the outside. This really broke the illusion for me, and I decided to just load the game, climb out the window again, and this time avoid the spawn trigger to not having to be bothered with zombies (which, honestly at this point, I am fairly done with..)
But I still enjoyed the game, but not as much as I did Episode 1. Mostly the safehouse parts, where I could watch the characters interact with each other, and observe Alyx's range of facial animations. The story didn't unfold as much as I had hoped it would, and then all of the sudden in a very dramatic scene, it all ended with Eli dying (apparently).
I figured we might share our experiences with this game, and discuss it a bit if there's interest.
I just finished playing Episode 2. It was a nice ride, almost on par with Episode 1. A good experience, as expected. All in all it took roughly 4, maybe 5 hours (I don't keep track of time when playing games - who does that anyway?) Time really just flew away and I was seriously surprised when at the end I saw the credits starting to roll.
That said, there's one thing I normally can't stand, and that's running around in slimy underground areas full of creatures that spit acid at me (in this case, the Acid Lions). I don't find it fun in the least, and in Episode 2 I couldn't feel any exception. Which is a shame, because as you remember you spend a good portion of the game in exactly these surroundings when trying to save Alyx after she's been impaled by the Hunter.
So during that time I found myself muttering about how that part of the game just needed to end as soon as possible.
Sadly the game feels a bit aged. There's still the traditional, aged monster triggers and these are usually quite apparent. During the part where you have to stop the auto turrets from firing, and you get close to them by using old scrapped cars as cover, this was glaringly obvious. Remember how you blew the power box thingie to the turrets up with a grenade? Well, I did that, but I failed to notice how a big hole opened up in the wall.
So I kept running around looking for an exit. I realised I came in through the ceiling windows, so I stacked a few boxes, and made my way out through there, onto the roof, and realised there weren't any zombies left in sight. Jumping down onto the ground, I noticed the hole I had blown up in the wall, and curiously went back into the building.
That's when I walked into the trigger, spawning a crapload of zombies which blinked into existence behind me on the outside. This really broke the illusion for me, and I decided to just load the game, climb out the window again, and this time avoid the spawn trigger to not having to be bothered with zombies (which, honestly at this point, I am fairly done with..)
But I still enjoyed the game, but not as much as I did Episode 1. Mostly the safehouse parts, where I could watch the characters interact with each other, and observe Alyx's range of facial animations. The story didn't unfold as much as I had hoped it would, and then all of the sudden in a very dramatic scene, it all ended with Eli dying (apparently).