So I got The Orange Box about a year ago. Honestly, I only got it because of Portal and because I heard all the other games included were cool. So after I beat Portal, I proceeded to play the rest of the games. I couldn't get into Team Fortress because of reasons. So I decided to try Half Life 2. A friend had told me to start with Half Life 2 and then move on to the episodes. So I did.
And I gotta say: I'm not loving the game.
I hate the fact that it has me wandering aimlessly for the most part. "Hey, you gotta meet up with us...and we're 200 miles away from you! Off you go!". See, it's not that I mind the trek. You get to kill some people along the way and...well, I suppose that is the point of the game. But what pisses me off is that they're not very clear about which way to go.
Yeah, I hate games that pat me in the back and tell me how to jump and run every second of the game, but on the other hand, I also hate games that don't tell me anything at all! I literally spent an hour trying to figure out how to leave a specific infected town on HL2, and before that, another hour trying to make it past a specific place while riding my watercraft (?). No maps, no compass, no pointers, not even a friendly hint. Nothing. I just gotta guess where to go. And if you're at the point where I'm at, low on ammo and already wiped out the entire infected town, you're gonna get bored quite fast while trying to figure out where the game wants you to go. At this point, I even forgot what the last NPC told me about getting to my destination.
I also hear it's a great FPS and, again, I don't see why. The shooting mechanics are simple: Choose your weapon, aim, fire, repeat. But it just feels so slow and clunky compared to other FPS. A simple zombie can easily kill me if I don't aim properly or if I'm in the wrong position or if I'm too close or whatever.
I know what someone's gonna say: "But the game came out years ago! Give it a break!". yes, and yet, GoldenEye. After GoldenEye, no FPS has any excuse to be bad. Not saying GoldenEye was the best FPS ever but it was smart enough to show us how simple and fun a FPS can be. I get the feeling HL2 wants me to explore the place and also wants me to kill stuff. But killing stuff is just something I dread because a simple enemy could annihilate me. Yes, I get 'realism' in games and all, but come on! Gordon is wearing a freakin' super suit! You'd think he'd be better than that.
It seems Valve learned from their mistakes because L4D is one of the best FPS I've played, though.
The story is also confusing. They drop a bit of history/story every now and then and then they send you off to fight a bunch of zombies. Rinse and repeat. Like I said, by the time I reach the next objective, I already forgot what was I doing there in the first place.
HL2 is a good game, I'm not saying that. It's more fun than what I expected it to be. But it's not THAT amazing as people make it seem. So why is it so popular? Why are people just dying for HL3? Aside from perhaps a cliffhanger at the end of the episodes. Does someone agree with me?
Yeah, I also watched the No Right Answer episode featuring HL2. And I understand all that they said. But it still doesn't tell me what makes it so awesome and worth playing.
So now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to doing something I had hoped to never do: Look up a Youtube video that tells me how to move on from that one HL2 stage.
EDIT: Yes, I love the graphics and the way everything reacts to something else. If you remove a table, the contents fall and roll on the floor. If you aim at the zombie's head, his head falls off and bounces all over the place. That I admire.