Official Half-Life 2 Thread

[kai123]

Anybody picked this up yet? I heard some stores were selling it early. If you have please post your impressions of it and what type of system you have. I would pick it up but I am strapped for cash and I am not sure if my system can handle it. :/

[GrayFox]

I bought mine off of Steam, so, I dunno yet.

I hope they unlock this bad boy pretty soon, I've been waiting way too long for this game.

[it290]

Even if you picked the game up early, it's impossible to play it until Valve/VU unlock it.

[Nez]

God I wanna play this game bad but my laptops screen is broke so I can't :( .

[Mr.FoodMonster]

I'm picking it up at 12 AM tomorrow.

Hell. Yes.

[GrayFox]

I'm staying up til 2 AM to play it :P

[Bratwurst]

Even if you picked the game up early, it's impossible to play it until Valve/VU unlock it.

I understand this if you downloaded the game through Steam, but hard copy from retail?

Also: What is in the director's cut of Half Life 2?

[GaijinPunch]

Too much crap to play. I'm going to pick it up soon though!

[unbroken]

ill prolly DL it

[GrayFox]

ill prolly DL it

Bastard ;-). Why 'download' this game? This is the only game I refuse to download, just because I have to support these guys. I mean, when some guys spend practically 6 years on a game, I can dish out $50.

[it290]

I understand this if you downloaded the game through Steam, but hard copy from retail?

Also: What is in the director's cut of Half Life 2?


Yup. Even retail copies are locked out (for another 45 minutes I guess, heh).

There isn't a 'director's cut' to my knowledge, but the collector's edition contains the game as well as Half-Life:Source (the original game ported to the source engine) and some other stuff. Also it's on a DVD as opposed to CDs.

[Overbite]

i have it on steam :)

[richmond]

just bought retail copy, gotta sit in work for 8 hours now before i can play.. :/

[Bratwurst]

Yup. Even retail copies are locked out (for another 45 minutes I guess, heh).

There isn't a 'director's cut' to my knowledge, but the collector's edition contains the game as well as Half-Life:Source (the original game ported to the source engine) and some other stuff. Also it's on a DVD as opposed to CDs.

I meant do you have to log in with Steam or whatnot to unlock the media on the hard copy, which would be unreasonable because not everyone has access to the internet. So likely not.

The latest Media Play circular for my area has a 'Director's Edition' package of Half Life 2 listed at79.99, so that's probably what it is.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Bastard valve! Just got it and i'm waiting for them to unlock it... It's taking ages!

And another thing - You can't play it if you don't have an internet connection! So think of all those people who will rush out and buy it and won't be able to play it.

And, what's worse is... You probably won't be able to return it after you've opened it either!

[Bratwurst]

Wow, I just checked at Steam's site and it confirms you have to unlock the hard copy online.. that's utter bullshit, and I've just decided I'm not going to be shelling out money for it.

[stayne]

This wasn't Valve's fault. VU Games (Valve's publisher) and Valve are locked in a very contentious legal dispute that jeopardized the game even coming out this early. Some stores jumped the gun (usually a big no-no), and started selling it before the release date (today). That being said, in this link: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/34497 Valve is saying that VU Games refused to unlock the game until today despite that. I lay half blame each on VU and the retailers for this. Valve has been very responsive to the community in the past, I'm not holding it against them.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

If someone has that much of a desire to play the game and have a really epensive rig, its not strange to have an internet connection. I mean, how many computers that are regularly used have no connection to the internet? Less than 5% I'd imagine. Brat, why are you not buying now? You obviously have internet, so whats the problem. Its also a DAAAAAMN good game. So.... cool.

[Bratwurst]

These posts are transcribed from mailed letters.. from the FUTURE.

What's there to love about buying a product and then being told how you can use it? 10 years from now do you think Valve is going to support this? Too many things to go wrong on the server side of things, and I predict more than a few stories of users getting screwed over.

[ddockery]

I'm willing to bet that if you were to buy this and call the customer support number and say you didn't have a conection that they can tell you how to unlock it or send a patch or whatever. Hell, the way PC games are though, you can't really play ANY of them w/o a connection, because they need 20 patches just to work properly in the first place.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Just another reason why consoles are superior to PC's...

It's still bullshit, cos i'd want to have a game I don't have to go online and register. Simple as.

Now it's been released, they should release it in a package ith all patches needed...

I think the amount of people who have a PC NOT connected is a little higher as well... Not everyone buys a PC to go and look at porn or browse eBay...

I know if it wasn't for eBay, I wouldn't be connected at all... Given the choice, i'd prefer my £2500 rig to stay free from all manner of attacks which come from being online, hence why I use a shitty computer to go online, and maintain my £2500 PC in pristine condition...

I am so going to phone them up and try and get them to unlock it. If they don't, i'm going to demand that they give me my money back, seeing as the shop I bought it doesn't take back unwrapped PC games (For copy reasons)

[buttasuperb]

2500 british monies for a pc...are you insane?

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Yes, quite possibly. The PC itself was only £1900 (At the time) and the monitor was a further £600. All together it cost me £2500. I've only had it three months.

It was money well spent I can tell you!

[SoulBlazer]

People, can someone tell us how the game IS?

I was a big fan of Half Life and saw the Limited Edition of the game, the guide, and a nice looking art book at the store today -- did anyone get that stuff and can comment what it is and how it is?

I'd like to get this if the reviews are good.....

[GrayFox]

This game, is amazing. I can't believe anyone would ever give Halo 2 a better review. Wow.

This game is absolutely mind blowing.

Get it. Now, please.

[Pente]

Ok here's my review, and a rant. HL2 is barely different from the first game.. it doesn't suck, but it's nothing new. The only new thing is the physics, which is better implemented than most games with physics. As far as the graphics and sound being better, that is to be expected as its a 2004 game, not 1998. ;)

From what I've tried so far, they do a few things to use physics for gameplay that work well (it's satisfying to roll a flammable barrel into a group of ceiling tentacles and then shoot it while it's going up. And they kinda play catch with certain items you throw at them..but that's only fun for a little while. But all in all, there's really nothing totally different about it. It's very well tuned they do a real good job also with the scale of how you're being assaulted by enemies in huge numbers. You can't kill em all so you have to make a run for it when necessary. In the end though I think it might've been more interesting if they created a brand new game instead of a hl sequel. That would've kept them from having to outdo or re-do what they did previously. Anyhow, hl2 is a fun game and it's nice to play an fps that doesn't suck. :)


Now Steam.. I still don't like Steam. Even if the single player turns out to be the greatest sp ever, even eclipsing half-life which would be VERY HARD, Steam is still a turnoff. It's a content delivery system that makes it unnecessary to buy it off the shelf. I don't know why it can't just be like every other game you can install from cd and play where you dont have to phone home to unencrypt it. I also just love how you cant run your copy of HL2 on two computers at the same time. What the heck do they think this is.. an OS? :roll

Not to mention that for lots of us Steam ruined the original half-life. Personally for me it fucked it on my machines. I couldnt join servers half the time, and the installer was broken quite often. They say that's because the old games didn't use the same authentication as the steam versions... and now everything's steam. But that's why I hate it! Half-life was one of my favorite games until steam came along. It pisses me off because the whole point of steam was negated anyways: "early play before retail date"? Nope.. Guess that didn't work out :P

What was most infuriating was needing an internet connection for single player AND lan on the original game?!
Someone PLEASE explain that. You had to sign in before you could start single player or lan with half-life 1 steam!.. umm what the hell?!?? I mean hello.. HL1 aint aint no mmorpg.

Before you tell me that even stand-alone cd's are protected..yes I know. I have many a store bought game that don't work now because of the cd protection. It's pretty sad when you have to CRACK YOUR OWN GAME that you bought (most notably Red Alert 2) as if there wasnt enough lameness. Anyway, I'm just venting. Anti pirate shit is crap. The crack for HL2 that emulates Steam doesn't work properly today.. but it will in a day. It doesn't stop pirates. 5% of the world will steal, 20% won't, 75% could give a fuck less about any games. Steam blows.

[stuffedmonkey]

I don't buy things that have such a restrictive level of copy protection on them. I hate supporting that crap. I realize that it is a fantastic game and all, but the level of restriction sounds insane.

[Sph1nx]

LONGEST BLODDY INSTALL EVER!!

(More comments after it's finally done)

[DJ_DEEM]

im not far into it but its AWESOME, graphics rock, speedboats are really freakin cool, great voice overs etc. game of the year? imho so far (i am partial to fps and not a HUGE halo fan : P )

[Chooky]

Jesus people, don't ya kinda think you're blowing things out of proportion a little? All you have to do is connect to the freaking internet to play the game! Do still pay for the net by the hour? Is it to much work to click on an icon to connect? I realize it could be annonying, and it won't stop an pirates, but the way you people are acting it's like the end of the freaking world. I mean some of you are actually talking about STEALING THE GAME just because you have to connect to the net to install it. That's just absurd.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Yeah, you guys are totally blowing this out of proportion. You have to be online. Oh freaking well. Sure, it adds.... 10 minutes to the installation process... big deal.

This game RULES.