*note, This is just a looking back at a game. Nowehere in this post will I say that the game is bad, just shouldn't deserve as much praise as it gets.
For the past three years I have noticed that video-game critics are starting to call-back to Half-life's near God-like plot and game-play, concerning everyone's favorite mute, Gordon freeman.
However, while playing Half-Life 2 to grab some achievements I had missed (Orange Box), I found myself chugging through a sewer for the first half-hour, with nothing more to keep me going than "The Combine are on your ass bro! Get moving!". I even used a dull Pistol+SMG combo. I had sudden flash-backs to critics calling out games for dull, military-issue guns. Shaking off the thoughts of heresy, I continued my trek to find the singing vortigaunt. While blazing through even MORE sewage pipes, I made it to Water Hazard, the part where you are required to mount an air-boat to make it through yet another collection of sewage pipes. Critics calling out vehicle sections in shooters being dull and unneeded came to mind. 'No' I thought 'This vehicle section is.. Different?'. All I found myself doing however, is driving in a straight line, occasional moving to the left or right to accommodate a turn or incoming bomb.
Later on, in ravenhold, all I literally did was walk down a straight, narrow path, with zombies bathed in lights, alerting me to their presence from over 12 miles away with a hilariously badly recorded scream. I remmeber hearing critics say that that was the worst kind of horror!
Soon I found myself in yet another vehicle section, just following a path with the only real thing being done, was dodging mines and hopping out for the occasional road-block. A ruined city (No sarcasm needed from this, you get the idea by now) followed by a large bland, military complex, shooting the same enemy who was in endless supply.
But's that just gameplay! what about the plot!
You are the 'only freeman' who is able to save the world from an alien threat that has taken over the world. The human society has been crushed into just a resistance, their only allies being another alien race who believes that man should not be treated this way. However the aliens control-
....
You know what? I'll just stop there. The only thing 'unique' that Half-life plot brings to the table, is the 'Gman'. Which even then, is easily summed up with "He is an interstellar being, who can manipulate time and space, and uses mortals to do his biding."
I know that the story is presented well enough in the actual gameplay, but the story in question, and the gameplay, just are not as stellar, as so many critics claim them to be.
Many are going to complain of the lack of HL:1 References in here, but their aren't many things I could say besides, walk down grey corridor and shoot marines, Throwing in a water section, and a part where you have to ride a cart, while shooting marines.
For the past three years I have noticed that video-game critics are starting to call-back to Half-life's near God-like plot and game-play, concerning everyone's favorite mute, Gordon freeman.
However, while playing Half-Life 2 to grab some achievements I had missed (Orange Box), I found myself chugging through a sewer for the first half-hour, with nothing more to keep me going than "The Combine are on your ass bro! Get moving!". I even used a dull Pistol+SMG combo. I had sudden flash-backs to critics calling out games for dull, military-issue guns. Shaking off the thoughts of heresy, I continued my trek to find the singing vortigaunt. While blazing through even MORE sewage pipes, I made it to Water Hazard, the part where you are required to mount an air-boat to make it through yet another collection of sewage pipes. Critics calling out vehicle sections in shooters being dull and unneeded came to mind. 'No' I thought 'This vehicle section is.. Different?'. All I found myself doing however, is driving in a straight line, occasional moving to the left or right to accommodate a turn or incoming bomb.
Later on, in ravenhold, all I literally did was walk down a straight, narrow path, with zombies bathed in lights, alerting me to their presence from over 12 miles away with a hilariously badly recorded scream. I remmeber hearing critics say that that was the worst kind of horror!
Soon I found myself in yet another vehicle section, just following a path with the only real thing being done, was dodging mines and hopping out for the occasional road-block. A ruined city (No sarcasm needed from this, you get the idea by now) followed by a large bland, military complex, shooting the same enemy who was in endless supply.
But's that just gameplay! what about the plot!
You are the 'only freeman' who is able to save the world from an alien threat that has taken over the world. The human society has been crushed into just a resistance, their only allies being another alien race who believes that man should not be treated this way. However the aliens control-
....
You know what? I'll just stop there. The only thing 'unique' that Half-life plot brings to the table, is the 'Gman'. Which even then, is easily summed up with "He is an interstellar being, who can manipulate time and space, and uses mortals to do his biding."
I know that the story is presented well enough in the actual gameplay, but the story in question, and the gameplay, just are not as stellar, as so many critics claim them to be.
Many are going to complain of the lack of HL:1 References in here, but their aren't many things I could say besides, walk down grey corridor and shoot marines, Throwing in a water section, and a part where you have to ride a cart, while shooting marines.
