Thoughts on HL2

[beedubaya]

Well, I have encoutered some areas of the game where is easily surpasses Far Cry and Doom 3. Doom 3 had excellent lighting, Far Cry had AWESOME bump mapping, HL2 has it's weaknesses but overall I think the engine is so much better than the others.

What would you consider HL2's weaknesses? The most noticable one to me was the fire. The could have made the fire look a whole lot better than it was, and used dynamic lighting with it. I know dynamic lighting is possible in HL2 because it was used in some areas, just not to the extent it should have been used.

Whilst the graphics are very good they're too static. ie you can hear the wind howling yet nothing moves, no grass swaying etc.

I would have never noticed that if you wouldn't have pointed it out. Yea, the could have done a better job there, but grass swaying isn't something most people notice when playing a game.

 

[GameGURU]

Well, for one the fire, but also the ground. Tile and dirt are 2-D in some areas, if they did like Far Cry and bump map all of the ground it would be incredible. I know they did on some areas (CS:S).

 

[beedubaya]

Well, for one the fire, but also the ground. Tile and dirt are 2-D in some areas, if they did like Far Cry and bump map all of the ground it would be incredible. I know they did on some areas (CS:S).

I know what you are talking about. There are some railroad tracks that are totally 2D...I was like wtf? You can do better, valve! However, revolutionary graphics or not, this is still one of the best games ever made.

 

[ShoobieRat]

Just a note: You gotta turn all the graphics settings to FULL to get the nice fire with dynamic lighting, and all the in-game effects. Elsewise, things can look a bit HL-Original.

I'll make my full, professional comments later. I'm still chewing on it.

 

[zerozero]

beedubaya;
I'm glad I never got the X800. You seem to have mega problems with it since the beginning. I got my old 9800 PRO and am running this game (1280 X 1024) full blast, AA 2X and AF4X with normal FPS in the 100 mark and around 50 for intense action places.

 

[beedubaya]

beedubaya;
I'm glad I never got the X800. You seem to have mega problems with it since the beginning. I got my old 9800 PRO and am running this game (1280 X 1024) full blast, AA 2X and AF4X with normal FPS in the 100 mark and around 50 for intense action places.

Yea, I've had my share of problems with the X800 Pro, although I'm pretty sure my HL2 problems are due to a bug in the game with Creative Audigy sound cards, and not a problem with my video card, although I could be wrong. Sadly, with no job and so much other crap I have to pay for, I won't be saving up for a 6800GT. I'm hoping so start seeing more performance now that I have my RAM at its correct timings.

 

[ShoobieRat]

So far, the only sound problems I've noticed are ghosting and density, but that may just be my headphones.

 

[beedubaya]

So far, the only sound problems I've noticed are ghosting and density, but that may just be my headphones.

Well, I believe it only occurs with SB Audigy based cards. I know Valve is working on a patch for it.

 

[ShoobieRat]

When I get some time (maybe tonight) I'll throw up the review I did for HL2 on here. I have to edit it because it's not meant for public viewing right now (it's a industry review I sent to Valve). I put up some pros, cons, bugs, and some comments about the gameplay, which may be interesting. It'll be a while, though, cause I have so much going on during this short week (with Thanksgiving coming up).

I'm overly impressed, though (which is difficult). I got to play it twice this weekend (my sweet gf allowed me to play), and with all my previous experience with the game, I had a lot to contrast and compare to.