The day before yesterday
Yes, I know I'm losing geek cred because I only got around to finishing it 2 years after it came out, but I just finished Half Life 2: Episode 2. And all I have to say is:
GOD DAMN YOU, NEWELL!!!
Seriously though, I'm glad that I didn't finish the whole thing back in late 2007, because there are rumors brewing, as thin as the coagulating skin on a cup of hot cocoa, that a release date might be announced for Episode 3 sometime in 2010. That is the only thing consoling me after the ending. I hate it when pivotal characters are killed off. Seriously. Hate hate hate. And that at the time I had finally written off FPS games for good and immersed myself wholly in the splendor that is build-up strategy games. Grr.
In any case, I really like the Half Life games ("You don't say?") since they've been with me...well, my whole adult life, basically, and a bit before that. Half Life 2 was the first game I played on the first PC I assembled myself (aged 15), and I can still remember playing through 5-minute sessions of the game in between courses of our 1998 Christmas Dinner. I remember going into debt (for about a week) so I could buy a DVD drive ahead of time when Half Life 2 came out in 2004. I remember hours upon hours upon hours wasted between those games playing Team Fortress, Firearms and Day of Defeat (And CounterStrike, before it got all camp and tarted up) and I wouldn't trade those hours in for any other game. Valve software had more hand in me squandering my time in front of the PC than any other gaming company with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment. So naturally I'm stoked to hear the end of the story. Arc.
Okay, and now for closing, my main pet peeve with EP2, the "Trump Card" storytelling technique, which kept me engaged by wondering "Oh my, I wonder what'll go wrong next." which is a bad thing in my book, even though I enjoyed the story. Contains old, stale spoilers that might still be good mixed with lots of mustard and used as bread-spread.
GORDON: We blew up the citadel!
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! We kill your maybe-girlfriend!
GORDON: Vortigaunts save my girlfriend!
COMBINE: Oh rly?
GORDON: Ya rly, gonna go to secret base to fire ze missiles!
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! We are in ur base, killing ur rocketmens.
GORDON: We kills off ur doodz and lock you out.
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! Strider rush!
GORDON: HEROIC DEFENSE OF AWESOMENESS AND CAR RACE, GYAAAAH!
COMBINE: ...dude.
GORDON: We defeat the striders and fire ze missile! And Lamarr becomes the first headcrab in the space program!
COMBINE: K, u win.
GORDON: O rly? Gtg to frozen...place, save that ship.
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! Sudden rush of brain-sucking aliens OUTTA NOWHERE! In ur base, eatn ur brainz.
GORDON: ...I call hax.
Now I need a new game to play...Modern Warfare?...yeah. Right. Might as well voluntarily give myself the clap while I'm at it...
GOD DAMN YOU, NEWELL!!!
Seriously though, I'm glad that I didn't finish the whole thing back in late 2007, because there are rumors brewing, as thin as the coagulating skin on a cup of hot cocoa, that a release date might be announced for Episode 3 sometime in 2010. That is the only thing consoling me after the ending. I hate it when pivotal characters are killed off. Seriously. Hate hate hate. And that at the time I had finally written off FPS games for good and immersed myself wholly in the splendor that is build-up strategy games. Grr.
In any case, I really like the Half Life games ("You don't say?") since they've been with me...well, my whole adult life, basically, and a bit before that. Half Life 2 was the first game I played on the first PC I assembled myself (aged 15), and I can still remember playing through 5-minute sessions of the game in between courses of our 1998 Christmas Dinner. I remember going into debt (for about a week) so I could buy a DVD drive ahead of time when Half Life 2 came out in 2004. I remember hours upon hours upon hours wasted between those games playing Team Fortress, Firearms and Day of Defeat (And CounterStrike, before it got all camp and tarted up) and I wouldn't trade those hours in for any other game. Valve software had more hand in me squandering my time in front of the PC than any other gaming company with the exception of Blizzard Entertainment. So naturally I'm stoked to hear the end of the story. Arc.
Okay, and now for closing, my main pet peeve with EP2, the "Trump Card" storytelling technique, which kept me engaged by wondering "Oh my, I wonder what'll go wrong next." which is a bad thing in my book, even though I enjoyed the story. Contains old, stale spoilers that might still be good mixed with lots of mustard and used as bread-spread.
GORDON: We blew up the citadel!
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! We kill your maybe-girlfriend!
GORDON: Vortigaunts save my girlfriend!
COMBINE: Oh rly?
GORDON: Ya rly, gonna go to secret base to fire ze missiles!
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! We are in ur base, killing ur rocketmens.
GORDON: We kills off ur doodz and lock you out.
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! Strider rush!
GORDON: HEROIC DEFENSE OF AWESOMENESS AND CAR RACE, GYAAAAH!
COMBINE: ...dude.
GORDON: We defeat the striders and fire ze missile! And Lamarr becomes the first headcrab in the space program!
COMBINE: K, u win.
GORDON: O rly? Gtg to frozen...place, save that ship.
COMBINE: TRUMP CARD! Sudden rush of brain-sucking aliens OUTTA NOWHERE! In ur base, eatn ur brainz.
GORDON: ...I call hax.
Now I need a new game to play...Modern Warfare?...yeah. Right. Might as well voluntarily give myself the clap while I'm at it...