Thoughts on Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is not a revolutionary game. It does not redefine play mechanics or level architecture or anything else in the first person shooter genre. There's no disruptive design, nothing that will send game developers through the streets shouting "Eureka!" What it does do, though, is refine every single element of the FPS to its highest degree, to a level of sharpness and sophistication that is both remarkable and stunning.
I'm not going to review the game (actually, here's the review: go buy it), but I wanted to talk about what it does so well and how it clearly distinguishes itself from every other FPS game ever made.
To begin with, the levels are superbly designed and balanced. The game is not on rails to the degree of a game like Max Payne 2, but the level of guidance is high. However, even though there is only one path to progress through the game, there are frequently other avenues to explore, and the length of time exploring these red herrings is satisfying to the degree that more freedom is 'experienced' than actually exists. Also, while there may be only one true path, there are often multiple strategies available for surviving and progressing along that path. It is a remarkable bit of trickery, and it's executed extremely well. The levels also have an intensity about them that seems 'natural' because they are so well-balanced. I never encountered an area that felt unfairly difficult, but they didn't feel easy, either. It's the best level balancing I've ever seen in a game of this type.
Another aspect of the excellent level design lies in their variation. Levels have different speeds to them--both through use of vehicles and trigger placement--and the variation makes the game feel remarkably fresh, even as the last levels are played. Even inside individual levels there are significant differences in tempo as the level progresses, another sophisticated bit of design that is very difficult to balance. Different pace, different architecture, different weapons--the levels are unparalleled in their level of polish.
Then there is the brilliance of the visual detail. There is a staggering amount of world detail, and remarkably, the attention paid to those small details is just as meticulous as the attention paid to larger elements of game design. In a sense, the best description I could make of the game's design and development is to say that it is both vibrant and meticulous. Never has so much attention been paid to every element of a game, and it clearly shows.
I've mentioned previously that the gameworld is kind of a hybrid rip-off of Orwell and H.G. Wells, but the game is not diminished in any way because of it. It's not really even fair to say that it's a ripoff--more accurately, the gameworld evokes Orwell and H.G. Wells, and it does so in an entirely effective way.
The story itself, like everything else in this game, is thorough and entirely convincing. The sense of claustrophobic oppression is tangible and so well-done that many times, and for long stretches, I almost entirely forgot that I was 'playing' a computer game--it felt much more like traveling through another world. Enhancing that feeling is the top-notch scripting and voice acting. There are very few times where anything disrupts the continuous feeling of deep immersion.
As another example of how meticulously this game is crafted, consider the gravity gun. You can use it to pick things up and hurl them, basically, and in some situations it will fire an energy beam. The physics in this game are tremendously fun--certainly the best implementation I've ever seen in an FPS--but without the gravity gun, much of it would go unnoticed. And the game requires a certain amount of use of the gravity gun at times to proceed, but there are many situations where its use is entirely optional. So the gravity gun showcases the very entertaining physics in the game, but other experiences are not excluded. Another excellent design feature is that there are different incarnations of the gravity gun, each one more entertaining than the last. Again, design something that is fun, show it to the player, then find a way to make it even more fun. That sounds simple, but it's almost never done successfully, and it's done brilliantly here.
I can't say the game is perfect, although in any comparison to existing games it's very close. The weakest element, by far, is the music. It's pedestrian, appears at inopportune times, and actually detracts from the experience. The world feels so real that hearing music pounding in the background is a jarring distraction. Given the excellence of everything else in the game, its only average quality really stands out, and not in a good way.
There are also occasional moments where a fun design decision was made that detracts from immersion. Scattering circular saw blades through a level so that they can be used with the gravity gun is quite fun, actually, but it interrupts the very real feeling generally given by the gameworld.
Those are very minor flaws, though. This game is just thrilling to play. Many individual levels are more entertaining, by themselves, than other entire games. There were so many moments where I just stared at the screen in disbelief. Yes, it's evolutionary instead of revolutionary, but it's evolution to near-perfection.
This game should be a wake-up call to everyone else. Its level of quality is shocking, and it serves notice to the shoddy, half-ass efforts that other studios often dish out like public school cafeteria slop. Keep shipping that crap if you want to--just don't expect us to buy it.
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