Saturday, January 07, 2006

Half-Life 2 (Xbox) Complete on Hard


I completed Half-Life 2 (Xbox) on Hard this evening, and for the most part it wasn't that hard. There were a couple of spots in Nova Prospekt and taking out all those Striders in Follow Freeman was challenging, but it wasn't because of stellar AI. Mostly, it was because of Turret placement, or because Striders can kill you in a matter of seconds if you're exposed.

Again, I found Half-Life 2 to be an amazing technological achievement, however the gameplay itself was, at its core, very basic, drawn out, and sporting poor replay value. I suppose another reason I'm so critical of Half-Life 2 is because of how amazing and revolutionary its predecessor was. It's hard to believe that Half-Life 2 is the sequel to the game that set the current standard for enemy FPS AI, where you could easily play it a half-dozen times and still have a challenge.

While not a bad game, Half-Life 2 isn't the game that Half-Life was, and the more's the pity that it falters on so many gameplay elements.

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