- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Steam still is a problem. I've had it lock up, freeze, and just not play at all for no reason. I've had it stuck on a 99% download, I've had it act like as if I wasn't online, and I've had games disappear for periods of time for no odd reason. Since you are required to use Steam to play the game, then Steam is factored into the review. Also, there were also a few other gripes with Half-Life 2, but as is I'm more and more unimpressed with Valve because of these "episodes" which are actually just Half-Life 3's storyline in disguise. They take 2 to 3 years to develop an episode, and they only last for five hours. The first episode only added one new enemy and that was it. It was basically just "what we couldn't fit in Half-Life 2." Some how I think that's not going to be any different in episode 2, yet people are still going to eat it up like candy and buy that unbelievable ploy for a quick buck called "the orange box."
Hell, episode 2 alone is $30, and five hours of recycled game play, graphics, and a storyline that we still don't know what's really going on is not worth $30. I'm reminded of The Sims. when it first came out it was a great game; lots of new things and was an instant success. Then there was one expansion pack. Then another. And another. And another. AND ANOTHER. And then they had the balls to just go out and make a new generation of it and do it all over again. And you know what? They're doing it again with The Sims 3.
That's what I get with these "episodes." In the time it will take them to release all three episodes, they could've made an actual sequel with new game play, new graphics, and a new experience, and possibly a storyline that went some where, but, instead, for some nefarious reason, they didn't. Bungie might stride on mediocrity with the Halo series, but at least they didn't do something like, "Halo 2: The Fight for Earth Part 1" and then "Halo 2: The Fight for Earth Part 2" and last with "Halo 2: The Fight for Earth Part 3" and only to find out they were all Halo 3's storyline, yet with the same recycled material. At least Bungie tried to make an effort in making mediocrity (or also known as Halo 2.5).
To be quite honest, I'm disappointed in a lot of game developers that many consider God. They'll make a good game, a conglomerate company will swoop in and buy their souls, and the rest is marketing. It's a shame Bungie had to find out the hard way. Others, on the other hand, are private conglomerate successes themselves, such as Square-Enix, Nintendo, Blizzard, and Valve, and all they do is also recycle content in different forms and people still eat it up like candy, albeit Starcraft 2 is long overdue, it's just that I'm worried that there's going to be nothing new but the final end to the damn story (and even then I'm sure they'll drag it to a third game, which we will then not see until 2015 or later).
It's just that you would figure with the man power and resources these companies like Square-Enix and Nintendo that they could do something else then the next Final Fantasy or the next Mario/Metroid/Zelda game, and then with Blizzard and Valve that they can actually release their damn products, instead of fiddling around for 3 or 4 years saying, "We're polishing it" (or, in Blizzard's case, 7 or 8 years or more). Seriously. I'm tired of believing that propaganda. Apparently, though, the demographic of new generation of gamers aren't, mostly because they're just that; new to the experience and are none the wiser that they're laying down $50 for a game that's just being recycled.
I will say though that Half-Life did pave the way for so many Source mods and even the most amazing manipulative gaming...er, game known to the gaming world known as Gmod. That, though, was not done by Valve, just like how countless Oblivion mods aren't done by Bethseda. I'm more concerned in the developer effort, not the modding community effort, because if you're just releasing software that has mass potential for some amazing things, then why didn't they spend the 4 or 5 years in development taking advantage of that?
Meh, I think I've digressed enough.