# Who here is hip to Half Life 2? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783 "2003-05-07T23:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/21 "2003-05-08T22:15:46Z")
> [@](#): > > “I don’t rike rittle boys!” What? Who said that. Granted, their version of “Hong Kong” is not exactly anything like I remember it… but remember, this is Hong Kong OF THE FUTURE!!! ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/22 "2003-05-08T22:38:05Z")
Sorry about continuing the hijack, but… [Here](http://www.planetdeusex.com/dx1/info/) is a site to start learning about _Deus Ex_, **China Guy**. It is simply the greatest game in the history of the universe.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/23 "2003-05-08T22:47:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*What? Who said that. > > \*\* Newspaper vendor. Granted, the “French accents” are probably pretty bad too. The game’s depiction of triads is pretty laughable too. Actually, every game I can think of that has triads is just ridiculous. Can’t wait for the second game, I just hope they’ll get some better voice actors for the bit parts. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/24 "2003-05-08T23:39:21Z")
Silly mortals. You don’t think you will actually get to PLAY Doom 3, do you? I can see it right now: “System requirements: If you even have to look, put this game back on the shelf right now.” Or maybe the game will simply cost $400 and include a pack-in video card. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/25 "2003-05-08T23:47:15Z")
Best moment for Deus Ex was the bartender in the Hong Kong club that you could have like a ten minute running argument with about the comparative advantages of the systems of government between your two countries (luckily, you don’t HAVE to keep talking to him). The newspaper vendor was that woman, right, and she was mad at the little triad kid? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/26 "2003-05-09T05:00:11Z")
The online embargo on previews has been lifted, and they’re everywhere. [http://www.gamespy.com/previews/may03/halflife2pc/index.shtml](http://www.gamespy.com/previews/may03/halflife2pc/index.shtml) They reminded me that the original HL had “chapters” too- basically just the yellow names that came up every so often. So maybe you’ll be seamlessly working City17 this time around. Definately what little they’ve released about the story confirms that you’ll be in much the same position: not know too much about what’s going on in the world. Also: no Xen apparently: Earth only. ---
**Author:** ![DarkPrince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DarkPrince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkPrince)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/27 "2003-05-09T05:56:56Z")
Am I the only person out there who actually liked the Xen levels? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/28 "2003-05-09T06:45:03Z")
Hmmm: FPS jumping puzzles? Not my cup of tea, really. I liked the concept, the art, and it followed logically (all these aliens are being warped here: so we go see where they came from) and the boss battles were cool, but in terms of gameplay going up all those ramps and platforms in the meantime was kinda of irritating. Valve originally was going to have a NPC doglike creature that wold team up with you in Xen, but they scrapped it. I do admit, however, that the big red portal to Nilihanth or whoever was pretty freaky looking. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/29 "2003-05-09T06:50:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmmm: FPS jumping puzzles? Not my cup of tea, really. I liked the concept, the art, and it followed logically (all these aliens are being warped here: so we go see where they came from) and the boss battles were cool, but in terms of gameplay going up all those ramps and platforms in the meantime was kinda of irritating. Exactly. I was playing this brilliant FPS called _Half-Life_, then suddenly I find myself in the middle of fuggin’ _Super Mario 64_!! ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/30 "2003-05-09T07:00:50Z")
Reading all these posts brings back memories. It’s been 3 years since I’ve played Half Life but I still remember my favourite moment as if it were yesterday. I had finally managed to get to the entrance of Black Mesa. I just barely survived a intense gunfight and I come out into the dead silence of the lobby. The whole place was in immaculate order, as if it were just another day. I still recall the reception desk and the eerily empty chair behind it. Even more paranoid now, I look all around me for any signs of enemies. Then I look in front of me and see, through the enormous glass double doors, the sun shining in the sky. My eyes followed their course down to behold a endless desert stretching to the horizon. I paused a moment to take it all in. Wow. I’m alive and I made it out. I can’t believe it. I’m free. Then I remembered its just a game. At this point I had to stop and take a break :). It’s surprising _just_ how good a game can be. Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to the sequel. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/31 "2003-05-09T07:10:49Z")
My favorite part of HL is when you finally make it to the front door of the facility - not the employee entrance, not a sewage pipe to some crack in the rocks, but the main hall with fancy doors and big, open windows. And then you get to walk around, take in the air, notice the increased military presence, and turn around and dive right back into the hellhole. An honorable mention goes to the various “bad endings” to Opposing Force. Heh, killing Freeman’s supposed to be my main goal here, right? Why kill me off instantly when I do it? The only part of the entire Half-Life series I dislike is the battle with the giant headcrab near the end. I’d get little translucent spiders all over me. Well, that and the graphics upgrade that turned the mp5 to an M-16. Now the soldiers can’t sneak up on me as well. The setting of the gigantic BMRF is a great place for these games. Any explansion or single-player mod out there can have entirely new levels and just explain that “it’s a different area of the facility” - and we’ll take that, because deep in our nuclear-era mythos we can accept that the government has these sprawling complexes out there in the desert. But… DX2 versus HL2? That’s a hard one. I’ll definately be playing both, but I’ll probably get DX first. In the immortal scrawlings of Gunther, “skul-Gun”! ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/32 "2003-05-09T07:15:20Z")
Yarr, curse ye, **cletus**! I pause to reminisce, and you sneak in and steal my memories! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/33 "2003-05-09T11:18:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Am I the only person out there who actually liked the Xen levels? BwarrAArrrUUGGGHhooowwUUURAAAaaeeiibbbllurrgghh!!! The memories, the memories, scrambling through those levels by my fingertips, CONSTANTLY almost out of ammo, NEVER having more than 50% health (and armor? Forget it!), ALWAYS on the edge of my seat, sweating and quivering over the possibility of something leaping out around a corner at me, PISSING MY PANTS (metaphorically) as I sprinted around with adrenaline pumping in a near-vain attempt to survive, almost DYING with every step, never having a chance to pause and catch my breath, getting more and more freaked out the farther I went, begging the universe to make it all end, becoming more and more FRANTIC every time I see some new, massive challenge thrown at me, spending HOURS trying desperately to find a way out of it without losing any more of my precious, precious health! … Good God, I loved every friggin’ second of it! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/34 "2003-05-09T11:28:09Z")
And… I’m anxious about HL2. EVERYONE remembers “Surface Tension”, where you spend an hour trying to sneak your way through the dam, the pipes, the friggin’ MINE FIELD… the whole time, an Apache is flying overhead, searching for you, taking potshots at you whenever it gets a chance. You twist, you turn, you duck, you dodge, you fire grenades at soldiers and leap over barriers, duck under barbed wire, ditch headcraps that pop up out of the sand, sneak around giant green tentacles so you can get a few more power cells, hide behind rocks or under outcroppings… Finally, you get into a storm drain pipe, sneak through it for a few dozen feet… “Wait a minute… where’d the land go?” was my first thought, and then I realized… I’m on a cliff. Well, I clamber about, pick off a few soldiers, then I find a small cave. And as soon as I step in, I hear the DAMNABLE, familiar, GODFORSAKEN sound of the Apache, returning to plague me once again! I curse the day I was born… only to feel elated, ELATED, when I see, in the gloom of the cave… a… a… a rocket launcher. I have never since felt the joy, the absolute, unrestrained euphoria, of watching that GODDAMNED Apache crashing down to the desert floor. And, color me pessimistic, but I think it’ll be VERY hard for Valve to insert anything remotely similar to that moment in HL2. As for other games I’m looking forward to… This is gonna be a good 18 months for me. I’m gonna get Half-Life 2, Deus Ex 2, Doom 3, Halo 2, Jedi Academy, and Fable (the best RPG ever), not to mention at least one (and, based on Bethesda’s track record, probably two) more expansions for Morrowind. Good thing I start my new job in June, so I can afford all this… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/35 "2003-05-09T13:10:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > As for other games I’m looking forward to… > > This is gonna be a good 18 months for me. I’m gonna get Half-Life 2, Deus Ex 2, Doom 3, Halo 2, Jedi Academy, and Fable (the best RPG ever), not to mention at least one (and, based on Bethesda’s track record, probably two) more expansions for Morrowind. Good thing I start my new job in June, so I can afford all this… 😃 \*\* Heh heh heh. I have mastered Freelancer and am sick of the smacktards playing Battlefield 1942, so I am looking for a new drug of choice. My must buys: Half-Life 2, Deus Ex 2, Doom 3, Star Trek: Elite Force II, and Halo PC for the PC. NFL 2K4 for the Playstation 2. Oh, and a new video card for Doom 3 (currently running a Geforce 4 4200 64 meg card which may not have enough firepower to run all the eye candy). Nice preview of Half Life 2: check out the picture of the Strider-- very cool!! 😃[PC Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, News, Reviews & Videos - IGN](http://pc.ign.com/articles/400/400985p1.html) ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/36 "2003-05-09T13:17:44Z")
Snarks 2! ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/37 "2003-05-09T14:48:05Z")
Ditto to all of the above. Long live the FPS!!! And while we’re dropping names, Return to Wolfenstein wasn’t bad either. That silenced, night vision sniper rifle was far and away the best sniping weapon I’ve seen, and those are always my favorite. Of course, I’m not sure how historically accurate that was, but who gives a fuck. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/38 "2003-05-09T15:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by //\etalhea|) \* > \*\*Ditto to all of the above. Long live the FPS!!! > > And while we’re dropping names, Return to Wolfenstein wasn’t bad either. That silenced, night vision sniper rifle was far and away the best sniping weapon I’ve seen, and those are always my favorite. Of course, I’m not sure how historically accurate that was, but who gives a fuck. \*\* Too bad there were so few bullets for that puppy. Not to mention the thermal imaging, shoot through walls railgun from Red Faction. Nothing like a head shot through a wall to a unsuspecting guard. . . 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/39 "2003-05-10T07:35:57Z")
I’m downloading the free 139 mb version of Deus Ex at the moment and will be playing it this afternoon. Thanks for the suggestion. Did anyone else just _love_ the crossbow in Half Life’s Opposing Force. It was a great weapon although didn’t have a lot of opportunity to use it. It was real fun going down those damn cliffs and picking off marine’s extremities sticking out. A shot to the knee and watch those guys crumple. Bwahahahaha ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783/40 "2003-05-10T11:13:24Z")
Oh, China Guy, I used the crossbow SO MUCH. It’s a great weapon when you know that an enemy is just around the corner. You take the crossbow, zoom in until you can see the enemy’s foot or arm or something, and then fire off a shot. Can usually kill anything in two hits. But, with the reference to the cliffs, I think you’re referring to the original Half-Life. I don’t remember any cliffs in Opposing Force (though I _do_ remember the sewers, which ALWAYS scared the crap out of me). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-hip-to-half-life-2/173783.md?page=3)