I beat it.

[Cheomesh]

Got my OB yesterday, installed everything on my new STEAM account, got playing, and took a break like 20 mins before the end of it (before the second strider wave). Tried portal, went to bed, woke up and beat Ep2.

It's very short :|. It took them two years to do this? Crazy.

In any respect, the game was fun, and I'm looking forward to Ep3. I wonder if I'll be able to fly that chopper...

Also, where are these "huge outdoor environments"? Nothing was exactly "large", not even at the beginning when you first set eyes on the portal -- you could even see a world seam between the skybox and the map.

 

[Nitre]

Was good enough, i don't care if valve didn't properly do any of the things they said they would.

 

[Ennui]

There were definitely some pretty massive areas, by HL standards.

 

[Asknoone]

I think that's as 'large' as Half-life needs to go. I enjoyed the leg-room a lot, especially in combat, but it'd lose a lot of its charm and gameplay tuning if it went any larger.

And 1 year.

 

[Cheomesh]

Was good enough, i don't care if valve didn't properly do any of the things they said they would.

What else did they not do? I've forgotten what Ep2 was supposed to bring :|

 

[leib10]

Agreed. Episode Three should have equally big or smaller maps (preferably smaller). Too big tends to jumble things up and distorts the scope and finesse of the map.

 

[Apocalypse89]

It was supposed to have "the biggest physics puzzle yet"...instead the closest thing we got was a bridge with 3 pre-set positions.

 

[giant384]

It was supposed to have "the biggest physics puzzle yet"...instead the closest thing we got was a bridge with 3 pre-set positions.

by biggest they meant size not time it takes to do it.

 

[Cheomesh]

It was supposed to have "the biggest physics puzzle yet"...instead the closest thing we got was a bridge with 3 pre-set positions.

You mean the bridge with the cars? Yeh, what happened to "cinematic physics"?

 

[Apocalypse89]

by biggest they meant size not time it takes to do it.

Considering the way they were hyping it, I thought it was going to be some huge, complex puzzle that would push the Source physics engine to the limit. The bridge doesn't even use physics, it's just scripted to move depending on the position and amount of cars on its surface.

And cinematic physics are in the game...such as the bridge collapse at the beginning, the swirling mass of wood when the advisor escapes from the barn, etc.

 

[Cheomesh]

I thought those where scripted events/animations too?

 

[Apocalypse89]

Cinematic physics are supposed to be a mix of scripted animation and physics objects...or something like that. Basically it allows realistic animations of very complex things breaking up, falling, etc. without making your processor explode.