Urban Flight Makeover

[nokori3byo]

I know there have been "what could have been better in Ep. 1" threads in the past, but I thought I'd post something about one of the more commonly criticized levels, Urban Flight. What are some of the specific ways in which it fails? How could these failings be fixed?

Now to begin with, Ep. 1 is filled with great ideas. The player can see evidence of a high degree of developer care in nearly every area. But, there are some places in which Valve's gamecraft becomes a bit transparent. To pick just one example, the area with the antlion guard/burrows/stationary gun includes several elements which seem to have been designed to spice it up and set it apart from other urban combat areas, notably: the antlion guard's ability to unplug burrows by butting the cars off them, and Alyx's role providing cover with the stationary pulse rifle. Unfortunately, the scene still ends up feeling like filler, leaving me to ask whether it wouldn't have been a better idea just to drop it entirely and add something genuinely different (passage through a weltering Chicago Fire-style conflagration, high speed prusuit through deserted streets in a clapped-out automobile, etc. etc.)


What would have added and/or taken away to Urban Flight?

 

[soulslicer]

more helicopters and gunshits

 

[nokori3byo]

more helicopters and gunshits

Hmmm, I don't remember there being any helicopters or "gunshits"

 

[Planetary]

I'd have liked a bit more evidence of the week-long battle: Crashed gunships, dead striders, rebel and soldier bodies (There a few in Lowlife), though actual building damage is done right, that is, only the areas closest to the Citadel are completely wrecked, while farther out, the battle was a bit less heated.. (Remember the last part of Follow Freeman)? Complete chaos!

 

[Xendance]

Hmmm, I don't remember there being any helicopters or "gunshits"

There was a gunship which when you blew up, it comes crashing down into the little area your in. Alyx asks you to check if its dead, by giving it a tap with your crowbar.

 

[nokori3byo]

There was a gunship which when you blew up, it comes crashing down into the little area your in. Alyx asks you to check if its dead, by giving it a tap with your crowbar.

Yeah, a gunship. Ah, forget it...

 

[Asknoone]

I think setting it a little closer to the Citadel would have been a good move aesthetically. The idea of City 17 being completely torn apart and having to wade through the zombie-ridden streets and ducking in and out of leveled buildings is fairly awesome, and I think we only really got a glimpse of that in Episode 1 which is fairly disappointing. I've always said that the Citadel chapters are some of the best Valve have ever produced, and one of the reasons behind this is because they did such a good job of revamping the building; the de-stabilized Citadel was truly an awe-inspiring sight. Unfortunately I just don't feel they pulled this off with City 17. I wanted to be in there, moving through the damage of the Street war, Strider carcasses' and what have you littering the streets...bit of a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Gameplay wise, from a cooperative perspective, it worked well, but I think there was more they could have done to jazz it up. The antlion burrows worked extremely well (more so in the underground car park), but the wildlife invasion didn't feel particularly heavy...there wasn't enough chaos, I don't think. The Antlion Guard battle just felt like Nova P all over again, which didn't really work in the games favour...I'd have thought putting the Guard in a new environment would have presented them with new gameplay opportunities but again, no luck.


I'm not gonna rant, but I think they should have worked harder on making City 17 something else, and played on the evacuation theme more...what the **** were some citizens doing lingering in the rubble? They didn't even seem to care...

 

[Sheepo]

Hospital made it all worth while

 

[nokori3byo]

Hospital made it all worth while

I thought the hospital was superb, for the most part. Alyx getting a shotgun really brought home the co-op feel of that part of the game since she could take out enemies with one or two shots and really started pulling her weight. The whole running 3-way battle was also fast-paced and (for those who felt like hanging back) just plain entertaining.

I also like the gunship fight, not only because the wood getting shot away idea was innovative and added to gameplay but also because the downing of the gunship provided on of Ep. 1's best mini-games: namely, seeing what kind of interesting positions in which you could make the ship crash.

I might have eliminated the electrified water puzzle which, despite its commendably dank atmosphere, had the feeling of a re-hash.

 

[Rapstah]

I never understood the water puzzle, as a bug in the map prevented the door from opening, and I was playing it at DX7. I loved the rest of the chapter though.

 

[UseAbuse]

what the **** were some citizens doing lingering in the rubble?

Weren't they pinned down by combine forces?

 

[Bulletbrain]

Gameplay wise I would have liked the evac of citizens to be a one big mad dash to the train station, and not ferrying them across a short area repeatedly.

So it would have been placed in hugely destroyed section of the city with tons of rubble everywhere, creating a maze like landscape.When you and alyx get there you would find that Barney and co has been pinned down in one of those ruins of a building. Then the dash would begin. It would be like the end section of Follow Freeman basically. Going from cover to cover, taking care of any Combine, very short range fighting etc. You could take alternative routes through the maze too.

In the end you would come to a main street at the end of which is the train station. Good place for an APC, Helicopter battle. After this you would enter the old train warehouse with Combine coming through the windows and from the roof in every direction. This would be a more long range, strategic battle.

After this you would drop off Barney and co, deal with the Strider, board the train and watch the beautiful explosion of the citadel with Alyx.

Edit: Oh f*** I got mixed up. This tread is about Urban Flight NOT Exit 17. Stupid, stupid me!

 

[bigburpco]

Would have been a really impressive scene if they showed the citizens being trampled and things like that during a final dash to the trainstation, and all of a sudden two Striders show up and start shooting the crap out of everyone.

Episode One was greatly lacking the sense of urgency. In fact, it would have been MUCH better if they had the Combine setting up barriers to prevent citizens from leaving, and just scrap the idea of ferrying in Exit 17 entirely and have the Combine lockdown the trainstation, and the rebels had to reclaim it.

 

[Planetary]

In terms of urgency I think it was fine. You could easily see the worsening state of the Citadel, especially when the reactor starts melting again (the bit with the green lightning), and in Exit 17, the chunks of debris are large enough to be seen from that distance.

And the music in the strider battle helps a lot too

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

i honestly thought urban flight was the best level in the game (excluding the water puzle)

 

[Sheepo]

i honestly thought urban flight was the best level in the game (excluding the water puzle)

Same here

 

[nokori3byo]

An interesting aspect of the water puzzle is that it can be completed in manner other than what was intedended without losing too much damage: SPOILER ALERT!!!: simply place the barrel in the water roughly half-way between the sunken platform and the small sparking platform midway between the fusbox and the electronically locked door on the other side of the room. Next, do a run and jump off the sunken platform, employing the barrel as a floatation device a la "Entanglement." If you have already killed the barnacles that stand between you and the platform, you should be able to make it across without losing too much damage (you might take 10 points or so to the suit as you do a running leap of the sinking platform, but that's survivable, right?)

Actually, it's kind a clever puzzle, sort of a hybrid between the electrfiied water puzzle in "Entanglement" and the flotation puzzle in "Water Hazard." The fact that you have to turn the electricty of to ascertain the nature of what's obstructing your progress, and then turn it back off to fix the problem also gives it some depth. It would probably have been more interesting to me had I not managed to fudge my way through it with an improvised solution.

 

[xX NoTe 2 SeLf]

the one in entanglement wasnt very hard at all ... i think u lost damage at a slower rate than in the urban flight puzzle because i was able to only go a part of the way through the puzzle then fell in the water and swam for my lfe without dying

 

[Xendance]

That water puzzle, I cannot remember how I did it the first time round.