doing the bit now where you've managed to get past the hunter chopper (BASTARD thing) to get the ermm..for lack of a better word lock doors open to be faced with another hunter chopper thats dropping mines at you.

i agree with satis, getting a bit fed up with this level but some first impressions..

fantastic game, freaky atmosphere, absolutely LOVED the first few stages, running through the buildings with the fascist bastards on your tail got the blood going, sad i know but that part was probably more twisted than a lot of doom 3.

great graphics, the facial expressions are unreal, looking forward to getting back with the people simply for that.

blah, just repeating what ox said now.

I don't think HL2 has real-time shadows, so that's my biggest graphical gripe. At least, it doesn't appear to. Poo.

I'm in ravenholm or whatever. Just got a shotgun. Yay.

Some Germans released a MP-deathmatch mod, check it out here: http://www.hl2mp.tk/
It's still alpha-phase btw so it could crash from time to time.

Oh and ox, with CS i regularly played on american servers (against americans), of course you have a higher ping (say 120 instead of 50 for example) but that shouldn't be a game-killing problem. I guess.

A friend of mine who's into graphics did mention something about shadows looking "false" on the screenshots I sent him, but what do I know. Real-time shadows: shadows that get generated by entities?

Hehe, you both got still quite a bit to go, which is fun. Good job hiding the enthusiasm Satis Ravenholm is packed with physics fun, say hi to father grigory from me. The atmosphere will completely suck you into the game after a while, I don't remember some parts of the game later on, simply because I got so carried away with it that I didn't do much else than frag away and survive, wanting to get further in the game. The irony of something like HL2 is that you can't wait to get ahead in it, but at the same time don't want it to end.

Btw BJ, the moment where the CP guys surround you and Alyx rescues you...that rocked. I get in there, see a door pop open with a CP guy holding a stun stick, turn around, the other door opens, another CP dude, run back for the stairs but it collapses, I'm like "oh shit...", get clobbered and tadaa...ALyx to the rescue! How'd you guys like the G-man's introduction btw? Wake up...wake up, Mr. Freeman.


EDIT: ty J...I've been fragging ppl from all around europe already in CS (at night, so most of the kiddies are gone then), but rarely Americans. I played CS against Inquisitor once (N-Z), but that, as you can imagine, was hell.

Yea, ravenholm is fairly fun. Hate some of hte creatures, love shooting blades and crap at people. Chopping dudes in half is great fun. Plus the explosives. I tend to try to wail on people with items more than guns, which usually ends in me taking some bad damage against those freakin' spider things. Stupid neuro-toxin.

Anyway, still in Ravenholm. I'll update as I continue. Having some screwed up issues with my vid card though.

yeah, thats the bit, it was really intense, i really did think "i'm fucked" heh.

great moment when you put the suit on also.

Oh yeah, that was a whole "I'm back!" experience, with the music and how you look at your gloves...hehe. Same thing with the crowbar..."I believe you dropped this at black mesa..." But, to be true, ones you got the gravity gun you don't usually use the crowbar anymore. If at all. It just owns so much.

Agree about ravenholm, I barely use any weapons there either...the zombies are so slow and the headcrabs (not spiders, you infidel ) are easily avoided. In my second time though I'd drag along a radiator i got out of the wall somewhere as a standard weapon, it's wide but not too wide (for doors etc.), smacks really hard and is heavy enough to squash any headcrabs. (by just releasing it on them by right-clicking, I mean) But the fast, climbing-jumping bitches have pushed me off a rooftop more than once. Scary buggers.

Btw, I love the way the Combine soldiers flatline...

Some guy posted this on another forum; saying "I think this is some kinda weird dance"

http://img49.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img49&im ... 010001.jpg

My video card is freaking out. I have to troubleshoot it tonight before I can play any games. I freakin' hate my computer sometimes.

What's it doing exactly? Not that I'm a troubleshooting genius, but just curious.

If you have a ATI, I been having wierd problems ever since I update the drivers to the latesst ones. Nothing serious though. Just sometimes when I boot I get wierd distorted images. I just reboot and it goes away.

Seems like Valve are having remorse about their poor marketing skillz; they released Hl2: deathmatch today! So go download that sucker over steam. I know I just did. They also updated their modding tools.

http://www.half-life2.com/news.php

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch


New multiplayer game featuring physics simulation system


Half-Life 2/Source SDK



Includes game code needed to create Half-Life 2/Source MODs

Ability to edit Half-Life 2 maps

Maya model exporter

3d Studio Max model exporter source code

Sample MOD with vehicles



Source Updates



HTTP and non-HTTP map auto downloading functionality

Enhanced dedicated server logging capabilities

Various tweaks and fixes



*Also: A Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Map Making Contest has been announced. The winning entry will receive a cash prize of $5,000. Two runner up entries will receive a cash prize of $3,000.

That last part is interesting...now, I have no illusions about growing 1337 mapping skills overnight, but maybe someone else here is better at it.


EDIT: played it, but it's still very primitive, lots of graphical glitches etc. But there's the gravity gun.

got to ravenholm myself now, got the shotgun, jumped into the water tank, etc and just looking about to see where to go now

Report on your progress dudes! and make me feel superior and fuzzy by asking questions!

I be hauling ass down the california highway. The adventures involving a crane were pretty fun....hmmmmm.



***** possible spoilerish, not for plot but coolness factor ******


I picked up some of the big metal containers using the crane and dropped them on top of people. :p I got a screenshot somewhere.... *digs around*

Oh yeah, that's a cool part. Having fun using the gravity gun on the combine soldiers? I love slamming their heads with rollerballs. And the fighting in and aroudn abandoned houses makes for great projectiles. (radiators and stone sinks w00t)

One of my own screens involving crane fune I played around with the containers for a long time afterwards.