In the absence of bread, that is, a new chapter in the ‘Half-Life’ saga developed by Valve, good are the cakes offered by the community of users who combine their passion for the saga and their talent to carry out such interesting works as ‘Half-Life 2: Update’ . This mod has been in development for three years with the aim of providing a substantial visual improvement to the classic shooter starring Gordon Freeman.
After so much time of effort for the love of art, its creator has confirmed that this revamped modification will finally be available on Steam tomorrow, offering it for free to all those who already have the original in their collection and want to give it new life. It will do so thanks to a powerful dynamic lighting system, a new particle system and countless errors corrected in the visual and playable section. Nothing better than a comparative video to assess a proposal like this. As we can see, the work of Filip Victor is not a tremendous graphic revolution, but it is a notable improvement, which has also had the approval of Valve to get ahead. As a complement, this mod also includes an extensive collection of recordings from important members of the gaming community, delving into the history, impact and legacy of this unforgettable work.
One more review – Half-Life 2.
One of the most important works for the video game industry in its history, the one that in fact revolutionized the first-person shooter genre in 1998 under the name Half-Life, would see its universe expand six years after launch thanks to its direct sequel, also developed by Valve. In this analysis I will give my opinion about Half-Life 2, the second part of, nothing more and nothing less, one of the best video games ever created and an essential link in one of the most adulated and popular sagas in the medium.
Of course, the work that concerns us today belongs to the genre of first-person shooters, and like its predecessor, it is considered a classic. What exalted Half-Life at the end of the nineties was to propose an interesting plot and emphasize the narrative, with the virtue of achieving it within the framework of first-person shooter video games, a genre that at that time It was saturated with works that, for better or worse, always executed the same dynamic of advancing and killing, without giving too much importance to elements such as the environment or delving into the context in which the user was placed.
Due to finding the main bulwark of its predecessor in history, Valve, when developing Half-Life 2, had the difficult task of creating a sequel that really represents an evolution in this regard. A task whose difficulty increased if we take into account that by 2004 many other video games had already adapted the narrative scheme of Half-Life, so the new adventure of the scientist Gordon Freeman should also take a significant leap in quality with respect to these works.
From the beginning Half-Life 2 lays the foundations of its argument. The action no longer takes place in Black Mesa but in City 17, governed by a totalitarian and despotic regime that during the first bars of the adventure will appear as the antagonist. In turn, the quintessential public figure of this government is neither more nor less than one of the first characters the player will see, and from this point one of his facets will become clear. To deny that Half-Life 2's argument compared to its predecessor saves diametrical differences would be nonsense. In the sequel, it's not even the aliens that are the enemy to defeat. However, in any case, the work that concerns us today is an example of excellence to illustrate how a story should evolve from one installment to the next. Despite the divergences already marked, the context of City 17 is closely related to the events of Black Mesa, and this connection gives rise to the presentation of new elements in Half-Life 2 that expand, and by far, the universe of the saga. and they even reveal details about the events of Half-Life that had not been made explicit in this one. In addition, Half-Life 2 establishes other ties with both its predecessor and its expansions, among which is the use of an improved version of Gordon Freeman's suit in Black Mesa, the appearance and stellar participation of Barney Calhoun in the plot, among other.
The great events of Half-Life 2, as well as the complexity of its plot, make the story a more than convincing reason to continue playing. In general terms, the plot of the work that concerns us today is excellent. However, the Half-Life franchise is recognized worldwide for the narrative style that its exponents enjoy, but not so much for the intricacies of their respective stories.
It did not surpass its predecessor and was far from achieving it
The truth is, I feel that it does not do honor to the first one, and I am going to tell you why, half life 1 is a game from 1998 and it has a lot of character, it has a lot of love for its programming, hal lif has a rich world to keep the viewer attentive and interested, hal life 1 has a smaller world than half life 2, you are in black table and obviously you are more limited but that is why as things progress or the environment becomes more interesting, there are zombie kidnappings, there are spiders coming out there is more life, well, they impact you more, they immerse you more in the plot, they try more to involve you in that world trying to catch your attention, well in half life 2 that has the same formula as 1, well here the map is made twice or triple as big,now to go from point a to point b (which is the conflict to be resolved) there is more distance you have to walk in a very deserted world with many repeated things, with many things without value for the story, for the soul of the game, there is no nothing really interesting or impressive in that course that lasts many minutes, and that ends up tiring you, I think that is the big problem with half life 2, the giant world was empty without anything interesting, which in the end ends up tiring you.
Gordon is back in a big way.
Half life 2 is the best fps of all. Why? First, let's go for the graphics. The graphics. In the middle of 2004, the graphics, physics and performance are the absolute best I've ever seen, even for a modern day game it would be great. The gameplay and the story are practically perfect, although it is true that the AI of the game is not quite right like a soldier throwing a grenade and committing suicide and as for the story, if you come from playing half life 1, the inclusion of new characters can be disorienting but it's forgivable.
I do not deduct points for these errors. It's a game from 2004. Before half life 2, the fps were not that good, nor did they reach the feet of this game. However, it lacks replay value, which could have been fixed. It doesn't matter that you finish the game on hard, you don't unlock anything and you don't have anything else to do (no multiplayer, which there was in the first game). Anyway I was impressed by the greatness of this game.
Boredom
It should be said that I played the game 3 or 4 years ago, I remember going to 3DJuegos and other websites to see the best rated pc games and finding half life 1 and 2 with incredibly high scores, normally when I see such high ratings both Both from the press and from the users, I usually give this game a chance, but sometimes I'm disappointed. Perhaps I did not understand the plot well or perhaps the graphics of that time (2004) did not make it possible for me to find that epic tone that many find, to the point, the game seems to ME, boring, monotonous, the same game mechanics constantly, some labyrinthine levels that take you to places where there is nothing or contribute anything, the enemies are always the same. I also feel the game is empty, like a generic one without personality, the story didn't hook me at any time, I passed the game as if forcing myself, since I had paid for it at least I'm going to finish it, but not even like that, I won't force myself to pass again a game i don't like, i should have seen more videos and more reviews, once i finished the game i uninstalled it and sold it.