ToTheGame - Article: Half-Life 2 (PC)

Half-Life 2 (PC)

E3 2003 - Quick Takes

The lights dimmed and the TV’s were dark. Out pops our most infamous character of Half-Life, the G-Man. He glares out at us with his out dated graphics and his harshly pixilated tie. For a moment I wonder if perhaps we’ve been fooled into believing the hype of Half-Life 2, but my fear were quickly subsided. As the picture of G-Man fades away, a new man stands before us. In an overall gasp from the crowd, the G-Man focuses back in and looks extremely different, in all the good ways. His eye’s have a glint to them, his face muscles move in relation with his mouth, even his eyebrows move to display some curiosity to his audience.

Justin Fenico, ToTheGame

Posted 16-May-2003

This is the Source Engine, and at E3, I was fortunate enough to see how it’s going to change the way we see and play our games. The Source Engine is capable of extreme realism, interaction, and brings us into a whole new level. Characters follow us with their eyes, materials look extremely real, and everything acts as if it would in the real world. Giving us (20 people in all) a few minutes with the Source Engine, the demo displayed how the physics of the Source Engine work in a realistic fashion. Shooting at a piece of wood shatters it and releases a group full of barrels which splash and sink in the water slowly. Almost everything the Source Engine touches is destructible, or in some way can be interacted with. After a few extremely impressive visuals of the Source Engine, the Half-Life 2 demo begins. The demo doesn’t show us one full level, but a few parts of the game that you’ll be experiencing for yourself when the game is released this September. Some levels that were shown had Gordon in the sewers, on a pier, and in a city consumed by destruction and aliens. The same game play as Half Life has returned so expect to work together with the AI and to face your old friends, the zombies. Some cooler new additions have been your ability to work together with spider like aliens. While holding some bait for them they are at your control, so if those guards down the hall seem a bit difficult to pass, just throw your bait ball down the hall and let the aliens do the work. Another big edition seen in H2 was the ability to drive! How much driving you do is unsure but I did see Gordon hop into a little dune buggy and start burning rubber. This is a big bonus for the mod making community as it’s been extremely difficulty for anyone to create vehicles with the Half Life engine. I left the ATI booth feeling incredibly pumped for the Half-Life 2 release. Make no doubt that this is one game that’s going to test your computer and video card, but then again, this is also the defining reason to go out and spend 300 dollars on a video card. Don’t hesitate till the last second; put money down for this bad boy now. If you don’t get this game, you should be burned at the stake. - Click here for screenshots - Click here for ToTheGame's Game Info, with more links etc. - Get the full E3 demonstration movie at Worthplaying