What are you playing at the moment?

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by NokkonWud

I thank my lucky stars every day they're not.

Not a fan?

What single player FPSes are better then, in your view?

I've tried things like FEAR, Prey, Dead Space (okay it's an FPS/3rd person hybrid), Far Cry, Crysis - they all fall way short of the standards HL2 set five years ago! Even graphically it still looks fantastic by today's standards which shows how ahead of its time it was on release

[Aboobie]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Not a fan?

What single player FPSes are better then, in your view?

I've tried things like FEAR, Prey, Dead Space (okay it's an FPS/3rd person hybrid), Far Cry, Crysis - they all fall way short of the standards HL2 set five years ago! Even graphically it still looks fantastic by today's standards which shows how ahead of its time it was on release

I played it through again recently and it does still play well though I'd argue it is starting to look a tad dated. I personally feel Bioshock and The Darkness do hold up well next to it to fill that story driven fps experience. I'd also mention COD4 for an intense immersive ride.

[dirtydog]

Actually I'd forgotten BioShock. That game is okay, one of the better ones which I did enjoy for a while, although for me it did become repetitive and tedious after a while and I've yet to complete it. I haven't tried The Darkness as it seems to be console only.

The COD games aren't my cup of tea at all, I find them very lacklustre indeed I'm afraid. I did enjoy the old Medal of Honour game years ago a lot more.

[NokkonWud]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

Not a fan?

What single player FPSes are better then, in your view?

I've tried things like FEAR, Prey, Dead Space (okay it's an FPS/3rd person hybrid), Far Cry, Crysis - they all fall way short of the standards HL2 set five years ago! Even graphically it still looks fantastic by today's standards which shows how ahead of its time it was on release

Firstly, Half-Life is the greatest game ever made. It did everything right, from story to interesting environments, world interaction to perfect weapon balance. The second game starts well, City 17 in its own right is very impressive and sets the tone well. The problems with this game lie solely at it's dependence on showing off the physics engine (which I wasn't that impressed by when I came to play it anyway), and for over half the game it becomes more of a physics showcase than a single-player adventure with variation and storyline. It just become mundane and repetative, use the gravity gun for this, gravity gun for that, move this, move that, lift this, lift that, pick this up and throw it at him with the gravity gun again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again (and this sentence isn't even as repetative as that game).

It had a lot of potential, started the right way but as soon as you got the gravity gun it all changed and I just saw through it all and it just becomes incredibly dull and predictable. I even went back to it at the end of last year and completed it (after more than 10 attempts to enjoy it) and the final section was EVEN WORSE for dependence on the gravity gun. It was infuriating. And to top it off, I don't like the Source engine and how it feels when you move around (this is the case with Half-Life 2, Portal, CSS, DoDS etc.. it's just the feel of the engine, it feels like it's on ice a little bit) and it's even more annoying for modding in compared to something like the Unreal Engine which absolutely blows it away.

It's indicitive of the era it came from, this physics were the new big thing and all the videos for it really pushed this more than anything else (I'm sure you remember the video of putting the washing machine in front of the door) and it looked great at the time, but when you're doing it every 30 seconds in the game it just isn't enjoyable. Half-Life 2 also wanted to be the first game out with this standard of physics (and Max Payne 2 beat it out to retail shelves - and then beat it in every single other respect) and it's quite clear the game became a case of physics first, everything else after that.

Considering Half-Life is my favourite game ever and confirmed to me that making games is what I wanted to do, Half-Life 2 is without a doubt the most disappointing game I've ever played in my entire life.

As for better first person games (not including third person games like Gears of War), The Darkness, BioShock and Call of Duty 4, Prey, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Mirror's Edge, Battlefield Bad Company are all single-player FPS games that I've completed and preferred to Half-Life 2.

[Kreeeee]

I'm still hammering SFIV, looking into participating in local tournaments after spanking Margaret to win the OcUK tournament.

[divine]

I think the problem with HL2s physics puzzles is not the fact they are there or the number of them - it's the way most of them were so blatant and easy that they weren't puzzles at all.

Like you would walk in a room with a high exit, a see saw in front of it and a crap load of blocks on the floor. Not a puzzle at all, unless you're 2 years old, so it's just a time waster while you stack bricks, hoping it doesn't do an annoying physics glitch and smack half of them back across the floor.

[NokkonWud]

I definitely feel that the simplicity of them was an annoyance, but there were far too many of them and not only that, but everything seemed to revolve around the use of the gravity gun.

[dirtydog]

I prefer games which don't have a high difficulty curve I guess. I want to get on with the story and find out what happens next, not be stuck trying to figure out a byzantine puzzle like some in the Lara Croft games for example.

[KennyBhoy]

I'm currently back to Fallout 3 for the Mothership Zeta DLC. It's a bit bland so far. The aliens are quite tough though and the guns are cool. Also playing God of War on the PSP. First time i've ever played a GOW game

[john]

I've just completed Mothership Zeta for Fallout 3 and i found it a bit weak compared to some other the other DLCs. Although I do agree some of the guns are a good addition. Just on the search for the last few bobbleheads.