#1511  
Old 08-15-2008, 05:59 PM
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Originally Posted by VampiricClown View Post
But that's just it. The puzzles don't have enough variety. You basically have to do the same thing with the Gravity Gun, every other puzzle. Look at BioShocks puzzles. They were unique, and had enough variety in the game feel.

Yes, you did have that ONE zombie level, but that was it. You have to drive the car, and the airboat, and you're doing the same thing with both of them. You can't get out for whatever reason, and then you have to stop to go make an opening for them. Then get back in, and it lasts over 8-9 segments of the same thing. Same for when you're on foot.

As far as other games, they do to a degree. But it isn't the same. The Tomb Raider: Legend game that I just finished playing, had some interesting puzzles. And they weren't every 5 minutes. It had enough of an action/puzzle mix, that it didn't get repetitive.
You're comparing a 3rd person action game to an FPS... it seems like you just prefer one genre over the other. For me Tomb Raider was an overhyped platformer that failed to deliver solid controls or a decent decent story and simply rode to stardom on the ample knockers of Lara. To each their own, I won't get after you about your opinion but stating that HL2 is repetitive is a ridiculous statement. It is a linear experience that can be played in different ways with a brilliant story that's executed almost flawlessly. The excitement from escaping the combine, the thrill of fighting a strider, the rush of running through the sand trying to avoid ant lions, the strategy of setting up turrets to fend off a combine attack, the joy of fighting off a gunship from a catwalk... some individual sections can be repetitive but they're few and far between and that's the nature of the FPS and HL2 sets the standard as far as level diversity goes. Even the "non-linear" Far Cry didn't throw such different scenarios at you. To feel that Tomb Raider is better is your opinion and you're welcome to it but to say TR is less repetitive is ludicrous. Shoot, shoot, shoot, jump, push something, repeat.
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  #1512  
Old 08-15-2008, 06:56 PM
VampiricClown VampiricClown is offline
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Originally Posted by Despare View Post
You're comparing a 3rd person action game to an FPS... it seems like you just prefer one genre over the other. For me Tomb Raider was an overhyped platformer that failed to deliver solid controls or a decent decent story and simply rode to stardom on the ample knockers of Lara. To each their own, I won't get after you about your opinion but stating that HL2 is repetitive is a ridiculous statement. It is a linear experience that can be played in different ways with a brilliant story that's executed almost flawlessly. The excitement from escaping the combine, the thrill of fighting a strider, the rush of running through the sand trying to avoid ant lions, the strategy of setting up turrets to fend off a combine attack, the joy of fighting off a gunship from a catwalk... some individual sections can be repetitive but they're few and far between and that's the nature of the FPS and HL2 sets the standard as far as level diversity goes. Even the "non-linear" Far Cry didn't throw such different scenarios at you. To feel that Tomb Raider is better is your opinion and you're welcome to it but to say TR is less repetitive is ludicrous. Shoot, shoot, shoot, jump, push something, repeat.
It's not a matter that I prefer one genre over the other. I loved the Halo series. Even though you were on a track, you had more open landscapes and the vehicle combat was phenomenal.

I own both of the Condemned games. Both of those are story driven, first person games. I also own both of the Vegas games and Conflict: Denied Ops.

Comparing Tomb Raider (a third person ADVENTURE/PUZZLE game), to Half Life 2 (a first person ADVENTURE/PUZZLE game), isn't far off at all. That's kind of like saying that Halo 3 and Gears Of War aren't both comparable because one is a third person game, and one is first. They are still, shooters.

The way Tomb Raider is less repetitive, is the way that it breaks up the action and the puzzle solving. (And in this, I mean that it isn't running, go around a corner, see your blocked, go back, shoot 3 guys in front of a switch, then go back. At least you had some segments that were just one or the other.) Not to mention the change in locations. I mean come on, I get sick of the first 2 hours of the game, staring at nothing but the inside of the airboat, and orange backgrounds with water that you can't jump into. At least in Tomb Raider, everywhere looked different.

Yes, Half Life 2, does have some interesting parts, and some very fun ones. But when you're running on foot, up and down hills, just to back track because you couldn't use your grav. gun in the same way you used it in the previous puzzle, now that's ludicrous.

Play through it again, or read the strategy guide on IGN. The whole game has a pattern. Especially the vehicle parts. And look at the survivor parts, you have to constantly battle off combine, area, after area, after area, as they die off. Solve one puzzle, get back to your path, and three more join you, to go and do the same thing, in a slightly different way.

Tomb Raider may be repetitive like every game, but it's not as drawn out. And it's not like you come to a dead end, turn around, go into a room, shoot 3 people, flip a switch (that you should be able to hit with your grav. gun), then go back. And that's what gets annoying with Half Life 2.

Honestly, the most adrenaline pumping part of The Orange Box for me, was when you are in the Antlion tunnels in Episode 2 and have to fend off the separate tunnels. Why that held my attention, I don't know. It's nothing more than a "defend the base", like all of the other "action sequences" in the game.

And just for the record, I never said Tomb Raider was better. I was using it as a comparison. Kind of like I did with BioShock, which you seemed to say nothing about.

Was Half Life 2 a good game? Yes.
Was it repetitive? Yes.
Did the enviroments change enough? No.
Would I play through it again? Maybe.

Last edited by VampiricClown; 08-15-2008 at 06:59 PM.
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  #1513  
Old 08-15-2008, 07:21 PM
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Every game has a pattern, I've played through Half Life and Half Life 2 multiple times. To say Halo had more variety is ridiculous. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one because I think all the games you mentioned are more repetitive that HL2. Even though some tasks do seem repeat themselves, it's the means to the solution that varies and you can't call it the same situation. I admit some situations are repetitive or even too similar to HL1 but those just fill a little space here and there and allow you to kill some folk and have fun with the physics. HL2 is a first person shooter that's backed with a great story and an engine and design that are both so superior that they make you feel like you're playing an action/adventure game. Condemned (haven't play 2 so I can only speak for the first), Conflict Ops games, Far Cry, STALKER, Doom 3, the Unreal Tournament games, the Quake series, the Rainbow Six Vegas series, and even Call of Duty don't match the single player variety of HL2. Hell, the only things I can think of recently that do are more akin to an RPG like Bioshock or are predominantly multiplayer like the Battlefield series (the earlier PC games, not the dumbed down console experiences). Gears of War and Halo are different games, one is a first person shooter and one is a third person shooter. They occupy the same broad genre but are in different sub-genres.
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  #1514  
Old 08-15-2008, 07:37 PM
VampiricClown VampiricClown is offline
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Originally Posted by Despare View Post
Every game has a pattern, I've played through Half Life and Half Life 2 multiple times. To say Halo had more variety is ridiculous. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one because I think all the games you mentioned are more repetitive that HL2. Even though some tasks do seem repeat themselves, it's the means to the solution that varies and you can't call it the same situation. I admit some situations are repetitive or even too similar to HL1 but those just fill a little space here and there and allow you to kill some folk and have fun with the physics. HL2 is a first person shooter that's backed with a great story and an engine and design that are both so superior that they make you feel like you're playing an action/adventure game. Condemned (haven't play 2 so I can only speak for the first), Conflict Ops games, Far Cry, STALKER, Doom 3, the Unreal Tournament games, the Quake series, the Rainbow Six Vegas series, and even Call of Duty don't match the single player variety of HL2. Hell, the only things I can think of recently that do are more akin to an RPG like Bioshock or are predominantly multiplayer like the Battlefield series (the earlier PC games, not the dumbed down console experiences). Gears of War and Halo are different games, one is a first person shooter and one is a third person shooter. They occupy the same broad genre but are in different sub-genres.
Again, I don't recall saying that Halo had more variety. I said I loved it.

I wouldn't say HL2 is a shooter. It's not got as much action as a shooter, and 90% of the "shooter" games out there, do not have puzzles. You simply SHOOT stuff 98% of the game. It's more of an adventure/RPG that's in the first person genre.

As far as those other games not matching the variety in HL2...How is that possible? Every task in HL2 that you preform is something such as defending a certain thing for a set amount of time, or figuring out how to open a door that's blocking your path. Yes, you are constantly moving, but it's done so much, that I began to feel the "is this game ever going to be over?" feeling.
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  #1515  
Old 08-15-2008, 07:48 PM
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Originally Posted by VampiricClown View Post
Again, I don't recall saying that Halo had more variety. I said I loved it.

I wouldn't say HL2 is a shooter. It's not got as much action as a shooter, and 90% of the "shooter" games out there, do not have puzzles. You simply SHOOT stuff 98% of the game. It's more of an adventure/RPG that's in the first person genre.

As far as those other games not matching the variety in HL2...How is that possible? Every task in HL2 that you preform is something such as defending a certain thing for a set amount of time, or figuring out how to open a door that's blocking your path. Yes, you are constantly moving, but it's done so much, that I began to feel the "is this game ever going to be over?" feeling.
You have to get through a different challenge to open a door or hit a switch though. One time you could have to find a plug and use the grav gun to unplug it so that the water isn't electrified and the next moment you be trying to catch plasma spheres being fired and re-routing them to a power supply. You can't look at the task, you have to look at the means to the end. Doesn't matter though, you have your opinion and I have mine, it's obvious we're not going to sway each other.
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  #1516  
Old 08-16-2008, 05:04 AM
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Angra Angra is offline
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Siren Blood Curse

Too early to say anything about it yet, but it seems very difficult even on the easy level.
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  #1517  
Old 08-16-2008, 09:34 AM
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Siren Blood Curse

Too early to say anything about it yet, but it seems very difficult even on the easy level.
That looks pretty cool, not sure how I feel about episodic content yet but it's here to stay I suppose. Did you get all 12 episodes or just start with the first 4?
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  #1518  
Old 08-16-2008, 02:52 PM
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That looks pretty cool, not sure how I feel about episodic content yet but it's here to stay I suppose. Did you get all 12 episodes or just start with the first 4?

Yea, i got all of them.

To get less would be ridiculous, unless you're very unsure if you'll like it or not, coz it doesn't take a helluva long time to get through a chapter.

If you're, unlike me, able to see where the hell you're supposed to go in the first chapter, I'll guess it would take a person under 5 minutes to complete the first chapter. It took ME over an hour and several tries, coz the game is so damn dark i couldn't see a whole lot, which was a shame, coz i felt i missed a whole lot of cool scary details while trying to escape the lunatic cop. You just don't have that kind of time or overview to enjoy and discover details. The gameplay doesn't allow it. :(

But the atmosphere and story are great.

I'm on chapter 3 now. Took me 2 hours to get there and that's pretty fucking slow.
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  #1519  
Old 08-16-2008, 04:22 PM
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The Simpsons game for 360.Nothing greta just something to pass some time I guess.
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  #1520  
Old 08-16-2008, 06:18 PM
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Well, I appear to be the only one who finished FEAR then.

i beat it.
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