And lo on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:57:54 -0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> did  
spake, saying:

> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>>> OK... so why the demands? :-P
>>  'I liked the Antlion tunnels, the lift took me two hours to get  
>> through, I hate hunters..." So how about Ravenholm, what about the  
>> water/driving segments, which weapon did/do you favour etc.
>
> I played HL2 once, and didn't enjoy it very much. The scenary is far too  
> drab and boring. The enemies are all humanoids of some kind.

Except the headcrabs, and the antlions, and the stalkers, and the  
heliships; but yeah I know what you mean

> There's little or no variation in the game. They took out all of the  
> most interesting weapons. Yawn.
>
> Obviously, all the vehicles are almost completely uncontrolable. Digital  
> steering is like that.

Pffh I'm using an analogue controller on the console and it's terrible.  
Anyway I'm in the middle of tidying up my review so I won't go into details

> Obviously the best weapon is the magnum. Unfortunately it fires slower  
> than milk float, has only 6 shots and an insane reload time. But it has  
> an extremely long range, and if you actually hit something with it, it  
> WILL die. I can't stress how important that last part is. What's the  
> point of shooting something if it doesn't die when you hit it?

I like the crossbow for the long range stuff, magnum for those headcrab  
carriers

> The best weapon in HL1 was the neato orange cannon - but unfortunately  
> they removed that because it was too useful and interesting.

Orange cannon? Hold on....the Tau cannon, meh I never really used it that  
much.

> Ravenholm gave me nightmares for weeks. And weeks is how long it took to  
> complete because there's...just...no...ammo...anywhere. Killing those  
> fast zombies with a crowbar isn't even funny.

Shotgun to the head for them, grav-gun for the headcrabs, and grav-gun  
buzzsaw blade for slow zombies. If you're talking about that village  
square then the slow zombies respawn, the fast ones are script triggered,  
and there are two headcrab carriers around which I always try to take out  
first. Allow for one death just to work out what you're supposed to be  
doing.

> And there's no healthpacks anywhere either.

I do recall a dearth of such in Ravenholm

> So I just had to replay every tiny segment endlessly again and again  
> until I got lucky enough to stumble out with 2% health left instead of  
> 0%. It was like something out of a low-budget horror film, and it wasn't  
> very nice.
>
> Ditto for Low Life in HL2:EP1. Mercifully, HL2:EP2 doesn't really  
> contain anything comparable. I really hate zombies...

As I've said it's the Mr Benn approach that irks me.

>>> There are some funny lines in there. Those aren't the ones I'd pick,  
>>> but sure.
>>  Not to mention the fighting, the lengthy storylines, the character  
>> development ...
>
> I haven't watched nearly enough of it to notice that. But part way  
> through, it seems the writers noticed that the more unhappy Buffy is,  
> the better the ratings are. That's when I really, really stopped  
> watching. I don't *want* Buffy to be unhappy...

It goes up and down, you know a bit like real life. How far did you get,  
can you recall?

>>> it's quite comic. Not something you can take too seriously, I feel.
>>  Except as I say you don't get the feeling that the actors are having  
>> fun, they're taking it seriously.
>
> Yeah, I know what you mean.

'This is art goddamnit and you will appreciate it'

>>> Much like Xena...
>>  You're comparing Charmed to Xena... you are so dead :-P
>
> I'm just trying to freak you out now. ;-)
>
> Is it working? :-D

So how many shows of Xena have you caught?

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message