Together Retro: Half-Life

[ExedExes]

I didn't see a level title separator as I played this again, so I completed 2 levels in the time it took for me to finish Surface Tension.

Now it's time for your moment of Xen.

(in honor of nothing in particular, this weekend's special avatar will be the "Creepy Valve Guy".)

[emwearz]

I played through HL1 not long ago so I did not want to get into this one, however I took my Macbook with me on my trip around Europe and to my surprise saw Half Life Opposing Force is now supported (in Beta stage) on Mac, so thought I would start playing it. I have finished all other Half Life games (HL, HL:BS, HL2, Ep1, Ep2) and enjoyed them all, I just never got around to OF, so I am happy to jump into it.

So far I am enjoying it, I am enjoying some of the new weapons and there seems to be more of a emphasis on puzzle solving (which can be a bit of a pain with the outdated physics engine) and the jumping is a bit off (crouch + jump trick is a annoying) but again, enjoying it so far and a shame it took me so long to play it

Just started Pet Worms Nest, I like how much the games pace has picked up in the last few chapters.

[MrPopo]

the jumping is a bit off (crouch + jump trick is a annoying)

I crouch+jump in every FPS I play thanks to all the time I spent in Half Life and CS back in high school. Most FPS's don't do anything different. Some of them hilariously have your view shift downward if you crouch while jumping (so instead of having your head stay steady and your feet come up, your feet stay steady and your head comes down).

[emwearz]

the jumping is a bit off (crouch + jump trick is a annoying)

I crouch+jump in every FPS I play thanks to all the time I spent in Half Life and CS back in high school. Most FPS's don't do anything different. Some of them hilariously have your view shift downward if you crouch while jumping (so instead of having your head stay steady and your feet come up, your feet stay steady and your head comes down).

I know the feeling, I use to diagonal walk in any shooter years after they fixed it for the extra old school speed boost.

[Ack]

Hey, I still bunny hop, even in games where it does nothing.

[ExedExes]

Did a couple more levels. I think I've got 2 or 3 more missions/levels to go. Just finished the spider standoff.

[prunkhaft]

So I'm working my way through Surface Tension, and I have a problem. The guard from earlier in the level is dead. I have nobody to open security doors for me. I've read suggestions to jump up some green crates to a mounted gun. I cannot jump on said crates. Am I checkmated? I've been doing laps for about 2 hours in the same section, and I'm losing hope. And that damn helicopter endlessly drops more grunts.

[MrPopo]

So I'm working my way through Surface Tension, and I have a problem. The guard from earlier in the level is dead. I have nobody to open security doors for me. I've read suggestions to jump up some green crates to a mounted gun. I cannot jump on said crates. Am I checkmated? I've been doing laps for about 2 hours in the same section, and I'm losing hope. And that damn helicopter endlessly drops more grunts.

Have you tried crouch jumping?

For the question of security gates, the game will instantly game over if you manage to kill off an essential resource for progression, so if the security guard was required you would have gotten a game over.

[jinx]

Welp... I finally got some free time. Just started playing...
So unless I can finish it this weekend, I'll probably be playing it into next month.

Better late than never?

So far, it has been amazing. The intro was really neat, and gameplay is great. I was actually fairly impressed with the graphics on the Dreamcast, as I had only looked up a few screenshots. Unfortunately, I'm a total idiot and didn't save. At some point the screen went black, and I could hear stuff, but couldn't do anything. I'll have to start it up again tomorrow.

I was amazed at the little details they put in everywhere. I shouldn't be, because I've played Portal. Looks like a lot of work was put into this game, and probably a lot of work put into porting to the Dreamcast. Such a shame this version never saw an official release.

I'm playing with the controller at the moment, but I think I may switch to KB/Mouse. The controls are taking a bit to get used to, but aren't too bad. It's just a keyboard and mouse feels natural for a game like this one.

[dsheinem]

I just finished up Blue Shift. If anyone is looking to get a little classic HL flavor this month without sinking time into the full game, Blue Shift would be the way to go. It is short but well put together and highly beatable in the week or so that we have left for the month.

I posted more thoughts here.