Playing Half Life 2 for the first time

heartburnron · 21 Jun 2016 at 20:10

And it's really cool so far. Lucky for me I guess, that I missed all these classics when I stopped gaming for 15 years and am currently going back to play them. One thing I'm confused about is when I was browsing Steam there are separate store pages for Half Life 2 episode 1, 2, etc. What's the deal with these? Are these in addition to the main Half Life 2 game or could you buy it parts?

heartburnron · 21 Jun 2016 at 20:22

And here's how it looks in glorious ultrawide 3440x1440:

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heartburnron · 21 Jun 2016 at 21:19

Struggling with the controls to move of / jump of ladders - any tips/advice?

Oh, and is there a way of turning barrels on their end when moving them around?

heartburnron · 21 Jun 2016 at 22:07

ic1male said:
Don't forget Portal and Portal 2.

Ok, I've heard of them but don't know anything about them. Have I missed an experience with these games?

heartburnron · 21 Jun 2016 at 23:02

maj said:
Off topic but this thread reminds me of a thread on here ages ago of someone who was doing the Water Hazard level without the hovercraft and was wondering why it was taking forever

Ha. That's like me playing F.E.A.R 2 and not realising you were supposed to get into the Mec - played on for 20 minutes past that on foot and wondered why I wasn't getting a save point. Had to go back and get the Mec to get the game to save.

heartburnron · 22 Jun 2016 at 21:34

arc@css said:
There was the odd moment where I found that to be an issue as well, but in the end I just got used it. Not that an uncommon thing in my experience when playing games.

Getting the hang of it now - I was trying to jump off the ladder all the time, seems to be easier to just walk off even if it looks like you need to jump...

Awesome game by the way. Loving the hoverbike thing!

heartburnron · 23 Jun 2016 at 19:52

Rossi~ said:
Go play Deus-Ex instead

I will - I have it pre-ordered.

heartburnron · 27 Jun 2016 at 18:45

For the helicopter fight at the end of the Water Hazard level, do you just keep shooting at it? It's hard to tell if it's doing any damage at all - the crosshare doesn't turn red like ususal...

heartburnron · 27 Jun 2016 at 19:12

Malevolence said:
At the Dam? Yep, just keep plugging away at it with the boat's gun and dodging the bombs. Oh, and whilst you're there you may as well go get the 'secret' singing vortigaunt' achievement too.

Cool, thanks

heartburnron · 1 Jul 2016 at 23:00

Just got through Ravenhall and got my buggy! This game is so much fun! So varied. Driving using the mouse and keyboard is a skill I've had to quickly acquire though.

I've heard nothing of the storyline before I bought the game, just knew the game was highly rated. So I still have no idea who I am or what's going on but looking forward to finding out...

heartburnron · 2 Jul 2016 at 15:28

Nate75 said:
I would recommend grabbing the remake of the first game in that case (I'm assuming you haven't played the first game here and even if you have, it's a decent remake).

Black Mesa

No I haven't played the first one. Will I find the storyline in Half life 2 confusing having not played the first?

heartburnron · 2 Jul 2016 at 18:03

Mmm ok. Tempting to park Half life 2 and go get Black Mesa but I'm enjoying it too much! Think I'll do a bit of reading as you say.

heartburnron · 3 Jul 2016 at 16:41

After you use the crane and magnet to lift up the buggy and get back on the road, one of the spaceship things comes. I can't take it down with the 3 rockets I'm carrying and I can't tell if the gun on the buggy is doing any damage or not. Ultimately I keep dying. Will the gun's on the buggy finish it off? How many rockets does it take to wipe out the spaceship (maybe I'm missing?)? Or should I just try to outdrive the spaceship?

heartburnron · 3 Jul 2016 at 17:26

marc2003 said:
Drive as far as you can and then you'll get to a section where the road is blocked and there will be an unlimited rockets crate. When you've downed the ship, you'll have time to use the gravity gun to clear the road.

Ah. Nice one. Thank you!

heartburnron · 8 Aug 2016 at 19:26

Just had to pause the game to comment on what must the coolest and unexpected part of any game I've ever played - the start of the 'Our Benefactors' chapter! After Dog shows up and lifts the huge gate - I almost squealed with delight when I jumped on to the pod and got taken on the tour. Don't want to say too much spoiler wise but wow that was so awesome!

heartburnron · 9 Aug 2016 at 21:04

Any tips for going down the wide corridor lined with pods, walking forward into the fire of soldiers and the spider walker thing armed with only the gravity gun? I've no health left by the time I've disposed of the men and trying to take on the walker...

heartburnron · 9 Aug 2016 at 21:51

Psymonkee said:
Energy balls

Ah understood! Thank you

heartburnron · 11 Aug 2016 at 20:21

Nooooooooooooo! I just completed the game! :-(

I hate the empty feeling you get once you've completed a great game. Didn't see that ending coming and didn't really understand it but then I've never played the first Half Life so maybe that's why?

The version I bought from Steam included Lost Coast although I don't yet have Episode 1 or 2. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go ahead and play Lost Coast before picking up Episodes 1 & 2?

heartburnron · 11 Aug 2016 at 22:01

DaveyD said:
Lost coast is only a tech demo - so it'll last you only ~25min max - it's a bit of fun, but nothing to do with any of the story really.

You need to follow on with Episode 1 and 2, they're both great games - a little bit short, but very, very sweet.

Ah ok thanks.

heartburnron · 16 Aug 2016 at 20:37

Been looking to buy Episodes 1 & 2. Cheapest around seems to be a used DVD ROM from Amazon but I'm just not sure how that works. If you buy the dvd of game now you need a key/code to activate it - was this system not in place back then? If I buy a used ROM will I be able to play it alright?