Recent reviews by {[god sex clan]} syzzurp

the final strider fight is just proto mvm. they should make a half life 3

There are a lot of ways we can think about this experience. What is it trying to make us feel? what does it make us feel? I think as far as interpretations go there are three main ways to look at it: the male power fantasy, the meta commentary, and the meta meta commentary. On the level of male power fantasy, half life (as a whole) sees to take its target demographic and make them feel awesome. run, think, shoot, live. it is exciting and it feels great. you feel powerful and unstoppable but you are also told that you are powerful and unstoppable. characters like alyx, gman, eli and the civilians shower freeman in praise. the vorts worship you. I appreciate valve and their work on these games but it is also very clear that this is a game made for (and by) late 90s early 00s computer nerds. what is bad about that in and of itself? nothing, especially considering how transcendentally fun these games are. but what is really happening here. this power fantasy is in line with other messiah like "alpha male" protagonists like your Neo's or your han solo's however this medium is special. beyond pressing play, you are passively engaging with the matrix. that is not the case here. and this is not just moral policing. I am not saying shooting game bad. what I am saying is that this game does a lot to remind you of how good your are and how awesome and singular your presence is. and on one level we have to acknowledge the way in which this game goes out of its way to fulfill its demographics desires. I wont get to in on specifics but just keep it in mind upon your next play through. but then we get to this meta commentary and I think it draws on that same core thing. your singular presence is more important than anyones and you are at the behest of the gman. this is so self referential it is almost laughable. this gman is half life and gordon is you. valve games (and stanley parable explores this) push you on a path. it is up to you to progress down this path and it is not always as simple as going from point a to point b but, there is one way to go. gman's choice at the end of hl is the choice we have been making the whole time. it is the illusion that this story would not unfold. we see gman as someone who is on another level. someone who is pulling the strings with knowledge of (or at least control over) the result of time. this other level, this preconceived narrative that we are playing out is no more in gordons control than it is ours. the gman has as much power over the freeman as half life 2 does to its player. and here I think we take it to a grander (what I called a meta meta narrative before) understanding. what has happened to city 17? how has the combine taken control over this space? we are constantly confronted with the ways in which this alien technology has parasitically infected itself onto human life. perhaps here we can see half life as a cautionary tale, or at least one which points the camera back onto ourselves, about the way digital technology has infested our lives. perhaps here the gman is the government man and it does feel like we are truly at the whim of this unknown entity that benefits an unknown group of wealth hoarding elites (the work of it all the hired status of it all and the bizarre yet highly believable american political reposnse to everything, the keeping of those above safe and killing those who do not matter) everything about it is oozing with subtext. this is just some of the many many many ways to read these games cuz there is definetly more to explore with alyx, gordon as a messiah figure, humanity, noam chompsky, etc. the point being that this is a rich and deep experience that, while I would still say is dwarfed by portal 2 in almost every way, is so good at using its medium. the medium video game is most similar to that of a book in what it requires of its viewer. to experience a book you have to constantly act upon it. there is no passivity possible. nothing happens without activity on the readers part. and this is the case for a game as well. combine the auditory and visual elements of film and you are left with the ability to convey so much of the player into the story that we have to consider just what exactly it is that we am being made to feel. in doing so, the layers to the story and story telling are revealed to be complex. they pushed the medium forward. they showed us how to use every aspect of every part of this experience to add to what can be gotten out of it. nothing is without a purpose. everything here is working together to make this feel different. it helps that source engine games are so much fun to play. despite the mediocre gun play! I think the "this is a series of demo ideas" thing that gets thrown around with valve games is that they are not 60 hours long. they are mostly 6-12 hour experiences that continue to shove ideas in your face. the thing is that in this game the ideas are not always on an even level. this is the case for half life one as well (and I could say there are parts of portal that fall into this trap) but portal 2 seems to be their best release as far as consistency goes. and I am totally aware that if this game was different i would feel totally different about it, and it is probably also because I never played g mod, but there is truly nothing as fun as ravenholm and the charged up gravity gun at the citadel. I am just a fan of the source physics engine. I think it is why I like portal so much. the physics of these things are so fun to play around with and they give you these two sections on the game where the main focus is said physics engine. so would a 15 hour game where your only item is the gravity gun be fun? well if valve made it they would be able to find enough variety to keep it fun (see the portal series) but then would I feel as strongly as I do about the gun. because the gravity gun is, despite my glazing of portal, better than the portal gun. but of course the games are built around the different mechanics so i am not saying that the gravity gun in portal or vice versa would be better. what I am saying is that the gravity gun offers so many different oppertunities and it is one of the best things (if not the best thing) aboout actually pressing buttons and playing the game. there is just so much here but I never found that it felt like too much. I mean there were definitely just too many things in my inventory. like I would say that it might feel like they introduce and move on to knew ideas so often is because you are constantly dealing with having a rocket launcher or cross bow in ur inventory. anyways, to tie this all up on a neat bow, this game, this series and this developer are incredible. I thank them for what they were able to do here and I would ask that they update tf2 :)

good

Perfect

this is the best game ever and it sucks