Reply 6360 of 6978, by Joseph_Joestar
- Rank
- l33t++
Continuing on with Half-Life 2. I had no problems with motion sickness in this game until I got to the level with the airboat, then it hit me hard. I had not adjusted the FOV yet, which is probably why it happened. Oddly, this old version of the game considers changing the FOV to be a cheat, and I had to set sv_cheats 1 in autoexec.cfg so that fov 90 would take effect. After that, the motion sickness mostly went away. That said, I still don't like the airboat, with its wobbly camera and clunky controls. Those levels weren't particularly fun to play for me.
On a slightly related note, the physics based puzzles may have been a novelty back in the day, but they feel kinda meh now. At times, it seemed like the developers wanted to showcase their shiny new engine, instead of creating a fun experience for the player. At least the shooting mechanics are great, possibly even better than in the first game. Every weapon is very satisfying to use and has a distinct feel to it. That said, I do miss the improved crosshair from the current Steam version which intuitively shows how much ammo is left in the clip.
I've mentioned the superb graphics before, but I have to specifically note how good the NPC facial animations look. Especially if you compare them to contemporary games like Far Cry and Doom 3. Back in 2004, the expressive NPCs of Half Life 2 and Vampire Bloodlines (which also uses the Source engine) blew everything else out of the water. Other games caught up eventually, but it was really groundbreaking stuff when HL2 and Bloodlines were first released.
Anyway, I'm still very early in the game, having just reached Ravenholm. I vaguely remember this area being a showpiece for the Gravity Gun, but not much else.