That is exactly how valve operates.Ragdollmaster wrote:... Every game starts great and then fails to reach the bar which it sets for itself in the beginning. It's almost as if near the climax of every game Valve just went "Fuck it, they'll probably finish if we just slop together some levels and put in the same ol' game mechanics." The worst part is, I feel like games with such great beginnings have to have great endings, but I don't feel like I should have to (or even want to) push through an incredibly boring section of the game just to see the cool, mindblowing ending.
The beginning and end is incredibly mind blowing, and then during the middle the detail tapers off a bit. They can get away with it though because the player is too busy shooting bad guys or solving puzzles.
For example the beginning of Portal2 is probably the only time they used extremely intensive physics in the entire game. And at the end they basically break away into a mind blowing bink video (I can recognize their videos the instant I see it) that was custom animated outside their