Wolfire Games Forums

If you are whiny about mild gameplay spoilers, look away for the second paragraph.

Just finished Episode One today, and I'm about two thirds of the way through my replay with the Audio Commentary feature turned on. I must say I really enjoyed the game, even though it doesn't add too many new features. I think the features it add are cool, though, and make the game a bit fresher, although I'm aware a lot of people would have been found wanting a bit more to be added in. The zombines (stupid Alyx) and the juiced-up roller-mines were very fun.

I see why someone said it was a lot like an interactive movie, but why does that have to mean it's not fun? I think that makes it a lot funner, in a way, because it gives you a lot of tasks to do, and I enjoyed the blend of puzzle/action in areas like the Citadel. I REALLY loved the underground train station level, "Lowlife", because I thought it was very jumpy and action packed, especially on Hard, where the flashlight drains a lot quicker. It was even more fun on the very last part of that level, where you're waiting for the lift to come so you can reach the surface and the blend of slow/fast/combine zombies are all coming at you in a suspenseful, tension-filled onslaught where your battery in the flashlight always seems to run out at the wrong time.

A few people seemed to be very critical of Episode One, but I thought, and I know a good lot of other people who agreed, that it was a whole lot of fun in a neat little package. It's a third the size of Half Life 2, but is extremely fun. The game's visual qualities have been polished as well as the fluidity of the gameplay aspects. For those of you who are looking for a complete revamp of Half Life 2, you're going to be disappointed, because there some nice new features, but not the heapload of new enemies or weapons some people seemed to be expecting.

Also, the Audio Commentary feature is extremely interesting in my opinion, and gives you a detailed personal analysis by different Valve team members on a whole host of the game's aspects from their decision to include weapons other than the gravity gun earlier in the game than originally expected to why they caused explosions to happen in certain key areas. I'm enjoying the Audio Commentary feature a lot. The reason for it's inclusion in Episode One was a result of the amount of positive feedback Valve received for it concerning the additional downloadable Lost Coast level for Half Life 2, which it was also included in.

Additonal note : Lost Coast was initally a tech demo to demonstrate Half Life 2's use of HDR rendering, among other aspects, but they decided to make it available as a playable demo. It's the level with the fisherman guy, if that makes any sense to anyone who might have seen it in a gameplay video.

I concur!
I felt Episode One was an incredibly intense gaming experience,
even though it didn't add too much new content.
I played through it a second time with the commentary on and it was just as fun.
That's not something you can say about a lot of games. ;D

(Except Lugaru, I've finished the campaign and challenges a ridiculously amount of times )

Ok, new game that just got released today... yesterday.
Two words, Hard Truck. Actually it's three if you count the apocalypse at the end. This game is basically described as a single player game of Auto Assault (somewhat, Fallout), a post apocalyptic Role-Playing game based around vehicles. It's not getting any reviews to really show if it's a good game or not, right now it's at a 6.8 (out of 4 votes ), but I think I'm going to check it out some more.

I think I'm going to start simultaneiously using these two sites. Gametrailers and Gamespot, Gamespot's got the staff, news, reviews, previews, and pictures (alot of the same pictures), but Gametrailer is getting alot more videos that can't be found anywhere else I've looked (Which is pretty much ...gamespot).

Ok, now this game actually looks like it's going to be fun to play around with. Saint's Rowis a much more action packed, open ended version of Grand Theft Auto (with on-line capabilites, and... Physics!). The developers are some foreign branch off the company who created the GTA series, it may be switzerland, let me double check (And by that, I mean finding it out and forgetting to mention it). So yeah, the most promising points on this game is the cusimization and, physics! It has a pretty solid storyline similar to San Andreas (except it's more like the very first island, like The Godfather), you're a small gang and you have to tkae over everything.

Custimization starts from the start, you choose between white, Black, Hispanic, and even Asian. The whole gang is more open, instead of consisting of an all black thing, or an all Italian mafia, it has everything. So you choose your ethnic background, what your body type will be (fat-skinny, weak-strong. I'm pretty sure there aren't as many RPG elements like GTA, no body building and fat foods, I'm not sure though). Then you get money later to custimize the rest like cars, hair, and clothing.

Physics, if I get this game (which I won't, depending if I want to but a ps3 or a Wii. I'll probably end up buying the Wii since it's so cheap, we'll see how that goes. This is a main Xbox 360 deal, GTA 4 will come out simultaneously on both platforms) anyways, if I get this game the physics seem like the funnest thing to do. It starts out with normal stuff like cloth physics if you have a robe but also, they will use Ragdoll physics too. This makes getting hit by cars and being blown out of vehicles so much more fun. Running over people sends them flying, and hard punches give you combat similar to Lugaru. Blowing up cars will send a shockwave that shoots you backwards, debris can fly out and knock you over, things slow down when you launch your rockets and create a cool little implosion effect.
One of the cool things is the car physics. If you get in a car accident, you have a chance of flying through the windshield (True Crime 2 had this, no ragdoll though), your friends in the car also have a greater chance of flying out, it looked so fun to do! I think, it also uses animation and metal physics on the cars. When you hit the car, it caves in on that spot. When you hit the car really hard or hit it with a rocket, it get's trashed up, just like any other game.

Ok, that's basically it, could have been summarized a whole lot better than what I did. Anyways, Saint's Row, the next installment to the whole urban adventure theme, release date is August 29, 2006 on the Xbox 360. GTA 4 is October 16, 2007.

Zantalos wrote: I think I'm going to start simultaneiously using these two sites. Gametrailers and Gamespot, Gamespot's got the staff, news, reviews, previews, and pictures (alot of the same pictures), but Gametrailer is getting alot more videos that can't be found anywhere else I've looked (Which is pretty much ...gamespot).

I like gamershell because the site has a talent in getting immediately to the point. That way, I don't waste any time with opinions and such, just get a clear image of what a game's about and can carry on with my life.

Yeah, gamershell get's to the point of things. I'm looking through this site, and I think the best part is that they summarize every single update they do, everytime. And they're all different too, it's like a brand new paragraph everytime they add a new movie or some screenshots!

and by the way, funniest podcast I've ever seen.

Oh, I forgot to mention about crime for Saint's Row! I think it's cool because this is how it works, police and gangmembers are completely split up (this may have been what happened in the God Father). It's pretty unrealistic I'd say, but I think it's cool, you can kill as many gang members as you want and the cops don't get pissed off. They are completely separated so you can kill cops and civilians and not piss off gangs and go vice versa and not piss off cops.

Oh oh, and then... I forgot.

Ok, next game after that! Just Cause! It's an extremely stunt heavy GTA like game featuring some...250,000 acres of playable land!

Stunts include para sailing off the back of helicopters and cars, jumping onto car hoods and surfing them, with the option climbing into the car and taking over. Also, you can fly a plane, get off and climb onto the wing (while it's flying), and then skydive off! Yeah, it sounds pretty fun to play, the plot involves liberating the island one village at a time.

Oh yeah, and if you're curious about Euphoria, check out the interview or gameplays on gametrailersand gamershell.

Wow, I can't decide on whether to get an Xbox 360 or a PS3. I really want Assassin's Creed but Dead Rising looks great as well. Hopefully one of them will be ported to the PC.

Dead Rising

Yeah, Dead Rising just looks like lots of great fun. It's coming exclusively to the XBox 360, is it? I think Assassin's Creed sounds like a better game, but even at that I haven't seen Assassin's Creed in action. Have they released any gameplay samples yet?

Renegade_Turner wrote:Yeah, Dead Rising just looks like lots of great fun. It's coming exclusively to the XBox 360, is it? I think Assassin's Creed sounds like a better game, but even at that I haven't seen Assassin's Creed in action. Have they released any gameplay samples yet?

No, but it's rumored that Assassin's Creed will be coming to Xbox 360, and if it's on the 360 then it could be on the PC so I wouldn't have to buy either.

My PC is out of date anyway, so I wouldn't be able to run the games on it.

Hey, Zantalos, you'll probably find the IGN E3 "best of" articles pretty interesting if you haven't seen them already. Go check them out, they're pretty detailed. They deal with all the computers individually and also give an overall scope on the best things on show. Assassin's Creed got overall acclaim as the best PS3 and action game there was. Also, Heavenly Sword, Resistance : Fall Of Man and a few others were given a lot of praise from the PS3 side. On the XBox 360...bah, you can see for yourself. Hold on, let me get this one...go check it out here, man. Haha, nailed it!
Anyway, that's a link to the overall best of. You can check out whichever console you're most interested in individually. Links to all the others should be on the last page of that one.