EricBall's Tech Projects

One negative I forgot to mention was the gravity gun. Sure it's cool to be able to catch/lift/drag/throw objects, but which objects the gravity gun works on is extremely limitting. I wanted it to work like Force Unleashed, grabbing enemies with the gravity gun and hurling them to their doom. That being said, the saw & hook "weapons" in Ravenholm are cool. Unfortunately, some enemies can't be sliced in half - most annoying & frustrating.

I enjoyed Portal, but couldn't play any of the other Orange Box games due to motion sickness (not sure why I wasn't affected by Portal). The load times in Portal sucked. It's definitely a poor port in that regards as level loading isn't an issue in other PS3 games I have.

Just bought Half-Life 2 for my Xbox for $5. I've been wanting to pick this up for a while; but I've never played it nor the original before.

When the game flashes up at you "quicksave", it's probably a good idea to save. Save early, save often is a good motto.

 

Don't worry about the story if you haven't played the original - just kill everything that tries to hurt you. Although you can often survive a one-on-one standup fight, you will die if you're outnumbered and/or outgunned if you just stand there and take the damage. Therefore sneaking and snipping from cover is often a good idea, or running/driving very quickly. Oh, and unlike many FPS games - just 'cause you cleaned out an area before advancing doesn't mean you're safe from attacks from the rear.

 

Watch your ammo, reload often and try not waste it. (Although there are places with infinite ammo, including the ammo box on the back of the buggy.) Oh, and beware of accidentally killing yourself with the secondary fire.

Well I finally finished Half Life 2 after an 18 month hiatus. Unfortunately the last third was much like the middle third. There's some frantic battles but no new weapons (until the final chapter) or puzzles. You do get the opportunity to take down some Striders, but only if you have an infinite supply of rockets. Otherwise it's a slog along the linear path trying to preserve health and ammo until the next resupply point.

 

Oh, it turns out there are some areas with infinite enemies. So if you hang back and try to eliminate the opposition from cover you will eventually run out of ammo and/or take fatal damage. So you either have to dash from one safe area to the exit, or dash into danger (which then shuts down the enemy generator).

 

In the final chapter you finally get a super gravity gun which can pick up your enemies. But rather than flailing around like they do in Force Unleashed, they turn into rag dolls - dead even before they are thrown into their comrades.

 

I'm now debating whether to play through Episode 1 & 2.