Half-Life 2 [E3 2004]

Half-Life 2 still isn?t out yet! But at least we?ve seen more levels, gotten more info, and witnessed some multiplayer in action at E3.

When you?re talking about gigundous PC games, there are fewer more gigundous than Half-Life 2. Much like they did last year, Valve Software decided to show off footage of Half-Life 2 in closed-door theater presentations. While the footage they showed was gameplay footage, it wasn?t live?rather, it was recorded by Valve earlier to show off specific instances of physics in action or new areas they hadn?t publicly unveiled before.

First, the ominous face of the G-Man appeared, his real-time model speaking against a black background calling Gordon back to witness ?the ashes? for himself. The lighting and reflection detail (especially in his eyes) was exceptional, and his model went through a series of surreal transformations?becoming half-transparent to show a strange alien-looking level inside him, becoming black-and-white and grainy so that he looked like an old movie.

The demo then moved into the game?s opening sequence (the same one we played at VU Games? pre-E3 event), as Gordon moved through a train station, walking by depressed humans until he was led to a scary-looking chair for interrogation (presumably) by the strange aliens (presumably) in control of the City 17.

The next sequence was introduced by Newell as ?something a playtester did? to take advantage of the physics in creative ways. Indeed, the whole segment proved an awesome showcase for the crazy crap you can do with Half-Life 2?s impressive physics engine. First, while driving a dune buggy vehicle being accosted by roller mines (rolling metal balls that latch onto your car and cause it to jolt and jostle), the play tester nearly drove the car off a cliff, leaving it hanging by two tires. The play tester left the car and used the gravity gun?s ?push? ability (as opposed to its ?pull? ability) to not-so-gently nudge the car back up onto the road. It may not sound all that exciting here, but watching it happen in the game was actually fairly exhilarating. The tester then went into a nearby house to take care of all sorts of bad guys, picking up all sorts of objects (boxes, couches, the aforementioned rollermines, a surprising amount of them all told) to hurl them at foes in the house. All of the reactions were super-believable?couches slid and crushed enemies just like couches should. We?d played this exact area in a previous demo, and didn?t come upon even a tenth of the cool stuff they showed here, a testament to the versatility of the Source engine?s physics.

The next segment showed off a new type of vehicle (?Source makes vehicle physics surprisingly easy,? said Newell), a hovercraft mounted with a rapid-fire gun. The hovercraft moved through an area with lots of nice-looking pools while alien helicopters dropped mines (they splashed and bobbed in the water with with impressive realism, too, surprise), firing off missiles at the hovercraft.

The next segment offered a small taste of the other kinds of areas and enemies you?ll encounter in Half-Life 2: a monk named Grigori (bearing a shotgun) greeted you and then proceeded to run into what appeared to be a graveyard at the bottom of a cliff. Soon, several dog-like, rotten-looking ?fast zombies? appeared running across the top of the cliff, backlit by moonlight. The ?fast zombies? leapt at Grigori and then leapt at the player before fading away one last time.

The final (and most impressive) single-player sequence showed a crowd of humans gathered outside a municipal building trying to take down one of the giant Striders made famous by the first demo. This was an example of the kind of mass assaults you?ll do in the game, as several A.I. characters worked alongside you to take down the bizarre (and extremely tough) spidery menace. The animation for the Strider is particularly freaky, and once he speared an unfortunate soul on his feet, the poor corpse flailed about in pain for a disturbingly long time. Here, the demo showcased a very sci-fi weapon that created a blinding blast of energy, lifted human bodies up from the ground in a red glow, and then evaporated them in a flash.

After this, Newell went on to discuss the heretofore kept-silent multiplayer aspect of the game. While he didn?t go as far as saying what new stuff would be added, he did explain that every previous Half-Life multiplayer add-on (Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat) was being ported to Source, and that all of them would be available the day the game went on sale (though he stopped short of saying when that would be). He then went on to show a brief demo of the ?Sourced? Counter-Strike (the Aztec map). While you could definitely tell the base architecture was from the original game, the textures, lighting, and especially the water all looked much more impressive (bullets hitting water = very cool). While there was too little shown to make a good judgment, it appears like these ?old? multiplayer games will definitely benefit from Source, even though they still clearly show their age.

All told, the Half-Life 2 presentation didn?t really showcase anything we didn?t already know or expect: the physics are going to be incredibly fun, the production value is going to be nuttily high, and the level of immersion is going to be par to none. In short, it sure does look like it?s gonna be great. Now all we?re waiting for is for them to ship the damn game. And no, no word yet when that will be.

Other fun facts: Gabe Newell is playing the World of Warcraft beta (the only game he allows himself to play until HLF2 ships) and says he loves it. Valve is still working on Team Fortress 2, but won?t say anything about a ship date because, according to Newell, ?we?re not very good with dates.

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