- Mar 1, 2000
- 30,890
- 5,001
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*** this is just my opinion nothing more ***
*** no cliff notes ***
First off let me just start at the point of ?Our Benefactors?, just after the totally action packed ?Follow Freeman? chapter.
Our Benefactors certainly isn?t overly action packed I will admit, but the setting and the entire mood of the game changes at that point. You enter the Citadel and the pure size, and scope of the building and the Combine is draw dropping. You wander along steep steel cliffs with no bottom or top in sight while those ?pods? are being shuffled all around you in every direction and the oddest, most alien noises are heard creeping from every corner from every angle.
You hitch your ride (admittedly a tad too long for my tastes) on the pod and see the inner workings of the Citadel and the Combine. You finally get released, relieved of your weapons minus you ?modified? Gravity Gun and make your way through the steely, perfectly cold and ?un-human? passageways in the Citadel. The setting, ambiance etc couldn?t be better. Minimal action sure, but this is 100% story setup from Valve?s point of view. So you get captured, escape then see the Dark Fusion Reactor with Alyx?
Here?s where it just hits a huge high note with me. So Alyx decides for you that you have to go destroy the reactor? and sends you down the elevator shaft but as she leans on the glass watching you go down, she tells you to ?Do your worst and be careful? (or something like that) and the bad-ass music kicks in.
I dunno about you but this the FIRST time in all the HL levels I have played (1 and 2) were Freeman finally seems to turn into this tough-guy, not some stupid scientist that happens to have a gun and is good and jumping. Now he is THE HERO of the story and he?s going to get the bad-guys. The entire game/story changed for me?. It was go-time and Gordon is the go-to guy. Perfectly played by Valve.
And for the ?ending? itself. Well as you know there isn?t an ?ending? per-say. In fact it the total opposite of an ending. Valve leaves you on what is arguably the biggest cliff hanger in video game history. One of the biggest cliff hangers since ?I am your Father? in Empire Strikes back. Watching the GMan talk and again set more of the story up for me (confusing me really) I just sat there drop jawed and wide eyed in disbelief.
Is this REALLY where Valve was going to leave me? Dear God there CAN?T be credits rolling?. What about X? and what about Y?!!?! It was PERFECTLY played out no question.
I guess I enjoy cliff hangers and suspense so this plays perfectly into my wheelhouse. I don?t like everything wrapped up nice and neat for me like at the end of a 30min weekly sitcom.
Where does this leave me? Wanting HL3 more than any other video game I can recall (yes more than HL2 for that matter). I?m willing to bet the announcement of HL3 is simply a matter of (short?) time and that Valve already has the story boards drawn and has started the preverbal wheels in motion to get it out the door ?ASAP? (whatever that means).
I don?t see how people think the ending is ?horrible?. Its like saying the ending to Two Towers, Empire etc was ?horrible? because it left you hanging on the edge of you seat. Grats to Valve for doing it right and pushing the storyline (isn?t this what everyone is yammering for?) in video games first and foremost.
*** no cliff notes ***
First off let me just start at the point of ?Our Benefactors?, just after the totally action packed ?Follow Freeman? chapter.
Our Benefactors certainly isn?t overly action packed I will admit, but the setting and the entire mood of the game changes at that point. You enter the Citadel and the pure size, and scope of the building and the Combine is draw dropping. You wander along steep steel cliffs with no bottom or top in sight while those ?pods? are being shuffled all around you in every direction and the oddest, most alien noises are heard creeping from every corner from every angle.
You hitch your ride (admittedly a tad too long for my tastes) on the pod and see the inner workings of the Citadel and the Combine. You finally get released, relieved of your weapons minus you ?modified? Gravity Gun and make your way through the steely, perfectly cold and ?un-human? passageways in the Citadel. The setting, ambiance etc couldn?t be better. Minimal action sure, but this is 100% story setup from Valve?s point of view. So you get captured, escape then see the Dark Fusion Reactor with Alyx?
Here?s where it just hits a huge high note with me. So Alyx decides for you that you have to go destroy the reactor? and sends you down the elevator shaft but as she leans on the glass watching you go down, she tells you to ?Do your worst and be careful? (or something like that) and the bad-ass music kicks in.
I dunno about you but this the FIRST time in all the HL levels I have played (1 and 2) were Freeman finally seems to turn into this tough-guy, not some stupid scientist that happens to have a gun and is good and jumping. Now he is THE HERO of the story and he?s going to get the bad-guys. The entire game/story changed for me?. It was go-time and Gordon is the go-to guy. Perfectly played by Valve.
And for the ?ending? itself. Well as you know there isn?t an ?ending? per-say. In fact it the total opposite of an ending. Valve leaves you on what is arguably the biggest cliff hanger in video game history. One of the biggest cliff hangers since ?I am your Father? in Empire Strikes back. Watching the GMan talk and again set more of the story up for me (confusing me really) I just sat there drop jawed and wide eyed in disbelief.
Is this REALLY where Valve was going to leave me? Dear God there CAN?T be credits rolling?. What about X? and what about Y?!!?! It was PERFECTLY played out no question.
I guess I enjoy cliff hangers and suspense so this plays perfectly into my wheelhouse. I don?t like everything wrapped up nice and neat for me like at the end of a 30min weekly sitcom.
Where does this leave me? Wanting HL3 more than any other video game I can recall (yes more than HL2 for that matter). I?m willing to bet the announcement of HL3 is simply a matter of (short?) time and that Valve already has the story boards drawn and has started the preverbal wheels in motion to get it out the door ?ASAP? (whatever that means).
I don?t see how people think the ending is ?horrible?. Its like saying the ending to Two Towers, Empire etc was ?horrible? because it left you hanging on the edge of you seat. Grats to Valve for doing it right and pushing the storyline (isn?t this what everyone is yammering for?) in video games first and foremost.
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