Half-Life 2

Published 29 April, 2004

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Comments (99) Latest comment 8 years ago

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  • lost_soul #1 9 years ago

    Uh, aren't PCGamer going to get a bit upset about these? Everybody else has been told to take the pictures down.

  • krudster #2 9 years ago

    Enjoy them while they last chaps

  • UncleLou #3 9 years ago

    /enjoys them

  • FWB #4 9 years ago

    Wow. Never played the first one.

  • lost_soul #5 9 years ago

    Wow. Never played the first one.

    !!!!!
    If you like FPSs, you should, it's still great.

  • UncleLou #6 9 years ago

    Pardon? Why's that? FWB, please, tell me you won't buy Vietcong then...buy HL - should save you some money, too.

  • FWB #7 9 years ago

    I may do. At least my computer could run it with everything maxed. :) I think I saw some package deal including every single addon for around £10.

    FWB, please, tell me you won't buy Vietcong then...buy HL

    Already ordered the former, so too late. :) The reason I opted out is because I was under the strong impression it was a basic shooter (no matter how good the storyline and scripts are). I'd had by full share of that.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 10:38

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #8 9 years ago

    Very much worth it FWB.

  • UncleLou #9 9 years ago

    ...strong impression it was a basic shooter (no matter how good the storyline and scripts are).

    For me, the best things in HL were a) the AI, which is still unrivalled (maybe Halo was equally good, don't know), and b) the overall design, including the slickest HUD ever, music, menu, just everything.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 10:40

  • lost_soul #10 9 years ago

    BTW, there's a link to some better quality scans in the HL2 thread in the forum.

  • FWB #11 9 years ago

    Hmm, maybe I will try it then, after Vietcong. :) Might also give me the chance to have a go at Counter-Strike, something I've heard so much of but never even seen in action.

  • lost_soul #12 9 years ago

    UncleLou, you missed out the multiplayer, even the original half life release (before TF and CS came along) had a fantastic multiplayer mode.

  • Errol #13 9 years ago

    Looks pretty impressive. What kind of monster rig is going to be needed to run this game then ??

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #14 9 years ago

    Apparently, not a particularly monstrous one.

  • Nemesis #15 9 years ago

    I don't want to ruin the experience of playing this one. It's gonna be bloody hard, if not impossible, to avoid spoilers and suchlike.

  • Machiavel #16 9 years ago

    The outdoor shots are really impressive. Suddenly I find myself excited by a forthcoming PC game. Ooh, new feeling.

  • Errol #17 9 years ago

    To get the game looking (and running well) anything like those screenshots, I bet that you will need (at least) -

    PIV 2.4ghz +
    Geforce 4 +
    512mb Ram +

    Those are minimums.

  • FWB #18 9 years ago

    I'm kind of glad I'm putting off upgrading. Since the PC is in a bit of a lull at the moment RE games it's not a huge problem.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #19 9 years ago

    Not what I've heard Errol. 2.4GHz is way over-compensating.

  • Errol #20 9 years ago

    They must be magicians then or something.

  • UncleLou #21 9 years ago

    PIV 2.4ghz +
    Geforce 4 +
    512mb Ram +

    Those are minimums.

    These are quite exactly the specs of my new rig. Bit frustrating if that would really be the minimum requirements for a game that's released this year.

  • #22 9 years ago

    the time is near to
    break out the freestyle crowbar
    action yet again

  • Nemesis #23 9 years ago

    PIV 2.4ghz +
    Geforce 4 +
    512mb Ram +


    That's overkill, it's sure to run on a lesser rig.

  • lost_soul #24 9 years ago

    PIV 2.4ghz +
    Geforce 4 +
    512mb Ram +

    It won't be very pretty though, I hear that if you don't have an overclocked Radeon 9500pro, it only plays in black and white.

    The real minimum specs are a P3 700 with a TNT2 card BTW.
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 11:22

  • FWB #25 9 years ago

    The real minimum specs are a P3 700 with a TNT2 card BTW.

    Are you saying I could play it, or be it with no shadows, no sound, no colour, no texturing, no particle system and a view distance of 3m?

  • Errol #26 9 years ago

    P3 700 with a TNT2

    Yeah, right ! Pull the other one ! lol.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #27 9 years ago

    Well whaddya want, miracles? :)

  • UncleLou #28 9 years ago

    P3 700 with a TNT2

    Yeah, right ! Pull the other one ! lol.

    Now seriously, with a well-built and clean system, you can achieve quite a lot. You'd laugh if I told you how long I played games on my old PII 266. Even some games where I was well below the mimimum requirements ran remarkably well, including NOLF, Max Payne etc.

  • LaundroMat #29 9 years ago

    It looks a bit like a mixture between War of the Worlds and Starship Troopers.
    The question remains: will I want to upgrade?

  • pjmaybe #30 9 years ago

    No FPS is worth upgrading your PC for. If you do that sort of thing, you need to get out more.

    Peej

  • LaundroMat #31 9 years ago

    I haven't unpgraded since the first Half-Life (and that's when I bought my first PC), save some memory, a HD, and a Geforce I got for free.

    But don't worry, I probably won't upgrade anyway.

  • Whizzo #32 9 years ago

    It looks a bit like a mixture between War of the Worlds and Starship Troopers.

    I wonder if you can do a Thunderchild versus Warmachine battle in the game with all those boats in it it would be a missed oppurtunity if something similar didn't happen. Hopefully with better results of course!

    FWB you must buy HL, even now the game stands up extremely well if it does look a bit creaky obviously.

  • Han_Solo #33 9 years ago

    HMMMMMMM....
    I'm getting deja-vu, or it could be that curry i ate last night, either way its a bit like unreal2 where everyone went ballistic over the shots sayin' it was goin be the dogs knackers, and look how that pile of drivell turned out.
    So i say poo to valve, the proof is in the pudding or the rogan josh, whatever tickles your fancy.

  • Whizzo #34 9 years ago

    You could almost tell that U2 was going to turn out dodgy with the fact that every set of screenshots had a least a couple showing off the bint's cleavage. The female NPC in this actually looks normal!

    No mention of the game's very existence, although it was obviously going to turn up sometime, until 5 months before it's on the shelves makes this very different to the bloody stupid levels of hype that Unreal 2 got.

  • FWB #35 9 years ago

    FWB you must buy HL, even now the game stands up extremely well if it does look a bit creaky obviously.

    I promise I will.

  • otto #36 9 years ago

    FWB you can have my copy, got anything you want to swap for it? :)

  • UncleLou #37 9 years ago

    I wouldn't take otto's copy - he didn't like it , so it's probably cursed or something. ;-)

  • FWB #38 9 years ago

    FWB you can have my copy, got anything you want to swap for it? :)

    Cheers otto, but it's probably just as cheap(including postage and all) for me to pick it up here. Is it just standard Half-life or does it include the addons?

  • lost_soul #39 9 years ago

    No mention of the game's very existence, although it was obviously going to turn up sometime, until 5 months before it's on the shelves makes this very different to the bloody stupid levels of hype that Unreal 2 got.

    Problem is, we now get 5 years worth of hype compressed into 5 months.

    This could get messy.

  • otto #40 9 years ago

    Just plain ol' bog standard HL, no add-ons, and the words 'horse' 'gift' 'mouth' & 'look' spring to mind... ;)

  • Khab #41 9 years ago

    I really like the way they wait 'til quite late in the development until they announce stuff. OTOH, considering how many times the original HL was delayed, it may yet be a few years until we see this one. :)

  • FWB #42 9 years ago

    Sorry, I do appreciate the offer, its just if I can pick up the whole shebang for £10 I might as well. Cheers though.

  • Dirtbox #43 9 years ago

    /rants a little

    well anyway... told you so did'nt I
    Edited by 1 at 23/04/03 @ 21:05

  • Dabs #44 9 years ago

    Hasn't legal action been threatened by Valve to those who continued to host those leaked pictures? :/

    Sue! Sue! Sue! ;)

  • krudster #45 9 years ago

    As expected, we're pulling the PCGamer scans. Expect some lovely high res shots very shortly

  • Nemesis #46 9 years ago

    Sah!

  • Khab #47 9 years ago

    I knew when I bought my first Half-Life cd in '98 that there was something special about this game...


    Out of curiousity, how many have you bought?

  • #48 9 years ago

    He knew, when he bought a boatload of Half-Life 1 cd's in 1998, that there were something special about Half-Life 2 in 2003. Amazing.

  • Errol #49 9 years ago

    This shots look less and less impressive the more I inspect them.

    I would like to see the animation of the characters, before passing judgement.

  • FWB #50 9 years ago

    They return and much clearer too.

  • X-Vector #51 9 years ago

    That first shot is new to me, shame it's so small though.

    Must say, of all the upcoming FPA titles this is the one I like the looks best of.
    Not to say that HL2 looks objectively 'better' than DooM III or S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but it has a visual style that I find accessible and easy to warm up to.

    Can't wait for E3.

  • UncleLou #52 9 years ago

    Well, in my opinion, DooM III is one big tech-demo, whereas HL2 actually looks like a game.

    Why is Doom 3 just a tech demo? I don't think so at all. It seems to have very good scripted sequences, and all in all it doesn't feel like a traditional shooter, but more like a survival-horror game a la Resident Evil (set in the System Shock universe), but with decent controls. It's not like there already are lots of games like this.

  • smirny #53 9 years ago

    btw just read the gamespy HL2 preview... they mentioned something about an 'Online Press Embargo' that ended at about 11:30 lat night... so i think these pics are safe.

  • Tricky #54 9 years ago

    Hmmm - well the opinion that Doom III is a tech demo may well come from anyone who tried that leaked version of Doom III from ATi, because frankly, that's all it was.

    Sure it ain't gonna be the same as the original Doom games but then anyone who's been reading any coverage of the game will know that already. I have to say that I'm definitely looking forward to HL2 more - the guys at Valve built a lot of faith with HL and as they've taken so long to produce this one I very much doubt that they've dropped the ball. Plus it's more likely to run better on my "ageing" AMD 1900+/GeForce 4 than Doom III will.

  • Errol #55 9 years ago

    <a href= "http://www.euro gamer.net/view_screenshot.php?filter=&image=/assets/articles /a4625/hl2-eli_q02.jpg">This screenshot best sums up the difference in terms of graphics between HL and HL2</a>

  • Killerbee #56 9 years ago

    I picked up Unreal II for cheap at the weekend - looks very nice and runs smoothly on my system at 1024x768, 32 bit colour with everything on. For some reason turning on the EAX makes my system crash even though I've got an Audigy card with the latest drivers. :(

    Anyway, if HL2 really does look this good and doesn't eat resources like a starved Skarjj scoffs brains, I'm very impressed - and looking forward to this a lot.

    /starts saving pennies/

  • lost_soul #57 9 years ago

    Which ones are new then?

    One thing I find a little irritating about the screenshots pages is that there's no indication as to when a screenshot was posted.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #58 9 years ago

    Well none of them are new per se, we just found some more we didn't have. Sorry for irritating you.

  • lost_soul #59 9 years ago

    Ah, OK. I thought the content system was playing up or something.

    It would be nice to know when a screenshots has been posted though.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #60 9 years ago

    It would wouldn't it?

  • FWB #61 9 years ago

    Is there any chance of seeing screenshots divided by date? You could keep them on the same page, just have a break with the date between them.

    Its not just a case of seeing stuff you haven't seen before, but also figuring out which is the latest build.

  • lost_soul #62 9 years ago

    It would wouldn't it?

    Yes it would, now go sort it out! :-)

    How about having an auto generated screenshot with the just date on it, so we know where the new screenshots start and when they were posted?

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #63 9 years ago

    Guys, I can't answer these questions. I didn't design the site. No matter how many quibbles or tweaks we suggest, they only get heaped on top of the "Things To Do When We're Not Busy Trying To Make Money" pile. Sorry this is the only answer I can give you, I hope you can understand what position we're in. At least you don't have to pay for it! ;)
    Edited by 1 at 04/09/03 @ 10:49

  • FWB #64 9 years ago

    Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I was dictating anything. Twas just a friendly suggestion. :)

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #65 9 years ago

    I know, it's just exasperating when we (the content staff) can't do anything about it for you. We can just throw our hands in the air, shrug and hope that stuff like this will be sorted eventually.

  • Zero Beat #66 9 years ago

    I hadn't seen the two watery-pier screens or the first and last shot on the last row before, yum.

  • Khab #67 9 years ago

    Which "rows"?

    *pats Opera*

  • V0oD0o #68 9 years ago

    OMG those headcrabs are huge!!!""¬!¬1`1 (how l337)

    If you need the screenshot page mods doing, let me know. I'm a PHP monkey, so shouldn't take a lot.

  • inpHilltr8r #69 9 years ago

    You can currenlty get the original Half Life, Opposing Forces, Counter Strike, and Team Fortress, for free, using the Steam beta.

    http://www.steampowered. com/

  • Dirtbox #70 8 years ago

    I have NO idea what that says zlo, but I'm sure it's tardism at it's finest.

  • lost_soul #71 8 years ago

    Ryan: Should run fine, the beta runs great on my 1Ghz Athlon, but you'll miss out on a lot of the graphics effects with the GF4 MX.

  • mcmonkeyplc #72 8 years ago

    pah its no halo 2

    /runs

  • Subquest #73 8 years ago

    FWIW I've been running the Far Cry demo smoothly, which contains the best graphics I've ever seen in any game, on an athlon 2400+, 9700 pro, 512mb ram at 1024x768 with details maxed & 4x AA. I'm hoping to be able to get away without upgrading for HL2 and Doom 3.

    Somebody mentioned you shouldn't upgrade your PC for a FPS. Dude, I wouldn't feel good about paying for more hardware, yet I just goddam love beautiful modern video graphics in my games and I know it's wrong.

  • pjmaybe #74 8 years ago

    This looks pants. The first one looked better.

    Can I have my medicine now?

    Peej

  • Scimarad #75 8 years ago

    Well I would get this on my PC if only...

    /hides behind something solid

    ...I could play it with a twin stick setup rather mouse and keyboard. I wanna kill things goddamnit not click on 'em!

  • sir_tripod #76 8 years ago

    Re: specs.

    A spec around the 1Ghz mark will run HL2, although (as you'd expect) in low detail. The ~2.2Ghz systems will run it really well and on good detail. Allegedly, if you want all the ragdoll modelling and random barrel falling etc, then you'll need one of the top-end Nvidia FX or Radeons cards.

  • WoodenSpoon #77 8 years ago

    how can you argue with a $40 million price tag

    The Getaway cost loads, didn't make it the best game ever.

  • Nause #78 8 years ago

    Doesn't look so great anymore really does it ?
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/04 @ 01:58

  • Kami #79 8 years ago

    Going to pretend you didn't say that...

    It's still looking awesome! Just, So are Doom 3 and Halo 2...

  • UncleLou #80 8 years ago

    Looks terrific - it just has ... style. And lots of it.

  • Blerk #81 8 years ago

    But will it ever get released? :-)

  • Errol #82 8 years ago

    Not particularly impressed with these. The new shots in this months PC ZONE are also fairly ordinary.

  • Errol #83 8 years ago

    Obviously the gameplay is more important though.

  • Mant #84 8 years ago

    Whats with all the widescreen shinanigans?

  • Pirotic #85 8 years ago

    the longer they drag this on, the less impressive the shots become. most dont look any better than farcry.

    i suspect the gameplay will be tops, just wish valve would stop lying to everybody over the release date and how 'complete' it is.

  • Bru-Man #86 8 years ago

    Railways - check!
    Helicopter - check!
    Waterways - check!
    Checkered floored labs - check! :)
    Yup, looking as good as the first one!

  • tiddles #87 8 years ago

    This doesn't doesn't look as stunning or as ground-breaking as it did a year ago (a year!). But they've still got a great visual style, which looks as good as it ever did. You just know it's gonna be fun to play...

    /crosses fingers

  • Startled Pancake #88 8 years ago

    Obvious comparison:

    FarCry:

    Beautiful scenery with lucious flora and fauna, seas full grenadeable fish and skies full of splatable birds, fresh and unusual environment. Released. A while ago.

    HL2:

    Delights the kind of people those who buy brown cars. Persuaded mugs to buy graphics cards with a voucher system reminiscent of the rouble in terms of redeemable value. Hopefully has used up some of the games industries brown quota, meaning less of this vastly overused colour will be seen in other games.

  • Goldfinch #89 8 years ago

    I was wondering about the widescreen stuff as well Mant.

    Proper dual monitor support perhaps or maybe the conspiracy theories are right and they've been spending all this time porting it to the XBox. *shudders*

    Suppose another option is that the fov is pretty warped, and doesn't get transfered to screenshots.

  • Tard #90 8 years ago

    HL2 looks utter pap now.

    Only thing it has going for it now that hasn't already been done is a new HL story.

    I hope CZ isn't anything to go by when this is released

  • UncleLou #91 8 years ago

    ^
    An appropriately named poster!

  • lordofdeadside #92 8 years ago

    whats harry hill doin in it though?
    http://www.eurogam er.net/view_screenshot.php?filter=&image=/assets/articles/a4 625/DSC00918.JPG

  • #93 8 years ago

    Some of these shots are so bad they look like Quake II engine stuff.

    Honestly. Some of them are that bad.

  • Philip Gumm #94 8 years ago

    Yeah but that really isnt the point, counter strike is still a massively popular game and yet I dont think anyone complains about its graphical content. Same with Half Life, I would still play the original even to this day.

  • Errol #95 8 years ago

    Allegedly, if you want all the ragdoll modelling and random barrel falling etc, then you'll need one of the top-end Nvidia FX or Radeons cards

    This is obviously rubbish.

  • Philip Gumm #96 8 years ago

    I agree, a graphics card is so called because it renders textures and lighting effects etc...not physics systems which are the funtion of CPU.

  • Whizzo #97 8 years ago

    (and i didn't see any fish in FC either)..

    Running it at low detail levels by any chance? FC drops some features for lesser machines to keep up the frame rate.

  • UncleLou #98 8 years ago

    Hype? Which hype? 80% of the people talking about HL2 are slagging it off.

    *shrugs*

    I bet it it's a great game, but if you'll let the so-called "hype" ruin the game for you, be my guest.

  • deem #99 8 years ago

    let me get this right.
    You dont think HL2 has had any hype?
    If you don't think HL2 has had any hype,
    then you need a checkupfromtheneckup.

    dont be so bloody stupid.

    And I'm sure it will be a great game, but with that much time and money, it should already be a brilliant one.

    now where's my copy of Emlyn Hughes'.
    Edited by 2 at 05/05/04 @ 01:09

  • UncleLou #100 8 years ago

    let me get this right.
    You dont think HL2 has had any hype?
    If you don't think HL2 has had any hype,
    then you need a checkupfromtheneckup.

    dont be so bloody stupid.

    I am just tired of silly platitudes like "it won't live up to the hype".

    Dimwit.


  • rebelradiouk #101 8 years ago

    what the hell far cry had no hype it was talked about for 2 years in pc zone