I was under the impression that Ravenholm consisted mostly of survival horror and physics puzzles. One of those I'm looking forward to, the other not so much.

HL2 had looooong stretches I didn't care for (water Hazard fills me with genuine hate). The game has some really awesome moments, but I think the pacing is horrific -- there are other spots that are really stale like water hazard, and they're fairly drawn out as well. Ravenholm I actually liked. Slinging giant saw blades to slice zombies in half? F*ck yeah!

Have the entire Orange Box you say? Do yourself a *** big favor *** and skip to the first episode. It's pretty short, but it's almost back to back awesome in my opinion. The beginning of EP1 starts in such a way so that you'll be pretty clear on how the ending of HL2 went down. Unlike HL2 proper, I actually liked about 80-90% of the 'physics puzzles'. I think a big reason for this is that they are generally short, often more fun, and tend to integrate better into the game.

Do yourself an even bigger favor and don't skip ahead. Just play the game. Water Hazard is slow, but it ends eventually. It's kinda harsh to reject the game on that stretch alone.

BTW - It's not Water Hazard that's bugging me, that's just where I'm at. It's the jumping puzzles, which I hated in the original game, and the physics puzzles, which make me feel like I'm playing some other game.

This is Valve's new game on a new engine, and I get that they moved on to other things and hopefully learned some lessons in following installments. I get a severe sense of "look at our shiny new toy" from their design.

I actually don't mind the airboat so much. It controls much better than I would have hoped. The mad hats are actually a nice touch. I play baseball with them with the crowbar substituting for a bat.

Anyway, I feel compelled to keep playing because I really want to check out Ep1. and 2 but I'm afraid I'll be missing something. Especially after looking at the possible achievements and thinking I wanted to see what it was all about. I was a little disappointed that "Trusty Hardware", where you get the crowbar, was really just Barney handing it to you. Boo! I don't mind milestone achievements, like "Anchors Aweigh", just don't make your descriptions sound more interesting than what actually happens. "You left this in Black Mesa" Har Har.

I absolutely love the physics based puzzles. I remember this custom map in tf2 where no one else found this little box staircase and if you didn't use it, it became virtually impossible to to take the first point. (I think it was called skyhigh or something).

I found a lot of times in HL2 where I would grab the grav gun and just start building staircases to see if I could get anywhere cool.

How could you not like Water Hazard? I thought it was great.

The weakest part of HL2 is the Ant-Lion car sequence. So aggravating. Still, amazing game.

The worst thing about Half Life 2 was the constant pausing, especially with my old X800XL PC. Nothing like taking your buggy over a jump and waiting for it to load upwards of one minute mid flight

As for the rest of the game, it has shown a ton of age. The physics puzzles were tons of fun, but the actual gunplay was kind of iffy. But it's all overshadowed by the main vehicle driving me to complete it, the story and characters. Episode 1 and 2 were so-so as well, but from a story point of view pretty neat.

Summary: It's a decent shooter with great physics fun and a wicked story.

Valve has talked multiple times why they put physics puzzles and different elements in their game: to prevent gaming fatigue.

I don't know about you, but I can't play games where I'm just running around shooting non-stop. The physics puzzles are there to give the player a little break in the action regain themself before moving on. If you listen to the commentaries you hear about just how many weeks upon weeks they spent just figuring out the proper placing. I remember in one commentary they talked about how they spent a couple hours figuring out just how many boards they were going to put in your way while getting chased so that you would get nervous but still barely make it.

I guess it took 3.5 years for HL2 hype to settle down.

The physics puzzles became annoying when I stumbled upon the second one. The helicopter segment made me uninstall HL2, and almost made me quit playing Crysis.

P.S. I stopped playing Crysis because the Koreans that take 18 bullets in the face and keep coming finally got to me.

Yeah because the reviews citing Ep2 two as "More of the Same." were really saying, "ZOMG best. game. EVAR."

Water Hazard is there because in the PC version, if you turn up all settings, the water looks pretty. A few years ago, it looked amazingly beautiful. Now it's just pretty. Turn on "Reflect World," try to forget the last few years of tech, and you'll see what kept the playtesters from complaining too much.

Virtually everything in Episode One is there because they had some new ideas about light sources. Episode One is far superior to Water Hazard because light beats water. That's why Luigi's Mansion is better than Mario Sunshine.

Many things just come down to taste. There are such things as extremely well made games that don't appeal to certain gamers. I just finished the SP of CoD4, and I'm almost sorry I spent $50 and a bunch of hours in it. The MP is OK, but arcadey shooters just aren't my thing. Get shot w/ a squad automatic weapon? Just crouch and take a time out. I think I had played half the game before I realized it only SEEMED like I had unlimited ammo. Sprint, aim, shoot. Gets really boring after a while and tension looses its savor when they try to ratchet it up to 11 all the freaking time. In the one ubiquitous sneaker/sniper level that every arcadey shooter includes by default, I just wished I was playing STALKER, a game placed in the same setting with FAR more realistic and immersive gameplay. For all that, CoD4 wasn't a bad game, it is about as good as a game can be. It just isn't my kind of game. To use another example, I'm pretty sure that one of those cop shows in the CSI/Law and Order has good cinematography, direction, acting, etc. I'm just not going to watch because I know that kind of cop drama bores me stupid. W/ CoD4, the example isn't quite so extreme. I think I am glad I bought and played it, but it cost the same as the Orange Box and I've gotten less than 5% of the enjoyment from it that the Orange Box has given me. In the long run, I suppose I'll be glad it is in my collection for variety's sake and the occasional MP round.

To expect Soap to be anyone other than a shallow killing machine with unlimited ammo and wolverine's healing powers is to expect the wrong things. Just as it is to expect physicist Dr. Gordon Freeman not to solve physics puzzles. Not everyone is going to like it, but games are better off focusing on their niche than they are trying to please everyone.

I think you're swinging pretty heavily in the opposite direction here. Overhyped? Sure. On par with a mediocre console title? Let's choose one out of thin air. HL2 = Thrillville? Maybe you should rethink your analogy.

I enjoyed HL2, but would be lying if I claimed it was a more "spiritual event" than the original. The platform puzzles did get old, but I saw them for the fatigue breakers that they were. In the end, the overall game and experience was definitely worth it to me.

I did not care much for EP1. It was a lighting and "shooting partner" tech demo gone too far. I played the whole thing, but it just didn't feel right. That said, the story is engrossing enough that I sometimes think parts of EP1 were in the original game. Haven't gotten to EP2 yet.

Best twist of that I've seen in some time. Bravo.

HL2 has a strong narrative element and I'd like more of that.

In the original game it was not all run and gun, which is how they managed to avoid combat fatigue, and there were the environmental puzzles, which I actually enjoyed even if I didn't always get them right away. Indeed, HL2 has had some environmental puzzles and I still like those because Valve does a good job of integrating them into the game.

I also love the atmosphere and when I first saw the headcrab zombies I stood off at a distance, carefully aimed my pistol, and the bastard threw a barrel into me! That was well played and a total change of the old rules.

The physics puzzles so far have been pretty basic and kind of irritating. Mostly because of where they are placed. It breaks the pace of the story and that is my biggest gripe with them.

I want to reiterate, I don't think it's a bad game, but the early reviews were something along the lines of offering to fellate Valve developers. The game is not anywhere near that good. A good game? I'll give it that. An excellent game? No, inferior to the original Half-Life so far, but I'm willing to change that assessment depending on how the rest of the game goes.

BTW - PC or Console doesn't matter in my mind, if you've designed a level to show off your realistic water effects you're really missing the boat.