The Orange Box: Half Life 2
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… and finally, from The Orange Box, Half Life 2. I have not approached the episodic Half Life 2 games yet.
Half Life 2 is a single player first person shooty adventure game. It came our for the PC a while ago, and now it’s on consoles too as part of the Orange Box.
It’s very polished, but it’s extraordinarily linear. Here’s how it goes:
You find yourself in a “room”. The room might not have four walls and a door — the “room” might be ostensibly an outdoor area, or a tunnel, or something else, but invariably there will be quite a small area you can reach, and one way out to the next “room”.
Sometimes the room will contain actors who reveal plot to you. Sometimes it will contain enemies who try to kill you. Sometimes you will need to solve puzzles in order to reach the exit. Regardless, you have to reach that exit, or the game won’t progress. When you do reach that exit, it will take you to the next room, and there will usually be some device to prevent you returning to previous room.
I apologise for drawing your attention to that structure, because once you notice it, Half Life 2 seems ever so repetitive. Of course, things do develop as the game progresses: the rooms are all different, and you get new weapons.
So the question becomes:
- Are the rooms in themselves enjoyable?
- Are you sufficiently engaged in the plot that you’re driven to reach the next plot-revealing room?
- Is the lure of more weapons sufficient to drive you to reach the rooms containing them?
For me, the answer seems to be “no”. I saved the game a week ago, and I’ve not been tempted to return to it.
I thought Half Life 2 was extremely polished, but not interesting enough to persevere with.