E3 2003: Half Life 2 Impressions

Full impressions from the drop-dead stunning gameplay presentation at E3's Half Life 2 booth. Hi-res screens included.

Let's face it. Half Life 2 pretty much owned everything at this year's show. It's driving the next evolution in gaming, and it even made the Halo 2 demo look slightly dated. Perhaps Microsoft should buy Valve next, at any price. For the time being they needn't worry, however, as Half Life 2 is confirmed for Xbox's killer FPS line-up.

I wasn't swept up in the hype of the original - I liked it, played it till 3am for a few nights, but ultimately felt the overall level designs were too linear and that the last few levels were blatantly rushed and a chore to play.

The gameplay demo for HL2 showed tech that could handle fantastically detailed and consistently believable visuals, as well as seriously ambitious game design.

To give you an idea of what's been previously available, take the latest Unreal Engine. Although often praised, it's actually very limiting if you're an ambitious level designer. Whenever I tried to put more than a handful of mover objects in my levels - stuff like collapsible ceilings by way of pillar destruction, or even trap doors or moving platforms - it crashes and sometimes even corrupts the rest of my level. Even when getting help from people within the Unreal Dev network.

This experience, coupled with the levels I've seen in the Unreal Engine powered games I've played - shows me that the Unreal engine limits creative level design.

In contrast, the level design in Half Life 2 is stunningly interactive, contains highly believable physics for all objects and allows a great scope for player creativity. One of the examples shown, was a rooftop section where the lead character was being peppered by assailants who were emerging from a building in front of and beneath him. To his right was a large crane, holding a steel cable and girder on the end. To the left was wooden platform on stilts with a bin on top. His ammo was low.

The player begins his survival scheme by attracting the enemies slightly to the centre of the street, in range for the later using of the crane. The cable hanging off the crane holds a large steel girder and this cable is shot so that it swings - mainly led by a large steel girder - into the assailants. The remaining monsters carry on shooting, but a carefully placed grenade under the front of the platform to the left sends the bin down and onto the freaks in the street beneath.

The level of self expression available is absolutely unmatched and it also looks set to stay that way, at least until another of its kind becomes available. You would do very well to watch this closely - which is precisely what we'll be doing. You simply have to see the quality of the visuals in Half Life 2 - graphically, it simply wipes the floor with everything else at the show. Video coverage later!

Daniel Boutros
Contributor, Kikizo Games