Caltrops - Half-Life II ??? - Re: Half-Life 2 Deathmatch review

Forum Overview :: Half-Life II ???

by Worm 12/03/2004, 8:44pm PST

Ray of Light wrote:

1. Weapons designed for single-player fun make for multiplayer shit. The shotgun would be a balanced weapon, except that balance implies two things and it's the only one. The .357 and the Cinnamon Shooter(HEH -Worm) are instant-kill hitscan weapons, as powerful as Q2's rail or CS's AWP but without any of their (balancing) drawbacks.

Also if you hold down both mouse buttons with your starting pistol for a bit and let go of the right it will expend the entire clip, making that an insta-kill weapon. That really pisses people off.

The chaingun (I don't know its real name, sorry!) would make a decent spawning weapon if it came with about 5 times more ammo. Grenade fuses don't burn until you release -- despite an OBVIOUS pin-pulling animation -- and the 10-second fuse and (audible, visual) warning beacons attached to each one, combined with a blast radius no larger than Gabe himself, make them ineffective. The RPG makes the entire BFG series look fruity. The SMG and pistol are ridiculously underpowered. Long weapon respawn times, copied from id software's DooM (release date: 1994), ensure that camping, especially in team mode, will win the day.

The only problem I have is the Magnum, the damage should be halved like it was in original HLDM. I think a gravity gun only mode would be horribly fun, it's enough of a pain to convince everyone to do it. Grenades are only worthwhile to gravity gun and try to throw back. Also, the chaingun (the one that launches balls right?) those balls it launches can be caught with the gravity gun.

2. The map with a ruined building and rubble and outdoors in it is fucked.

I always end up getting bored and stuffing both cars inside the building, this makes that map much more fun.

3. The amazing physics engine. You can kill people with toilets! Unfortunately, your wal-mart stormtropper costume causes you to move and jump like a man who badly needs a toilet. Why can't I vault over a rail? Or climb over a barrel in the stairway? Or do anything but wriggle helplessly if I get amidst 3 pieces of debris? Urban Terror and (the original) Prince of Persia both feature pulling yourself up on stuff: this feature improves every game it touches and there's no excuse for its omission.

4. Gay sprint / hobble duality. It would be nice if there was a mode, call it "hustle", where you move faster than a battery-powered wheelchair but exhaust your "Aux. Power" more slowly. That mode should also be the default.

Overall, the experience is Call of Duty but with worse weapon balance, worse map design, less player mobility and a supply / lighting scheme that rewards standing still. It's pretty and it's dumb. Fuck it.

Ray!

Again, I think we're going to have to put our faith in the Halflife modding community. Batshit insane? Yes; but, our only hope.