HALF LIFE: Source

[SimonS]

I finally upgraded to Silver with my steam account to get DoD:S. I realised now that I had silver I could play Half life Source which I was looking foward to re-playing Half life 1 with source enhancements.
I fire up the game after Pre-Loading and the 3D menu from Half life 2 make a return for Half life source. The chapter select when you start a new game is a nice improvement, especially for people who hate the intro tram ride like me. So I start off in anamoulous materies, the security doors open and I'm greeted by barney. NPC models have dynamic shadows which gives them that bit of depth, also lighting and shading on models are greatly improved. As you already know the models are low definition instead of high definition which you see in blue shift. Alot of people disliked Half life source due to the fact that graphics were not going to be upgraded. I for one didn't mind and I enjoyed re-playing with the old models just for that old school effect.

I venture down to the test chamber to start the test, the rotors sound is quieter now thank god, no more ear piercing loud rotors when you press the button. After you push the sample in and all hell breaks loose you get teleported to Xen and meet 2 bullsquids in the water. I admired the Xen water, it looks great like it does in Half life 2. Shortly after I teleported to the dark area with the vorts, The dark shading on their models was very good. And finally in back in Black mesa with the danger siren going off. A big piece of platform falls down in front of me using Half life 2's physics which was nice to see instead of scripted falling, more debris fell down using the physics. I high tailed out of the chamber and into the corridor to where Einstein was aiding a fallen barney. There was a flickering light and it was casting nice lighting effects onto their models. I was eager to get a weapon to kill something to see the ragdolls. I got my lucky crowbar and clobberd my first headcrab. They act just like they do in HL2 instead of flipping onto their backs. The crowbar hit surface sound is quite obnoxious compared to HL2's fine sounds, it's loud and echoed and annoying. I met another barney and killed him for his gun, for once I felt sorry for killing an NPC because he innocently flumped to the ground in a lifeless manor. Ragdolls are a great improvement.

You can now get lots of people to follow you now instead of one or two like the old half life.

I actually felt like I was going to save them instead of them feeling like pointless tag alongs. Barney has improved accuracy and actually saves you from that sneaky head crab that pop out. Unlike many games, you actually feel innocent when a barney or scientist dies when they're killed by an alien.

Speaking of feeling innocent.....



OVERALL:
Graphics
I don't mind the old models, infact I like the old models. I guess it's a nice change from my over the top modded out Half life installation with high poly EVERTHING . Shading and lighting is great and looks good even on the old HL models. Ragdoll is nice also, can't wait to kill me some bigger monsters when I get to them just to see how they die. Dynamic shadows . Also when you shoot enemies you can see bullet holes on them. It's good to see a big ol red mark on a scientists face when you kill them ;o

Sound
Sound is more or less the same. I only dislike the crowbar surface hit sound and I always have and always will. It's irritating.

Gameplay
Black mesa kind of feels scarier now, it feels eerie, you're the only one left and you need to save all you can. Crowbar has more oomph and the guns have the HL2 style recoil where it shakes a tad. Guns feels more powerful now and less Toy like.

Physics make a nice introduction, it's nice to see once scripted events taken over by physic. i'e The scientist on the run way that breaks when you step on it. The runway swings around on a rope which looks quite nice. Also the bit where you have to jump from box to box on a high platform. The big green boxes now react to your weight when you jump on them which makes it quite scary and exciting at the same time.

Summary
I think it was worth the money, the people who complain about HL:S sucking are Eeejuts. I'm enjoying the game <font color=orange>a lot</font> even though I've played it 15+ times due to the new improvements.
If you're still thinking to upgrade to Silver I reccommend you do. You get 4 great games for £5/$10

HALF LIFE source
CS:CZ
CS:CZ deleted scenes
and best yet

DAY OF DEFEAT SOURCE

Im very glad I upgraded, HL:S is great, CZ is surprisingly vvery good too and I'll get to play DOD:S when it's released instead of moping around waiting for retail.

8/10.

How I wish counter-strike soource worked for me . Nice review though, lots of effort

[mr. blonde]

howd you upgrade?

I hate steam- die,! die steam!
counterstrike source still wont play offline, and has lag spikes that stutter game about every 30 seconds.
steam totally ravages your hard drive converting all your old half life and CS games. Now I have no bots or the maps I put in the original CS-F**&ers!!!!!! DIE STEAM DDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!!!

[SimonS]

That's what you get with a 56k and 400mhz PC :rolleyes

Actually trhe game didnt work for me, and my pc plays loadsa online games, like Unreal tourny 04, halo, WOW.

But he still irritated me, steam rules tbh.

[CowInParachute]

Steam works on paper, but it was a complete failure. It's intention was to hinder anybody warezing the game, but now it turns out warezers can actually join non-warez servers, making Steam a better choice for those who wish to warez it.

[steely]

simply get a better pc i run source on a 3.6 ghz 2gb ram and a radeon x800 gfx card runs perfect