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Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast – Second Opinion

Hmm, from all the pre-release hype I was expecting something pretty exciting from this Steam release from Valve. But the end result is very very brief affair, echoing my disappointment with Half-Life2 and its premature finale.

Yes it looks great, the HDR effect is pretty cool and the level starts off feeling quite fresh as you start on a beach and go on to scale a cliff face (which is vaguely reminiscent of the HL1 cliff level). But it’s so darn short, and boring. You shoot a few Combine and then shoot some more, take out that helicopter yet again and then yawn, it’s all over.

“But this is just a tech demo!” you cry. “Don’t be so critical.” Well ok, if it’s meant to show off the lovely new HDR, how come there aren’t any gameplay related examples of its use? I want to rush out from dark tunnels to the open and be blinded by the daylight whilst the Combine start strafing me with bullets. Bit of a missed opportunity I think, to have not used the technology more effectively.

There were only a couple of bugs which is pretty good going. Turn 180 degrees at the start and walk out to sea whilst crouched; the water doesn’t fog properly and you can see some bright sky under the water. The other bug lets you walk around to the far side of the bay. To do this talk to the old man, then head up the stairs and kill the Combine you encounter. Now keep facing up those same steps until you reach the top, and run and jump off into the water below whilst still facing the town ahead. The water doesn’t have a damage hit zone there so you can continue around to the other side of the bay.

Finally, to end on a positive note, I did like the rusted boat hull you can walk through (just to the left of the start point, over some rocks); it’s like some huge animal’s rib cage. Very nice.

[Original review from TheFluffyFist here]

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