#the first time i ever used VR was a demo of Half Life Alyx and in less than 10 minutes i was underneath city 17 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

burgerpocalypse · 3 years

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Yesterday I started a replay of Half-Life: Alyx, and I want to both share some low-energy ppnions and also tell everyone that I have an Index VR headset.

So, HL:A is the most recent entry in the Half-Life series, which had been sitting in the attic since 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode 2’s unresolved cliffhanger ending. It’s also a substantial single-player release from Valve, whomst have not gleamed the general public with any substantial single-player releases for around a decade. It’s also also Valve’s first full-fledged VR title that isn’t just a tech demo for your mom or tech industry journalist live-in boyfriend. It is rather unfortunate that not only is it incredibly belated, but also unattainable for the casual video game fan as well as the casual Half-Life enjoyer.

Though it certainly is a complete package that provides a highly tuned VR experience that dunks on all other VR games, there’s some smudginess to it that I feel has not been given proper analysis for whatever reason. Maybe the few people who have played the game are just happy to have another Half-Life entry or a really good triple-A VR title, which I certainly understand. I’ll do my best to quickly go over my grievances as to not waste your time.

The gameplay of Alyx is pretty good. I hadn't had much experience with VR before getting the Index, just a few demonstrations here and there. Regardless, I find it quite easy to slide in and out of VR and don’t experience any substantial negative effects like some other unfortunate souls might. Alyx was essentially the first actual VR game I played, but even then it was really simple for me to become acclimated to controlling my character, even going so far as to using more advanced movement and view options right from the get-go. I bring this up because Alyx is very obviously designed around being accessible to someone whomst has never played a VR game, or potentially any game. As such, there are considerable concessions that put a relatively low limit on what can be accomplished by more experienced players and even someone of intermediate skill.

You only have three weapons, which are a pistol, a shotgun, and an SMG, with two inventory slots for usable items like grenades and health packs. Sure, you can physically hold additional items, even going so far as holding a container filled with grenades and junk, but personally I found that to be a real painful experience that wasn’t worth the trouble due to physics jank and accidental droppage. Besides, it’s not like players are encouraged to do clever/compulsive inventory management, since the environment is lousy with weapons and healing and I rarely was found wanting for more ammo or health.

Combat encounters typically involve around five enemies, with considerable space in between encounters. When not solving puzzles and exploring crusty environments, you’ll be crawling through zombie and headcrab ambushes or pushing through squads of Combine soldiers, which is the essential Half-Life formula. Zombies and headcrabs behave the same way as they have for the past twenty years, with a few slight twists like weak points for instant kills or minibosses. While soldiers are highly accurate with their shots and do attempt to flank or force the player out of cover, they are much less mobile and aggressive than they have ever been. This is fine for VR since players have to physically aim and take cover, though soldiers definitely will stand around and wait to be shot sometimes.

Each fight is intense and combat is by no means brain-dead easy, but from the perspective of someone that has played a lot of Half-Life and shooters in general, the combat in Alyx is limited in scope. I didn't feel much challenge, outside of maybe the final bits of combat. The few times I died were usually due to VR control finickiness when trying to reload, me losing focus and not paying attention, or me making a really, REALLY dumb mistake.

Exploration is fine. It’s mildly entertaining scouring an environment for useful things, though I quickly learned the developer’s tricks, and the act of pulling drawers and opening cupboards got old real fast when all you get is some bullets. Really, you’re only looking for ammo or resin for upgrades, and everything outside of puzzle solutions is just junk and noise. I’m not a puzzle-oriented person, and will become bored and lose interest if a puzzle asks me to remember more than one thing or figure out any complex solution, so it’s fine that no puzzle goes beyond at most one step of complexity. Physics jank is rife throughout the world, and VR only makes it worse (or better, if you prefer the jank). There were one or two times I had to load a save due to a physics object bugging out, the culprit being a valve getting stuck in a wall.

I have little to say about the story. It’s a prequel to Half-Life 2, which is whatever. The plot spins its wheels the entire time, since we know that nothing we do will have any effect on the games we’ve already played. It also tries to be coy about the identity of a particular character, when we know that the character will clearly not be who they say it will be. It doesn’t advance the story of Half-Life in any meaningful way since it ends with the same cliffhanger as HL2: EP2 in what is essentially a canonical retcon. It sets up more mysteries while also refusing to answer any lingering questions. It introduces a character and other elements that are obviously not in the game that chronologically comes after, and so on.

My expectations and testicles have been ground into a fine paste as a result of Valve’s silly little 13-year unresolved plot point cocktease, so I suppose it’s just that I’m not in a forgiving mood, but I found Alyx’s story to be an insulting, blue-ball inducing, time-wasting non-entity, and if Valve wants to think that I’m dumb enough to be satisfied with a 30 second teaser for their next project as part of Alyx’s conclusion, then they can go fuck themselves.

While I’m at it, the level with Jeff is dumb. I’m not interested in a level with an enemy that is inexplicably invulnerable to guns and follows me around for no reason other than to act as a gameplay contrivance. I wasn’t scared in the slightest because I’m a total asshole and possibly a sociopath, so the experience was a dull slog through a haunted house with annoying puzzles and no combat. If you found this to be your favorite level, great, but in my opinion it can fuck itself right alongside Valve.

In conclusion, Half-Life: Alyx is a great game, with notable issues and shortcomings in its gameplay and a deeply disappointing story. If you already have VR and a capable system, I certainly recommend it. Don’t get VR just for Alyx, though. You’ll probably be let down by the rather meager library of VR titles afterwards.

Thanks for reading. Sorry there's no interesting art to look at.

#valve software #half life #half life alyx #video games #review #virtual reality #valve index

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Game Awards 2020 Nominees

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The Game Awards return in 2020 to celebrate the best titles of the year. The ceremony will take place on Dec. 10 and will be hosted once again by executive producer and presenter Geoff Keighley. Gamers will be able to watch the festivities via live stream.

Due to restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s ceremony will take place across multiple cities instead of one venue. According to a press release, the event will be streamed live in “4K UHD from studio locations with no in-person audience in Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. The three host cities for The Game Awards will be digitally connected for an innovative celebration with live award presentations, musical performances, and spectacular world premiere game announcements.”

Favorites at this year’s award ceremony include The Last of Us Part II, Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, Half-Life: Alyx, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

“In 2020, video games have connected and comforted us more than ever, and that makes the 2020 edition of The Game Awards our most important show ever,” Keighley said in a statement earlier this year. “Our team is working hard to deliver an innovative and thoughtful program that celebrates excellence, previews the future, and amplifies important voices that are shaping the future of this medium.”

The Game Awards 2020 will also kick off “a weekend of instantly playable game content, in-game drops, demos, and live streams that celebrate the exciting future for video games across PC, console, mobile and mixed reality experiences.”

Fans should expect “Game Award Sales” on various digital marketplaces. It’ll probably be a good time to buy those games you’ve been putting off all year.

BAFTA and Emmy nominated composer Lorne Balfe is returning as the Music Director and conductor of The Game Awards, and will be conducting the world-renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra from London’s famous Abbey Road Studios.

“Being a part of The Game Awards is truly a wonderful experience ,and I’m thrilled to again be celebrating the incredible games of 2020,” said Lorne Balfe in a press release. “There is nothing quite like music in video games and with the phenomenal talents from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, I look forward to bringing the scores from this year’s ground-breaking titles to viewers around the world from the legendary Abbey Road Studios.”

And of course, the ceremony wouldn’t be complete without some HUGE announcements regarding upcoming games. Last year’s event brought us the reveal of the Xbox Series X. How will The Game Awards top that this year? Fans will just have to wait and see!

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For now, here are all of The Game Awards 2020 nominees:

Game of the Year

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Game Direction

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Narrative

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (George Kamitani)

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Hiroki Iwaki, Sachie Hirano)

Ghost of Tsushima (Ian Ryan, Liz Albl, Patrick Downs, Jordan Lemos)

Hades (Greg Kasavin)

The Last of Us Part II (Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross)

Best Art Direction

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Score and Music

DOOM Eternal (Mick Gordon)

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Nobuo Uematsu, Masahi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki)

Hades (Darren Korb)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker)

The Last of Us Part II (Gustavo Santaolala, Mac Quale)

Best Audio Design

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

Resident Evil 3 (Capcom)

The Last of Us Part 2 (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Performance

Ashley Johnson as Ellie, The Last of Us Part II

Laura Bailey as Abby, The Last of Us Part II

Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima

Logan Cunningham as Hades, Hades

Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Games for Impact

If Found… (DREAMFEEL/Annapurna Interactive)

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)

Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)

Tell Me Why (Dontnod Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)

Through the Darkest of Times (Paintbucket Games)

Best Ongoing

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

Call of Duty Warzone (Infinity Ward/Activision)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Indie

Carrion (Phobia Game Studio)

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Spelunky 2 (Mossmouth)

Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games)

Best Mobile, Presented by LG WING, Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon

Among Us (InnerSloth)

Call of Duty Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)

Genshin Impact (miHoYo)

Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games)

Pokémon Café Mix (Genius Sonority)

Best Community Support

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)

Destiny 2 (Bungie)

Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Valorant (Riot Games)

Innovation in Accessibility

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Grounded (Obsidian/Xbox Game Studios)

HyperDot (Tribe Games)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Watch Dogs Legion (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)

Best VR/AR

Dreams (Media Molecule/SIE)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

MARVEL’s Iron Man VR (Camoflaj/SIE)

STAR WARS: Squadrons (Motive Studios/EA)

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Skydance Interactive)

Best Action

DOOM Eternal (id Software/Bethesda)

Hades (Supergiant Games)

Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)

Nioh 2 (Team Ninja)

Streets of Rage 4 (DotEmu)

Best Action/Adventure

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch/SIE)

MARVEL’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/SIE)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Respawn/EA)

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Best Role Playing

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)

Genshin Impact (miHoYo)

Persona 5 Royal (Atlus, P Studios)

Wasteland 3 (inXile Entertainment/Koch)

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best Fighting

Granblue Fantasy: Versus (Arc System Works/Cygames)

Mortal Kombat 11/Ultimate (NetherRealm Studios/WB Games)

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (Dimps/Capcom)

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai-Namco)

UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe: Late[cl-r] (French Bread/Arc System Works)

Best Family

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (Toys for Bob/Activision)

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Velan Studios/Nintendo)

Minecraft Dungeons (Mojang/Double Eleven/Xbox Game Studios)

Paper Mario: The Origami King (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy

Crusader Kings III (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox)

Desperados III (Mimimi Games/THQN)

Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)

Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo/Xbox Game Studios)

XCOM: Chimera Squad (Firaxis/2K)

Best Sports/Racing

Dirt 5 (Codemasters Cheshire/Codemasters)

F1 2020 (Codemasters Birmingham /Codemasters)

FIFA 21 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)

NBA 2K21 (Visual Concepts/2K)

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (Vicarious Visions/Activision)

Best Multiplayer

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)

Among Us (InnerSloth)

Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic/Devolver)

Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Debut Game

Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver)

Mortal Shell (Cold Symmetry/Playstack)

Raji: An Ancient Epic (Nodding Heads Games)

Röki (Polygon Treehouse/CI Games)

Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)

Content Creator of the Year, Presented by Adobe

Alanah Pearce

NickMercs

TimtheTatman

Jay Ann Lopez

Valkyrae

Best Esports Game

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Raven/Activision)

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

League of Legends (Riot Games)

Valorant (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

Ian “Crimsix” Porter / Call of Duty

Heo “Showmaker” Su / League of Legends

Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu / League of Legends

Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro / Call of Duty

Matthieu “ZywOo” Herbaut / CS:GO

Best Esports Team

DAMWON Gaming / League of Legends

Dallas Empire / Call of Duty

San Francisco Shock / Overwatch League

G2 Esports / League of Legends

Team Secret / DOTA2

Best Esports Event

BLAST Premier: Spring E2020 European Finals (CS:GO)

Call of Duty League Championship 2020

IEM Katowice 2020 (CS:GO)

League of Legends World Championship 2020

Overwatch League Grand Finals 2020

Best Esports Host

Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere

Alex “Machine” Richardson

Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez

James “Dash” Patterson

Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden

The post The Game Awards 2020 Nominees appeared first on Den of Geek.

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