Half-Life II For The XBOX.

[jayfish]

I just finished it (right at the end of a five-day rental :evilgrin:) and I gotta say... get it today. I played the PC demo but it didn't seem worth the money to me. After playing the whole thing out I have changed that opinion. Easily one of the top five games I have ever played and the best XBOX game ever. Period! Heck I even liked the ending, which was roundly criticized by the gaming media. Console FPS doubters should check it out too. It clearly disproves the adage that consoles can't do shooters. Other than texture degradation, the levels I played on the PC were identical on the XBOX.

Jay

[semillama]

1. What about loading breaks?

The Game Informer reviews I read both complained heavily about the game pausing to load every minute or so and said it really took you out of the action. Do you feel that's a legitimate concern? Did you notice that, or do you think that the loading complaint may be something only the hardcore gamers will really notice? I've been considering picking it up, but the negative reviews make me hesitate.

[jayfish]

2. Frequent But Predictable And...

not overly distracting. There is a hidden plus though. Each time a new section loads you get a quick-save out of it. Much faster than manually saving. I usually take media observations about things like loading times with a grain of salt. Not only are these media types "hard-core" gamers, they are a bit jaded as well. Rent it at a Family Video for a day and see if it's an issue for you.

Jay

[semillama]

3. I got it for Xmas

The frequent loads are a little annoying, especially in the vehicle levels, but overall that's my only complaint. The game world and plot have really sucked me in, and I love the different weapons and weird creatures (Three cheers for the Gravity Gun!). The atmospherics of the game are astounding, I feel like I'm really there in a post-apocalyptic world. I'm not very familiar with the first Half-life, so some stuff is over my head, but over all, it's really fun.

[jayfish]

4. I Played It On The PC Over The...

last week and the load times are just as lame. They hit ya over the head pretty hard with explanations from the 1st game so your not missing much plot-wise. I'm glad you enjoy it.

Jay

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. The biggest problem I have with console FPS is the controls suck compared

with mouse/keyboard, in my opinion... I tried the original Half Life and Grand Theft Auto 3 on PS2 after enjoying it on PC and it was just unplayable to me. I hate auto aim or using sticks to do what a mouse or trackball should.

When XBOX 360 and PS3 etc. start adding a mouse to their setup (and I don't see why they don't, I understand this is forthcoming), then I will start taking them seriously as something I want to play.

Until then the only console games I've enjoyed with that control setup were Madden and Mortal Kombat type games.

[jayfish]

6. Valve Did A Very Good Job On The Controls.

I think it was a titch better than the venerable Halo controls. I've been playing consoles long before PC's so the controls have always been a bit easier to get. On the subject of input devices and the XBOX 360, the 360 has native support for USB devices so you can easily use a keyboard and mouse. Not sure about the PS3

Jay

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. So HL2 for XBOX 360 can be played with a mouse? Right now?

Just plug one in and configure the settings, and play?

Is that what you are telling me?

[jayfish]

8. HL2 Is Not Out For The 360...

it's an XBOX title. Not sure if it has backward compatibility or if BC games support mouse keyboard combos. I'll check it out at my buds this weekend. I'm going to help him get Live going.

Jay

[Occulus]

9. I'm fairly certain that's true for both XBOX and PS2

However, since all the FPS games I have are PC, not console, I can't say for sure, but I do know both consoles support a mouse/kbd combination.

The only reason I play FPS's on the PC rather than a console is because PC shooters usually come with editors and mod tools, which are not available for consoles. (I don't even want to consider what a nightmare it would be to try to mod or create maps on a console.)

[Occulus]

10. update: it appears to be a "you can, but..." situation:

http://xbox.gamespy.com/articles/565/565000p1.html

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. As I suspected.. if the XBOX OS and/or the game in question isn't set up

to support mouse, then this is a fancy translation of mouse input into gamepad commands... No thanks...

I wonder if all it takes is for the actual game developers to support mouse at this point, or does something else have to be done at the console level?