Aye, there were some things that have been done better by other engines, but Source is hardly weak in that regard itself. The character technology is way beyond anything out there. Though much of the scripted-sequence stuff could be considered just set-piece animation and thus nothing new - when you get in their way, you're pushed aside - the way they walk and talk generally when they're feeling more interactive is better than the animation in many games' cinematics. On top of that, the expression stuff is amazing. HL2's closed the gap between games and CGI by a couple of years.
It did seem a bit odd how simple some of the level geometry was, especially when the outdoor sections were so intricate and beautiful at times. The dynamic shadows were glitchy, too, and it was kind of distracting how heavily they re-used HL1 sound effects. But then, I think HL2 is going to be remembered for physics, gameplay, characterisation and artistic style, not for cutting-edge graphics and audio. Compare it with how fun Doom 3 or FarCry was and I hope you'll agree that that isn't such a bad tradeoff.
Course, the problem with playing with its weak points is that they're likely so deeply embedded the modding community may not have access to them. We'll see.
-randomnine-
Yes, it finally did get released. The whole steam deal yesterday was a bit frustrating along with all of the other issues that retail purchasers are faced with. But, overall, it is fun to play and I am looking forward to the full SDK release.
As far as a next-generation engine, for Valve it is, but in gaming, the HL2 engine is a few years dated now. FarCry surpasses HL2 in many, many ways. Yes, including water effects, heat distortions around steam and other heat sources, true dynamic lighting (you can shoot a light to make it move and the light it shines moves at the same time), and even the AI NPCs reacted more as a team.
Other things that I found kind of lame in HL2, included the lack of seeing Gordan's hands more and the inability to shoot while using the suit zoom feature. Picking up objects, I've seen in HL1 before like in voogru's entity moving modification. At least there could have been hands on the airboat handlebars. Even console games have been doing that much for years.
IMO, HL2 would have rocked more if released 2 years ago, or addressed some of the issues more. The levels often felt like HL1 textured levels (flat) with a few new features like more real cables, reflective surfaces, and objects with physical properties (like the glass bottles, cement bricks, or even the unraveling cardboard boxes). Even though other engines provide superior effects, Valve still wins as they release a full SDK and not a scripted engine (like UT and FarCry). I'm looking forward to MODs that are based around the gravity gun and even airboat races. There's definitely a lot you can do to extend the HL2 SP into multiple MP mods.
I have yet to finish the game, although it's still fun and looking forward to seeing the MODs come out, I wouldn't quite classify it as the first, unique, or best implementation on what many gamers call next-generation gaming features. The story is fun to go through and I like how it's all organized into chapters. But, I'd like to just point out that there are features that were better implemented by other games along with other games having features that HL2 lacks. We'll just have to wait to see what this coding community can do to extend and fill in the gaps.
- HoundDawg
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