Played up to and finished Unforeseen Consequences, saved in the elevator before Office Complex. Damn, there's a quite a bit to say and I've only skimmed the surface of the game.
- I spent over an hour playing before I triggered the Resonance Cascade, there's just so much new to see and do. The amounts of conversations, throwaway lines, and responses to accosting NPCs with physics objects amused me to no end. Standout moment was when a security guard pulled a fast one on me by saying the administrator was coming, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker, and glanced back at him after he started laughing at me. Also noteworthy were NPCs who moved in and out of scripted sequences on different ends of the room, or in the case of one I followed, walked all the way from a long hallway to the lobby, tossed a clipboard to a secretary and briefly talked to her, then returned from where he came afterward. Something like this is easily missed if you continue on past him.
- Level design alterations have been a controversial subject for a lot of people leading up to the release, but I really like what they've done with this aim. You're bound to come across more than a few new added rooms and broader restraints on where you can backtrack and explore in a level, or in the case of early Unforeseen Consequences, an element from a Half-Life 2 game (Episode One, in this case) makes an appearance. Did rather enjoy being given a boatload of flares to burn zombies with.
- Visually, there are a lot of great touches that I don't want to do without from now on. Chromatic aberration adds a nice splash of disorientation. Dynamic light on the suit batteries draws the player's attention to them in the now busier environments. Zombies of scientist and security guard alike, and the horrifying remains that once lay hid by the parasite. The Health and Energy dispensers have now been fully modeled with a number of moving parts that whir to life and deplete when you use them (gives HL2's a run for their money). But the biggest winner in my mind is what they've done with the FP hands. Splashing blood and (bullsquid) vomit all over the gun and HEV hands seems like a no-brainer in retrospect, it provides so much visual impact for something so conceptually simple. Draws the player into their present encounter that much more when they can literally dirty their hands in the process.
- Houndeyes! Not sure if I like their sound effects yet, though I have to admit I love the little animated sprite of pooling blood that forms beneath them once they keel over.
- Level design alterations have been a controversial subject for a lot of people leading up to the release, but I really like what they've done with this aim. You're bound to come across more than a few new added rooms and broader restraints on where you can backtrack and explore in a level, or in the case of early Unforeseen Consequences, an element from a Half-Life 2 game (Episode One, in this case) makes an appearance. Did rather enjoy being given a boatload of flares to burn zombies with.
- Visually, there are a lot of great touches that I don't want to do without from now on. Chromatic aberration adds a nice splash of disorientation. Dynamic light on the suit batteries draws the player's attention to them in the now busier environments. Zombies of scientist and security guard alike, and the horrifying remains that once lay hid by the parasite. The Health and Energy dispensers have now been fully modeled with a number of moving parts that whir to life and deplete when you use them (gives HL2's a run for their money). But the biggest winner in my mind is what they've done with the FP hands. Splashing blood and (bullsquid) vomit all over the gun and HEV hands seems like a no-brainer in retrospect, it provides so much visual impact for something so conceptually simple. Draws the player into their present encounter that much more when they can literally dirty their hands in the process.
- Houndeyes! Not sure if I like their sound effects yet, though I have to admit I love the little animated sprite of pooling blood that forms beneath them once they keel over.
