I’m sorry to report that, at least in my experience, Half Life 2 has been nothing but a series of disappointments. So far, the ultimate experience promised by the game is seems as unreachable as the top of that blue tower dominating City 17.
Over the past week, I have barely played a total of 4 hours into the game. This time was not spent at once, but it was spread out over multiple attempts.
Here is how these attemps ended :
1- Sound glitches. One security guard dismembered with polygons for arms and legs orbiting around his head. PC freezes.
2- Sound glitches. PC freezes during a scripted sequence. Sound stuck in a loop during the freeze.
3, 4 ,5 – Dead end. New level not automatically loaded. Menu scrambled – impossible to quit. Had to reboot.
6- Game freezes just before loading a new level. Sound stuck in loop.
7- PC reboots by itself just before an explosion in the game
Attempt #7 was the last time I could play. Since then, saved games won’t even load. I can’t get past 80% of the loading progress bar before the game crashes back to the desktop with two ‘beeps’ from windows.
I tried the game with and without Norton running. I tried it with and without sound. With low and high graphics settings with no result. Now I basically have to shelf the game until they come up with a patch which, hopefully, will make it functionnal. In the meantime, I will have to take a seat and watch the news about Half Life issues and monitor the Steam User Forum.
Needless to say, I am less than impressed for a game that has been hailed so far as the Second Coming by every game site I could find. Have any of these places experienced any glitch so far ?!
Between the Steam platform and the game itself, I have never seen such a convoluted installation procedure. Valve should have spent a little less time trying to block piracy attempts (that will happen no matter what) and invested more time into making sure the game would just work.
In no other industry are we willing to live (and spend money) on deficient products. I know bugs cannot be avoided, but there has to be some limit to what you put on the market.
Is that so much to ask to have a game that just works ?!