PC Gaming Catch-Up Impressions the Fourteenth

By -
Half Life 2: Lost Coast

 I've beaten Half Life 2, but I never thought it was as amazing and revolutionary as most people.  I had this game sitting in my library and thought I would check it out since I had no idea what it was.


Half Life 2: Lost Coast is basically a glorified tech demo for Half Life 2.  It has a minor scenario that gives you access to all the weapons in the game and puts you up against a bunch of enemy types, all within 30 minutes or so.  It was an ok diversion, but I'm still not a big fan of Half Life in general.


Half Life 2: Episode One

 While I was on a Half Life kick I thought I would try Half Life 2: Episode One.  My brother has told me for years that Episode One is much better than the core Half Life 2 game.  After trying Lost Coast, I figured I would finally give Episode One a try.


I tried it and I still don't care about it.  I seem to despise the physics puzzles in Half-Life.  I don't care about the story.  I find the storytelling really lacking and slow paced.  The gunplay is ok.  One of the only things I still like about these games is the gravity gun.

Episode One was just too slow and uninteresting for me.  I was going to try Episode Two also, but I don't think I can.  I just don't care enough about the series.  Maybe I'll feel different when Half-Life 3 comes out, but until then I'm done with the series.


Tesla Effect

 I got this game in a humble bundle for free.  I didn't know what to expect going into it and I was surprised to find it's a game with live action videos in it.  That's old school 90s style.

A little googling told me that Tesla Effect is a Tex Murphy game which I guess was a big thing?  It was crowdfunded for over $600k and it looks like Tex Murphy has a big following.


I had never played the original games so this one did nothing for me.  I had no idea who the characters were or what was going on.  Although, I do think it's cool that a new entry in a niche game series like this could get crowdfunded.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Blaugust? 2023 Edition

By -
Image
I jumped right into the previous post without actually explaining Blaugust.  So... what is it?  Blaugust is an excuse to get people blogging... in August.  Hence, Blaugust! I'm not the best person to pitch it, but Blaugust is put on by a long time friend of mine, Belghast.  Here's what he had to say about Blaugust for the 2023 kickoff: Blaugust is a month-long event that takes place in August each year that focused on blogging and other serialized content. The goal is to stoke the fires of creativity and allow bloggers and other content creators to mingle in a shared community while pushing each other to post more regularly. For years blogging has been dwindling, and in part, Blaugust was my attempt and reversing that course by compiling a bunch of veteran bloggers in one place and making it super easy to ask questions and get answers. The idea is that this festival of blogging can help reignite dwindling fires for the next year and give folks a sense of kinship as a...
Read more

Kicking off Blaugust with Blog Template and Layout Updates

By -
Image
I decided to participate in Blaugust this year for the first time in a few years.  My intention is to write 1-2 posts per week.  I don't have the time in my day to day life for daily blogging at the moment, but I thought this might be a nice blogging jumpstart after being dormant since the end of last year. Also, it really feels more important than ever to have your own little piece of the internet that you control.  With everything going on with social media lately, I thought it would be a good chance to look at this blog again with fresh eyes. The first thing that immediately jumped out to me was that my blog's website theme isn't really up to modern standards.  It was still serving up a different specific mobile site, and that's just not how things are done anymore.  I decided it was time for a new theme. For reference, I'm still using Google Blogger.  WordPress is actually the better toolset for owning and customizing your own blog-like site... but I us...
Read more

Latest Board Gaming

By -
Image
Besides video games I also regularly play board games when I'm hanging out with people face to face.  My brother, my wife, and I end up playing a lot of 3 player board games, but sometimes we get other players involved too. I realized I haven't talked much about what I've been playing in the world of board games, so here goes: Ticket to Ride - We own 3 different base versions of Ticket to Ride, 2 expansion sets, and an extra map set.  We love this game.  This is the game that gets the most overall table time when I'm playing board games with friends.  It's super accessible but still holds fun for people who have been playing the game for a long time.  I recommend this as a great beginner board game for anyone. Masquerade - A hidden role game where roles are constantly switching hands.  You're limited in actions on your turn and can only take one action.  This means that a lot of the time you're not entirely sure what role you currently ...
Read more