but any sense of triumph is just wiped by the fact that i couldn`t beat the final boss on normal setting … after an hour of dying and dying and dying, i put the settings down to easy just so i wouldn`t die so quickly, and even then it took me another hour to beat the fucker.
what can i say, i suck at fps. but to be fair, i really haven`t played many games on pc. i have always used consoles …
oh, and it turns out that not seeing your weapon was just a glitch that was happening on my game file. another glitch i found was that the game would freeze everytime i used a particular weapon. i never did find out what that gun did. game froze everytime. maybe it would have helped me kill the boss quicker? i dunno.
interestingly, girlfriend was just saying that she was sick of menu type rpgs, ala dragon quest, and that she is rather enjoying half life. i guess the freedom of movement and action generated tension are a new buzz for her.
and have now started on half life 2 – omg they took a while between 1 and 2 (6 years i think), and it really shows. the character models, the lighting, the walking speed. the use of music. the quality of the voice work. ummm, i do a lot of dying. again. i was tempted to dial it back to easy, because i died more than 10 times trying to walk down a corridor. 10 fucking steps. but eventually i got past it, and went to my next die many times place. but despite my suckiness, i am enjoying the game. perhaps “enjoy” is the wrong word when a game sends you on a mad high tension dash out of a police state … its like saying you “enjoyed” watching “trainspotting”. maybe i am “engrossed by” works … nah, that sounds funny. ok, i am not enjoying this, but i am drawn to it.
interestingly, the makers like to create an illusion of choice in terms of how to get from a to b, but there is always only 1 choice. but as a player, i ignore this fact and play along with it. for some, linear is a dirty word, but i think channelled, linear games can be very focused, and let the maker really nail the story …
