You know those fanboys who blindly and loudly defend the Nintendo DS, or the ipod, or Bush? Irritating, eh? They wouldn't know the flaws of their product if it electrocuted them. That's me, and Half-Life 2.
Best game ever. Plain and simple. Flawed, sure. It's made by mere humans. I think.
As I stated in my first impressions, the game proves that our hobby doesn?t need no stinking Hollywood. We can achieve our finest hour on our lonesome. We don?t need swanky directors, smooth-talking agents, ego-spastic actors and mobster moguls. Give me a smelly room of programmers and designers anyday. They?re our little, geeky wizards and witches. They concoct things like Half-Life 2.
The game starts quietly, with the deft touch of a, um, er, well-done movie. Only, instead of watching someone else walk through the story, you make the moves. In the eerie silence of an opressed world you do your best to find your feet. You don?t have a weapon, you don?t have a voice. You can only move through a scripted sequence that, for some reason, doesn?t feel like a scripted sequence. Valve has mastered the fine art of throwing you around their story, while giving you the illusion that you?re making the choices.
KINDA SPOILER WARNING (since it?s only a theory): This will not be a review. You can tell I love the thing. Go buy
it. No, I?m going to use this chance to tell you what I think Valve is doing with the Half-Life series. I think they?re
doing the opposite of what The Matrix tried to do.
I think there is no Gordon Freeman.
I think he?s a front?for you. No, not in the way every game provides a front for you. I think the front is
worked into the story.
The thought came to me while I watched the ending. I won?t give anything specific away, but G-Man says something that
made me think, ?He?s not talking to the virtual me. He?s trying to talk through this Freeman front. He?s
talking to me.? The G-Man isn?t impressed with Freeman?s performance. He?s impressed with mine. Perhaps this theory of
mine calls for institutionalization. But it could be that Valve has not only mastered the fine art of transparently
scripted sequences. Perhaps they?re also working on the fine art of the mind-fuck. They may figure, ?Hey, we?ve had
them by the cajones for this long, let?s take it a step further.?
What is that step? Hey, if I knew that I?d be sitting with wizards and witches, not cats and unpaid bills.
