You smoke beetles and it's going to piss down in HL3. 

since everyone's being positive, i feel i should mention this:

most of the cave levels blew. :( 

pretty cool, even though for some reason it looks very jaggy despite me having 8xSAA on.

Movement feels shit but once you get used to that, all the different combat possibilities are great. 

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/chatnoir/chatnoir.html 

that is so cool. 

Heh, fun, it's strange it kinda feels like playing a very basic version of Go. 

I have a boardgame quite similar to that, just that it's on a rectangular grid and you can build towers. once two towers stand in a combination like the horse in chess, you can build a wall between them. Goal is to reach the other side of the board. 

is AWESOME

Such cool design, doesn't need any instructions or words at any point... seems impossible for a while but then you I got the hang of it and it's very satisfying. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TwixT 

since everyone's being positive, i feel i should mention this:

most of the cave levels blew. :(


I'm not entirely positive about Ep2. I agree with czg; while it isn't bad, I wasn't blown away by it the way I was by HL2 and Ep1.

What was it though about the cave levels that "blew"?

I thought the actual sculpting was superb, really the first cave map to actually be shaped exactly the way real caves are. I wondered if it had been made as a model in max or maya and then imported, until I played with commentary and discovered it was done with Hammer's 'displacements'. I've heard of this before, but I have no idea how it works.

I also thought the custom shader written specifically to render the look of a flashlight casting long shadows off every little protrusion on the surface was the first use of bump mapping I've seen that added something useful to the experience.

The colors otoh I was less impressed with. The same green and blue the Valve team apparently decided to make the signature palette of Ep2. Kinda bleh, and gray/brown would have been fine

The Larval Essence was also a disappointment. As an item significant for being both:
1) the key to saving Alyx's life
2) the goal of a sizeable chunk of stylised mapping in the episode
it should have had a unique model, placed in the center of a spiral-like cavern path.
Instead, I wanted to ask the Vort why we couldn't have just got some from the identical honeycombs I'd been fighting my way past for the last quarter of a mile.

But I still found the caves a cool place to be, and the combat fortunately wasn't tediously hard, unlike when you are later bludgeoned with the Hunters.

So what blew? 

My parents had a box of old board games from the 60s and 70s. One of them was twixt. Another one was that version of mastermind with the james-bond-themed cover:

http://www.junkyardclubhouse.com/2007/04/08/mastermind/

Here was the twixt cover:

http://members.aol.com/ttonuch/images/twixt.jpg

And of course everyone seemed to have yahtzee back then. 

that mastermind as a travel-version right here, I'm holding it in my hand as I type. Parents have the normal bigger version at home.
Game of the year! 

that version of mastermind with the james-bond-themed cover

Oh dear god >_<

Yes, when you look at this distinguished man sitting at the table, you can now know that his lap is secretly spoiled with cat pee.

The world is now a very slightly, but permanently, better place ^_^ 

I used to have that version of mastermind too! I remember thinking even back then it was a slightly odd cover, and the guy didn't look like a mastermind of anything much, and the girl didn't look much like a bond girl. 

sorry, i should have explained what i meant in the original post.

it's not so much that it blew in the sense that i thought it was not well done. it's just that that set of levels is incredibly visually boring. the part where you have to basically run from one hidey hole to the next before the antlion guard kicks your ass bugged me. 1 because i don't really enjoy gameplay like that when i can't really fight back and 2 because the tunnels all look so damn similar, i was never really sure where to go.

the last part, where you see the antlion standing across a chasm, and then you have to make the longest run to the next hidey hole than any of the other runs, for example.
i didn't actually know where to go, and the first time i took the correct path to go the long way, i thought i had taken a wrong turn (because of the incredible distance vs the other times) and so when the antlion headbutted me, i didn't bother trying to actually get into the hole and just reloaded, instead trying to go the other way which leads back to the beginning.
it took me like 4 reloads before i realised which way to go and it was really annoying.

also: regarding the honeycomb model, i noticed that too! hehe

i think another reason i didn't really like it was because i was really looking forward to seeing more of the city/town stuff and almost from the start you're plunged into (what i found to be) really boring caves.

i would have loved to see more of the topside mine entrance area. instead, i had to run through really quickly because antlions were making eyes at me.
also, the area right after alyx is healed where you fight in the huge canyon, as well as the spot before you heal alyx where you take that long elevator up and watch the vort take on a horde of guys for a little bit.

otoh, i really liked hunter combat! i liked how they were introduced early on at the mine entrance, and then the first combat at the communication building at the top of the hill. really fun and fast paced fighting = win, for me. :)
i also thought the fight in the hotel when the combine traps you was awesome. what with all the dudes outside shooting in, and the hunters breaking through the walls, it was hectic and awesome.

i have yet to replay with commentary on, mainly because i don't really feel like it. maybe when i hear some of the rationale for the choices they made i'll like it more, but i don't think it should be necessary to listen to dev commentary to like a game.

sorry for the disorganization of my thoughts, btw. >_< 

Heh, I have the same version too. Never put the cover in relation to a James Bond theme (though it actually fits well). Never liked the game much either. 

Just finished it. Liked it. 

I never tried a web flash game before. It's pretty addictive.

I've done it a few times and am very slowly picking up some vague ideas how to do it. But I still feel I'm not grasping the game mechanics, more just floundering around and occasionally glimpsing what to do... 

in dark messiah, holy shit is some of the mapping good. Even that gimmick level where you chase the ghoul is excellent. 

First thoughts anyone? 

i shall have to try that one out, thanks for reminding me :)

has anyone played the hellgate demo? i wasn't really impressed by it, any other opinions? it might be one of those games that gets better near the middle and end. 

Crysis Was interesting, it's really pretty similar to Farcry, except you have the suit powers, which makes it a bit more interesting, as you can approach situations differently. I played it on low, so I can't really say it's gorgeous, but even on low it's looks ok-ish. Looking forward to playing the full game with a new 3D card later on...

Hellgate london demo was pretty trash, but being so weak when it comes to these type of games, I still feel tempted to try it some more... =\ 

Anybody already tried this game ?

http://www.direct2drive.com/2/5210/product/Buy-Clive-Barkers-Jericho-Download 

Yeah I tried the demo for a bit, and it made so little sense and ran so poorly I just uninstalled it right away. Maybe I'll give it a fairer try if it gets awesome reviews, but even though the visuals looked fairly good, the gameplay didn't feel like anything so interesting. 

I thought Jericho would have been one of the suprise good games this year, like Undying was.

Spose I'll wait for a metacritic compiled review
score.