Anyone playing Half Life 2?

[SomethingClever]

I was going to buy this game the second it came out... back in March. Needless to say, all the delays have soured the idea of buying it a bit. Also the fact that I have an unplayed copy of Doom 3 sitting on my desk, and a soon-to-be heavily played copy of San Andreas in my TV room.

So, has anyone actually played this? How does it stack up to the original?

FWIW, I loved the original... played through the entire game twice and got really into the multiplayer deathmatch online. I hear the new version doesn't have "normal" deathmatch, just CounterStrike, which is somewhat disappointing.

[vulturesrow]

I havent played it yet as I need to upgrade my hardware first. FWIW it got an excellent review in PC Gamer mag and the screen shots I have seen are nothing short of amazing.

[MercTec]

The game is sweet. It took away alot of my Halo 2 time...and is much more addicting than Doom 3. Doom 3 had me for a couple of hours....im already on like 5 or 6 with Half Life. Physics are insane and the graphics are gorgeous. I have a 3.2Ghz machine with a gig of RAM and a 9800XT card.

[Popinjay]

nice rig.

[MercTec]

lol...thanks....built it myself. Shuttle small form factor. Great looking box.

[AncientPC]

I always thought heat was an issue with SFF boxes, yet you cram a high end CPU / GPU in there? I pray you're not OC'ing.

[slavic]

The graphics and the physics Engine is WOW! Just WOW!

Steam sucks balls though.... /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Ryner]

The Gravity Gun is the most entertaining device in the history of gaming.

I played through the game and really enjoyed it. There's a lot of fun moments that makes you want to play again, you cant ask for more than that.

[Blarg]

One day sale for collectors edition today at newegg, $75. No idea if that's a bargain or not.

[BusterStacks]

[ QUOTE ]
The graphics and the physics Engine is WOW! Just WOW!

Steam sucks balls though.... /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I hate Steam.

[MercTec]

Heat is a slight issue but not too bad. The shuttle i have has mesh sides so that aides in cooling and my 9800xt is the asus model with two huge fans on it. I am OCing just a tad...nothing major...but using good thermal compund (ie artic silver) really makes a 4 or 5 degree celsius difference in my core temp. Under a full load I usually max out at 58 degrees on my CPU. Granted the box is a bit loud, but ya gotta sacrafice somewhere.

[BusterStacks]

Lol I'm running with zero thermal compound of any kind. I'm just waiting for this CPU to asplode. 7(!) case fans helps quite a bit though, but the noise is horrendous. I used to want my computer to sound like a jet fighter taking off, but now i just want it to shhhhhh

[MercTec]

So get some thermal compound. The good stuff is like 11 bucks on newegg and you can put it on whenever. Hopefully you havent toasted the core yet. Have you run Motherboard Monitor to see what temps you're getting?

Also, you can find some fans that push a decent amount of air but that are pretty quiet. Just keep an eye on the dB while shopping around.

[BusterStacks]

Meh, if it blows i'll just buy another one. Ive tipped the scales at 60 degrees C before though

[Popinjay]

preloaded last night, have already played like 7 hours worth. this game is unbelievable. GRAPHICS so good, engine so good, alyx so hot, adrenaline pumping so hard