Game:

Half-Life 2 (2004)

Category:

Review

Duration: 8:47

244 views

5

Hello viewers, my old friends and welcome to New Release Friday again. Half Life 2: Downfall gameplay and review… SPEED RUN edition. Go.

This week’s episode really sucks and I am sorry for that. Half Life 2 is my favorite series of all time and I really had an amazing time playing through Downfall for the first time, but the footage was completely lost because of Dxtory getting set to 10fps record rate. I have no idea how this happened, but after raging for a while and then wallowing in my self-pity, I finally went to bed. I thought about it most of the day at work and how I wanted to handle the situation, then I decided that my best course of action was to record some footage of the game and make a really short review out of it. Of course, when I think of making a game short and sweet, I think of a speed run. I have spent a little bit of time trying to learn Half Life 2 speed runs, but never got much further than basic mechanics and movement, but luckily I could show some of that off in gameplay and review for NRF.

First off, what the fuck is NRF? New Release Friday is a series in which (hopefully) every week I will hop over to the “New Releases” section of Steam and pick-up a game to play for a few hours and give a first-thought review on. This series is an attempt to not only keep content fresh and relevant around the channel by covering current games in a concise and genuine fashion, but also to offer exposure to new games via a relaxed review format to inform potential, unsure buyers. Check out the playlist for more!

Even though my first take was a blunder, I wanted to stick with Half Life 2: Downfall for this week’s gameplay and review because I thought it was a really well made mod. I am sort of a purist when it comes to Half Life 2, so I don’t have much experience with mods, but this one really hits the points you’d expect to see in a Valve game and I feel like any little bit of exposure I can give it is the least I could do for the team that worked on Downfall. Of course, as cheesy as it is, since my whole drive is “genuine gaming” it felt fucked up to play back through Downfall and pretend it was my first time playing the game. Sure, I could easily play through it a second time and have a blast, I even did while speeding through it, but it didn’t seem like the proper NRF format to me… still doesn’t in its current state really but I had to make do with what I could. Part of me still wants to learn to speed run Half Life 2 someday but I think I just have a little bit too much on my plate right now and too many things I want to do to really focus on it.

Anyway, halfway through this shit, let’s finally get started on this Half Life 2: Downfall gameplay and review. Or Half Life 2: Downfall speed run. Whatever. I made it evident that I liked it up above, but let’s talk a little bit about why I actually liked it. The first thing they give you is a small trek in the buggy, which is an instant classic from Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode 2. You’re in the White Forest and will immediately feel a bit nostalgic for Episode 2 when starting out Downfall. The gameplay obviously doesn’t have a whole lot that can be improved upon since it is using the well-polished Source engine. All of the same great physics, gunplay, explosions, and the like will be here for you. There are some places where they could really do a good job on taking the mod to the next level though and they knew where that was and made sure to hit the points.

Map design in Half Life 2: Downfall is the real tipping point for this Source mod. Though they obviously aren’t associated with Valve in anyway, they might as well be. The layout and detail of each area is right in line with the way that Valve would design maps if they actually made a Half Life game again. Additionally, they implement map elements in Downfall that encourage the type of gameplay you’d expect from a Valve made game, not a mod. There are physics elements hidden in spots that you have to use to open your way in elsewhere, there are areas of the map that you don’t have to visit but will both regret and relish visiting because of the enemies and the gear acquired respectively. After further review, I have realized how non-gun heavy the mod is. Most of the beginning segment is managed with the gravity gun and can continue as such with ease because of the amount of physics items. Half Life 2 always benefitted from a good balance of gameplay elements and allowed you to choose how you wanted to play and Half Life 2: Downfall seems to understand that.

Although it was a relatively short experience, my Half Life 2: Downfall gameplay and review concludes with a definite recommendation. It is free, so there isn’t a whole lot you can complain about really. They also say that there will be more chapters coming in the future, assuredly for free since they can’t really sell Valve’s IP. Lastly, if you haven’t played Half Life 2 and its expansions then get with the fucking times.

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