Of course, I ran through the game really quickly and found a good shot of the Overwatch Nexus building.
Taking this in mind, I really want to know a couple of the other locations. City 17 is apparently Belgrade, Serbia. But where was Gordon Freeman dropped off? Where is zombie infested Ravenholm? Whose house got smashed under the Citadel? Where the hell is Half-Life 3!?
Valve has a very good practice of building real environments, and it shows even in their earlier works. Half-Life took place in a research lab hidden in Black Mesa, NM (Clever little wink: It's about 120 miles from Los Alamos, birthplace of the atom bomb.) I have actually been through Black Mesa a couple of times, on hiking expeditions with the Boy Scouts. On the very scenic route, I kept remembering and comparing the environment, color, and appearance of all the stone cliffs and reddish-brown mountains from the game to the actual environment around me. I found that it was really well captured, even for 1998 graphics and game engines.
I wonder if it's bad that my fonder memories of nature come from a video game.
-The0
....So if its Serbia, how did Freeman get to the ocean in a days time?
ReplyDelete... Massive climate changes, the oceans relocated.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Theo, Half Life 3 has been mostly released already. Half Life 2: Episode 1 is actually Half Life 3: Part 1.
Episode 2 is the continuation, and Episode 3, it has been announced, will be the end of the saga of Gordon Freeman.
Aha, Ben, I'm well aware of and not talking about these little snack-pack episodes Valve has graciously given us to tide us over. Granted, they're taking their time to make certain the stuff is good, but I want what we were hinted that we were going to be given. Half-Life 2: Episode ___ is not Half-Life 3. It won't have the 3 suffix until Valve again shatters our gaming world, or at least gives us a new engine.
ReplyDeleteAs a small bit of proof to my statements, please see this interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi, VP of Marketing.
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/12/19/half-life-episode-4-possibly-planned-by-valve.htm
I don't really know games...but that building looks sweet. :) By the by Theo...I hate you for telling me about Portal. I am ready to tear my hair out because of that game.
ReplyDelete