Starglider wrote:ShadowDragon8685 wrote:I just kind of hope they took my long-ago suggestion to give Freeman a big-ass truck to heart.
That makes no sense at all. How would that produce good gameplay? The muscle car was already an unmaneuverable pig; ok for the long driving sections but deeply frustrating when you tried to use it in combat at the end. A 'big truck' doesn't go with the character or the game. Big ungainly vehicles are only fun when they're tanks and you can blow lots of shit up with them.
Think "Rebel Battlewagon." Think Gordon in the driver's seat of a big-ass, eight-wheeled old Soviet military truck with command of a mounted "big boom" type of gun, Alyx above in a cupola with a mounted airboat gun (or possibly both of these guns under Gordon's control,) and six or so Rebels in the back with submachine guns and/or AR2s, firing as bad guys swarm the sides. Driving along the sides of a high, snow-covered mountain pass, in which the player must balance the need for speed (Strider!) with the need to not slip on ice and snow and go plummeting to a death.
Possibly with a really big gravity gun in the back, or at least a crane, for moving obstacles, both out of your way, and into the Combine's way.
Or at least let him keep the Charger, I liked that Charger.
The most interesting vehicle in the first three parts was the airboat, because the handling felt fresh, not the same driving you get in every GTA clone ever.
And as for the Charger, I
liked that Charger. Granted, in battle it was a pain, but it was really, really great for the long-haul driving, that was, surprisingly, a lot of fun. Obviously it shouldn't be all of it.
I liked the airboat, too, but it was a jalopy. I liked the Charger because it was a
Dodge Frigging Charger. It wasn't some cobbled-together piece of barely-holding-on crap, it was a stripped-down, suped-up, honest-to-god, 426 Hemi-roaring
muscle car, perfect for flattening the Combine, Zombies, and (especially) Zombines.
Frankly, to top that in "awesome vehicles Gordon gets his hands on," you'd pretty much have to rig a sequence in which Gordon pilots a Strider or an old Soviet-style armoured train.
Anyway, if E3 is set in an arctic area you'll presumably get an appropriate vehicle, a sno-cat possibly. Even if the environment was the same based on past track record I doubt they Valve would include the exact same vehicle you spent most of the previous game driving. I'd prefer to see a player-controllable helicopter, both because I like them and because an air vehicle would be a genuine novelty for the series, but sadly I don't think the Source engine is up to it.
Well, you also need to consider continuity: Gordon
lost his buggy, and he abandoned the airboat. At the end of Episode 2, he
still has the Charger, and as VALVe have been picking up end-to-beginning, I'd like to see it come back, if only to drive Eli's corpse somewhere in a vain hope for emergency medical attention, or to deliver it to the rebel who will be taking it from him, or even just driving it up to the helipad after Eli's funeral. Possibly with a comment from someone about how it's sad to see it go - probably not Alyx, since she's just lost her dad. Maybe the Rebel who modified it, or Kleiner promising to take good care of it.
Anyway, a sno-cat would be cool, but it seems likely that a large portion of the epiode will be taking place aboard the Borealis; while technically it would be a vehicle, Gordon's there to demolish it, and he can't bloody well pilot a ship out of a mountainside. He's Gordon Freeman, not Montgomery Scott. Chances are the vehicle segment, if they cheap out, will just be Gordon pulling door-gunning duty on the chopper Alyx will be flying. If they don't cheap out, of course, they can give us several segments. That would be good.
Also, no matter what, there has to be a train. In all three installments of the HL2 saga, there's been the interior of a train:
In Half-Life 2, Gordon arrives at City 17 inside a commuter train car.
In Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Gordon and Alyx escape the Citadel in a Combine train car full of Stalkers.
In Half-Life 2, Episode 2, Gordon wakes up in the inside of a train car, and has to climb his way out of one.
Kind of like LucasFilm projects and 1132 appearing.
. I know that Alyx Vance is a fictional character, but it's called immersion. When you're playing an RPG, immersion is brought about by good storytelling. So, too, is it with Half-Life 2's episodes; such as the bit where your flashlight inevitably goes out in the dark, and Alyx makes a zombie sound.