HEXUS.gaming :: The First 15 : Half Life 2: Lost Coast

[Nick]

Much as gamers love to hate the Steam online content delivery system, you’ve got to admit that when a great big free add-on pack comes along, not having to go off hunting for a server to get the new stuff from is always a good thing. So after just 45 minutes of starting up Steam, I was playing Lost Coast, the long awaited ‘extra’ bit to the seminal Half Life 2.With the clock running to keep me to a strict 15 minutes, here’s my initial thoughts....



Check out our first impressions on HEXUS.gaming.

[Ramedge]

its good good huh?
i happened to be up last night when some one mentioned to me it had been released so i downloaded and fired it up! HDR is a really nice feature adds a whole new dynamic to the game.
Although i only got about 20 fps with HDR 2xAA 1280x1024 and details etc up full, though this didnt spoil it for me!

Good demo well worth a play and has now temped me to buy DOD:Source for the HDR

Link (screen print looks abit blocky unless you enlarge it to its native size)

[Nick]

I've just been speaking to our technical wizard guys (namely Tarinder) and he's working on a whole HDR thingy (highly technical term) which will be featuring the Lost Coast demo.

His thoughts should be with us sometime next week.

[theuncharmed]

I loved the game myself. I have everything on at 1280 x 1024 and it looks lovely

Pity it only took 10 minutes on hard

Makes me dribble even more for the addon Aftermath...(they say release date is in November)

[Applecrusher]

Hate to be picky, but if you play it with the commentry on, it says its a Tech Demo, not a game, its only purpose is to show off HDR in source, and doing that, I think its done a MARVELOUS job. Even my girlfriend, who doent play games, or think they are impressive, was stunned at the lighting especiually the fisherman...

So I dont quite understand why you are being picky about the AI and the other stuff, considering I dont think they actually hurt you, I stood infront of hte helicopter at the end and didnt get hit once...

[Steve]

As a tech demo is rocks.

I think my eyes adapt quicker to changing light levels than the simulated iris in the game, however.

[davidstone28]

Its definitely a tech demo rather than a game, otherwise its the quickest game I've ever completed (about 5 mins).

Reflections off the water, sand etc are impressive and lighting generally on outdoor scenes is good. What I don't like is the way the 'eyes adjust' feature is implemented moving from indoor to outdoor environments - it seems slightly artificial. Maybe it needs some tweaking.

[Yohji]

I like it, it is a tech demo after all, so I wasn't expecting a huge amount of gameplay, but it does what it says it does

[M4tt]

The new lighting is great Especially the reflections on the sea.
I wonder why the level wasn't included as part of the actual game?

[dangel]

Playing this reminds me of so much that half life 2 is king of - the physics are just better than anything else i've played, the graphics are in-order of magnatude above other games (the only other game which such massive and good looking outdoor environments is far cry imho) and the 'feel' (so much the make or break of an FPS) is spot on. Not only that but it performs incredibly well - despite the much launded HDR rendering. Bring on Aftermath, if it makes it before xmas it will easily be this chrimbo's best game - bar none.