The bad news is that I've made a horrible discovery. A rediscovery is probably more like it, since I've played though Half-Life 2 before. I knew as much before today, but had forgotten. After the initial city fight levels and some sewer chase, there's a huge level where you forced onto a airboat most of the time. I tore into Crysis on Day Twelve for the tank level and the VTOL level, not recalling that one of my favorite games of all time pulled the old genre switcheroo.
Not only that - and I'd have to do some research (which I'm not going to do), but Half-Life 2 might even be responsible for popularizing the mid-game genre switch. I can't think of another game before it that forced the use of a vehicle to proceed in the game's critical path. This is horrifying. It's like finding out your best friend invented crack cocaine, unleashing its abject horror onto the world.
I'd like to address an open letter to all game developers:
Game developers of the world:
Half-Life 2 is a wonderful and wildly successful game. There are many things it does very well that you should emulate. The airboat level, Route Kanal, is NOT one of them. Do not make me switch game styles in the middle of the game.
Can you include vehicles in your game? Yes! But make them realistically optional. The jungle levels in Crysis did this well. You could jump in a jeep or a boat to gain an advantage, but you were not forced to use them for a specific duration in order to advance the game.
Love:
Danny and all the other games that just want to play FPS games in their FPS gamesBelow you'll find my two airboat related achievements from today. These will live on for eternity, mocking my hatred of them. Made worse by the fact that they're inevitable game progress achievements, not achievements that show you've done something difficult. Nobody's perfect - not even Half-Life 2.
Games Played:
SpaceChem
Half-Life 2
Achievements:
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