They’re just kinda boring IMO, only driving down narrow corridors until you reach some roadblock where you repeatedly just get out -> do some shooting -> undo the roadblock -> make your way back to the vehicle -> drive down narrow corridor again -> repeat.
Halo at least feels mechanically different (the most common vehicle, the Warthog, is very physics-based so it feels much different than just walking, whereas the HL2 vehicles just kinda feel like moving fast) and usually used in conjunction with larger more open level design to make the vehicles feel more useful instead of strictly necessary, or in levels that give you heavy vehicles like tanks they are useful in taking out a large amount of enemy vehicles so it functions like a powerup and feels rewarding. Also you can get marines to ride with you and use the turret (or even have them drive you and you get to use the turret) so it shakes up the gameplay more.
I feel like for HL2, the vibe was more important than the gameplay for those segments. While you aren’t technically doing anything too interesting, I still felt cool driving around.
That’s true, HL2 does have some great vibes, but Water Hazard and The Coast levels just seem to go on for much longer than they should, particularly some parts of Water Hazard where you’re literally in a trench and don’t have much to look at so it’s just driving down barren concrete tunnels while holding W.
There are some memorable moments, like everyone remembers the brick stack that falls on the player, and I particularly liked the more industrial areas of Water Hazard, and there are also some that use the driving mechanics more like the boss fight with the helicopter, but IMO the vehicle sections in HL2 are very much the “On a Rail” of HL2.
oh and also in Water Hazard while slowly making your way to Black Mesa East you get to watch the sun go down with each level transition and that looks/feels cool
I’m not a game dev but I always felt like that was kind of the point of water hazard? Okay yes the railroading could have been better but for me the point of the chapter is that it’s just kind of barren, and you’re travelling all this way and this is what it is like for Gordon. I feel like it adds to the atmosphere, and I am willing to bet when the writers wrote the story, it wasn’t just “Gordon goes to the resistance base and fights a helicopter on the way”, I think it makes sense to write at length about how alone he (and you) is with his thoughts, and it gives you time to think about lore. Up until now, you have been bombarded with lore and info and action, if you’re a hl1 player your mind is racing to fill in the voids between the games (why is Breen in such a high position? What the fuck is happening?) And Water hazard is a long corridor designed to let you think about that more than it is a vehicle section. On the flip side, car levels in episode 2 and lost coast have much more of this “go there” feeling because they don’t decompress much of anything.
I think it makes sense to write at length about how alone he (and you) is with his thoughts, and it gives you time to think about lore
That doesn’t really make for a good game though, and personally I think the decompression levels are the ones like Black Mesa East where the story even kinda stops just so you can play with the new weapon in a zero-risk area for a couple minutes, after dumping some more lore for the player in Eli’s lab.
Water Hazard though, that comes after Route Canal and the escape from City 17, both chapters that didn’t have much direct storytelling, so by the time I get to the air boat, I’m already wanting for more than just combat encounters, but instead it’s just a string of riding and stopping. I think I heard this analogy from Errant Signal, but it’s like a book with the pages stuck together: you want to get to the next page but every time you have to stop and unstick them, it only gets in the way.
They’re just kinda boring IMO, only driving down narrow corridors until you reach some roadblock where you repeatedly just get out -> do some shooting -> undo the roadblock -> make your way back to the vehicle -> drive down narrow corridor again -> repeat.
Halo at least feels mechanically different (the most common vehicle, the Warthog, is very physics-based so it feels much different than just walking, whereas the HL2 vehicles just kinda feel like moving fast) and usually used in conjunction with larger more open level design to make the vehicles feel more useful instead of strictly necessary, or in levels that give you heavy vehicles like tanks they are useful in taking out a large amount of enemy vehicles so it functions like a powerup and feels rewarding. Also you can get marines to ride with you and use the turret (or even have them drive you and you get to use the turret) so it shakes up the gameplay more.
I feel like for HL2, the vibe was more important than the gameplay for those segments. While you aren’t technically doing anything too interesting, I still felt cool driving around.
That’s true, HL2 does have some great vibes, but Water Hazard and The Coast levels just seem to go on for much longer than they should, particularly some parts of Water Hazard where you’re literally in a trench and don’t have much to look at so it’s just driving down barren concrete tunnels while holding W.
There are some memorable moments, like everyone remembers the brick stack that falls on the player, and I particularly liked the more industrial areas of Water Hazard, and there are also some that use the driving mechanics more like the boss fight with the helicopter, but IMO the vehicle sections in HL2 are very much the “On a Rail” of HL2.
oh and also in Water Hazard while slowly making your way to Black Mesa East you get to watch the sun go down with each level transition and that looks/feels cool
I’m not a game dev but I always felt like that was kind of the point of water hazard? Okay yes the railroading could have been better but for me the point of the chapter is that it’s just kind of barren, and you’re travelling all this way and this is what it is like for Gordon. I feel like it adds to the atmosphere, and I am willing to bet when the writers wrote the story, it wasn’t just “Gordon goes to the resistance base and fights a helicopter on the way”, I think it makes sense to write at length about how alone he (and you) is with his thoughts, and it gives you time to think about lore. Up until now, you have been bombarded with lore and info and action, if you’re a hl1 player your mind is racing to fill in the voids between the games (why is Breen in such a high position? What the fuck is happening?) And Water hazard is a long corridor designed to let you think about that more than it is a vehicle section. On the flip side, car levels in episode 2 and lost coast have much more of this “go there” feeling because they don’t decompress much of anything.
That doesn’t really make for a good game though, and personally I think the decompression levels are the ones like Black Mesa East where the story even kinda stops just so you can play with the new weapon in a zero-risk area for a couple minutes, after dumping some more lore for the player in Eli’s lab.
Water Hazard though, that comes after Route Canal and the escape from City 17, both chapters that didn’t have much direct storytelling, so by the time I get to the air boat, I’m already wanting for more than just combat encounters, but instead it’s just a string of riding and stopping. I think I heard this analogy from Errant Signal, but it’s like a book with the pages stuck together: you want to get to the next page but every time you have to stop and unstick them, it only gets in the way.