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Half Life 2 : Episode 2
Taken from Gamespy.com
Quote:
Valve Unveils Half-Life 2 Roadmap (PC)
Gabe Newell talks about Episode Two, a new single-player game, console plans and the resurrection of Team Fortress 2.
By Sal 'Sluggo' Accardo | July 14, 2006
As GameSpy's editors sat in EA's Redwood Shores campus Thursday afternoon, we looked at the schedule for the day and tried to guess what Valve's Gabe Newell was doing there. Last year, EA became Valve's retail partner after severing ties with Vivendi, but we could only speculate about what kind of news Newell might reveal. Maybe we'd see an updated Half-Life 2: Episode Two trailer or get some console announcements. As it turned out, we were right on both counts, but Newell had a number of other surprises regarding the Half Life universe that easily generated the most buzz of EA's summer press event, among them new trailers showing an experimental single-player game in the Half-Life universe and the resurrection of the long-thought-dead Team Fortress 2.
To start, Newell talked about the episodic model that Valve has been experimenting with, which officially kicked off with the June launch of Half-Life: Episode One. According to Newell, they'd considered the first installment of the new Half-Life trilogy a success both in terms of sales and critical reception. The episodic model, as Newell explained, allowed quicker turnaround times between releases, the ability to take more risks in the gameplay and factor in feedback while developing new episodes, as well as continually upgrading tech with each release. Although we'd argue that the waiting period between releases might be longer than we'd like, it's clear that Valve is trying to take every advantage the episodic format affords it.
Newell then queued up the first of three trailers: an updated Episode Two trailer. The first scene was of a large bridge collapsing in what Newell would later describe as "cinematic physics." Although Newell didn't go into great detail on what that meant, it seemed that the idea is to use the Source engine's physics capabilities to drive larger cinematic moments that might traditionally have to be scripted from start to finish.
Other than this opening scene, there wasn't much new in the updated trailer, other than some more shots of the mini-striders, and at least one of the full-size variety. There was also a bit of squad combat shown in the trailer (similar to the variety seen in Half-Life 2 and Episode One). Newell commented that many players wanted to see the action shift outside of the City 17 location, and it appears that will be the case for Episode Two.
Following the Episode Two trailer was where the fun really started, as Newell announced that Valve would be shipping a completely seperate, experimental single-player game with Episode Two, currently called Portal. To demonstrate what the game would be about, Newell ran a second trailer, which took the humorous approach of an employee training video.
Set in the Half-Life universe but taking a more experimental approach, the trailer featured a character with a special weapon who could open up portals in the world from one place to another; the execution looked similar to the portals in the just-released Prey, except players would be able to place the entrance and exit points themselves. Need to cross a chasm? Simply set up portals on opposite sides of the chasm and step through.
Most of the gameplay we saw for Portal was set in boxy indoor environments with simple geometry -- for the most part, they looked more like test environments than the intricately detailed levels we've gotten accustomed to in modern shooters. It quickly became clear, however, that the trailer wasn't meant to show off graphics but rather the possibilities of a portal gun. One scene showed the player creating a portal underneath a crate and dropping it onto a turret in a different area. By the end of the trailer, we were watching faster-paced scenes of things like the player falling long distances downward and opening portals to save himself, or more bizarre bits like a character caught in an infinite loop falling through two portals placed above each other. If anything, Portal looks to have an interesting concept which could make for a unique puzzle game, and we're looking forward to seeing more of it.
Team Fortress 2
The most stunning announcement of the day came when Newell unveiled his third and final trailer, which he simply set up as the multiplayer component of Episode Two. With colorful, flat-shaded characters and a soundtrack that both could have come out of The Incredibles, the trailer seemed more like something that would come out of Pixar than a videogame studio. There wasn't much gameplay to speak of in the trailer, just a rundown of the game's character classes: the Spy (dressed the part in a suit and ski mask); the Medic (happily brandishing an oversized syringe); the Engineer with his wrench; and the rest, like the Scout, Sniper, Soldier and Engineer. As the trailer ran, a buzz began to run through the crowd as it dawned on everyone what we were actually seeing; by the time the trailer ended with a huge Team Fortress 2 logo, the crowd erupted with what was easily the most enthusiastic applause for any of the games in EA's lineup that day.
Following the trailer, Newell revealed that, indeed, this new incarnation of the long-believed-dead Team Fortress 2 would be included with Episode Two. The more lighthearted art style was a conscious and perhaps experimental choice to distinguish it from Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat, but it didn't sound as if the gameplay would be watered down at all, as Newell claimed Valve's desire with TF2 was to make the best class-based shooter. For our part, we still have plenty of Team Fortress and Team Fortress Classic fans here at GameSpy HQ, and even eight years late, the idea that we might actually see a Team Fortress 2 from Valve (TF co-creator Robin Walker is now a long-time Valve employee) only makes us smile.
Xbox 360/PS3 Plans
Finished with his trailers, Newell had one more big announcement to make: plans to bring Half-Life 2 and all this new content to the next-gen consoles. As Newell explained, Valve has been working on development pipelines for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, and the current plan calls for a simultaneous release of those versions alongside the PC release of Episode Two. The console versions will include everything: Half-Life 2, Episode One and Two, as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2.
All in all, it was a pretty eventful set of announcements from Valve. As if we weren't already eagerly anticipating Episode Two, we now find ourselves with an entire new set of reasons to get excited about it. There had been some recent reports that Episode Two would get pushed to early 2007, but the latest word from Valve is that it's still shooting for a holiday 2006 release. Of course, many gamers know Valve doesn't have the best track record when it comes to release dates; for now we can only hope we don't have to wait much longer for Episode Two.
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18th July 2006, 01:25 PM
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