Half-Life 2 – XB – Preview

E3 Preview 2005

It was a pleasant surprise when Vivendi-Universal’s
uber-hit from late last year, Half-Life 2 was confirmed as an Xbox title, and an
even better surprise when it was revealed that the title would be out sometime
this year. The game was playable on the show floor at this year’s E3, and the
results were looking great. While the details were a bit scant so far since the
preview build was still in fairly early stages, the phenomenal gameplay was
largely intact. Half-Life 2 is making a great transition to the Xbox, and should
be every bit as good as its PC older brother.

The demo of Half-Life 2 was short, but did
manage to showcase some of the game’s capabilities. You start on the tram ride,
going into the city, where you meet up with Barney in the security office. The
graphics looked a bit inferior to the PC version, as there was some noticeable
aliasing at points. However, the characters still looked great and showcased a
lot of emotions, much like the original. There is still a lot of time to clean
up the graphical issues, so expect the game to look almost as good as the PC
version.

The great physics engine from the original
is still intact, as the objects in the environment can be realistically
manipulated and used in order to progress through the game.

Of course, the preview build only showed a
little bit of the game, and there were some definite questions, concerning
online features, level structure, and so on, that have yet to be answered.
However, the promise is certainly there with the game and if the crew at Valve
can repeat half of the magic that they did with Half-Life 2 on the PC with the
Xbox version, then we could have a definite hit on our hands.

Half-Life 2
is currently scheduled to release on the XBox this fall.