Quote: "And I also don't recall Splinter Cell's amazing physics, either. Are you talking about the fact that you could pick up a can or a bottle and throw it? That was about it IIRC."
I think you need to play through the game again.
The physics is used almost everywhere, mostly used for non-interactable objects... still when you climb a rope and it is snaking behind you, and the AI then picks up on that to become alerted and look up? Are you telling me you didn't notice stuff like that?
Or how there were objects attached to wires or ropes that you could shoot out to drop them knocking out or sometimes even killing enemy.
The physics may not have been put forward as one of the major selling points (may I remind people of the Gravity Gun).. however it had it's fair share.
God knows why I forgot about this game but, Black and White back in 2001... THAT was the first major game to use physics for quite literally EVERYTHING. Even Half-Life 2 had it's limitations.
Quote: "What's wrong with walking backwards? Can't you walk backwards?"
Sorry, but the only people who walk backwards for more than 20 seconds without looking behind them are those people one 'Home Videos' that end up tripping over something. While I can understand her doing it for a few steps until she turned around... all the damn way into Eli's Lab until she interacts with Eli, quite frankly that is taking the sodding biscuit.
It would've been far more 'natrual' for her to walk beside you (well just in-front to one side) and turn her head to talk. I know that most people myself included will only turn to face someone to explain and talk with our hands. Even thrn your doing it to the side rather than directly in someones path, with your head flicking every so often to see where your going.
So to answer. No, people don't, and it just wasn't natural.
Quote: "Nobody was claiming that Half-Life 2's vehicle physics were revolutionary. Everyone knows about Halo/UT2k4, etc. But I don't recall being able to throw boxes around in UT2k4."
You should read some of the reviews and users who hype on about it then. Anyone would get the impression that Half-Life 2 is some revolutionary game that has pioneered physics in computer games.
I gave Splinter Cell as an example as it was the first FPS-Engine based game I could think of. Quite frankly being able to pick up SELECTIVE objects and throw them (without ARMS might I add, what is Gordon telepathic now?) somehow constitues as a fully interactable world.
Oh wow you can use the Gravity Gun to push a car and yank a Radiator from the wall.
Just out of interest, how com you couldn't use it to knock over a Street Light, or a Dumpster? How about the fallen peices of rubble along the sewer courseway, or to smash down a pretty weak chainlink fence?
Sorry, but I see physics as an everyday part of games now. No you can't throw boxes in UT2004, but then... how long do you think you'd survive against an arsenal of weapons like that with a wooden crate? Hell I find it hard enough to live longer than 30seconds in most UT2k4 games. The action is just too fast for it. Unreal 2 for some reason doesn't use the physics engine much .. that said it never really felt like something it needed to. Atleast things swayed in the breeze and Shadows weren't like totally static.
The physics throughout Half-Life 2 dominate, like it's a new toy that MUST be played with. Even the original Half-Life gave you the ability to 'grab' items, and even boyancy for creats in water.
I'd be more impressed if Half-Life 2 wasn't using stock Havok, but the demo movies on the site (particularly Hanger and Zombies) show more and better interaction. The lack of real joints or such in Half-Life 2 really ticks me off. People just flop once killed, like somehow they're body is made of tubes but the rest becomes jello.
In Half-Life 2... head-shot kill someone walking, the body just collapses.
In Unreal 2... head-shot kill someone walking, and the weight bends the kneels as the body folds downwards and seems to try to collapse under the weight but when the joints don't allow it too, flys forward throwing it at the gound at quite some force.
Result = HL2 is hailed for it's use of Rag-dolls, Unreal2 no one even so much as mentions in passing it even has physics.
I'd be impressed, if everything shown in Half-Life 2 hadn't been done before... and well... better.
Quote: "Thats true, I forgot about Splinter Cell but physics werent awesome. Maybe because it was such a joke. Its such a crap sneaker game. Try the Thief series, thats a real stealth game. You dont even want me to get started..."
Sounds like someone who can barely make it through training.
I have both Theif and Theif 2, they're pretty good.. but feel very dated now. They might be doing similar things, but then so was Metal Gear solid. They're all 'Sneaking' games, but they're all very arguably distinctly different.
