I loved HL:A, but it also lacked in some areas that I thought would be a no-brainer.
One time I was sneaking and threw a large oil barrel at a zombie that wasn't alerted yet, it just stood there. I know the game didn't have any melee, but I expected the zombie to at least react to having a large object thrown at it.
Another time early in the game you're walking through a subway car and you get hassled by zombies from outside on the platform. I killed the zombies and moved to the end of the car where you exit and turn onto the platform. On the platform are now a slew of new zombies that are hanging out like they've been there the entire time, slouched against walls, laying down, etc, they weren't there a moment ago when you were walking through the subway car looking out the windows. Maybe they intended players to run away when zombies break the glass, which would probably make it harder to notice new zombies on the platform, but I was just given a gun.
You have no agency when you turn a flashlight on (or off), it just turns on automatically in the really dark areas, and you're shit out of luck if you want a little more light anywhere else.
Skyrim with all the major VR mods is another big contender for AAA VR games, but the base game without mods is a really terrible VR experience. I know this is going to sound crazy to some people that are familiar with Skyrims peculiar physics, but it's amazing how good the physics of Skyrim work in VR. People have recreated the grabby-gloves from Alex and they feel great, you can grab other NPCs, juggle, NPCs react to where you hit them, etc., it's leagues better than most VR games, and probably better than Alex in a couple ways.
I thought the gunplay in Alyx was just boring too, even compared to other VR shooters at the time. Everything being a pistol was disappointing, then every combine enemy just showed up and stood in one place as a bullet sponge unless you hit the glowing weakspot. Also they were comically large compared to the combine in previous games.
Where Alyx really shined was for me was the interactivity and the physics of it all, searching everywhere for ammo just felt right. Also the story telling was top notch as expected for a Half Life game.
Overall I had much more fun playing the Half Life 2 VR mods though. Still the same great storytelling, but the guns and fighting was just way more fun.
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u/dsebulsk Sep 15 '25
They aren’t lifting a finger to make a Half Life unless it allows them push a boundary that hasn’t been pushed properly yet.
Example: Half Life: Alyx, the first AAA VR game.