This week’s poll is taken from the discussion from Outpost 16 where Alyx says “fuck“. Initially the discussion started out as to whether it was out of character for her but quickly moved onto whether it fitted the HL universe.

I am torn.

I’m not really a big fan of vehicles in games, but I fully appreciate how they break up gameplay, allow players the opportunity to cover large distances etc.

Each vehicle in the Half-Life series has had the environment matched to it. Whilst that might sound obvious it doesn’t always seem to work that way in mods or even in games.

I loved Opposing Force and presume you did too. The inclusion of new enemies was very important and these enemies, called Race X have never been seen since and too my knowledge never been acknowledged in Half-Life 2 or the episodes (please correct me if I am wrong).

So, the poll question simple: Would you like to see the return of Race X?

I understand why Valve make other games, I do, I just don’t like it. I want the best Episode 3 they can make and I want it now.

In addition I want a series of video tutorials for making single player mods, a book and even paid forum support. Did I mention I want it NOW!?

Have you ever noticed how different Alyx is in HL2, HL2: EP1 and HL2: EP2? I have to admit that I didn’t until Jasper pointed it out to me and suggested this poll question.

Let’s look a little closer, and these are Jasper’s descriptions, so feel free to compare and contrast each Alyx with your observations.

This is a great question that came from Jasper and those who visit the forum will know that his partner also plays video games and has even started to comment on the site.

I fear he is one of the lucky ones, the chances are that a lot of men will at least give gaming a try, even if they don’t like it, whereas women seem to be less inclined to try and that’s a shame because it’s cool to share some activities with your partner.

There has been some discussion on the forum about “the rise of puzzle mods”. Personally I don’t see that they are becoming more popular or being released more often.

Considering how long physics has been in the HL games, it’s almost strange that we haven’t had more pure puzzle mods. Ideally, I think 95% of players prefer a balance between action, exploring and puzzles, but the operative word is “balance” and for some 30% of each is too much.

I need to clarify this question, because “limitations” sounds such a negative word.

When you look at how HL2 works in regard to movement and weapons etc it can seem quite limiting. For example, a lot of games have headbob, and changes of view while sprinting, bullet time etc.