Review cover Half-Life: Alyx (Virtual Reality)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): March 23, 2020
  • Publisher: Valve
  • Developer: Valve
  • Genres: VR FPS Adventure
  • Also For: Virtual Reality

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
It’s been 84 years since we’ve last seen a Half-Life game from Valve. And of course, in typical Valve fashion, instead of the Half-Life 3 we all wanted, we got Half-Life Alyx, a VR game following Alyx Vance in an adventure before the events of Half-Life 2. Is it worth a look into?

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With Half Life VR, Who Needs Half Life 3?

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Before I tried out Half-Life: Alyx, I was generally skeptical about the hype. It looked pretty good in previews and with trailers, and I was definitely excited to see another Half-Life game (finally). However, some of the more recent VR games that have been hyped up, like Boneworks or Espire VR, never really hit that “great game!” mark for me. Not to say they’re bad games or anything, I think they’re great titles...for VR games. Espire as a “normal” game would just be another sci-fi shooter, while Boneworks would be akin to a Garry's Mod clone with a single player mode. (Albeit, a very advanced clone with fancy physics, but you get the idea.) But Half-Life: Alyx? I think it’s finally the first VR title that feels not just like a great VR game, but a great game in general. If you took away the VR and played it as a normal first-person shooter, it’d be an excellent game on its own. Before I get into the meat of the review, I would like to mention that I am only using Windows Mixed Reality headset (particularly this one, if you wanted to know the specs), so your gameplay experience will differ slightly from mine depending on your headset.

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Half-Life: Alyx takes place approximately five years before the events of Half-Life 2, following a 19 year-old Alyx Vance who’s on a mission to investigate a strange building run by the Combine in a Quarantine Zone in City 17, save her father, and find a supposed Combine “superweapon” in that building. So all in all, a pretty average day in Half-Life land. But before we do all that, the game starts out with Alyx overlooking City 17, doing some surveillance for the Resistance. After a short video call with her father, Eli Vance, and another resistance member named Russell, you finally get to leave the little lookout nook and familiarize yourself with the controls of the game. For the most part, they’re pretty standard for a VR title, with the usual movement options:

  • Blink, which is the standard teleporting to destinations with a short screen fade (which is marked as “most comfortable")
  • Shift, which is also teleporting to your destination but instead of a screen fade, you just see fast linear movement
  • Continuous, where you move using the left control stick, with direction based on head orientation
  • Continuous hand, which is the same as above but following your hand’s orientation instead of your head

As a “veteran” VR player, I went with continuous since it always seemed the most “immersive” for me in most games, and I had no troubles playing for an extended period of time with my WMR headset, so comfort-wise it should be pretty good. With continuous movement, you also have a couple of extra controls for mantling and vaulting over objects, as well as making any jumps required by the game, which is all done using the right control stick, pushing up to mantle and down to teleport for jumps. Hand controls are also as you would expect for a VR title, pulling the trigger allows you to grab and release things, and later on you’ll receive some Gravity Gloves (or as they’re known in game, the “Russells”), which allow you to pull distant objects to you while holding the trigger and flicking your wrist, which feels like a refined version of the same mechanic you’ll see in other VR games. As it’s a Half-Life game, there are also a few weapons you get to use, but we’ll get into that more later in the review.

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Moving on, after you get familiar with the controls of the game you’ll need to make your way towards your apartment complex, report back to your father and make some plans on how you’re gonna steal some stuff from the Combine. Y’know, usual Resistance stuff. But, of course, things go a bit bad. The Combine somehow finds out about your plans, and they arrest you and your father. But this is a video game, so with the help of Russell and his modified City Scanner that chucks a grenade into your prison transport vehicle, you escape the clutches of the Combine and make your way back to Russell's lab so you can make some plans to find your father, save him, infiltrate the Combine structure, blah blah blah, usual Half-Life stuff. Here is where you’ll get your “Russells”, which are like a mini gravity gun from Half-Life 2 that, as previously mentioned, pull distant objects to you. After a quick tutorial with your Russells, Russell tosses you a pistol and some ammunition, and you finally get to the meat of the game. I’ll leave the rest of the story here, so as not to spoil anything, but overall I found it to be fairly well-written, for a story in the Half-Life universe. Alyx’s lines are written well and her new voice actress, Ozioma Akagha, does a pretty great job voicing her. There’s a good bit of humor in the game as well, thanks to your headset chats with Russell (Rhys Darby), which was definitely appreciated during some of the more...intense segments, which we’ll look into next.

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Half-Life: Alyx, much like the previous Half-Life entries, is a very linear game. You’re mainly tasked with going from point A to point B, occasionally checking a side passage or two for ammunition or resin (which is used to upgrade your weapons), and that’s about it. But one of the best things about Half-Life: Alyx is the atmosphere it generates as you play. There’s one particular area that stood out to me the most, particularly because it nearly made me fall on my ass and give me a heart attack. At some points in the game, you’re going to have to travel through some pitch black areas like sewers and bunkers, the only source of light being a small flashlight that’s mounted on your left wrist. Now, when I say “pitch black,” I don’t mean the usual “it’s pretty dark but if you turn the brightness up a bit you can totally see the level,” I mean it’s black. You can’t see much of anything without this little flashlight, and with various environmental atmospheric sounds in some of the areas, like the sewers, you will generally feel pretty goddamn uneasy. And what could possibly be worse than a dark, spooky sewer that you know has zombies and headcrabs in it? How about some goddamn poisonous headcrabs that hiss at you and jump at your goddamn face??? Now, I’ve played all sorts of horror games, from general atmospheric stuff to in-your-face jump scare stuff, both in VR and “normal” games, and not a single one of them has gotten me as bad as that goddamn first poisonous headcrab encounter did. Here I was, slowly making my way in the dark towards the only exit out of this dark hellhole I went into to grab the flashlight, and the next thing I know there’s a “HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS” AND BAM THERE’S A HEADCRAB ON MY FACE SPEWING POISON IN MY MOUTH. I fucking flinched hard, nearly fell over the ottoman I put behind me to sit on if I need a break, and panic wasted nearly a full clip of (at that time) very valuable shotgun ammunition trying to kill this damn headcrab. And then I realized there were two of them. I don’t generally get immersed into VR games that much, but there’s just something about Half-Life: Alyx that really breaks through that “immersion barrier” I feel with other games. In regards to enemies, you'll find most of your favorite enemies from the Half Life series, as well as a couple of new ones. Headcrabs, Poison Headcrabs, Zombies, Barnacles, Antlions, Manhacks, and various Combine solders all make a reappearance in the series as you would expect, but there are a couple of new additions as well that fit right in with the Half Life universe, including: heavy Combine soldiers with shotguns and energy shields, heavy Combine soldiers with miniguns, armored Headcrabs and armored Headcrab Zombies, as well as a brand spanking new enemy simply called the "Lightning Dog", which are tough little buggers that run around real fast shooting lightning and occasionally shoving their way into the chest of dead humans, turning them into "Electric Zombies" that shoots lightning at you for fun. And whew, these things are tough. On their own, they'll eat up more than a full 7 shell barrage of direct shotgun fire before these things die, and when they inhabit bodies on the ground you'll be spending more than 30 or 40 pistol rounds before you can take the thing down which can be a little annoying, as their fights end up taking way more time than anything else you'll encounter in the game.

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And speaking of shooting things, Half-Life: Alyx is a FPS game, so next we’ll talk about the combat, which I think is probably the first “neutral” thing I have to say about the game. I will say, though, that I think this could be more an issue with my Windows Mixed Reality setup than it is with the game. In the game, you’ll find a total of three weapons: your pistol, a one-handed shotgun, and an SMG (sorry folks, no crowbar this time), as well as grenades that are occasionally sitting around in a level. And unfortunately, that's kind of it, which is a tad disappointing. I feel like there were quite a few weapons missing that would've fit really well with VR, like the Crossbow or the .357 Magnum. Managing your inventory is pretty simple. For your weapons you have a four-way directional menu that pops up when you press the touchpad on the right controller, letting you chose between your pistol, shotgun, SMG, or multitool. For regular items, which includes grenades, quick healing items, and a couple of other key items you may need in the game, these are stored on two total inventory slots, with one on each wrist. Pulling items out is as simple as grabbing them off your wrist and using them however they need to be used. This is slightly annoying, especially when you happen upon a huge cache of grenades that could be put to use elsewhere, but the limited factor seems pretty balanced so I can't complain too much. Using weapons works like most “simple” FPS games for VR: you aim, you shoot, you reload, the latter two which I found worked really well. Reloading the guns will vary on the weapon, too. For example, with the pistol you release the clip with the grip button, reach over your shoulder to grab another clip, reload the magazine and then chamber a round with a press of the menu button; for the shotgun, you press the menu button to break open the hinge, reach over your shoulder to grab shells, and insert the shells into the chamber. The part I had issues with, however, was the aiming (and this is mostly limited to the pistol). One of the things I mentioned earlier was weapon upgrades, which is done by finding Combine Fabricators in various little “pit stop” areas in the game, where you can use resin that you find scattered around various levels to improve your weapon in some way. For the pistol, the first upgrade you can get is the Reflex Sight--which basically just made my aim 100% worse. I found myself more comfortable using the iron sights, instead of having to focus on getting the dot sight focused on weak points, which felt like a downgrade from the iron sights in the first place. I felt like I completely wasted 10 of the precious resin I collected which could’ve been used on nicer things earlier on. An option to remove the sight, even with wasting the resin, would’ve been a nice addition, but in the end I just dealt with it until I could finally grab the Laser Sight (which is infinitely better to aim with). I mentioned that I think it may be my setup that's the issue, and that's because I noticed the pistol seems to be rotated just a bit out of sync with where I naturally hold the controller, so my wrist needs to be rotated the slightest bit to the left whenever I'm aiming at something with the Reflex site. Whether that's a Windows Mixed Reality issue or a game issue, I can't say, but I suspect it's the former.

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But shooting isn’t the only thing you do in Half-Life: Alyx; there’s puzzles, too! There are around 5 different kinds of puzzles, each of which are generally pretty simple: rewiring electric lines in walls to reroute power; laser webs, where you need to reposition multiple lasers so they’re in line with multiple points; matching puzzles, which are pretty self explanatory; a “laser maze,” where you have to guide a blue dot to a point in a sphere while dodging lasers that are surrounding the sphere (and eventually move); and then there are laser alignment kind of puzzles, where you need to align a laser through a tube just right to hit another point. All in all, pretty simple puzzles, but towards the later game they can get pretty difficult and will require quite a bit of finagling to get everything in their “just right” position. But, thanks to VR and the way you can adjust your view of the puzzles, I never found myself too frustrated. If something looked correct from one point of view yet somehow wasn’t, I was able to simply...move around, so I could get a better view, which was really nice.

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Excellent atmosphere, particularly sound design was great
  • Good voice acting, despite new voice actors for old characters
  • Decent writing, with a nice story that fits in well with the Half Life universe
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Gunplay a little simplistic, and I wish there were more weapons from previous games to play with.
9
Gameplay
If you're into VR FPS games, you will absolutely love Half-Life: Alyx. It's got the perfect blend of story, action, and puzzle solving so it doesn't end up feeling too monotonous or boring halfway through, and while it's lacking some variation in the weapons department, it's still a blast to play.
10
Presentation
Even using a rig with a GTX 970, Half-Life: Alyx looks great. There's a lot of detail in the world that's still noticeable at the low fidelity option, so I suspect maxed out the game will look great. Add in amazing atmospheric sounds (that occasionally scare the pants off me) and good voice acting, Half-Life: Alyx is definitely one of the "peak" VR experiences.
8
Lasting Appeal
The game is a tad short, for a normal game (taking me about 10 hours to complete, give or take), but that 10 hours is actually pretty long for a VR title. There's not a whole lot of replay value, unless you want to 100% weapon upgrades, so, generally speaking, a singular playthrough is probably all you need to experience everything there is in the game, but it promises to be an excellent experience (and, as a Valve game, has pretty good potential for user mods down the line).
9
out of 10

Overall

If you were waiting for that one "killer game" before you wanted to dip into the VR scene, this is it. If you already have a PC VR headset, you absolutely must own this game. Half-Life: Alyx is easily one of the best VR games I've ever played, easily beating out my previous favorite Beat Saber, and every Half-Life fan should experience the game in one way or another.
Thank you for this great Review of this really awesome Game.:)

And yes,for sure,it was IMPOSSIBLE for the Delevopers to Release a normal non-VR Version,I understand this competely...
 
Sadly, VR is still the biggest flaw of HL Alyx in a way - all with headsets still being unavailable for majority of people (especially with recent COVID-19-induced financial complications around the world), demanding system requirements on top of it, and technology itself still being too raw to accomodate for all sorts of players. It just feels like a game being released too early for its own good, and I'm not sure how good of a move it is on Valve to do so; waiting it out at least 3-5 more years until VR catches up with the masses would greatly benefit both its availability and sales.
 
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Sadly, VR is still the biggest flaw of HL Alyx in a way - all with headsets still being unavailable for majority of people (especially with recent COVID-19-induced financial complications around the world), demanding system requirements on top of it, and technology itself still being too raw to accomodate for all sorts of players. It just feels like a game being released too early for its own good, and I'm not sure how good of a move it is on Valve to do so; waiting it out at least 3-5 more years until VR catches up with the masses would greatly benefit both its availability and sales.
It'll never catch on without great games as a reason for people to pick it up though.
 
T
waiting it out at least 3-5 more years until VR catches up with the masses would greatly benefit both its availability and sales.

Precisely.:mthr:
It is hard to invest the price of a competitive computer in a single hardware. And even if you can afford it, is it Really woth it ?
Like the Hoverboard, VR is the unreachable dream of a whole generation.

Surely my kids will enjoy VR in 5/10 years from now, and I will be the old fart who admonish them with 8bit greatness (...hey, I already do that).
 
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It'll never catch on without great games as a reason for people to pick it up though.
I kinda get that, but I see availability and good library as two equally important variables that count together - i.e. selling very expensive/obtuse technology with good games is just as hard as selling very cheap and comfy one without good games. Releasing Alyx in a more affordable scenario could do wonders for VR as a whole, since it has all the potential to be that "OK, I'm buying a headset" title - right now though, price of admission is still a bit too steep to sell uninitiated people on virtual reality. I mean, it's really close, but it's still not quite there.
 
Sadly, VR is still the biggest flaw of HL Alyx in a way - all with headsets still being unavailable for majority of people (especially with recent COVID-19-induced financial complications around the world), demanding system requirements on top of it, and technology itself still being too raw to accomodate for all sorts of players. It just feels like a game being released too early for its own good, and I'm not sure how good of a move it is on Valve to do so; waiting it out at least 3-5 more years until VR catches up with the masses would greatly benefit both its availability and sales.

Precisely.:mthr:
It is hard to invest the price of a competitive computer in a single hardware. And even if you can afford it, is it Really woth it ?
Like the Hoverboard, VR is the unreachable dream of a whole generation.

Surely my kids will enjoy VR in 5/10 years from now, and I will be the old fart who admonish them with 8bit greatness (...hey, I already do that).

I don't know what you guys are on about. Valve says that they worked hard to make the game compatible with all respectable VR headsets, which is why the gameplay is simple. They claim that they could've done much more if they only designed the game for their own headset.

As for PC hardware to play the game, you can really build a computer NEW (cpu+gpu+mobo) for under 400 usd that could play this game well. Substantially cheaper, if you're into used hardware. It's never been easier to get into VR.

The original Oculus Rift was released in 2016. If you had any real interest to play a VR game, you could've saved some money by now and easily gotten a capable pc + headset.
 
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Boneworks was close, but this really is the first VR game to get just about everything right. I can only speak for myself, but I think this game justifies the price of a headset on its own. Such a fantastic glimpse of VR's present and future potential. No surprise that a Half-Life title is once again pushing the envelope of what's possible with current technology, though.
 
T
I don't know what you guys are on about. Valve says that they worked hard to make the game compatible with all respectable VR headsets, which is why the gameplay is simple. They claim that they could've done much more if they only designed the game for their own headset.

As for PC hardware to play the game, you can really build a computer NEW (cpu+gpu+mobo) for under 400 usd that could play this game well. Substantially cheaper, if you're into used hardware. It's never been easier to get into VR.

The original Oculus Rift was released in 2016. If you had any real interest to play a VR game, you could've saved some money by now and easily gotten a capable pc + headset.


You are right, it hasn't been that affordable because...well it exists now :)

It all comes to personnal taste and priorities.
I'm eager to try it, but on the other side:
- VR loses the social appeal of couch gaming (annoying, tickling and advising my kids while they play is priceless)
- I prefer to save for and invest in pricey handhelds (almost 1 000€ as well) cause I have waaaaay more time for this
- Lastly, a beefy computer has never been, in my console player narrow mind, a gaming device, but only dedicated to simulation purposes. I want cores and ram but don't give a damn about graphic cards (CUDA is for neeerds :lol:).

A 400€ PC could run VR well ? :unsure:
Well, I still doubt it, but you seem to know what you're talking about.
 
You are right, it hasn't been that affordable because...well it exists now :)

It all comes to personnal taste and priorities.
I'm eager to try it, but on the other side:
- VR loses the social appeal of couch gaming (annoying, tickling and advising my kids while they play is priceless)
- I prefer to save for and invest in pricey handhelds (almost 1 000€ as well) cause I have waaaaay more time for this
- Lastly, a beefy computer has never been, in my console player narrow mind, a gaming device, but only dedicated to simulation purposes. I want cores and ram but don't give a damn about graphic cards (CUDA is for neeerds :lol:).

A 400€ PC could run VR well ? :unsure:
Well, I still doubt it, but you seem to know what you're talking about.
I understand. But I'll just point out that you completely changed the discussion from VR being supposedly monetarily inaccessible, to not being able to having fun with your kids.

Since PC stuff is too nerdy for you, I was thinking of not posting the following link but whatever, just to prove my point:
An AMD Ryzen 1600 AF ($85) + A decent mobo ($80-120)+ Nvidia GTX1660 Super($200) could easily play any VR game you throw at it. Infact, you could get away with a lesser graphics card if you wanted to go cheaper. Want more performance? Just upgrade a component or two. That's the power of a computer- the superpower of choice.

1600AF's link, since pcpartpicker doesn't have it listed.
 
I wonder if having another name, coming from another different developer would mean a lower score.
Standard controls? Check.
Linear Game? Check.
Using shadows to convey atmosphere? Check.
Scare jumps? Check.

All pretty standard to me. Not to be detrimental to the game, but seems kind of standard fare?
 
Standard controls?
There is no universal standard for controls in VR, and HL: Alyx is slightly different than anything else. Also differs based on which controllers you own.

Linear Game?
Probably a good thing. Open-world games are a dime a dozen these days, and they come with their own set of downsides.

Using shadows to convey atmosphere?
I mean, the game conveys atmosphere in several ways. The screenshots in this review show far from everything.

Scare jumps?
Are kept to a minimum.

All pretty standard to me. Not to be detrimental to the game, but seems kind of standard fare?
For a pancake game it very well might have been standard fare. It's the execution and the implementation in VR which makes it something special. The pacing, the desire to search every nook and cranny for resources, the environment full of items to play with, the gravity gloves, the gunplay, etc.
 
As usual a VR title thread turning into a debate on whether you're getting VR or not and why not etc etc, just shut up, if you're not interested in buying or can't play it because you didn't buy VR, nobody wants to hear your salty opinion, just go away and go play something else
 
I understand. But I'll just point out that you completely changed the discussion from VR being supposedly monetarily inaccessible, to not being able to having fun with your kids.

Since PC stuff is too nerdy for you, I was thinking of not posting the following link but whatever, just to prove my point:
An AMD Ryzen 1600 AF ($85) + A decent mobo ($80-120)+ Nvidia GTX1660 Super($200) could easily play any VR game you throw at it. Infact, you could get away with a lesser graphics card if you wanted to go cheaper. Want more performance? Just upgrade a component or two. That's the power of a computer- the superpower of choice.

1600AF's link, since pcpartpicker doesn't have it listed.
Keep in mind that if you don't live in the US, that 400 instantly rises to a converted 500$. Plus you won't be running any games at all without a case, PSU, RAM and a hard drive of some sort, so that's pretty misleading. If you're new to PC gaming, chances are you might need a monitor as well, and those aren't that cheap if you want something decent. And then there's still the price of the VR headset on top of all that. You may not think it's that bad, but the total is a pretty hefty sum.
 
I never really fell in love with half life. People tell me it is a great series and while it is certainly not a bad one I was happy enough to plod through to the end, and am glad it taught us a few lessons in game design, it ultimately did so little for me. A VR return does less to stoke the enthusiasm.

Surely my kids will enjoy VR in 5/10 years from now, and I will be the old fart who admonish them with 8bit greatness (...hey, I already do that).
5 years seems way too short to me. Not to mention we still have a complete lack of standards and companies thinking DRM will save them and 5 years is way too short to clear that mess up.
10 years is probably still outside, though if we do see diminishing returns in resolution (there is barely any point in 4K from where I sit) then maybe the hardware will be there to match, even if I would personally kick it to more polys, textures and physics.


- VR loses the social appeal of couch gaming (annoying, tickling and advising my kids while they play is priceless)
First did I miss out on a device with lots of nice games and local play (or even better local co-op)? I thought such things were on death's door with the PS360 and kicked the bucket some years back.
What I am more here to say though is if you can't think of a way to wind up your kids when they are in VR you are clearly only doing amateur hour wind up. Might I suggest an air horn?
 
Sadly, VR is still the biggest flaw of HL Alyx in a way - all with headsets still being unavailable for majority of people (especially with recent COVID-19-induced financial complications around the world), demanding system requirements on top of it, and technology itself still being too raw to accomodate for all sorts of players. It just feels like a game being released too early for its own good, and I'm not sure how good of a move it is on Valve to do so; waiting it out at least 3-5 more years until VR catches up with the masses would greatly benefit both its availability and sales.
Do keep in mind PC system requirements are not law. I played this on a PC with a GTX 970 which performs under their "minimum" of a 1060, and an i5 7600k. I had no issues whatsoever in terms of performance throughout the whole game while on low settings, which still looked pretty great. You can definitely get away with older hardware for cheap of you're on a budget and still have an excellent experience.

I wonder if having another name, coming from another different developer would mean a lower score.
Standard controls? Check.
Linear Game? Check.
Using shadows to convey atmosphere? Check.
Scare jumps? Check.

All pretty standard to me. Not to be detrimental to the game, but seems kind of standard fare?
As Xzi pointed out, it's the way the game was executed and designed for VR that makes it stand out as a great game in general. As a standard game, I would agree it probably wouldn't be as great (which is why I think mods to turn the game into a non-VR title won't be any good whatsoever, you'll never get the same experience with this as a normal game), but as a VR title it's like that "perfectly executed" game that, as a whole, can overcome what some may see as generic or boring. There just isn't a VR game out there right now that hits on the right combination of gameplay and story and fun like Half Life Alyx does, even if on paper it doesn't sound great.

It's really one of those things you just have to try out for yourself, I think reviews and gameplay footage don't do the game enough justice (even though everyone seems to be raving over it). Honestly, once the whole Covid situation ends I would strongly suggest those who are somewhat skeptical to go and at least check out demo kiosks at your local retailers (assuming they'll still be doing that :lol:) before brushing it off, it's really that "perfect" title that shows how VR can be the "next step" in gaming (even if I don't think it will be for a good long while :P)
 
With Half Life VR, Who Needs Half Life 3?
...Essentially anyone who dislikes VR due to how expensive and gimmicky it is? Motion controls were awful enough, but at least we could conceivably play on the Wii for hours at a time without getting nauseous (except for 'frustration' nausea caused by a nonfunctional piece of garbage that never fails to misread gestures yet somehow was awarded the coveted 'primarily control method' instead of the traditional and much superior Classic Controller, anyway), unlike every single VR headset ever.

That, and making the player character Alyx instead of someone interesting - Half-Life 1 had multiple side-games featuring different protags; any of them would've been more worthwhile - makes this a hard pass for me.
 
I give it a 10 on my Valve Index. As far as the weapons go you have to leave something for Gordon to play with in Half-Life 3.
 
There is no universal standard for controls in VR, and HL: Alyx is slightly different than anything else. Also differs based on which controllers you own.


Probably a good thing. Open-world games are a dime a dozen these days, and they come with their own set of downsides.


I mean, the game conveys atmosphere in several ways. The screenshots in this review show far from everything.


Are kept to a minimum.


For a pancake game it very well might have been standard fare. It's the execution and the implementation in VR which makes it something special. The pacing, the desire to search every nook and cranny for resources, the environment full of items to play with, the gravity gloves, the gunplay, etc.
Stands to reason, but I can't shake off the feeling that this not having been branded as Half-Life would be as celebrated as it is, you know?
Again not downplaying the game or the series it follows.
 
Have it on a wmr headset being the samsung one and it visually by far one of the best looking games ever but i doubt it is outputting at 90hz. When i run tests it clearly says it does but for some reason motion sickness wich i never get with any game, i get after playing 5 minutes with this. There's seriously something wrong seeing everyone is complaining about it. Be warned you can get sick for the whole lasting day after playing this.
 
Brilliant game so far, haven't finished it, but the writing, level design, and encounters are all on par with or *better* than the original half-life games, and that's coming from someone who has been modding half-life games for the last five years and has replayed Half-Life 1 about six times over the last eleven years.
 
Keep in mind that if you don't live in the US, that 400 instantly rises to a converted 500$. Plus you won't be running any games at all without a case, PSU, RAM and a hard drive of some sort, so that's pretty misleading. If you're new to PC gaming, chances are you might need a monitor as well, and those aren't that cheap if you want something decent. And then there's still the price of the VR headset on top of all that. You may not think it's that bad, but the total is a pretty hefty sum.
I was misleading? I always claimed that the 400usd figure was always for cpu+gpu+mobo.
 
Stands to reason, but I can't shake off the feeling that this not having been branded as Half-Life would be as celebrated as it is, you know?
Perhaps. Boneworks was also highly praised despite having more notable flaws than Alyx, and it came from a relatively unknown developer with only one other VR game to their credit. I think the issue is more that there are very few full-length AAA quality titles out there designed specifically for VR, so there's not much else to compare them to right now, and people are willing to gloss over some of the minor problems. Half-Life Alyx has now set that standard, and it will be the game that other ambitious VR titles compare themselves to in the future.
 
I currently only have access to a defective OG Vive/wands and a GTX 980 which can only play at lowest settings, and I'm still getting occasional lag spikes...

..despite that, this game looks freaking amazing, and is super fun. The gun play is a little basic compared to other VR games, but the encounters are really well-designed. There was this one section with these electric alien things that was super hectic and exciting. It's the first time since I got my Vive in 2016 that I've been excited to go back and finish playing a VR game. I really hope we see more stuff like this from Valve and that it inspires other AAA publishers to step up their VR game.
 
This review deserves a like just for the 84 years comment - quality!! Thankfully the rest of the review was quality too, so that's 2 likes from me!
 
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Reactions: ds34
personally loving the game so far, think I'm nearly finished, I personally love all the little details on pretty much every item in the game, down to scart sockets on the backs of the TV's, I think those details are what make VR games really immersive, being able to pick up an item and find a little scratch on the bottom of the alarm clock makes nearly every item feel like it really exists, there are a few items I wanted to interact with that unfortunately didn't react how you would expect, but I think the interactivity of the world is a key feature in VR games that can really make or break the experience, seeing the pool table actually allow the balls to be sunk into the pockets and the ball come sliding down the little window into place as you would expect is weirdly satisfying :rofl:
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): March 23, 2020
  • Publisher: Valve
  • Developer: Valve
  • Genres: VR FPS Adventure
  • Also For: Virtual Reality
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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