Is Half-Life Alyx Worth It? Yes… At Any Price!
Overview
Firefights have never been more fun and immersive! The Gravity Gloves feel amazing and well optimized, Searching rooms feels good and rewarding by giving you ammo in places you wouldn’t search right away, and weapon upgrades feel powerful and very useful in extended fights. Animations are top notch! Let’s take a deeper dive into this masterful game.
Virtual Reality Implementation
Valve has outdone themselves with item affordances and the ability to touch many things and interact with them.
From the start of the game you are able to draw with markers, feed an alien pet with flakes, play with a playground, and engage in firefights behind car doors, and pull stuck items from their spots.
The Index Controllers feel the best when it comes to interacting with the whole world, and they could not have implemented it better.
Racking the 1911 slide feels as real as it gets, and the wrist pockets are just a wonderful touch for easy access and play-ability. The stow mechanic feels very fluid and polished, and feels like it has a wide hit-box. It registers well and almost never had to worry about hand placement behind the back.
Interacting with stations and interfaces had me so immersed as the healing stations do. Simply Place your hand in 3D space and you really feel like you are there!
The Orb Puzzles are another great implementation, as you have to correctly line up your orbs and laser lines. This makes great use of The multi tool and 3D space, makes you think, and challenges you to think outside the box. (At least I didn’t say Sphere) These puzzles are simple enough and if you drag the focus points away from the puzzle itself, it will become clear were the lasers need to line up.
Gameplay
From start to end, an immersive and complex story and rich game play mechanics unfold.
Gun play feels fantastic and accurate, searching boxes, filing cabinets and finding Resin is extremely rewarding and does not feel repetitive.
You are always finding ammo and resin in spots that are random, keeping your head in the game.
As the objects you have to work around have hazards, keeping you on your toes. None of the puzzles are difficult in anyway, and if you just give them a little time and thought, you will breeze right past them!
Music and ambiance is 10/10 and the battle music when fighting always gets me pumped.
Ammo and Resin are plentiful, and there are alot of places to look for them. Slow down, take your time and you will find enough to upgrade what you really want first.
Weapon upgrades like the laser sight and red dot for the 1911 are MAJOR quality of life upgrades.
Story And Level Design
The story is well written, voice acting is top notch, and the level design feels extremely well polished.
Levels start out small, then dark, then large and dark and then horrifying.
Beginning levels are not taxing as Alyx is faced with challenges such as head crabs.
Later, you find yourself dodging Barnacles in the dark while being very careful with firing your gun.
By mid-game you are given plenty of firefights with the Combine. The AI work well push you immediately, forcing you to engage in a firefight and duck into cover.
Scenes are comical or very serious and you can feel the gravity of the events you witness. For example, some scenes are lighthearted, as Alyx frees a head crab as its yearning to escape, only to have it turn around and be eaten by a Barnacle!
Gregs Gavel
Virtual Reality has a high standard to live up to. From Story to voice acting, gameplay and music, Its going to be tough for a newer studio to put out this kind of content within a reasonable time frame.
Half Life Alyx is a Masterwork Of A Game.
The price is worth it at any price point. If you are able to find it on sale jump on it. Its just an unbelievable game! I even 100 percent the game!
