First Reviews: Half-Life Alyx – New Level of VR Gaming
More reviews of Half-Life: Alyx have appeared on the web. The texts show that the title is a worthy successor to the franchise, and at the same time a game that sets new standards in the market of VR gaming.
It happened - the new installment of the Half-Life series has launched. It is not the legendary continuation we have been waiting for for over fifteen years, but "only" a VR prequel. Nevertheless, before the release, the creators assured that it will be a full-fledged Half-Life game, and not another "VR experience" for no more than a few quarters of an hour. Is this really the case? The answer is brought by successive reviews of Half-Life Alyx.
Selected reviews:
- DualShockers - 10/10
- IGN - 10/10
- VGC - 5/5
- PCGamer - 92/100
- Destructoid - 9/10
- GameSpot- 9/10
- GamesRadar - 4.5/5
- PCGamesN- 9/10
- GamesBeat - 8/10
After the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, there were some complaints that instead of the real Half-Life we will get one more short VR production that the market is full of. Even after Valve's promises, many players did not change their mind. Well, now they probably will have to. In practically all reviews there is a variation on one, single topic: Half-Life: Alyx is the Half-Life game we've been waiting for since 2006, and a new quality of VR games in terms of detail, interaction with the environment and level design. The number of "tens" awarded by industry websites speaks for themselves, and even where the score is lower, critics speak of the game almost exclusively in superlatives.
The plot is mainly to be thanked for that, and the authors of some of the reviews suggest the users review the events from the previous parts of the series to be able to fully appreciate the latest part of the series. The authors have not forgotten about the elements of horror, which have accompanied the brand since the beginning of its existence, and which have been emphasized here much more than in the second game. In part, this greater emphasis on horror (especially in the first half of the game) is the reason for Alyx's lowest score so far, from VentureBeat (although this is not the only reason why the reviewer gave the game "only" 8/10).
The plots come and go, but does Half-Life: Alyx offer something in terms of gameplay, or is it just an interactive adventure with barely any action? Luckily, the game is not lacking there, either. Enough to mention the four difficulty levels to choose from, which are definitely not just for decoration. Clashes with enemies are usually short and, for technical reasons, the action is a bit slower than in Half-Life 2. Nevertheless, the combat is dynamic and rewarding, and the arsenal - although relatively small - gives a lot of fun. What's most important, the VR elements are actually used in the game and are not added by force. The possibility of precise throwing of a grenade or safe leaning out from behind a cover is only a small example of the interaction that virtual reality allows for. VR is also used when solving environmental puzzles, another strong point of the game.
Let's sum it up: we have a great story and satisfying gameplay. So that leaves the technical layer. Here, too, Alyx is receiving a lot of praise, but there were some problems. Glitches like disappearing hand with a gun happened to reviewers very rarely, and in this particular case it was enough to reload the gun. Some testers had problems with "sticky hands", i.e. occasional grabbing of unwanted objects. It should be added that when the game was made available to journalists, Valve was still working on improvements. Another thing is that it won't help against the occasional complains about the movement system (again: the reviewer at VentureBeat had problems with more natural movement models, and short distance teleportation spoiled his immersion).
Leaving the above aside, technically Half-Life: Alyx doesn't disappoint, offering up to three ways to navigate the game world. In short, the title performs just as well in this respect as it does in terms of gameplay, atmosphere and storyline. The latter was crowned in a way that delighted the reviewers and intrigued them: how does the story follow into Half-Life? Let's hope that we won't have to wait another fifteen years for the answer. For the time being, we can look forward to a new and excellent game from the iconic franchise and wait for information about the future of the series.
