OVERALLSCORE
74 %%
VERDICT
Despite some flaws,
the third episode of
Vader Immortal still
ends with more of a
bang than a whimper.
LIGHTSABER
+ Mostaction-packed
episodeyet
+ Best Jedi Dojo yetLIGHT,SAVEUS!- Not enough freedom^
toexperiment - No direct^
Stormtrooper combat
Well,hitmewitha crowbarandcallmea
headcrab,Valvehasonlygoneandannounced
a newHalf-Lifegame.No,it isn’tHalf-Life3,
butitisa Half-Lifegame,anda properoneat
that.It’scalledHalf-Life:Alyx,andit’sset
betweentheeventsofHalf-Lifeandits
sequel.Oh,andincaseyouhadn’talready
guessed,it’sa VRexclusive.
However,it’snotexclusivetothe
monstrouslyexpensiveValveIndexheadset.
Half-Life:AlyxwillsupportallmajorPCVR
headsets,includingtheOculusRift,HTCVive,
OculusQuestandsoon.Secondly,it isn’tjust
a two-hour,proof-of-conceptdemo.
AccordingtoValve,Alyxisa fullyfledged
game,witha runningtimethat’s
approximatelythesameasHalf-Life2.
Ontospecifics,thenewgameseesyou
playsasAlyxVanceinanadventureacross
City 17 beforeGordonFreemanarrivestokick
theCombinerightintheDoctorBreens.The
specificsofthestoryareobviouslystill
heavilyunderwraps,butfromwhat’sbeen
revealedsofar,it appearsthatAlyx’sfather
Elimanagestogethimselfkidnappedagain
andAlyxmustrescuehim.Therearealso
hintsofa broadernarrativebeyondthis,with
theG-Mandoinghisusualtrickoflooming
fromtheshadowsinthegame’strailer.
Speaking of the G-Man, he’s looking a
mighty bit slicker than he did in 2004 (and he
was pretty slick then). Half-Life: Alyx is built
using Valve’s Source 2 engine, which
provides a substantial visual overhaul to City- Indeed, for a VR game, Half-Life: Alyx
looks very snazzy indeed. However, it’s
difficult to speculate how that experience will
stack across the various available headsets.
For example, will the Quest version require
you to use Oculus’ new PC-tethering
technology to get the optimal experience?
What we can say for certain is that the
Half-Life 2 art style remains intact. City 17
looks as you remember it, from the pastel
building facades to the bluish tint of the
Combine’s armour.
Play-wise, Half Life Alyx uses a lot of
familiar VR mechanics. It can be played sitting
down, standing up or at room scale (moving
around a room, tracked by sensors), while
players can move through its environments
using teleportation or standard forwards
motion. As you’d expect, it’s a first-person
shooter, so you’ll be wielding, firing and
manually reloading guns in your hands,
battling classic Half-Life enemies such as
Combine soldiers, headcrabs and antlions.
As for more novel mechanics, Alyx has its
own version of Half-Life 2’s Gravity Gun
known as ‘Grabbity Gloves’, which lets
players grab objects from a distance –
usefulina VRenvironment.Inthetrailer,
wealso catch a glimpse of a puzzle that
seems to involve Alyx using her hands to
trace electrical circuits.
Half-Life Alyx looks like a slick, well-made
and entertaining Half-Life game. That said,
Valve has apparently been working on Alyx
for five years, as it tried to find a way to take
that next step in the evolution of the first-
person shooter genre, much like Half-Life 2
didovertheoriginalgame.Alyx’suseofVR
isallegedly that step, although the trailer
doesn’t show much that’s groundbreaking
from a VR perspective. Hopefully, that
evolution will become clearer as Valve
divulges more info about Alyx in the run-up
to the release date of March 2020.OPINION
HALF-LIFE: ALYX
saber in one hand while shooting a blaster with
the other. As you progress through the Dojo’s
increasingly challenging stages, you’ll also
unlock new types of saber, including the ability to
wield two lightsabers and a Darth Maul-style
double-bladed lightsaber. Shiny!
It may seem odd that a game that lets you get
face to face with Darth Vader ends up being
eclipsed by its own, secondary training simulator,
but it highlights the strengths and weaknesses
of current-gen VR. We’re still at the stage where
‘Do X in VR’ is the part that gets us excited, and
the ability to swing a lightsaber in VR is far more
enticing than standing around while Darth Vader
warbles menacingly at you. Vader Immortal is a
decent ride, it’s just a shame the story never lets
you truly unleash the Force.