Recent reviews by LUNCH!!!

I have but one regret and that is that I have only one upvote to give. I have only been playing this game for less than ten hours, but I sure can feel every single one of them in my shoulders. I'm telling everyone I know about UNDERDOGS. This game is AWESOME, and they are working on adding MULTIPLAYER! You all gotta get your headsets on for this.

edit:

Now after 142 Hours, I can report that this game is still badass. Watch for me on the Rampage leaderboard! I swear I'm going to get on the front page one of these days.

I remember building the PC that would play the original HL2, and really getting into it. It was a triumph.

Ep 1 and two were also amazing. So long ago!

This mod brings back the thrill of it all. It was exactly what I yearned for after playing ALYX.

To tell the truth, I didn't use the crowbar very much in the original games, but here in VR? It's almost my exclusive weapon of choice for headcrabs and manhacks.

Thank you for the experience!

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I just got an Oculus Quest 2 a couple of weeks ago, and this game last night. I started it after the kids went to bed, and suddenly it was 3:30 am. Good thing I started using a side battery pack to double the game time from ~2 to ~4 hours.

~3 Hours in, and here are my takeaways:

Alyx Vance: It's almost as if Valve knew all those years ago that she would be an awesome VR character to play. All of her tricks are in play, here, and the early tutorial bits of the game make her abilities seem accessible. You know that it's going to get crazy later.

There is that same sense of an impending deluge of scary stuff coming. The tension is real.

I'm only a few area loads into the game, and I've died a few times. Once for just jumping right off a ledge like an idiot. If you send your teleport arc off a ledge to hop down, and the target shoe prints are red, don't do it!

Voice acting is excellent. Rhys Darby! One of my favorite Kiwis!

You get the kind of dramatic scripted events that you expect from a Half-Life title. Easter eggs, of course.

Touch everything. Open drawers to scavenge for ammo. Throw stuff. Smash it. Aim for the head.

I'm going back in; I'm home from work.

Hold all my calls.

edit 9/17/2023:

I recently updated my GTX 1650 OC to an RTX 3060 OC 12GB and cranked the settings from low to ultimate.

SO SMOOTH. I played for an hour the night before the new card came, for comparison's sake. What a difference!

Let's play it again!

Great! Everything I hoped for in gameplay, esp since I played Descent way back when.

More Portal?

Yes, please.

Almost like a prequel, at first. Challenging.

If you've played through the first and second games and some user maps, you'll STILL find yourself scratching your head at some of the puzzles. It's not a replay of either game.

I've gotten mad a couple of times, and haven't finished yet. I'm sure I'll be mad again.

No flaws or bugs to speak of. And it's not boring.

Now, git!

Before you join the fray, I recommend taking the weapons course. N00b or not, this will help you get started. The timed bit at the end is a nice challenge.

The weapon behavior has changed a bit, and there are new ones. More customization, but I do miss the spraypaint a little.

It's as fun as CS:Source. I played the heck out of that, and I'm still terrible at these games. Still fun.

My friend, Andy, said it best.

Portal : Alien -- Portal2 : Aliens

If you haven't played Portal, do it. Not that Portal2 would ruin it, per se, but you would miss all the build-up as far as getting to know the game before the added complexities of the second installment. They are both incredibly fun.

I beat the first one in two days, jumped on the second and, as soon as I finished it, started amassing user maps at a dizzying pace. The game is addictive as hell. Expect to be glued for a while. It's that Tetris feeling from back in the day.

I like the song in the first game more, though.

You're reading a review of Half-Life 2, when you should be playing Half-Life 2.

If you play Half-Life 2, you'll understand why even a spectre of a rumor of Half-Life 3 sends people into a tizzy.

It's an amazing game full of tension, like the Original. Photorealistic lighting and textures ... it's downright spooky at times. Awesome weapons ... enemies emanate hair-raising sounds as they lurch, sprint or lunge at you ... suicide bombing ....

Original score that really works well with some of the scripted events ... there aren't many. This is an action game that leads you to an end, like the original, but it's much more open in environments. Ant Lions! Keep moving!

Anyway, you're probably just reading this review to pass the time, because, hey, you've already played it. Who hasn't..?

If you're one of THOSE people, you best get to steppin on installing this beauty.