Song: IP Twist Award Speech
Year: 2021
Viewed: 0 - Published at: 5 years ago

[The winner of this award was Half-Life: Alyx]
[Voiced by StephanosRex]

Despite all that extra baggage and an entry fee starting at ONE THOUSAND US DOLLARYDOOS, you voted that yes, it was somehow worth the weight.

True to its predecessors, Half-Life Alyx is a lonely, atmospheric trudge through rust and rot- filled with cornered alien fauna that really doesn't want to be there, and contrasted by some form of military that really doesn't want you to be there. The gaps inbetween are dotted with some more-or-less STEM-themеd puzzles, and once in a blue moon, a mеmorable character or two will show up to break the oppressive mood.

Ya like MOOD? City 17 is back in all it's dilapidated soviet glory- but you'll be taking the scenic route through a quarantine zone where the Combine is actively hosing everything with organic terraforming coom, resulting in meaty, xen-like biostructure.

Ya like THINKGEN? Navigating this mess of slav garbage and breathing walls presents similar environmental challenges to previous games- however box-stacking, see-sawing (monkey/physprop) puzzles are gone entirely. In their place are spatial, holographic minigames representing conduit-rewiring, lockpicking, hacking, and bomb defusal. If Gordon was a cart-pusher with a gun, Alyx is a cable guy... with a gun.

Ya like shootin' at COOL ENEMIES? Headcrabs got fat as fuck and ragdoll themselves around the enviornment.

Ya like GOOD CHARACTERS? This guy's alright, this Vortigaunt is the fucking best, and the returning cast like Eli? It's kind of like standing in a room with a living meme.

There are compromises for the format, sure. One of Half-Life's oldest marketing catchphrases was 'Run, Think, Shoot, Live". And unless you happen to live in a warehouse, poor 'Run' absolutely took one for the team here, along with the accompanying stretches of open space. No high-speed, clangity-clang melee either.

However, barring technical complaints, the larger concerns from players more or less seem to end there. So good job, Valve! By all means, this should have been the one to launch Half-Life into irrelevancy over by poor ol' Mr. Nukem, but instead- it's just good video games.

( 2020 Vidya Gaem Awards )
www.ChordsAZ.com

TAGS :