So you all probably know about what happened with HL2 by now. Someone stole the source code which was made available on the interent, then a few days later someone had a working version of the game ready. While you can't do much in the game at all, it does give you a feel for things. Most forums have banned discussion related to the release, but I don't see how it's harmful to anything.
I downloaded this 3 days ago but hadn't had a chance to talk about it until now. While the source code is around 40mb or so, this playable version tops in at around a 1.5gb download, then 3.3gb in size uncompressed. This is not a demo or part of the game, it's just an unfinished version that made its way on to the internet. With this playable version there is no single player mode for you to start. You need to pick one of the many maps (unfinished maps) and start a dedicated server. From there you can simply look around and shoot a few weapons. There are enimes but they don't often seem to shoot at you first.
Using some of the old Half-Life commands is a good way to look around the maps, "sv_gravity 100" will allow you to see things from above for example. Load times take a while. For me it takes a couple minutes just to load a map. There is times when it crashes as well. I did manage to take a few screenshots. Not too many because there's just too many maps and I can't bear loading them all, and because you'll proabably see a lot of this elsewhere anyway.
The loading screen is pretty basic, but it has everything needed. Menus are identical to the new steam platform.
The command "impulse 82" will spawn the jeep. It's actually faster then you may think and I like the way it drives. It's no cs_prodigy tank for sure.
Now for some of the unfinished aspects you see.
When you die your body is left in the same place as a sort of ghost.
There's a lot of white textures on maps which obviously still need to be made. The maps are rather small and are more bits and pieces with them ending abruptly.
The supposed new release date for HL2 is April 2004. Valve is partially trying to blame this on the source being released. However I think anyone will at least half a brain will agree that's just a scapegoat they're using. Especially since the release came days after the game was originally going to come out. An unfinished game is an unfinished game, and thats not exactly an uncommon thing with Valve. To tell you the truth this is not worth the download, you will be disappointed if you have any expectations at all.
This game will run on most computers today (unless they change something big time). My Athlon 2000, measly 256mb RAM, and GeForce4 128 handled it well. When I had heard of HL2 before I was unsure of buying it, wondering if it would go the way of just another shoot-em-up. After looking at this I know it's definitly something I will buy, eventhough I'm not that big of a gamer.
