So I'm not very excited for HL 2 EP 3. I read a bunch of articles, looked at some screenshots, and even watched the big long gameplay video but nothing could really raise my interest in it. Most people would probably say in response that maybe I'm not into fantasy FPSs, or that maybe if I would have played through the first two games (that's right, I'm a HL 2 EP 3 virgin) I would be a bit more enthralled. While these accusations might have a little bit of truth to them, the main reason why HL 2 EP 3 doesn't look special to me is because it really doesn't seem to be doing anything new.

Now, being a Half-Life virgin I'll admit that I'm no authority on Half-Life gameplay. However, from what I've seen so far from Half-Life 2: Episode 3, this game doesn't stray too far from its previous brethren in terms of its playability. As Valve has said already, only a mouse will be needed in order to play Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (of course, we all know that this is bullshit and that Skins and Mods will be very necessary in order to truly play the game at a fun level). The Half-Life games always been very "Shooty" games and it seems like this one will be no exception. But is this what gamers really want? Ok, maybe some gamers do like very shooty games. To me, however, this seems like a step backwards in gameplay. Its been a while since Half-Life 2 Episode 2 was released, and I can't help but think that Shooty FPSs are a thing of the past. Hell, I remember that even when I bought Quake I thought that the gameplay felt outdated. However, seeing Half-Life 2: Episode 3's old-fashioned, trite gameplay was only a mere slap in the face compared to a certain previous announcement by Valve.

Team Fortress, what a game! I remember when Valve first announced it, the internet collectively cried tears of joy! I shed a few myself, until I say what Valve was doing with the franchise. The Dark atmosphere that I so enjoyed in Team Fortress was replaced with cartoonish, Pixar styled graphics. Art design aside, they announced very early on that they were going to be sticking very closely to the original Team Fortress gameplay. I realize that, like Half-Life 2 Episode 3 there are some new twists (read: gimmicks) that might make the game feel a little more fresh. The problem is that none of these are really new. Take the height element that they're implementing. Basically, some units can walk onto raised platforms and hills now making them less of an obstacle. This would be cool and everything if hadn't been done already in games (I'll talk about this a little later). Also, they did away with many of the great innovations from Team Fortress. They're different games, I know, but if Team Fortess could be such an innovative game, why can't Half-Life 2 Episode 3 be one too? I fear that Valve might be too afraid to mess with this franchise in any extreme way, but since they're on the most highly acclaimed developers in the world, you would expect them to try to set the bar higher.

ect