Recently, a mod was released for Half-Life: Alyx that allows you to play it from beginning to end on the keyboard and without a VR helmet. Which is what I actually took advantage of. The mod turned out to be a little crooked and does not provide the opportunity to get a unique experience from playing in virtual reality, but at least somehow.
Games based on this universe are released extremely rarely, but what is called "aptly". The first part was a breakthrough for single-player shooters, just as the second was later, Conter Strike - for multiplayer shooters, Portal 1 and 2 - for puzzles, and Half-Life: Alyx - for VR games
Playing on a laptop, I saw almost no differences from the second part of Halfa, except for the graphics, which became super-realistic, so for a more correct review of this game, I even looked at its walkthrough in VR on YouTube. Of course, there are not only graphics, but also everything is super-realistic, the sound, the recoil when shooting, the movement that can be done fast through a teleport or through a real imitation of walking and everything in general! The duration of the game is shorter than the second part, but here absolutely all the locations are unique, every room, every corner, everything can be seen in detail, touched, in short, realism of the highest level.
Well, of course, the game does not end with “just looking and touching”, as in previous parts, here you need to fight with the “Alliance” and all sorts of undead (well, there are headcrabs, and with people to whose faces these bastards are attached). The combat is very intense and I will say again - realistic, you can throw grenades from around the corner, hide behind cover, deflect enemy shells on the fly and throw them at them, etc. By the way, the covers here can be broken, which adds even more realism and hardcore to the game. In the original (that is, in VR) it is impossible to go ahead, as in the first two parts, it is simply inconvenient and it is better to use all sorts of shelters, as I said earlier, but without VR there is no point in them, and you can attack everyone without any problems by walking into the assault. The arsenal has been noticeably reduced, the weapons are only a pistol, a shotgun and a machine gun (and grenades, of course), but they can and should be improved, for example: put a sight on the pistol, or an under-barrel grenade launcher on the machine gun, reduce the recoil of the shotgun, etc.
As the title suggests, we will play as Alex, the daughter of the leader of the resistance to the Alliance, who is in trouble and needs to be rescued. This is what we will be doing for almost the entire game. Not without J-Man, one of the most mysterious characters in the history of the video game industry. By the way, he will also be in the ending, which is even more mysterious than himself. The events of this masterpiece take place 20 years before the second part, which means this is not the third Half, but rather one and a half (led to Half-Life 2).
Fun fact: here you can catch headcrabs and literally smear them on stone or concrete).
The game lost the atmosphere of the Source engine as in the second part, but created a new atmosphere, the game world is extremely gloomy, the locations are empty, and there are only Alliance soldiers and monsters. The design goes along with the sound, which is the best in the series, and even the gameplay itself. I think I could get into it even more if I had a headset.
Not everything is so good with optimization, but I think these are problems specifically with the mod, and not with the game itself.
Conclusion:
Half-Life: Alyx is the best VR game, and will be so for another 10 years, and one of the best games of 2020 overall. It’s a pity that on a PC you can’t get all the experience you get from the game, in the form in which the developers originally intended it, in VR.