Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: FPS

Download Half-Life 2 For Free (Until 18.11.2024)

Posted on by Viljami

It is now possible to get to download and play an old FPS game called Half-Life 2. You can get your copy now from Steam. It is available only until 18th of November 2024. It was released earlier today for free. Just search for it in Steam. Type “Half-Life 2” and you should see a link that gives you a permission to download and install the game. The game will stay in your library if you have activated it until 18th of November 2024.

I started to play this game as I decided that since it is now free I should at least give it a try. I have played this game earlier on original Xbox. It is very different to play it with a mouse and a keyboard. Half-Life 2 was released in 16th of November 2004. That means it was released exactly 20 years ago.

It is possible to play Half-Life 2 with a controller. I haven’t tried that yet but I think my Xbox Series S/X controller that I play my PC/Windows games with will function just fine. I had to fiddle a bit with the settings. I adjusted the movement level of the mouse and also checked for some controls. The graphics still look nice. I also had to find a way to take a screenshot from within Steam so that I could share you some more content from the game. You get to play also Episode One and Two with this free release.

My deeply rooted and deep relationship with Half-Life series’s games start right from the first game. I got to play it on a PC while it was also later ported to PS2. The first Half-Life was released in 1998. It had a true competitor that I got also into. The competitor was a game called Unreal. I remember buying a bundle of big box games that included at least the first game in Abe’s Oddysee series and Unreal. I actually right now don’t remember if it had any other games included. The box was partly yellow because it was a re-release, so, the box wouldn’t have been as valuable as the original one if I even had kept it even in a good condition.

A also bought Blue Shift and Gunman Chronicles. I still have the copy of Blue Shift in my gaming shelf. I am very sad to announce that I did sell my Gunman Chronicles big box game with manual included for about four euros a bit over ten years ago. Gunman Chronicles was a mod of the first Half-Life and Blue Shift was a sort of a spin off of Half-Life where you play as a regular security guard of Black Mesa facility. It was very popular to make a mod for Half-Life and there were many good ones available. I have to mention a mod called They Hunger.

I was in a bit of a hurry while writing this because the deal lasts for only about some days maybe two days or so. As you are in a hurry to get this game please don’t hurry while playing it. I think we have a very good game right here that can offer you a lot especially if you are into retro games for PC.

My First Hours With Black Ops 6

Posted on by Viljami

The newest game in Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6, has been released exactly one week ago. I have spent a total of four hours playing this first-person-shooter. I am playing it with Xbox Seiries X. It did take some time for the game to be delivered as I wanted a physical copy of the game. It would have been possible to order it in advance as I know lots of us gamers actrually did. I got this in a very cheap price of 55 euros with shipping included. I could have supported a smaller local game shop but instead I went for the lower price this time. I think I saved 20 euros.

After spending some hours playing I checked as I was curious about what other gamers think about the game what was the score for Black Ops 6 in Metacritic. It didn’t come as much of a surprise that it had an average score of 85 out of 100 at the moment that I checked. I am very glad that the game wasn’t a huge flop. We have seen some games that have not proved their worth in the eyes of a true video game player.

Call of Duty is a video game series that has already a strong legacy. The first Call of Duty was released in 2003. It was actually 2006 when I first played this game. I was in a moment in my life that playing some video games started to become again a reality for me. I played it with my original Xbox. I have always liked very much of the experience that Call of Duty offers. I soon also completed the first Call of Duty as I did spend many hours playing it and also continued to play Call of Duty 2.

The other day I had a short conversation about Call of Duty with a connection or should I say a friend of mine. I had shared a photo of every Call of Duty game that had been released. The pile was huge and consisted of 24, or was there even 25 games because there was also one PS Vita game, titles. My friend actually asked how many of these have I completed. I made some calculations and came to a conclusion that I have played through only six out of 24 CoD games. This gives me some edge to write about the game series while I have to say that I have some more games to play also.

What bad there is to say about Black Ops 6? I don’t have,  at least currently, anything to complain about. I think I am almost half way through the game since it takes, according to my information, about 8 hours to finish the game. I like the feel of my game pad. I couldn’t imagine playing actually any FPS with a mouse and a keyboard but I think that is possible. My experiences of this controlling method seem to be minor but I have to say that I have played at least the first CoD in this way.

The plot might not be the most interesting matter when it comes to this game. Of course like fans have come to know there are these political matters that really deepen the way that a soldier in a battle has to come think about his or her view of the world. I think these themes have become a bit stronger when it comes to Black Ops games in Call of Duty series. So, there is a plot but I don’t think that it would fit a game like this. It is a game where you shoot and move and also where the gameplay is filled with quick responses and constant action. That is everything I like about this game. I am continuing to play the game as soon as possible.

Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare

Posted on by Viljami

Some days ago I completed Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare. This game is actually from 2007. It is the fourth game in the series. It brought the player from WWII to some more recent activity. The weapons are, well, more modern. You get to feel some exciting and thrilling moments as nuclear missiles are about to be launched.

Somehow all this talk about warfare and it being modern is a bit tasteless. It just feels more comfortable, at least for me, to play in the scenery and weapons of the second worldwar instead of playing a game like Call of Duty 4. It isn’t a bad game. That’s not the case. I just prefer older warfare.

I played this game with my Xbox Series X. It is originally released for Xbox 360 (among other platforms). This is a great example how you can take an old game, that”s not yet type of a retro game, but still somewhat legendary, and utilize Xbox’s backwards compatibility. The game doesn’t cost a lot at the moment. Of course you can try to find a cheap used copy from your favorite flee market (just like I did when I bought this game).

The game doesn’t really stand out. It is of good quality just like you would expect a CoD game to be like. There is a Call of Duty game released almost every year. It’s kind of amazing that this has been going on for so long. The graphics have come a long way since 2007. Otherwise I don’t find a reason to complain.

HowLongToBeat tells that it takes seven hours to complete Call of Duty 4. That seems accurate. I think that is exactly how long it took for me to play through the campaing in “Regular” difficulty level. I have played a lot of Call of Duty. So, selecting “Casual” as my difficulty level was really not a question. There is actually a short test at the beginning of the game that gives you an advice if you are wondering about the matter of difficulty level.

Call of Duty games can be exeperienced with a keyboard and a mouse or with a game pad. Of course the first mentioned method of play is only an option if you have this game for PC. Of course you have to own a PC to experience the game like this. I didn’t consider a whole lot. I chose game pad and Xbox Series X just because it feels, today, more comfortable to me. It has been a while since I played a first person shooter with a mouse and a keyboard.

I might write, in the next blog post, about John Romero’s book, Doom Guy, that I have almost finished. The book has been very interesting to read. As Romero goes about his life you get to read also some tips and ideas of what was game development like back in 1990s and even later.

As you might have figured I like to play these Xbox 360 games with my Xbox Series X. It a bit sad that the backwards comaptibility is actually supported on so few titles. We are talking about 633 games out of all 2 155 games that were released. Also the support for original Xbox covers only 63 titles out of 998 released games. You can probably find some of these games also as digital copies.

I actually had some sort of an idea to buy PS5 since I heard that it was sold for only 500 euros. The version of PS5 that you can play only digital copies of games was sold for 400 euros. Since I already have the latest Xbox console along with the latest, at this moment, latest, Nintendo console, I figured that getting also PS5 would be somewhat pointless. And you have to remember that Switch 2, or whatever name the device will finally have, propably gets released during 2025.