HL2:Aftermath Sneak Peak

[f1r3b4ll]

Just got this on steam

http://www.steampowered.com/Steam/Marketing/April15.2005/img/AftermathSneakPeek.jpg

[MarcoPollo]

w00t! you get to fight stalkers? They have a weapon btw.

[Sufferin-rebel]

Damn u i was just about to post this thread. :P is it just me or do the combine eyes look different?

[MarcoPollo]

Haha 2nd AND 4th post, both spame ye olde spame alote

[DigiQ8]

is it me or the graphics looks weaker than HL2 ?

EDIT : when will VALVe learn to use AA while taking Screen Shots ?

[shadow6899]

well as we can see were gunna be making our way back down the citadel, probably trying to out run it from collapsing in my guess.

[ríomhaire]

I smell a hoax, and it would be depressing to fight stalkers.

[MarcoPollo]

no ^^ just funny cause you could beat them down.

[GonzoBabbleshit]

is it me or the graphics looks weaker than HL2 ?

EDIT : when will VALVe learn to use AA while taking Screen Shots ?

no. and they do (although at that resolution who'd notice!?), but when the size is shrunk it messes the edges up again

[Mechagodzilla]

is it just me or do the combine eyes look different?Yeah, they are. Up until now they were blue, yellow or chrome.

It's a strange co-incidence that these orange eyes look very similar to those of the Elite Metrocop model they show in RTB. :P

[MarcoPollo]

Omg if theres a hydra Im gonna faint!

[Sufferin-rebel]

if theres a Hydra im gonna have to get my brain working :P, Wait i could get Developer Console working?..

[Edcrab]

I'm more interested in the mysterious new NPC than that token Stalker (though I bet it'll be fun to encounter). We all know that Valve are very accommodating when it comes to the demands of their rabid fanbase (just look at HL2DM)... anyone whinged about the lack of Combine Commandos* recently? :p

*And yes, I'm aware this isn't their official name but I think it's a good term for some of the "other" elite infantry units not present in the game. Sue me!

[GonzoBabbleshit]

It's a strange co-incidence that these orange eyes look very similar to those of the Elite Metrocop model they show in RTB. :P

It's late so forgive me...but RTB?

[Edcrab]

RTB is Raising the Bar, the official "behind the scenes" book released with Valve's backing. Includes some interesting insights into the game's creation process and history, such as dropped or reconsidered portions.

[GonzoBabbleshit]

Oh yeah, of course!

I've been planning on buying it every payday for the past 3 months...

[TheAntipop]

So, this is the pic we were told to be a sneak peak of Aftermath a couple of days back?

mmmfh. I was expecting a better picture other than a Combine's eyes and a stalker. I was expecting... I dunno, a big picture with Gordon in and BOOM explosions and rawr AFTERMATH pow more explosions, big Citadel... etc. ):

[ríomhaire]

The eyes look like that of the Hellgast from that "Halo killer", yeah right!

[Loke]

The eyes look like that of the Hellgast from that "Halo killer", yeah right!

Please stop calling it a "Halo-Killer", it got a freaking name and it's KILLZONE. Learn to call it that.

[special-ed]

are those new combines or something?

[ríomhaire]

Please stop calling it a "Halo-Killer", it got a freaking name and it's KILLZONE. Learn to call it that.
My point is it isn't hence the "yeah right!". But Halo 2 is a Halo-killer as it is crap.

[hi_ted]

I wonder if there is a secret message behind the picture...

[Mechagodzilla]

Does anyone have a program that can amp up the brightness? I can just barely make out a circular symbol on the guy's arm

[Firefox]

I love how the image tells us absolutely nothing about the upcoming expansion, nor show us anyting new really.

Any one of us could have made that photo ingame. Truely depressing.

[Shadow][]

brightness higher

http://img43.echo.cx/img43/8022/newcombine1lk.jpg

[SFLUFAN]

I love how the image tells us absolutely nothing about the upcoming expansion, nor show us anyting new really.

Any one of us could have made that photo ingame. Truely depressing.

Oh please stop whining for heaven's sake. Good God, you didn't know anything about this until about a week or so ago so what's the big deal? Wouldn't you rather the surprised once you get it?

[MikeL15]

Oh please stop whining for heaven's sake. Good God, you didn't know anything about this until about a week or so ago so what's the big deal? Wouldn't you rather the surprised once you get it?
We wanna be surprised now! And you can go in the normal HL2 game and take that exact picture... exept the combines eyes are yellow... but that part is in the game already... you just need to look around...

[Mechagodzilla]

The picture actually tells us several things we didn't know earlier.

-There will be more playable levels in the citadel.
-The stalkers will be encountered for real this time. (This also means that it is extremely likely that we will see all the other enemies shown but not encountered, like the cremator, crab/mortar synths and icthyosaur.)
-There is a new type of overwatch soldier. (I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this type will be able to use the SMG secondary-fire grenade launcher.)

Also, the circular symbol on his arm is the "city 17" logo, as seen on the sides of the turrets and other combine paraphenalia. I'm pretty sure none of the other overwatch have that mark, so this guy is pretty much confirmed new.

[SFLUFAN]

Somehow I don't think we'll be fighting the stalkers, but that doesn't mean they won't be interacting with us.

[eatbugs]

How much is that book?

[fenner]

Looks like the soldier is wearing a black verson of the combine elite's armor.
Must be a super-elite!

[Marx! II]

The fella still retaining his hands and feet looks all leatherbound, lacking the city-type camo the others have. So new. Horjay.
And on another note, supposing we run across stalkers, and they cower or something?
I certainly would, in that state, and it offers a kind of mini philisophical debate.
Do I kill this creepy thing for fun, spare it, put it out of it's misery, grav gun it off the ledge here?

[MikeL15]

Screw the debate... just do all that at once!

Spare one of them... and just put the rest of them out of their misery, by grav gunning them off the ledge, which would kill them... see?

[Kitfox]

Anybody else dissapointed after reading the words "the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s adventures".

[UndeadScottsman]

Anybody else dissapointed after reading the words "the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s adventures".

Not at all. Matter of fact, I couldn't be more overjoyed. This means they can make several episodes of the various assignments the Gman hands out to Gordon and then when HL3 rolls around, they can once again radically change the dynamic between Gordon and the Gman.

I most certainly would not want HL3 to just be "Gordon's next job," but neither do I want HL2 be the only assignment Gordon gets.

[eatbugs]

Whatever ha[ppens, it is gonna be big to be able to shed light on so many questions

[Kitfox]

I want to see a Citizen persective that fight is the 7 hour war gets captured and is convertide to a combine. That would be unquestionably awesome. that.. or Adrian Shepard.

[Spoonoop]

Yeah the only thing making me think about this screenshot are the Combine Soldiers eyes, it's almost the first thing you notice when you look at it. But why would Valve want to make them look different is the question? Or maybe they don't look different it could just be a different kind of Combine.

[eatbugs]

Maybe you've spent a little to much time in crazy town.

[Samon]

Anybody else dissapointed after reading the words "the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s adventures".

Nope. Over the moon that i am playing as gordon.

[kupocake]

The picture actually tells us several things we didn't know earlier.

-There will be more playable levels in the citadel.
-The stalkers will be encountered for real this time. (This also means that it is extremely likely that we will see all the other enemies shown but not encountered, like the cremator, crab/mortar synths and icthyosaur.)
Nah, anyone who has read the PC Gamer article knew that already. Stalkers were captioned and it was said that you'd meet them when descending the Citadel


-There is a new type of overwatch soldier. (I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this type will be able to use the SMG secondary-fire grenade launcher.)

Also, the circular symbol on his arm is the "city 17" logo, as seen on the sides of the turrets and other combine paraphenalia. I'm pretty sure none of the other overwatch have that mark, so this guy is pretty much confirmed new.
I'd say he is as well. Just had a glance into RtB, and the two existing Combines: the normal soldier and the Nova Prospekt soldier have blue and yellow eyes respectively. Neither has those symbols on their uniforms either.

Anyway, this is hardly revelatory stuff. Most of the little this image confirms was confirmed in the PC Gamer article, and all we now know is that Valve have reskined the Soldier model, probably to give us a stealthy enemy- perhaps the power gets cut in the citadel at some point and these guys are dispatched to take you down?

[T.H.C.138]

beware of assassins...hopefully

[Marx! II]

Quick question for any who know,
are we ever going to talk to a stalker?
Sounds off, but considering the somewhat lesser quality of life implied by having your hands, feet and organs removed, one might consider that they would try to befriend the good Free Man. I would in such a case.
Additionally, it'd spare one the potential guilt of blowing the poor things away, unless guilt of that sort doesn't apply to you.
In that case, go to town by all means.

[kupocake]

hehe... I just looked at the PCGamer screenshots, and what do you know - the new reskined Soldier is in them too (fighting the Antlion). So in fact, this screenshot has revealed nothing - we've all had to over-analyse it to just ooze out information that we could have determined from the original article anyway....

[WacK]

Well.. if you have the console in hl2 you actually can.. fight the stalkers ( if you didn't know)

just type: npc_create npc_stalker
the stalker will attack you with some sort of red laser thing...

I've tried to kill the thing, but everytime i try hl2 crashes... so dont attack the thing, cuZ its a bit annoying...

[hi_ted]

Well.. if you have the console in hl2 you actually can.. fight the stalkers ( if you didn't know)

just type: npc_create npc_stalker
the stalker will attack you with some sort of red laser thing...

I've tried to kill the thing, but everytime i try hl2 crashes... so dont attack the thing, cuZ its a bit annoying...
I don't think it crashes if something else kills it.

[UndeadScottsman]

Well.. if you have the console in hl2 you actually can.. fight the stalkers ( if you didn't know)

just type: npc_create npc_stalker
the stalker will attack you with some sort of red laser thing...

I've tried to kill the thing, but everytime i try hl2 crashes... so dont attack the thing, cuZ its a bit annoying...

In in the Alpha the see the Stalkers were mean SOB's.. Even uglier than they are now. I'm kind of sad we didn't get to see them in their full glory.

[Loke]

Nope. Over the moon that i am playing as gordon.

Agreed.

[Angry Lawyer]

I don't think it crashes if something else kills it.

They have bugged physics collision groups - they do crash it, unless you recompile the Stalker with a new collision thingy.

-Angry Lawyer

[mr.pink]

:afro:

I adjusted the original pic: now you can see more details, look at the attachment

[halem111]

neone else think that the combine will be good in aftermath or more neutral. i mean if the city is being invaded then they will probably see the invaders the bigger threat and not bother with u. Also will the stalkers stalk the combine?

Also the new combine .......does neone think they may b an older version or newer version of the combine........i think they may be from another city after all this is number 17 we presume so theres 16 others and probably many more. It coudl be they were transferred and in a different city they may have different monsters to deal with so may have enhancements like for example the different colour eyes may represent some eye enhancement or summit
It would also make sense that the different badge wud represent a different city

[Nephtis]

@ Wack
That red laser thingy is a grenade.

[special-ed]

maybe we'll fight his /\ icon's model.

[DaleLewill]

How come nobody has thought of the fact that they show us a Combine Soldier? (Opposing Force...) ?

It could be that you somehow will play as a combine! (yes, yes, I now of the PCG:UK article "you will escape after destroying the citadel" but would it really be strange if VALVE tried to trick us?!)

However, I hope that we'll be fighting thoose stalkers...and that they will become friends after a while...they are afterall slaves that want to become free, and who'd be better at freeing them then "the Freeman!" (like a Vartaugant calls you on canals_01 if I remember correctly).

Anyway; the pic obviously doesn't show us that much because of VALVEs "secrets" (same reason that we don't know when HL2 occurs).

Hopefully there will be a couple of expansions before the major HL3 comes! (aka. the arrival of the messiah ;) )

[special-ed]

Hmm.. maybe Freeman is in disguise (why the orange eyes?) trying to escape that way.

[PvtRyan]

:afro:

I adjusted the original pic: now you can see more details, look at the attachment

Interesting, while his head is that of a regular soldier, his body armour is more like that of an elite.

[kupocake]

How come nobody has thought of the fact that they show us a Combine Soldier? (Opposing Force...) ?
Hmm.. maybe Freeman is in disguise (why the orange eyes?) trying to escape that way.
Half-Life is a first person game. Why would Valve show a third person view of the character you play? They've never done so before, I mean, there isn't even a third-person view of Gordon. Neither is this likely to be an NPC of that kind - it's too non-descript. For starters, it seems that the PC Gamer article features many of the same skined Combines. This boils down to a screenshot that reveals virtually nothing, so everyone is trying desperately to find some meaning in it. And how can you even suggest that you play as anyone but Gordon from a press release that explicitly says "Here is a shot from that, the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s adventures that we'll be releasing as an episode later this summer." Or wait, when they say Gordon Freeman, are they speaking in code and mean that we'll be playing as Adrian Shepherd? And when they say "Barney Calhoun", we'll be playing as Colonel Cubbage!
neone else think that the combine will be good in aftermath or more neutral. i mean if the city is being invaded then they will probably see the invaders the bigger threat and not bother with u. Also will the stalkers stalk the combine?
I think it's completely possible. To quote the PCG article:

"With the Citadel erupting, even the Metrocops are going to need to reach safety. Could this be a chance for Gordon to cooperate with the soldiers?"

Also, the screenshot to which this caption belongs has several soldiers standing near Alyx, all firing and pointing their guns at an Antlion guard. None of them seem particuarly bothered that she is there.

From a storyline perspective, it would be very interesting if the Overwatch soldiers were going over to the 'Human' side. Their purpose was to survive the Human race and be the new evolution - Because they are so powerful, perhaps on the side of Regular humanity, they can tip the balance so that humans can challenge the Combine in ways they couldn't during the 7 Hours war?

And for the record, other little hints PCGamer may be dropping:
- to escape the city Gordon and Alyx will need some for of transport - they could use a car, but apparently they would "be best served by a train"
- A blue beam in one screenshot is likened to the Physgun, the Gravity Gun that binds objects together
- The alliegence of the Stalkers is questionable....

[special-ed]

Why would valve release something on medium quality that shows nothing you haven't seen!?!?

[kupocake]

Why would valve release something on medium quality that shows nothing you haven't seen!?!?
Because that's what they've done?

[Ennui]

In in the Alpha the see the Stalkers were mean SOB's.. Even uglier than they are now. I'm kind of sad we didn't get to see them in their full glory.
by "alpha" I assume you mean "compiled source code that I illegally and immorally downloaded after it was stolen from valve, depriving them of years of hard work", right?

Aftermath looks cool. The image just gets me excited about fighting Stalkers. That's in a citadel, too... so I guess it doesn't start off with a massive citadel collapse sequence, unless we get to go to another city and another citadel... drool.

[T.H.C.138]

it was a LASER,not a grenade..and damn did that thing burn

[Samon]

Why would valve release something on medium quality that shows nothing you haven't seen!?!?

To show off the new troop, and the imply the stalker will be an enemy. not everyone has access to pc gamer you know.

[Marx! II]

At least we get a decent show of the citidel this time around.
Can't say I was too terribly pleased with the ride around in a prison cart, I wanted to storm that thing. Guns blazing, through the front door.

[Jandor]

Fighting Stalkers would be cool.
Fighting a new Overwatch soldier would be cool.
Fighting Cremators would be excellent.

[UndeadScottsman]

by "alpha" I assume you mean "compiled source code that I illegally and immorally downloaded after it was stolen from valve, depriving them of years of hard work", right?
No, I mean the compiled source code that I illegally obtained because I knew that whether I downloaded it or not it would have no effect on Valve because no matter what I'd be buying the god damned game anyway (And in fact went for the 90 dollar version), just like I bought Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue-Shift, Gunman Chronicles and I even hunted down a copy of HL:PS2 once I got a PS2, so excuse me if I was a bit tired of waiting and felt a little miffed over Valve's blatent disrespect of the fans over the September 30th BS and what I did hurt my gameplay experiance a lot more than it could have possible hurt Valve.

But like I said, they Stalkers were way cooler in the Alpha. However, I can see why they were lessed down to their current state; slaves with laser beam on their heads don't really make good slaves. :D

[Samon]

At least we get a decent show of the citidel this time around.
Can't say I was too terribly pleased with the ride around in a prison cart, I wanted to storm that thing. Guns blazing, through the front door.

Yeah I was kinda hoping for this massive assualt of citizens charging in withj RPGS :P

But now i think about it, they took the right route and took you in on your own. I felt liike i was doing all that stuff with the gravity gun alone, no combine soldier could stand up to your might :sniper:

[Marx! II]

Yeah I was kinda hoping for this massive assualt of citizens charging in withj RPGS :P

But now i think about it, they took the right route and took you in on your own. I felt liike i was doing all that stuff with the gravity gun alone, no combine soldier could stand up to your might :sniper:

Oh I agree, and tossing those rat bastards against the walls/the antimatter generators/eachother was about the only thing to satisfy my rage at being dolled about half the citidel in a prison casket. I mean come on, if I'm gonna pay Breen a visit, I want to at least knock in the doors with the corpse of his guardsmen, not be let in by that Mossman tramp.
But all that said, I'll be damned if it wasn't a pretty ride.
I can't stay mad at Valve...

[Samon]

Oh I agree, and tossing those rat bastards against the walls/the antimatter generators/eachother was about the only thing to satisfy my rage at being dolled about half the citidel in a prison casket. I mean come on, if I'm gonna pay Breen a visit, I want to at least knock in the doors with the corpse of his guardsmen, not be let in by that Mossman tramp.
But all that said, I'll be damned if it wasn't a pretty ride.
I can't stay mad at Valve...

Stop this, I don't have enough room to sig them all :laugh:

I thought it was good how it was, I mean yes - I did just want to charge in and hold him at grav gun point, but it wouldnt havemade much sense that way ;)

[Marx! II]

Really I'm the most disappointed because of all the rebel worshippers.
The vortigaunts think of you like a brother, those anarchists let you be "Sarge" all the time, You're god to the antlions, it all goes to your head. Then Wham! Nope, you're in Wally's office, he stands there looking all smuglike, and in the end Benedict Mossman is the one letting you out. I mean, come on.

[halo1873]

wow i thought it might be a little dif. :eek:

[MiccyNarc]

On the subject of storming the citadel:
Wouldn't have been really cool, but think about it:
It's 1000s of feet high, filled to the brim with Combine forces. An all out assault on the citadel would have never worked.
That being said, I feel like playing HL2 again. G'day!

[Cons Himself]

undeadscottsman, ive spawned stalkers in the retail release of hl2....and they still shoot red lasers thought seems to be at random (wont always attack). could u tell me why the stalkers were different in the alpha? appearance-wise?

[Gordon's Brother]

omg its a hoax!I remember going past that spot in hl2.All whoever did that just noclipped to that spot and put those eyes in with something like photoshop.And those eyes are on the back of the combine dudes head!

[MarcoPollo]

I love how the image tells us absolutely nothing about the upcoming expansion, nor show us anyting new really.

Any one of us could have made that photo ingame. Truely depressing.

Youre not very observant. The combine in that pic had yellow eyes....none of the combine in game had yellow eyes like that one.

[UndeadScottsman]

undeadscottsman, ive spawned stalkers in the retail release of hl2....and they still shoot red lasers thought seems to be at random (wont always attack). could u tell me why the stalkers were different in the alpha? appearance-wise?

They look more menacing than they do in the normal game. Rather than looking sad and pathetic, they look monsterous and deadly. (Stuff like sharp tools/claws strapped to their arms and being super-fast but even more malformed than they are in HL2)

[Cons Himself]

shit man, from what ive heard the leaked version seems to have had more interesting stuff than the final! the physgun and menacing monstrous stalkers....

i always felt that the stakers as a character were a bit pathetic...but i can see what valve were shooting for...the stalkers were definitely more shocking as pathetic helpless non-entities as we saw them on the citadel train ride...just the fact that the human race had fallen so low was extremely disturbing.

but at the same time i love scary things too so heres to hoping that both forms of stalker make their way into aftermath :)

[Marx! II]

The one you meet that screams at you from the restraining carrymajig solidified stalkers as scary even when helpless, at least in my book.

[kupocake]

Youre not very observant. The combine in that pic had yellow eyes....none of the combine in game had yellow eyes like that one.
Orange Eyes: the Nova Prospekt soldiers have Yellow :)

[NÜk]

I just looked at another pic in the PCG article (the antlion one) that shows the new Overwatch more clearly. The symbol on their armpad is the Combine elite symbol (Combine symbol with a skull instead of just a circle), the pads themselves are also the ribbed kind used by the elites, and their uniforms seem to have a regular, khaki toned camo pattern. The last point in particular leads me to believe that these Overwatch are a wasteland patrol type, usually stationed beyond the city limits to root out remote rebel camps and alien hives there, and brought into the city as reinforcements while you were fighting your way up the citidel.

[AIDisabled]

Youre not very observant. The combine in that pic had yellow eyes....none of the combine in game had yellow eyes like that one.

I'm not arguing that the image is a hoax, it's most probably a real image of Aftermath, but adding yellow eyes is a piece of cake with Photoshop--or even a simpler image editing application.

[Cons Himself]

The one you meet that screams at you from the restraining carrymajig solidified stalkers as scary even when helpless, at least in my book.

please edit this so it makes sense

[Gordon's Brother]

look at the combine soldier's knees... they look like their facing the the other way dont they...