Half-Life 2 on the Xbox 360
On the 360, Half-Life 2 looks like about what you’d get if you played it on a low to mid-range PC, complete with muddy textures and a sloppy framerate. The game’s story, particularly in its opening levels, remains as stirring as ever, though. And on the 360, load times are very brief—usually under ten seconds. I played through it enthusiastically until I got to the Ravenholm level, where I encountered this bug, mentioned on the official 360 backwards compatibility issues list:
Some users have experienced problems with objects floating through the air or falling through the floor, especially on the Highway 17 and Water Hazard areas.
Except it’s much worse than that. Basically, all physics-based objects have no impact on the game world. They can be picked up with the gravity gun, but when let go, they simply levitate in midair. And what’s worse, they clip right through walls and enemies. Ever try making it through Ravenholm without the gravity gun? It’s no picnic, let me tell you.
Restarting the level and playing it without saving eliminates the problem…briefly. Every time I tried, the bug reappeared well before the end of the level. Alas.
March 25th, 2006 at 11:49 am
See, it’s stuff like this that makes me *really* worry about PS3’s backward compatibility. I just don’t think they can do it.
And, like Microsoft, they’re going to be derided and slammed for promising and not delivering. Even with Microsoft’s cautious “here’s the list of games that work…kinda”, it disappoints. Expect the same with Sony, only worse.
Anyway, thanks for the report. I’ll play Half-life 2 on an Xbox in a year or two, and I know now not to try the Xbox 360…