Played loads of this today, and finished the whole buggy section. It took longer than was probably necessary as I stopped at every junction, house and building to see what was inside – usually ammo I didn’t need and baddies I certainly didn’t need.
The buggy section, like the airboat bit before it, seemed to go on far too long. It was more fun than the airboat bit, and you actually felt like you were getting somewhere in it (whereas with the airboat you seemed to go round in circles a lot), but it would have been better with less driving.
It didn’t help that when I finally had to give up my buggy at the lighthouse, I was told to put it in the garage. So I did, and then died. No warning – just death. Bizarre.
I had to take down quite a few of those gunship crafts today as well. They’re a pain, as you can only kill them with rockets, but you can only carry three at once, fire one at any one time, and although you can “steer” the rocket, the gunships can shoot the rockets down. So they take quite a while to destroy as you have to constantly go looking for more ammo.
Bumped into one of the best baddies just before the railway bridge – a man with poison headcrabs all over him. The reason he’s great? He meows like a cat, and throws the headcrabs at you. Like the Mad Cat Woman from The Simpsons. Amazing.
After the buggy section, there was a long bit where you had to get across some sand, touching only the rocks, platforms and debris on the way. Touch the sand, and some antlions come out. There’s an achievement for doing it all without touching the floor too, so I made an effort. Managed it too, but didn’t get the achievement! Rubbish. Then had to kill an antlion queen (or something) and was then shown how to use the antlions on my side, and spent most of the trip into Nova Prospekt sending antlions out to do my bidding and kill the Combine soldiers. Aces.
Finally for today, I made it into Nova Prospekt, and it reminds me of Manhunt from the surroundings (it used to be a prison or mental hospital – or both). Had another antlion queen to defeat there too. My game save says about 8.5 hours now. I understand that there’s around 12 hours play in the game, and I suspect I’m a little behind schedule, but there’s not loads left now, I don’t think…
