Many terminals you come across are protected by holographic security systems that can be manipulated with virtual hands. Speaking of cracking things, VR adds tactile detail to the Combine’s strange technology. Here, you get a palpable sense of their weight and power, how those leathery limbs and twitching mandibles could crack a human skull like a combination safe. In previous Half-Life games, these critters were little more than crowbar fodder. This is shown in striking fashion by the headcrabs, Half-Life’s scuttling aliens who leap at your face. VR adds so much texture to City 17 and its motley inhabitants. What makes Alyx special is a more general symbiosis between the technology and the Half-Life universe. Much of this is familiar territory for VR applications, although Valve imbues each component with its trademark slick efficiency. Alongside this, Alyx has a remote device for hacking electrical systems, and several weapons that must all be handled, aimed, and reloaded using virtual hands.

A pair of gravity gloves enable her to move objects with a flick of the wrist, which can then be caught mid-air by pressing the controller’s grip buttons. To aid her mission, Alyx has several VR-enhanced tools at her disposal. Your father, Eli, has been abducted by Civil Protection, and you need to venture into the City’s alien-infested Quarantine Zone to rescue him.įending off a headcrab. The introduction also lets you dabble with a VR-unique control system, twiddling with radios and writing with felt-tip pens on windows before getting to the heart of the matter.

Performing reconnaissance for the rebels, Alyx stands atop a balcony overlooking the rooftops of City 17 – a sweeping vista of pastel-coloured townhouses sitting in the cobalt-blue shadow of the Combine’s towering citadel. The game opens with a breathtaking demonstration of VR’s ability to represent scale. In this prequel, Alyx is a 19-year-old rebel fighting a guerrilla war against a force of alien invaders known as the Combine. You also don’t play as the series protagonist Gordon Freeman, but as his Half-Life 2 companion Alyx Vance. Photograph: ValveĪlyx isn’t a direct continuation of Half-Life’s story, instead taking place five years before the events of Half-Life 2.

Half life 2 rebels