Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Half-Life 2/Archive 1

Half-Life 2

Self-nomination and also re-nom. Originally submitted by me back in June of this year, the article has come a long way, and many changes have been made to fix it up. A very interesting and notable computer game. Thunderbrand 02:46, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Support, although I have made considerable contributions to this article, I do feel the article is comprehensive and a good all-around article. For whatever it is worth. K1Bond007 06:33, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Object the lead has to be double the current size. =Nichalp «Talk»= 12:31, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

How is it now? I think its summarized a bit better. Thunderbrand 14:25, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well done. =Nichalp «Talk»= 17:49, 12 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Object: Overuse of screenshots. The images Image:Breen1HL2.jpg, Image:Antlions1HL2.jpg, Image:City17HL2.jpg, and Image:ManhacksHL2.jpg are not discussed in the article, and should probably be removed. --Carnildo 19:47, 13 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- Actually the first three are discussed, the last one isn't though (at least specifically, it is in a section talking about the character - allies & enemies in the game. I think that's fair enough) Definitely not overuse and the screenshots add greatly to the article. K1Bond007 19:56, 13 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - Agree with K1Bond007. The screenshots help greatly and aren't overused. Thunderbrand 20:29, 13 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  - Of the four, Image:Breen1HL2.jpg doesn't appear show anything significant about the game. Image:Antlions1HL2.jpg, Image:City17HL2.jpg, and Image:ManhacksHL2.jpg are all used to illustrate combat, so all but one of them should be removed. --Carnildo 05:24, 15 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Breen1HL2.jpg shows a signifcant part of the storyline. Thunderbrand 16:38, 15 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid I disagree, yet again. It is an important moment in the game and is illustrated in the plot summary. There's absolutely no reason to remove it. K1Bond007 21:00, 15 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Object—No mention of platforms: Mac and Windows, when/if? No mention of releases in countries other than what I presume is the US, as though that's the only country in the world. Prose not 'compeling, even brilliant'. Things like:

'1998's'

'leaked TO the internet'? This is not the right preposition. Upper-case I for Internet, still.

'advancements'—hello?

'during the course of conducting an experiment'—which four words are redundant here?

dot after 'Dr' is now very old-fashioned.

'Two distinctive elements from the original Half-Life are preserved:

Freeman is a silent protagonist

The entire game is viewed through Freeman's eyes (i.e. there are no cut scenes)'—comma after 'e,g.', and format this as the single sentence that you apparently intended it to be.

The whole text needs a thorough edit. Tony 14:30, 14 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think I addressed most of your concerns. However, you need to clarify a couple so I know what is wrong:

What is wrong with using "1998's"?

"advancements" - same as above. "hello?" doesn't give me much to go by. Thunderbrand 15:25, 14 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

1998s doesn't need an apostrophe and advancements is a confused word that means the same as the more simple - advances (grammatically it doesn't seem correct, but I can't work out why). In general the text has improved since my last read though, but it feels odd being dropped straight into the plot, neutral.--nixie 23:33, 14 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Support The article does a good job of summing up both the game, its development, and the issues surrounding it. InvictaHOG 23:54, 14 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Object First there are several minor issues, the Plot gets way too detailed in some places (ex: there is no reason to mention a detail like "breifly transporting Gordon to the office of Doctor Breen twice"). Also in Narration the use of "it" when describing speculation is inappropriate, and should be rewritten. (Ex. "In Half-Life it could be said" What is "it"?, who is saying "it"?) The article is also missing a Reception and awards section. Except for a brief mention in the intro, the article does not describe how the game was recieved and if the game won any awards. (Didn't Half-Life 2 win a Game Developer's Choice Award?) MechBrowman 03:24, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't get that detailed, and when it does, it is necessary. When Gordon gets transported to Dr. Breen's office in the beginning, it basically sets off the whole game. The Combine, and even Breen, don't even know of his existence in the city up until that point, hence it is a major part of the story, which is why the screenshot is included. Thunderbrand 17:08, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Except that isn't necessary at all to the summary. Of course that is important to make the story make sense, but only when your playing it. When you are summarizing the game keep it simple. Remove some of the detail and just say something similar to "Alerted to Gordan's presence, Breen sends the combine after him." MechBrowman 18:42, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Object There's no information about the leak at all. Nothing about the hacker who stole the entire source code then released it on the net. There's nothing about the extended release dates, the stories cooked up by Valve or any of the actual interesting prose regarding its development at all. Nothing about its fan support either. James Pinnell 09:15, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you read the lead paragraph, it mentions the source code leak, which directs you to the Half-Life 2 controversies and criticisms page. The Half-Life 2 page was getting to large and most of the stuff was moved to that page, as well as others. Thunderbrand 17:08, 16 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]