by RetroJape on Wed May 07, 2008 9:23 am
Ravenholm was the first Half-Life stage I've played...on the demo at least. I learned all or most of the controls to the game while having head snatchers (or whatever the hell they're called) leaping at my face, but it worked out pretty well in the long run. The only scary parts about the level were those (for lack of knowing the actual name) roof jumping monsters as fast as the freaking wind who were too strong and quick to be killed by anything other than the shotgun. To me it got out of the realms of horror when I started throwing tables at zombies who moved too slow to even get out of the way, thus becoming trapped in the corner until they could break free, but by then I was already out of the decayed wood door and long gone.
After that it started it became rather annoying when I was running out of ammo and had to beat everything with my crowbar. I would give the legions of the slowest undead in the world a few smacks to the head, and moving back every time they'd swing at me with their claws, (also slow as anything and easy to see coming) and then give them another helping of my metal stick. This was fun when cornered but there seemed to be too many parts when five or so would come at me, and, being the considerate zombies that they were, agreed that it would be better to come at me one at a time instead of bum rushing me all at once.
I did die a few times throughout the level, though it was on accounts of my own curiosity and stupidity rather than the monsters themselves. I remember one moment when I was standing on a rooftop and wanted to get down, but instead of finding some stairs I blindly leap off and land on the roof of a destroyed car, which was also on fire, I believe. Another time I jumped out of a window, smashing it, which seemed like a cool movie style exit at the time but in retrospect probably wasn't a good idea, as it let Gordon become very good friends with the concrete below.
Overall though it was a fun level, long and enjoyable, and really got the atmosphere down. I wish I could have played the mines after that horrible waiting-for-the-elevator thing, but no. Is it my favorite level in a game though? Probably not, but I can't think of anything else to talk about right now.