![]() I was holding two power cells at one point and could get it to consistently trigger a crash when walking around Jeff with both of them in my hands. ![]() My only issue with Jeff's level is that the game really seemed to like to crash during it. It's textbook Half Life and one of the best things about the game. They introduce a mechanic, implement on the mechanic, and then have you interact with it in increasingly complex and harrowing ways. Jeff is one of the best and most "Valve" parts of the game. I didn't find Jeff too terrifying, but I liked what Valve did with him functionally. There is something about putting your head up into a confined space like that that works really well in VR.Ĭlick to shrink.I watched him do this from the corner and had a laugh. You can actually put your head up in there in two spots and see it moving around up there. I really enjoyed that section where the headcrab knocks the bottle over enraging Jeff and scurries off into the air ducts. The moment in the elevator where you're forced to slowly reach towards that button is the kind of terrifying suspense other games dream of being able to accomplish. Putting that thing on and looking through those narrow eye holes while Jeff was lurking nearby made it all the more terrifying. And not only can you wear masks, but you can actually cover your mouth with your hands to prevent yourself from coughing! For the first few minutes of this chapter I was carrying around a Tiger mask. This is also when covering your mouth really came into play. Having to scavenge quietly, and the many opportunities for a bottle to come rolling out of a cabinet you just opened for you to just barely grab it as it's falling is just fantastic. The setting itself - a vodka distillery is perfect. I loved a lot of things about this chapter. The way this realization plays out is masterful. They talked briefly about the path finding system they created for the locomotion, because A* was too computationally intensive, but I hope they also talk about sound propagation and how Jeff's path finding system works.Īll that said, hands down, Jeff was one of the most memorable moments in any game I've ever played. I hope valve goes into a deep dive on all the path finding systems they used in Half Life Alyx. Unlike the Alien in Alien Isolation, Jeff doesn't have a special sense to keep around you at all times. Jeff is the same, so long as you don't outright touch him, and cover your mouth around him, he's pretty much completely harmless, screeching aside. ![]() It almost feels like how bullet hell shmups design around their complex patterns: very tiny, very generous hit boxes despite an entire screen full of chaos, like a "cheat" almost. What makes it all work so well is a combination of Jeff actually being a push over to deal with, but everything the game is showing you saying the opposite. ![]() The game pulls this same trick where it rises the tension then lowers it to zero, only to force the player to rise the tension back up to 100% willing, a couple of different times, and each time it works. part of the reason the encounter with Jeff is so great is because of the design of his level - the game frequently tasks you with doing things to eliminate jeff as a problem, like locking him inside the freezer, only to moments later inform you that you have to release jeff to continue. ![]() I've played other games with monsters that stalk you before, notably things like Metroid Fusion and Resident Evil 3, but Jeff is one of the very best examples of this kind of monster I've seen. The spoiler topic is more centered around story discussions, and the OT topic isn't really appropriate to discuss Jeff because the surprise of the chapter is a big part of why it's so great, hence the need for a dedicated topic. I want to talk specifically about Jeff in Half Life Alyx, because that is specifically a bit of gameplay design that I felt was completely brilliant. ![]()
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