How is Steam, Really?

[Father Beast]

PC Gamer just gave HL2 game of the year,along with this quote:

"But as frustrating as Steam can be, we couldn't hold that against the gameplay experience...- it would be like panning The Incredibles because your movie theater's parking lot was so crowded."
-PC Gamer, Mar 2005, Page 35.

so tell me, those of you who have experience with it, is that how it really is?

and please, tell me if you have dial up, or something faster.

[Bkeela]

I had a painful experience downloading HL2 through Steam. The game came with my video card, so I persisted in getting it running.

Frankly, I found the game play of HL2 rather tedious. There were some fun elements, but I got seriously bored travelling through various buildings and abandoned city quarters. I lost interest and didn't bother finishing. Halo was much more fun, and it had a great story to boot. The story of HL2, from what I've seen, is rather bland.

If I had bought the retail game, and arrived home to find I had to access the net to get it running, I would have been seriously annoyed. Upon realising that I couldn't play the game without first connecting to the net, I would have returned it.

Steam is abysmal. I shall give up PC gaming when Steam like clients become common.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I for HL2 for X-mas, so past the release date nightmares.

That being said, steam was not too bad, but I tries to start everytime I boot and does so before the comp is ready giving me an error message.

The first time I tried to play the game, it took a while (10-15 minutes) to do all the registering and updates.

After that it is not too bad, but I do not like that it has to call home every time I play.

As far as gameplay is concerned, I had to quit a few days ago because it was too scary (wus), that is, the tension was too much. Plus I actually got killed, so that sealed it. I will go back to it when I get a chance. I intend to finish it.

I had a friend look at the walkthrough and he said I was about 40% done.

[BustaMike]

I have had exactly ZERO problems ever with steam.

EDIT - I have a really fast cable connection.

[Case]

Steam's a real pain in the neck. The automatic download 'feature' is a nightmare for people with dial-up connections - everytime you open Steam when you're online it automatically looks for updates and downloads them before you can do anything else. There's no way to opt out of this other then by shutting down Steam and hence HL2 (for instance, if you're perfectly happy with how HL2 is running you're still forced to download the patch).

In short, if I'd known that HL2 ran through such an appaling interface I wouldn't have bought the game.

[Jamski]

You can get a no-Steam crack which will allow you to play without a connection to the internet.

This is of course only legal if you possess a bought copy of the game and I would never endorse software piracy on 'poly

Usual sources gents.

-Jam

[BustaMike]

Also, you can simply block Steam from connecting to the internet at all with a good firewall (or just don't be online). Steam will start in offline mode, and you can play just fine.

[DrSpike]

Blocking is easy, and the way forward.

[Father Beast]

just to let you know, in response to that statement by PC Gamer I quoted in the first post, I wrote them and told them this:

No. It would be like panning The Incredibles because the security at the theatre made you fill out an application and show two forms of ID before letting you through the metal detector to see the show, and then has guys combing the theatre during the film to ask you for your ticket every 15 minutes.

And don't even get me started on how it is for people with dial up connections.

so, tell me, do I have it more or less correct?

to make your own reply, you can always write to letters@pcgamer.com

[Bkeela]

Spot on Father Beast!

[Jamski]

Amen!

[pg]

PC Gamer doesn't care. They know they are wrong. I'm glad I haven't bought that mag in years.

[Urban Ranger]

Three cheers for Father Beast.

Of course PC Gamer doesn't have the balls to say bad things about Steam.

[Urban Ranger]

The good news is Steam is getting a lot of flak, at least in Europe.

@ Eurocoms

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
The good news is Steam is getting a lot of flak, at least in Europe.

I don't have personal experience with Steam, but what I've heard is enough to keep me away...