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COVER feature
Alyx Vance
when they are beside you; you notice
when they are not.
A similar relationship also forms
between Shadow Of The Colossus’s
Wanda and his trusty horse, Agro. Just
like in ICO, the player can call to Agro
and he will come running, but he will
wander off freely otherwise. Agro is
a well-behaved steed, and the game
can get away with making him more
obedient as he is a tamed animal and
not a free-willed human. But he still
behaves convincingly, rearing when a
colossus stomps nearby or refusing
to leap over certain crevasses until
pushed. The times that you must
leave Agro behind, you really feel his
absence. For me, it is in the echoing
tap-tap of my feet compared to Agro’s
hearty gallop that really rubs it in.
A companion can still be convincing
and meaningful without such detailed
free-will, however. Alyx Vance in Half-
Life 2 accompanies the player for
much of the game. In Episodes One
and Two, you could even argue that
she is the main character and the
player’s character, Gordon Freeman, is
the companion.
Alyx’s actions are more scripted
than either Yorda or Agro. On every
playthrough she will follow a practically
identical path through the levels and
will say the same things at the same
times. Nonetheless, she is animated
and written in a way that is both
convincing and human. Instead of
just following the player, Alyx has her
own paths through the level, which
means she will often be leading—a
rare feat among gaming companions.
That these paths are scripted hardly
matter. Instead, they add to the game.
Alyx can be shown to engage with her
environment in a more convincing style.
Instead of awkwardly running through
a level like any old NPC, she will jump
over guardrails and climb fences like a
human being, making both her and the
world more believable.
Once the player cares for Alyx, her
most important role is in justifying
Gordon Freeman’s existence, and by
extension the player’s. As Gordon is
a silent protagonist, one of the main
criticisms levelled at Half-Life was that
he was practically a non-character—just
a gun floating on the monitor. Alyx
Vance changed this. By constantly
acknowledging Gordon, making eyecontact,
having discussions, remarking
on his actions, Alyx makes Gordon
more real. We still never see Gordon
ourselves, but we see that Alyx sees him.
The actions are miniscule, but they add
a significant level of detail that makes
Half-Life 2’s story and world more
accessible that Half-Life’s ever was.
Sadly, though, there are occasions
where Alyx tips the wrong way and
becomes a frustrating NPC instead of
a friendly companion. One particular
stage in Episode One frustrated me
immensely and shows how even the
best implemented companions can go
wrong and nearly break a game. You
are underground and trying to get to
the surface. In a pitch-black room, you
must fight swarms of zombies while
you wait for an elevator to arrive. The
player has no weapons save a torch
and the gravity gun, but Alyx has her
pistol. However, she will only shoot at
zombies that the player is pointing the
torch at or has lit flares nearby.
I couldn’t help but feel Alyx wasn’t
pulling her weight. Why couldn’t she
pick up a flare herself Why did I have
to stand dumbly with my torch pointed
at a zombie for her to shoot it Clearly,
Valve were trying to strengthen the
relationship between Alyx and Gordon
by forcing you to cooperate to survive,
but the result was the opposite. Alyx
couldn’t look after herself and she
was holding me back. Instead of being
a companion I could work with, she
became a bit of programming that
I had to second guess and exploit.
While her actions in the rest of the
game added so much, it was almost
all destroyed for me in this one stage.
Using companions truly is a precarious,
dangerous thing.
There are more interesting
companions—both good and bad—than
could be covered in any one article.
The more-or-less invisible companions
10 www.pixelhunt.com.au
JANUARY 2011