HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 720P
HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 FULL
HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 ANDROID
HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 PC

On the positive side, Half-Life 2's brilliant game design still holds up. We also note occasional fleeting freezing issues, characterised by split-second repeat audio. The end result is a game that doesn't feel particularly good to control - even though the actual hardware end is well taken care of owing to the excellent Shield pad design. Most of the time the game runs north of 30fps, which sounds great in theory, but keep an eye on frame-time - here we see a frequent lurching between 16ms, 33ms and 50ms updates, producing a highly inconsistent, juddering effect.

HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 ANDROID

Half-Life 2 frame-rates are also disappointing, as you can see from the analysis video - in common with many Android games, Half-Life 2 runs completely unlocked, with anything from 20fps to 60fps action depending on the complexity of the scene. 'Inconsistent frame-rates and some brutal graphical compromises impact the quality of the mobile Half-Life 2 experience.' One more positive element we should point out is that audio quality - often pared back substantially on mobile games - is refreshingly decent on both Half-Life 2 and Portal. In a sense, we are reminded of how the game may have played on mid-level hardware back in 2004 when it was originally released.

HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 720P

Playing the game on a small, five-inch 720p Shield display reduces the disappointment of the image quality somewhat, as these issues are less visible on a smaller panel with high pixel density, but we did expect better from the hardware. There's no anti-aliasing whatsoever, resolution is pared back to 600p, texture filtering is pretty hideous with no anisotropic support, while the lack of shadows in some areas can be quite disconcerting.

HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 PC

Loading up Half-Life 2, we discover a game that is very much a stripped-down version of the PC original, bereft of the Lost Coast enhancements and running with the equivalent of what appear to be low settings.

HALF LIFE 2 ON PS4 FULL

This disables the in-built display, piping through video output via a mini-HDMI port, and ensuring that the full power of the chipset makes it through to the external display (mirroring both screens together causes bandwidth problems, and lowers frame-rates in demanding 3D games - something common to all tablets and smartphones we've tried this on).ДЇirst up, the bad news.

We bought both games as soon as they were released, running them on Shield's console mode. The games have been released with Nvidia Shield marketing in mind - the handheld having been slashed in price to a rather attractive $199 - but we strongly suspect the games will work on any Tegra 4-enabled device, though you may need a USB joypad. The classic Half-Life 2 arrived in 2004, with Portal arriving almost three years later, both receiving decent enough - if not exactly exceptional - ports onto the Xbox 360 in 2008, and in the here and now we should be expecting great things from these titles running on Tegra 4, which remains one of the most capable mobile processors on the market. This makes the arrival of Nvidia-sanctioned Android ports of Half-Life 2 and Portal - out now on Google Play for $9.99/ВЈ5.99 - of remarkable interest. In the meanwhile, processors like Tegra 4 and PowerVR Rogue inch ever closer to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 standard in terms of raw processing power. Just how far are we away from the day when we will be able to play games that reach last-gen console graphical quality on our mobile devices? From a technological standpoint, the arrival of chips like Tegra K1 and a fully featured Trine 2 port suggest that the time may be near.

Half life 2 on ps4