Can someone explain half-life to me?

[setting_son]

People may argue that HL2 was original and started a trend and that the reason it may seem bland by modern standards is to do with other games copying it but I disagree.

I bought it on release and it bored me then, still does now. The puzzles didn't strike me as clever or amusing so much as they seemed contrived and existing soley to show off the physics engine.

That said, I think Halo 2 & 3 are overrated too.


On the other hand, the original Half Life and Halo were a joy to play and still are.

Edit: If anyone wants to accuse me of being some kind of Zero Punctuation apologist, the review I wrote several years ago on release of HL2 is a matter of public record and I'd be happy to direct you to it.

 

[Iskenator67]

Half-Life is amazing because unlike other shooters, it's not acting like Halo.

 

[PauL o_O]

Ok, theres a 100% chance i will get yelled at here, but its worth a shot. It isnt too hard to notice here that the forums on this entire website are huge half life fans, I seriously want to know why? I have played both half life 1 and 2 (not newer episodes) and to me, they were both very generic games, a basic fps in my eyes with no extreme redeeming qualities. I didnt notice 1 thing that felt revolutionary about this game, it was bland. The same goes for portal. Dont get me wrong, the game was extremely fun for what it was worth, and i enjoyed it fully. But it was extremely short, extremely easy, and had a a boring atmosphere. However, here, both are worshipped as greatest games ever, I definately am missing something.

So in general, im asking the escapist, what makes both of these games so special? Keep in mind, Im not saying either game is bad, just think they are overrated here. (dont wanna start any fights on my first post XD)

If you've ever had to design a level, or even write a decent story, you'd realize just how amazing this game truly is. Seriously, the physics engine in that game makes me SO happy.

-Did you play it on xbox or computer?

 

[PauL o_O]

The way the story was told. The way that the characters had depth.

When *SPOILERS!!!* Alex "died", I almost cried.

 

[PauL o_O]

Before she was revived.

 

[LordCraigus]

I only got round to playing HL2 and the Episodes earlier this year, I had the game for about a year or so but wasn't entirely sure I really wanted to play it for quite a while, hence why I'd done the Route Kanal chapter about 3 seperate times before I finally carried on with the game.
Personally I'm very glad I did play them. The characters, environments and story just felt more real and believable than in probably any other game I've played. It was not only very fun but also a genuinely interesting game in every aspect, I think it's one of those rare pieces of media that has healthy doses of both style and substance. In the end it's undoubtedly one of the best games I've played and there's no other FPS that I can compare it to.

As for regular old Half-Life, I managed to get about a third of the way through it last year before I stopped for some reason (probably PC problems). Of what I played it was a fine game and I did notice the innovations it made to genre when compared to other games of the time it was released but all in all I'm sort of ashamed to say the game was probably just too old to really 'blow me away'. I will definitely try and replay and eventually complete it, it's just a matter of when really.

 

[Koeryn]

You're completely correct.

They're not that great at all, don't believe the hype. Its just standard FPS in the same vein as Halo.

Now I'm fine with you not liking it, but never EVER say its in the same vein as Halo. What have they got in common BESIDES them being an FPS?

Evil alien empires! Duh! Oh, and bullets! And things that go boom. And the ability to be killed by random physics objects in the correct situation (bug).

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

It wasn't just an FPS it was an Adventure

Your Gordan Freeman bring about the salvation of humanity in a fantasy universe with real characters.

The clever puzzles, atmosphere, and great FPS mechanics are there, but it wouldn't matter if you weren't Gordan Freeman.

 

[rated pg]

The 1st was excellent for its time.

The 2nd was good but, like Halo 1, not flawed which instantly made it amazing, especially because of the potential of the Source engine. But certainly it was very aggressively linear (there was usually one and ONLY ONE path you could go and the rest were just locked doors or collapsed staircases or something).

Portal is good because it's original (a FPS puzzle game), very well written and funny.

 

[Johnmw]

I would question your idea of boring atmosphere though, do you like games that are more "rollercoaster"?

well, i was referring to portal when i said that, and i do realize it would be hard to pull that game off somewhere else, it was kinda boring to see the same white-grey-black walls of that place the whole time (yes there was the end, but it wasnt much)

and by the looks of it, most everyone is telling me its all about the story, i guess thats my own fault

Mate, If i can warn you about the ONE glaring problem with the Escapist community is their ability to convince you that not liking Half Life is YOUR fault. A gaming experience cant be improved, for yourslef ,retrospectively by someone else telling you that it was good : person 1 " that film was shit" person 2 "no it wasnt, it was a Tarantino, he's a genius with a bajillion fans world wide, It was a work of genius and your to dumb to have seen it" person one: "oh your right it wasnt". HL/Tarantino may indeed be inspred works of genius but they are both about enjoyment, if you didnt enjoy them then thats that.

All this comes from someone who loved half life, played it when it was first released as the first game on a new computer. HL 1 was revolutionary at the time but as many revolutionary things do it spawned Cliches. Can't say i really got on with HL2 the physics were fun, but even a team of my best mates trying to convince me it was god incarnate could make me enjoy it as much as them.
Stick to your guns whilst repecting others weaponary. Have fun here!

 

[maffro]

I have mixed opinions on Half Life. I remember playing the origional when I was just little, I LOVED the introduction. I didn't really understand games, but I realised it was something different and special. And I killed a headcrab in a microwave. =7D

I see things like L4D and Portal and recognise them to be damned amazing. I introduced a friend to Portal and when he was trying (and failing) to kill Glados at the end even he mentioned he thought it must be the best game ever =7P. All down to the polish that Valve put into their games.

Half Life 2 changes my mind slightly. There are some things that stun me. The introduction to the gravity gun, parts of the story, that battle in the house with Raptors (that always JUST turns out alright), a believable sidekick.

Yet the gameplay sometimes lets me down. Killing a Combine soldier feels unsatisfying, the vehicle sections feel clunky, and the puzzles often feel SO fortunately placed that I can't help but know I'm playing a game.

I think the presentation is fantastic, and the storytelling immerses you, however the gameplay lets me down in comparision to more recent games such as Halo. I look forward to the release of Episode 3. I may not find the gunfights satisfying, but the chance to kill one of those... uh... "massive baby things that do nasty things to you at the end of the game" is going to feel amazing.

 

[Zand88]

Effective half-life denotes the halving of radioactive material in a living organism by means of radioactive decay and biological excretion. A decay constant is needed to calculate the half-life. It is the sum of the biological and physical decay constants, as in the formula:

With the decay constant it is possible to calculate the effective half-life using the formula:

The biological decay constant is often approximated as it is more difficult to accurately determine than the physical decay constant.

Well played.

 

[ideitbawx]

there was something wrong with my copy of the game. one of the items i needed to progress through the first level (i think it was some bio-suit) WASN'T THERE, so i didn't even get to see any action. i just wandered the halls wondering what the fuck to do.

it was a long time ago, i don't remember if it was a bootleg or not. with an error that huge, it probably was.

so that's why i never got into the half-life series, but i know a lot of people who praise it

 

[thom_cat_]

At the time it was revolutionary, nothing else like it! I played Half-Life 2 for the first time on Orange Box, I had always heard about it so I figured I would get it. It was more than I expected, great story, good levels, cool guns, good characters. I have played many FPS in my life and Half-Life just takes the cake.

I'd say Portal takes the cake.
See what I did there?

THE CAKE IS A LIE DAMMIT.

Also when it was released people would have cummed over the HL2 physics... the table push in the beta trailer would have had many JIZZ IN MA PANTS across the world.

 

[ideitbawx]

Effective half-life denotes the halving of radioactive material in a living organism by means of radioactive decay and biological excretion. A decay constant is needed to calculate the half-life. It is the sum of the biological and physical decay constants, as in the formula:

With the decay constant it is possible to calculate the effective half-life using the formula:

The biological decay constant is often approximated as it is more difficult to accurately determine than the physical decay constant.

WTF does that have to do with the topic?

He sarcasticly answered the question of the topic title, having no relevence to my opening paragraph

Damn I suck at picking up sarcasm

He was answering a possible question, this is what the phrase half-life really means, in the nuclear physics circle. He then gave equations to demonstrate how half-life could mathmatically be figured out.

people actually needed that explained? god in heaven ... and i thought my parents were the only ones that didn't get jokes

 

[iJosh]

I found this a while ago.

This will explain everything in 60 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8