Can someone please tell me why Half-Life 2 has such appeal?

[maddawg IAJI]

It's made by Valve,that alone makes it popular, especially here of all places.

Because the story isnt as shallow as "Your a soldier, heres a gun, go commit possible war crimes"

As opposed to "You're some mute in a suit, here's a crowbar, go kill aliens?"

Actually, the first Half-Life placed you in a strange predictiment. Gordon only grabs the Crowbar as a mean of self-defense. Its a practical weapon for an every day man. Though it is actually a very useless weapon in most cases. That said, weren't in a mute in a suit in most Call of Dutys? And Noble 6 and John-117 don't talk a lot themselves.

 

[Woodsey]

It has great writing; the characters feel real; it has plot whilst leaving things for you to work out for yourself; it has mysteries as cock-teasing as anything you'd find on Lost; the pacing is near perfect (except for the vehicle sections, they do go on too long), and the it still holds up today visually.

The shooting feels solid and the weapons let you be mildly clever about how you approach combat, and the physics really are some of the best that a developer has managed.

Best implementation of a silent protagonist that I've seen, too.

It's all down to OPINION, just like I'm of the opinion that Episode 2 is better then HL2, whilst a lot of other prefer HL2. Kind of bored of all these "explain it to me!" threads/posts.

I don't like BioShock, but I can also provide reasons what I think is wrong with it and I can see the things people did like, even if I don't like them myself.

 

[baddude1337]

It's a pretty fun shooter, definitely something different to the billions of military shooters out there. I wouldn't say its amazing, I think people got sucked into the hype so much they thought the game was amazing that they actually believed it even when the game was meh.

Personally, I think the first one is a much better game. In fact, my favorite is Opposing Force.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

You ever heard the saying "good for its time"? Half Life came out over five years ago.

I still suggest anyone to buy the game for its mods. Insurgency, Eternal Silence, Zombie Panic Source, Dystopia, Zombie Master, Fortress Forever, Synergy, WWI Source, Resistance & Liberation, SMOD series... I could go on all day.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Seriously, what is the point of this thread? You don't like something that's popular. Why does this have to be a thing. It'd be like someone saying "Uh, why is chocolate so popular? I mean, everyone is just a choco fan boi who says ITS CHOCOLATE DUH! or It's made by Belgians!"

You have a different viewpoint. Great. Do you really want us to try to change your mind?

 

[Serenegoose]

One of the things I like most about it is the smoothness of the shooter mechanics - the way it constantly feels like going forward. Everything is basically perfectly paced. You always have enough ammo, if you push on there's always enough medkits, but at the same time you're not playing in infinite health/ammo mode, there's still a challenge to keep up the momentum you get and keep pushing. It certainly helps that I really like the fluidity of the execution. I love the way that it tells the story as you play rather than in cutscenes, and that you're always on your way to somewhere new, and I really dig the sounds/soundtrack. Basically, it's not all in the originality of what it does, but the polish and expertise in which it does it.

 

[Tharwen]

I really like the gameplay. I shall now attempt to describe why:

Y'know in old FPSs, where there was no sprinting, no camera wobbling, and every bullet fired straight? Well Half-Life 2 is a lot like that. When you shoot things, it feels like you shot it properly, and not like the gun just happened to wobble towards the target at the right time. Few things feel as awesome as a 180-spin-magnum-combine-headshot, and Half-Life 2 delivers on that aspect.

The more vague reason is that it has a nice atmosphere.

 

[The Bucket]

I am not a big fan of the Half-Life series and I think this is mostly because I played Half-Life 1 way too late. I also hate jumping puzzles in FPSs. The fact that Half-Life 1 had jumping puzzles and was dated looking made me uninterested. However, I did play Half-Life 2 fairly close to its release day and want to ask this question: What's the lasting appeal of this game? As a shooter it's alright, but to me the dicking around while not shooting ruins it. Not that I need guns blazing 24/7, I really enjoyed Amnesia for example, but I just don't get why people are so excited for Episode 3 when Episode 0 left me no reason to keep following the story.

If anyone can tell me what they liked about it that made it different from other games of the genre, then please let me know. Likewise, if you just love Valve that's a fair answer too.

i agree with you. its overhyped to the max. i love the characters but the gameplay... well after killing the same enemy in the same way for the thousandth time after doing the same physics puzzle with the seesaw and boxes id had enough.

I've really never liked the term "overhyped", it implies that a bunch of people are confused about how much they like something. You kill most things in shooters in similar ways, and a lot of people think the box puzzles break things up nicely. Isnt it more likely that people like different things, instead of its popularity being the work of some Valva Fanboy Shadow Group.

allow me to rebuttle your point with "apparently they're yugi-licious"

Screw the rebuttals, I have... something or other that makes me right!

 

[HappyDD]

First of all, I gotta give huge props to the people that took the time to write down a response that wasn't something like "This thread again? Damn, I am always reading this thread and yet for some reason I am compelled to answer it again!"

There are some great responses in here and the trite little response of "It's called opinions" or "Some like it, you don't" really don't explain the massive phenomenon of love for HL2, since opinions generally shake down to taste and a massive following is not explained by many people having the same taste. I think that Xanadu nails it:

For its time, it was absolutely outstanding, but the question is likely what makes it hold up. This is harder to nail down. Essentially, what it is is polished. Everything that it does, everything that it tries to do, is done just right. You may not like the dicking around, but it is developing pacing and atmosphere. Perhaps that kind of pacing and atmosphere is not your cup of tea, but Half Life is doing it near perfectly. If you hate Liver, and the best chef in the world cooks you liver, you're still not going to like it just because it is well prepared.

I never really said I hated Half-Life 2, I just didn't see why legions of fans are all about it. For some mental reason I really like the Band of Brothers games (don't ask why), but I totally know that it is a taste thing on my part. When I tell people I like Bioshock there is no surprise since that game was amazing on many levels (but not without its problems.) The "special place in my heart" argument also works. I thought there was something I was truly missing but it honestly seems that I just missed the boat on it by a year and didn't have the buy-in.

Anyway, apologies if this thread was redundant, and I don't want to give the Half-Life 2 haters a sense that I too hate the game. I really wanted the discussion to be informative and I wasn't disappointed. Thanks for the great responses!

 

[Vault101]

I am not a big fan of the Half-Life series and I think this is mostly because I played Half-Life 1 way too late. I also hate jumping puzzles in FPSs. The fact that Half-Life 1 had jumping puzzles and was dated looking made me uninterested. However, I did play Half-Life 2 fairly close to its release day and want to ask this question: What's the lasting appeal of this game? As a shooter it's alright, but to me the dicking around while not shooting ruins it. Not that I need guns blazing 24/7, I really enjoyed Amnesia for example, but I just don't get why people are so excited for Episode 3 when Episode 0 left me no reason to keep following the story.

If anyone can tell me what they liked about it that made it different from other games of the genre, then please let me know. Likewise, if you just love Valve that's a fair answer too.

if you need to be told why half life 2 is awsome then you probably don't like it, end of story

 

[HappyDD]

I am not a big fan of the Half-Life series and I think this is mostly because I played Half-Life 1 way too late. I also hate jumping puzzles in FPSs. The fact that Half-Life 1 had jumping puzzles and was dated looking made me uninterested. However, I did play Half-Life 2 fairly close to its release day and want to ask this question: What's the lasting appeal of this game? As a shooter it's alright, but to me the dicking around while not shooting ruins it. Not that I need guns blazing 24/7, I really enjoyed Amnesia for example, but I just don't get why people are so excited for Episode 3 when Episode 0 left me no reason to keep following the story.

If anyone can tell me what they liked about it that made it different from other games of the genre, then please let me know. Likewise, if you just love Valve that's a fair answer too.

if you need to be told why half life 2 is awsome then you probably don't like it, end of story

"monorail"

 

[unoleian]

I played it because it was fun. It may be fairly standard shooter fare, but it's extremely well-designed and well-paced.

And strider battles are a blast. There's very few sounds that make me as frantic as the charge-up of that wall-melting cannon.

 

[blankedboy]

Well I don't see what's so bad about the 'dicking around without guns' parts, those were just as good as the shootout scenes for me. It just didn't do stuff wrong.

 

[Censorme]

It's a journey to test your worth.

I never went to the internet for help even ONCE.
I escaped from the combine.
I overcame every obstacle, puzzle, and head-crab they threw at me.

I....SURVIVED....Being Gordan Freeman, (Just like many others)

It was glorious.

 

[Zantos]

Honestly, the FPS controls I found wonky myself. But I like the characters and the environments. Also, the main character is a freakin physicist! A physicist!
Other than that though, I found it good, but not fantastic. Although the gravity gun was much fun.
Also, it was really the first game to story tell the way it did with first-person and no cut-scenes... I could be wrong, but at the very least it was the first to do it well.

I was told I'd love the Half life series "becuase you're a physicist and stuff". Incidentally all my physics background led me to is the annoyance that the symbol lambda represents the decay constant, not the half life in real physics.

On topic, I found it quite dull and struggled to get into the game, it's ok but i still fail to see why it seems to be hyped as the greatest game ever made by a lot of people i know.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Its the ultimate nerd fantasy.

A nerdy, antisocial scientist, normally a complete loser, becomes the hero of a world that never asked him for it. He gets the love and attention of everyone, and even gets a hot girl to notice him while he saves the world, even when wearing glasses.

See, there's another way of looking at it.

It's the ultimate nerd nightmare.

Guy finally gets out of stasis, where he's been trapped because something went wrong at work, gets pushed around, finally rescued by a guy (still doesn't get him that beer) who gives him a metal bar and tells him to cross a deadly area. Then he gets dropped, shoved, thrown, slobbered on, teleported and generally pissed about on while some fool's daughter, who's far too young for him to take seriously, keeps showing off about all they've achieved since he's been gone, and they're calling him the Messiah when he just wants a rest.

And when he's finally done it, the boss comes in and tells him he needs to do overtime.

All goes to show you how good the writing is. Many different ways of taking it.

 

[floppylobster]

If anyone can tell me what they liked about it that made it different from other games of the genre, then please let me know. Likewise, if you just love Valve that's a fair answer too.

- I played Half-Life when it came out and hated it.
- I played Half-Life 2 when it came and was hating it so stopped playing half way through the hover-craft section.
- I played Half-Life Episode 2 when it came out and it is one of the best games I have ever played.

I went back and played the rest of Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 and I still don't like them. But you should really play Half-Life 2: Episode 2, it's really good and fixes all the problems of the earlier games. It has just enough story, clear goals, good level design, great set-pieces, atmosphere, excitement, doesn't drag on too long, and just enough freedom so you don't feel forced down certain paths. If Episode 3 is any bit as good as Episode 2 then I can't wait. You don't need the story from the earlier games to enjoy it so just play it.

 

[Drentics]

I think it's partly because of the way the it sets up visual cues to hint at plot points and explain game mechanics without any actual cutscenes or discourse or tutorial levels that HL2 works in a memorable sort of way.

The decent writing, sound design, and iconic baddies don't hurt the game either.