explain half life 2s success

[niaboc]

a friend recently gifted me a copy of half life 2. this is great because i havent played it for years, and when i did i didn't think it was that amazing.

I actually remember it as one of the million fps games, quite bland and boring. but wow, do reviews tell another story. Obviously a good game is a work of art, and, as such different people will come away with different opinions, but its always difficult to understand why (what one perceives as) a lacklustre game gets rave reviews.

thanks

 

[Azure-Supernova]

For fuck sake...
I know your new here but for the love of your god Use the Search Bar.
I also thought it was a mediocre turd, but that doesnt stop Valve fanboys branding it the 2nd coming of christ.

This. Goodnight.

 

[rockingnic]

It's probably mostly due to it's physics engine, everything else, another game beats it.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

yes

That... That's wonderful. Thanks for that.


OT: Perhaps it's just me here, but the story worked absolute wonders for me.
At the time, Half Life was a game that took its story, and (to a lesser extent) its gameplay, to a different level to what the other games did.
It attempted something new. Nothing absolutely spectacular in originality, no, but still moreso than what other mainstream games seemed to be attempting at the time.

Really, though. Like you said, everyone will inevitably have different opinions.
Just because everyone likes a game, doesn't mean you will too. And by the same token, just because everyone hates or hasn't heard of a game, doesn't mean you won't love it yourself.

If you don't like it, that's fine. That's simply your opinion. ^_^

 

[Signa]

I remember my first impressions were really strong when I booted HL2 up for the first time. I ended up playing for several hours and was blown away at how awesome it was. This was a sharp contrast to Doom 3 which had released recently, and I could only play it for a half hour before quitting and not looking back.

In the end though, I got to the buggy chapter in HL2, and didn't play it again for years. The game really ran out of steam at that point and I never felt that it got it back after that point in the game. I ended up playing Doom 3 last year, and with using a flashlight mod, I ran through the game and its expansion without losing interest like I did with HL2.

HL2 is a good game, but I think it's gotten too much praise because the pacing and player involvement just didn't hook me like HL1 did. What deserves the praise is the Source engine and its versatility. HL2 was the start of some excellent games like L4D and Portal, and I will give it props for that.

 

[Chicago Ted]

I personally love the story. While the gameplay could be improved in a few ways, I keep coming back to it for the setting it has made and the story it is telling. I really don't know how to explain it propperly, but it is a series that has completely caught me and is one that I will admit I am a fanboy for. I love everything about it.

This guy actually explains the game quite well in his walkthrough videos. It shows from a fans perspective what some people love about it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GammyGoose?blend=2&ob=1

 

[OneBig Man]

yes

That... That's wonderful. Thanks for that.


Really, though. Like you said, everyone will inevitably have different opinions.
Just because everyone likes a game, doesn't mean you will too. And by the same token, just because everyone hates or hasn't heard of a game, doesn't mean you won't love it yourself.

If you don't like it, that's fine. That's simply your opinion. ^_^

Thats a very good interpritation of what I said.

 

[Kasawd]

a friend recently gifted me a copy of half life 2. this is great because i havent played it for years, and when i did i didn't think it was that amazing.

I actually remember it as one of the million fps games, quite bland and boring. but wow, do reviews tell another story. Obviously a good game is a work of art, and, as such different people will come away with different opinions, but its always difficult to understand why (what one perceives as) a lacklustre game gets rave reviews.

thanks

I've just started playing it, myself.

I, too, am missing the appeal.

 

[MR T3D]

its the way it made me FEEL playing it, once you get through ravenholm, you start to think enemies could be EVERYWHERE, and the feeling of on-edge-edness really makes the game for me.
its not perfect, no, even annoying at times,
oh, and once you play the citadel, then evaluate the game.

 

[gmer412]

Its gameplay feels varied. You get a roster of weapons, each of which feels very different from the others. You fight in many different settings over the course of the game. For example, there's a beach level before a cold institutional level. The story is engaging, and the characters are all likable. Your partner, Alyx, has an interesting personality and is never irritating to have around. The physics engine is fantastic, and the excellent gravity gun showcases that. The simple fact that you can use boxes to mow down zombies. That about covers it.

Edit: Also, vehicle sections are done really well, and the controls feel fluid and intuitive during those sections (on the PC, at least).

 

[theSovietConnection]

It's a game that had to be played at the time of release to truly get the appeal. That being said, it's not the best game of all time, as many think. People put on the nostalgia goggles and are far more forgiving for HL and HL2's transgressions then they would be for many other games. At it's core, it really is just a game about a guy in power armour running around killing aliens. I can understand why people would still be so attached to it, admittedly I will likely be the same way with Bioshock, but people need to let go. They need to remember Half Life for the great game it was, and leave it at that. When Episode 3 comes out, go nuts, praise it all you want, but remember that sometimes you need to let go.

 

[Zeterai]

As has been said, HL2 portrays a story. Back when it was put out originally, five years ago, most games interacted with the player in cutscenes and dialogue. A lot of the story in the Half-Life series is in things you find, and exploring the world. Same goes with Portal, and I imagine Left4Dead, what with the graffiti on service rooms and safe rooms respectively.

It was groundbreaking because it did its best to break a trend in gaming. They were staunchly insistent that the game not be one of the mindless Halo lookalikes, and succeeded. The world is rich and immersive for a time period when things were normally bland and "Hey, go kill these things, kay? Kay. Have fun."

Go back and play Halo, the original one. Try to see if you can stomach it. I played HL2 first, and then decided to try the Halo series. Number one was pathetic... so totally unimmersive in comparison. I mean, half the game is literally backtracking the first half. And #2 was hardly an upgrade. I'm not at all enthused about Halo 3. So why do people like them? Well, they were pretty and decent at the time. You get spoiled with each new game that comes out, the older ones are never as good.

Well, except Deus Ex. That's still the best game of all time.

 

[The Atomic Irishman]

For fuck sake...
I know your new here but for the love of your god Use the Search Bar.
I also thought it was a mediocre turd, but that doesnt stop Valve fanboys branding it the 2nd coming of christ.

I suppose earning 50 game of the year awards for the first game, and close to 30 for the second, and almost over 75 for the entire series doesn't phase you? Sir, there are 'fanboys' and there are people who enjoy the game. Half-Life gets what it gets not because it's mediocre, but because of its timing. it's success is strongly due to being among the first games to have scripted, animated and acting performed from the player's camera perspective, immersing the user in the situation rather than taking them out of body or using a CGI cutsene to convey the moment. Apart from that, valve's creatin is just as undifferentiated and similar as any FPS today, except they did some things in their first game that had never been done before at that time.

Half Life 2 took that same formula and added a brand new engine, and rather than focusing on eye raping graphics, that game maintained a level headed balance of game play, which was not "insanely good." but was not horrible either. Decent graphics that focused more on portraying a real environment that the user is familiar with and then adding some twists to give it a tinge of alien-feeling to it. And a level of storytelling that would allow us to feel more involved than a faceless space marine on some bug hunt.

All things considered, Hl2 is not worthy of as many awards that it gets so much as it is worthy of praise for what it has accomplished as a game itself.

 

[Chicago Ted]

its the way it made me FEEL playing it, once you get through ravenholm, you start to think enemies could be EVERYWHERE, and the feeling of on-edge-edness really makes the game for me.
its not perfect, no, even annoying at times,
oh, and once you play the citadel, then evaluate the game.

I played through HL2 and its expansions.
While it had its fun parts, then was never really times when I felt "On Edge" even in Ravenholm. The citadel was a joy because the Gravity Gun was actually USEFUL then.

The gravity gun always had a purpose it filled nicely. Whether it be launching explosive barrels or other large objects at squads of Combine, or using it to place a door or other object in front of you to act as a shield while you closed the distance. You can fall back on using guns when fighting, but, as with the hidden blades in Assassin's Creed 1, it is much more satisfying for me killing a squad of soldiers or zombies with nothing more then my gravity gun and a radiator.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I have no idea why it was successful, there wasn't much revolutionary about it it was just a solid game. Looking back at it though its like What great story? Its like halo the story in the actual game is meh but the game universe is pretty awesome.

 

[SniperWolf427]

Again? This is like the tenth time today...

 

[Kollega]

One word. Pacing. Game almost never stops - you're constantly on the run. In the beginning, you're hunted by Combine, but then you can retaliate and hunt them.

And gravity gun is awesome. Have you ever seen another game where you can kill someone with a toilet bowl?

It's a game that had to be played at the time of release to truly get the appeal.

Really? I played it in the end of 2007, and still thought it was pretty good (if a bit tedious in some places).

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

For fuck sake...
I know your new here but for the love of your god Use the Search Bar.
I also thought it was a mediocre turd, but that doesnt stop Valve fanboys branding it the 2nd coming of christ.

Does enjoying a game legitimately make me a fanboy?

HL2 is hardly the second coming of anything, but when it was released it was certainly a cut above the rest of the FPS games on the market. That the game managed to actually produce NPC characters that someone can actually care about is one thing but really I'd say the key reasons I liked the game are simply the result of competent mechanics and excellent design decisions throughout.

I've just started playing it, myself.

I, too, am missing the appeal.

This is going to be a problem with any game. It's a half decade old and any of the things that HL2 did that were new and exciting have been better executed in the intervening period. Sadly, if you weren't there for the game when it came out, you likely won't find many reasons to applaud the game. Personally, I love the game Doom but anyone more than a few years younger than me has no idea why. There have been dozens of FPS that are better in every possible way but that doesn't change the simple fact that, at the time, Doom was utterly groundbreaking in every sense of the word. Hell, I still can sit down and play doom and be entertained.

 

[Beartrucci]

I started playing Half Life 2 yesterday for the first time and am really enjoying it. The levels have a pretty decent length to them, and never feel as if they are dragging on to me. The only problem I have with the game is that I'm playing it on PS3, and just by aiming I can tell it would be 10x better on PC (I usually prefer playing FPS games with a controller instead of keyboard and mouse for some reason, but this just feels like it would be far better on PC).

 

[RogueDarkJedi]

You know, Valve wrote a book that can pretty much answer why people like Half Life so much.