Half Life 2, why?

[liveslowdiefast]

Well i could waste a few hours laying out why its really good, but to be honest i liked it and to me thats what matters.

 

[WanderingFool]

This thread appears to be less about Half-Life 2 and more complaining about the hundreds of other threads about this same damn subject.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

It's my favorite game, actually. I enjoy the excellent level design, great use of physics, the music, and the way each level just seems to flow perfectly into the next.

 

[repeating integers]

Man im having some major deja-vu all of a sudden...

Did some shit just change in the Matrix of what!?

No, some shit stayed exactly the fucking same in the Matrix.

1) create bajillionth thread about HL2 sucking

2) get rightly criticised by fans and wrongly flamed by fanboys

3) ????

4) PROFIT

 

[Chibz]

Now can we please stop with the Half-Life hate? (not specifically at you, OP, but the site in general)

I'll stop hating half-life 2 the day it becomes something other than a 'meh'-grade shooter that gets way more love than it deserves.

So the way things look, never.

 

[eclipsed_chemistry]

I just didn't like it because it made me sick to play. I play a ton of games and never have I gotten sick from a game like I do with playing 5 minutes of Half-Life 2.

 

[ManOwaRrior]

Let's break it down.

Half-Life 2: Run - get talked to - Puzzle - shoot - talk - boat drive - shoot - puzzle - creepy zombie town - talk - drive buggy - shoot - controll bugs - shoot - shoot with gravity gun...

Crysis: run/sneak - shoot - drive car - run/sneak - shoot - drive car - run/sneak...

Crysis 2: run/sneak - shoot - drive car - crappy cutscene - run/sneak - shoot - crappy cutscene/...

Killzone 2/3: shoot - cutscene - shoot - cutscene - shoot - cutscene - controll mech...

Doom 3: shoot - shoot - shoot - shoot...

Notice something? If you break a game down like this, they are all pretty bland. And Half-Life 2 has more diversity in this regard than most of it's competition even today.

Now i can see, why it wouldn't appeal to some people: There are now cutscenes that tell and show the player the scope of what is going on. There are few/none of the massive setpieces that make a big chunk of todays shooters. The level of action is generally lower. There are no "objectives" that you can check that tell you, what you have to do at any given time.

A lot of this is due to the fact, that this is a game from 2004. Play some other shooters from that time and compare them. Sure there are people who played the game when it was new and still didn't like it, as it just wasn't their cup of tea.

But, please (I now it is futile to ask for it, but anyway): even if you don't like something, don't be so quick to dismiss it as "a peace of shit". Try to grasp this concept: something can be really good, even though you don't like it.

Some examples:
- Techno music: To my ears, it all sounds the same and it feals like it takes no effort at all to make a generic techno track. Yet I can except that this is propably false.
- Heavy metal music: A lot of people dismiss it as they think it all sounds the same. Yet this is false.
- CoD: Never played it. A lot of people like it. A lot of people hate it. Hint: if something sells as good as this, it has to do something right.
- WoW: See CoD. Have played it, liked it, quit it. Can see why people like it, can see, why people don't. But it is absolutly clear, that more work went into the polishing of this game, than in most others.

Last point: if you call a game, that is widly regarded as a masterpiece, a piece of shit, what do you think of games, that are truly crap? Like Battle: L.A. the game?

 

[Timzilla]

You won't get far on this website by dissing the 'BEST GAME EVAHH'
Even if it is a heap of shit

Pics orit didn't happen.

Evidence supporting your claim or its flame bait.

One would think the whining about this same thread popping up every week [because maybe a game regularly hailed on this website as the Second Coming is actually a below average shooter] is enough evidence to support my claim.
You could also if you want, go back in time to 2004, remove the physics engine, don't call it Half Life, pretend Gordon Freeman isn't a masterwork of characterisation and then see how far the 'fantastic story' carries it.

I notice that all the above mentioned things have very little to do with the actual story (except for the bit about Gorden Freeman). I fail to see how removing those things is going to affect the story at all. Thats like if I was eating a good sandwich in the kitchen, with side of chips, and you said, "Well, if you had no chips, no plate and you where in the living room, that sandwich would suck. No, The sandwich would still be good, the meal just wouldn't be as complete.

Story does not equal entire game. And yeah, If all that was in the game was a story, I'd be pissed, because It's a game. But that's the point. I'm not going to take away the best parts of something and say it sucks. I will take my game and enjoy it.

The other thing I love is the Gorden Freemen bit. "Lets take out one of the defining characteristics of the game and see how it fares." Do that with any great work of fiction and see how it fares.

Op: The plot is told through the perspective of the player. If you don't pay attention, you won't get it. Learn the characters names first (I'm only assuming you don't because you sort of used pet names for them), pay attention to exactly what happens. If you still don't like the game, that its just not for you. And that's fine. Everyone has different tastes. I don't care if you don't like one of my favorite games, then I aint care. Live and let live.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Cool story bro, but seriously I loved the damn game. the atmosphere was amazing, and the characters was just amazing. And the game play felt really tight, I just hated the level when your drivingg that boat.

 

[Xerosch]

Sooo... why does almost everyone moan about how classic games are weaker than they expected? Should be fairly obvious that classic games introduced elements that surprised players and thus copied many times by other developers.

I disliked just about everything about this game, and to be honest have a hard time seeing why anyone would enjoy it.

This is how it works with classics: I belong to the generation of gamers who played Final Fantasy 7 a few days after it launched. Noone knew what would happened to Aerith, didn't know in which way the story would develop and hadn't heared the 10th orchestra version of 'One-Winged Angel'. Before the whole fandom came up the game was a fantastic experience but I absolutely understand that many people are underwhelmed by it when they play it for the first time in 2011. That's fine, it took me almost ten years to play 'Ocarina of Time' and at first I thought 'Yeah... that's what it's all about?'. Same with 'Morrowind'.

Long story short: It's a bit like watching 'Evil Dead 1+2' and complaining that Sam Raimi stole every interesting idea from horror movies that came out in the last 20 years.

 

[Xerosch]

Double post is double.

 

[earsOfChainsaw]

I was taking your argument seriously, up until you said that you didn't think there wasn't enough story and then said you like Left 4 Dead.

 

[Chibz]

Last point: if you call a game, that is widly regarded as a masterpiece, a piece of shit, what do you think of games, that are truly crap? Like Battle: L.A. the game?

Come now, there's a large area between considering a game a masterpiece and considering it a "piece of shit".

I'll just never understand HOW sucha meh-game got such a rabid following.

Sooo... why does almost everyone moan about how classic games are weaker than they expected? Should be fairly obvious that classic games introduced elements that surprised players and thus copied many times by other developers.

I played the game back when it was new. It seemed weak then, it seems even weaker now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Would you look at that, someone who thinks he's an exceptional individual for not liking Half-Life 2.

Never seen that before on the Escapist, have we?

 

[Xanadu84]

If someone makes the greatest hamburger the world has ever seen, but you don't like hamburger, you will probably not like the greatest hamburger ever. Half Life 2 focuses on a number of things that maybe you just don't like, and really utilizes the strengths of games as a medium. So it gets loads of well deserved praise for it's triumphs of design. If you don't like it, that's not a problem, but it is taste.

Just remember that as a connoisseur of games, one of the hardest things to do is to admit to the strengths of a game that you...happen to not enjoy. It took me a while to come up with the reasons why Halo succeeds so well as a game, despite the fact that I find it dull as dirt, for example. I also had to get over the idea that, "Good for a console shooter" is not a real response, its passive aggressive nonsense. I think I became more open minded and understanding of the medium for it. Or you could just leave it alone, decide you just don't like Half Life 2, and you will still be able to enjoy games. It's your call.

 

[mireko]

This thread appears to be less about Half-Life 2 and more complaining about the hundreds of other threads about this same damn subject.

This thread is now about commenting on the people complaining that this thread has been made many times before.

Then the thread can be about complaining about the people commenting on the people complaining that there are hundreds of threads on the same topic.

If we keep this up, we can break the Internet.

 

[Zaik]

Oh God. We literally had this thread once Yesterday, and once the day before.

May I suggest someone open a "I hate Half-Life so much, I feel the need to open the 5 billionth thread about it!" User group?

Done.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/I-hate-Half-Life-so-much-I-feel-the-need-to-open-the-5-billionth

Discuss.

 

[kortin]

I think op is on to something here. Why do people have opinions?! Why oh why can't they accept that *game/movie/song* is obviously *bad/good*?!

Edit: To be fair, Half Life is a series that people make too big of a deal about. I love the games, but I think that people just need to stop forcing their opinions down other people's throats.

 

[Snowalker]

We've just [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.280978-Storytelling-in-Half-Life-2?page=2] had a thread like this.

My main reason for liking, loving, in fact, the series is because of the mystery. G-man I view as one of the best villains ever to be depicted in a video-game.

Sorry, I've heard this G-Man is an Awesome villain thing a lot, how is G-Man a villain? I see him as a "the ends justify the means" kinda guy, sure he gives Gordan the shaft, but because of this, he saves humanity. He's creepy and mysterious, but that doesn't make him evil. I just want some clarification, or at least a good bit of reasoning.

 

[ultimateownage]

You hate it because everything about the game you compared to something only slightly like it. When someone gets detailed characters and just says 'Morgan Freeman look alike' I die inside.
If you went into it without looking for similar things from other stuff to help you miss the point entirely you might enjoy it more.