Half Life 2

[Lord Beautiful]

Honestly I agree, Half Life 2 has become the most overpraised game of this current generation, I never got what made it so special... sure it was fun and all but not utterly AMAZING by any means. In fact the shooting action I found rather subpar, but I can respect the opinions of those who liked it, I just personally don't see what the fuss is about. I don't really condone this kind of a post though because as I said before I have no right to complain about people making negative Halo threads if I allow anti Half Life threads to go unchallenged... so even though I agree with your points, even though I think it's overpraised, even though it's fanbase so frequently attacks my people with flaming... I must ask for respect. Though I do appreciate someone who actually IS boldly defying established trends by saying he doesn't like Half Life 2 for that is actually truly unique.

I didn't like this game and I do think it is overated, but if you (others on forums not the OP) liked it I respect that because personal taste cannot be proven 'wrong'.

P.S That said one thing that must be addressed NO ONE may still say that Half Life 2 is an 'underated shooter' because so many people have been praising it that it is now officially mainstream.

This.

 

[Guido656]

Half Life 2 has most of the standard archeotype FPS weapons

keep in mind that most "standard archeotype FPS weapons" originated from games like half-life.

Now that just ain't true man. Standard weapon layouts originated from games way older than Half-Life. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D?!?! Pistol, Shotgun, Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher...mate they've been around for over ten years.

 

[Zer_]

Don't bash Half-Life 2's story just because it wasn't given to you on a silver platter. The story in HL2 is only as deep as you care to look for. By exploring your surroundings and taking note of curiosities within Half-Life 2 you begin to piece together what has transpired while you were being held in limbo.

And Guido I must disagree with what you've said about the weapons. Old games like doom had the Plasma Gun, BFG, and a Rocket Launcher that works entirely differently then that in Half-Life 2's. The only weapons that are remotely similar are the chaingun, shotgun and pistol. Half-Life 2's weapons tend to focus more on real world weapons with sci-fi twists added to them. You have the Pistol, SMG, and Shotgun which were pretty standard for the day. Beyond that the weapons in Half-Life were pretty new for their day. The Rockets in HL1 were nowhere near like the ones found in Doom or Quake.

 

[War_Hero]

I deeply enjoyed my run through half life 2. It was so fun that I went out and bought the sequels immediately after beating it. Why are you reviewing an old game anyways?

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

I had never played the previous gmae and I had no problem understanding what was going on. I found the soryline and characters much more interestin than something like Halo.
I ddid find some of the weapons a bit poorly designed and/or limited in their use (magum, crossbow, 'launcher).
Some bits did get a bit repetative, particularly the gunships (how many of them do you really need to take out in one game), but there were loads of intersting parts aswell.
Impressed that the AI was up to understanding that not all the bad guys were on the same side to such a level.

 

[j0z]

I have to disagree for its time HL2 was a groundbreaking title. And all of those "standard" weapons came about because of games like HL and HL2 (but not just them).
The HL series has a great storyline, it just isn't shoved down your throat like in some games. You are left to discover it, you have to listen to people, look around like you would have to in real life. You don't get to see what Breen is saying to the Combine Advisors, you don't get to see what is happening hundreds of miles away, you see exactly what Gordon sees, and I loved that about it.
Episode 2 really improved on the AI an some of the other problems you stated. I thought, gameplay wise, it was as good if not better than the original HL2.

 

[Ashbax]

And, oh the puzzles. Most of them are ine, but their one and only one solution can be extremely frustrating. For example, in the Ravenholm level, there is an electrified fence that separates you and where you need to go. There is a wire attaching the fence to an electric source inside of a room on the third floor of a building. There is a room full of circle saw a little ways back, so one expects to be able to cut the wire in half by shooting a saw at the wire (the obvious solution). However, this does not work, and the game makes you grind through a house full of zombies to turn off the power, while cutting the wire would be much easier and makes more sense.

First off, I have to say I hated this bit to hell. Took me about 40 minutes to figure out.

Anyway, You are judging the game by the standards of modern FPS. Hl2 was released in 2004. Also, most of the problems you mentioned in the game were fixed in ep1 and ep2, especially the AI, which I must admit isnt all that great.

In garrys mod the AI seems to be a bit smarter though, for some reason. Taking cover etc.
As for no stopping power to the guns, meh. If you want the guns to do something to do the enemy...hold down the mouse until they fall down. Easy enough. The rod-crossbow was also an original gun, by the way.

And the story is awesome...If youve played HL1 anyway.