Half-Life is probably the deepest game out there.

[Noceus]

So I was thinking with violent video games there is a limit on how far on the violence they will go. With games like GTA or Postal you can kill just about any one with a multitude of weapon and tools, but there is a limit, you can't kill children since there aren't any. Now that has all ways seemed weird to me since no games ever explain that. But Half-Life 2 does that exactly but in a way that if you're not playing the game with the right sort of mind state you won't notice to much. In HL2 it's explained that there are no children because the Combines have a supression field active on the whole Earth that makes breeding impossible and that's why there are no children in HL2. HL2 all so demonstrates the reality of being brave. In Halo you're a supersoldier who's mechanically and biologcially enhanced, in Call of Duty you're an SAS trooper but in the Half-Life series we're all human. We get turned into stalkers and have bio-weapons unleashed upon us that take control of us yet make us conscious. Valve makes a magical concotion of science fiction and reality. In Freeman, we can all be brave in even in the face of terror. That's why I would like to see this kind of deep story telling explored a lot more in gaming. This is all so a reason i'm looking forward to Mass Effect 3, since i heard there are gonna be quite a few deep emotinal moral choices in there.

So what I would like to know what are you're thouths on this subject.

P.S. If you took you're time to read this, thank you.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Half-Life? DEEP?
*chuckles*
Sorry, I disagree, simply because the story of Half Life relies entirely too much on Deus Ex Machina events to progress.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I don't see your point. If anything, war simulators like Call of Duty orchestrate a better point about being brave in the face of terror and everyone being human.

Yes, I know those games don't emphasize on that fact, because you're supposed to know those facts when you play that game. But eh.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I dunno if the themes in HL2 are deep, but the atmosphere certainly is.

It was the first game I ever played where I felt a part of the world around me and cared about the characters.

Everything - from the distant wailing of Striders to the ever-ominous Citadel towering over the vistas getting ever closer - just sucked me into the experience and kept me enthralled.

 

[Vonnis]

Half-Life? DEEP?
*chuckles*
Sorry, I disagree, simply because the story of Half Life relies entirely too much on Deus Ex Machina events to progress.

I don't really have anything to add to this. HL isn't deep by any stretch of the word. In fact I believe both HL1 and 2 to be mediocre in just about every aspect, but that's just me.

 

[Katana314]

As a Half-Life fan, I'd disagree. In fact, so much is the same.

Bioweapons? Halo has the Flood, and many of the weapons they face are ones they can't fight back against (ie, Reach getting glassed)
Mechanically enhanced cyborg stuff? The HEV suit pretty much fills that role in an unrealistic way.

The only big thing I agree with is that I like that Half-Life doesn't star you as a soldier, but a scientist. That's why I'm liking Uncharted 2 so far; Nathan is never really identified as a former soldier in any way.

I'd really like it if more games did that; when I played Call of Duty 4, my interests perked when I saw "Oh? We get to play as the former president of this middle-eastern nation? Awesome!" (Of course, then you get dragged around and shot)

 

[homerthethief]

Half-Life 1 and 2 were excellent games.

But if you want a truly deep game try Deus Ex.

 

[lacktheknack]

I don't think that's what "deep" means...

...If we're talking artistically, there's Yume Nikki, .flow, Silent Hill, and such.

If we're talking functionally, Dwarf Fortress full stop.

Half Life is good, but deep is the wrong word.

 

[Dogstile]

Oh god, i'm tearing up with laughter.

That's not deep, that's convenient events within the game world to get around real life issues. No children? In game reason? Suppression field. Real life reason? Showing kids getting killed is a hot button issue.

Aside from that, it suffered from lots of "oh, locked gate? Oh NPC, NPC! Unlock it for me".

 

[Krinku]

Half-Life 1 and 2 were excellent games.

But if you want a truly deep game try Deus Ex.

Took the words out of my mouth. Definitely go play Deus Ex then you will know what "deep" really means.

 

[Dexiro]

Valve makes a magical concotion of science fiction and reality.

A magical concoction of science fiction and reality? You might have a misunderstanding of what science fiction is, though the term is used loosely these days.

Any good sci-fi is firmly rooted in reality in some way, such as Star Wars trying to explain how the force works with those midichlorians (not the best example).

 

[Beautiful End]

I wouldn't go as far as calling Half Life THE deepest game out there. Are you sure you didn't confuse it with its Orange Box brethren, Portal? I mean, that's probably closer, though not THE deepest game.

That's something hard to define. If you ask me, a game like Alan Wake or some FF games or, yes, even Portal, are deep. But not Half Life.
...That's without mentioning how they make a 'scientist' looks like a battle worn, scruffy soldier, save the nerdy glasses. But that's another topic.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

Games tend to avoid killing children as it is pretty damn easy to get an AO rating that way. Fallout 3 has children, you can't do anything to them.

Quite frankly, Freeman is treated like a special needs person a lot of the time.

"Good job Gordon! Your MIT skills really paid off plugging that plug back in! Who's a good boy. You are! Yes you are!"

The atmosphere is nice, but I wouldn't call the game deep in the slightest.

 

[Saviordd1]

Half-Life? DEEP?
*chuckles*
Sorry, I disagree, simply because the story of Half Life relies entirely too much on Deus Ex Machina events to progress.

I don't really have anything to add to this. HL isn't deep by any stretch of the word. In fact I believe both HL1 and 2 to be mediocre in just about every aspect, but that's just me.

GET DOWN, YOUR ABOUT TO BE ATTACKED BY THE RABID FANS!!! GET TO DA CHOPPER!

OT: Honestly, no, not even close. Why does the Master Chief being a trained soldier make him any less heroic? He gave up much and did even more to save humanity. What about Soap from COD? Again a trained soldier who puts himself on the line and acts heroically?

Half Life 2 is good don't get me wrong but its not TEH GREATEST SCI FI EVAR by far.

 

[BeerTent]

I'll admit, the Half-Life series had me enthralled all the way through until the episodes got released. Then it was portal.

In my opinion though, the deepest would be Heavy Rain. I told myself before I started, my story would be this one. I had 1 playthrough to make it count.

Everything those characters did were purely my responsibility, Ethan's perfect life was ruined because I couldn't get to the kid, his injuries were because, just like him, I didn't want his second son to die. So when What's-Her-Name (FUCK! There goes my entire point!) died, I stared at the screen at the result. Ethan had nobody to care for him. He too, was fucked. I was pretty-much crushed.

 

[Saviordd1]

Valve makes a magical concotion of science fiction and reality.

A magical concoction of science fiction and reality? You might have a misunderstanding of what science fiction is, though the term is used loosely these days.

Any good sci-fi is firmly rooted in reality in some way, such as Star Wars trying to explain how the force works with those midichlorians (not the best example).

Which lucas (thankfully) never mentions again and refers back to fantasy

 

[scnj]

In my opinion though, the deepest would be Heavy Rain. I told myself before I started, my story would be this one. I had 1 playthrough to make it count.

Everything those characters did were purely my responsibility, Ethan's perfect life was ruined because I couldn't get to the kid, his injuries were because, just like him, I didn't want his second son to die. So when What's-Her-Name (FUCK! There goes my entire point!) died, I stared at the screen at the result. Ethan had nobody to care for him. He too, was fucked. I was pretty-much crushed.

Heavy Rain would have been so much better without the plot holes, non-sequiturs, unlikeable characters and nonsensical twist.

 

[SageRuffin]

Deeper than Virtua Fighter 5. I think not...

Although I am referring to gameplay mechanics. But even then, I think not.

 

[WickedFire]

I wouldn't neccesarily call Half Life deep, but what it is remarkably well written. I personnally can't think of anything in the games which isn't explained in some way during the game. By that I mean there aren't any moments where you break out of the flow of the game and think 'Well why does that happen, it makes no sense, even by the games logic'. Its this manner of covering all the bases, and ensuring continutiy that makes the Half Life games fell so great to play.