Half-Life

[Svenparty]

What Half-Life 2 has that makes it such a rich experience is not the shooting it's the characters. Half-Life 2 fleshes it's characters out making everything make sense for example:

The Combine are not easily defeated and for most people playing come across as a staggering force to take down. They are the ultimate army and the creators of Half-Life 2 did huge amount of research when deciding how to make them intimidating,they did this by using Nazi era imagery through the uniforms of the Combine etc.


The Rebels are also very fleshed: just rebels fighting for what they believe in, against what is basically a whole planet.(Though in Half Life 2 the follower rebels are meatpuppets)


But I think the most impressive thing in Half Life 2 is that they took generic NPC's from Half life,(Like a security guard and scientists that didn't have names) and made them into fully fleshed out characters like Kliener and Eli that I can care about.


/Half Life 2 buttraep

 

[The Bandit]

Call me crazy, but I don't care for the Half-Life series.
I just didn't care for it's brand of gun-play. I loved the physics, that was my favorite part of the game, but I just didn't like the story or the characters. It felt very repetitive to me, and I put it down half-way through half-life 2 episode 2. Any thoughts?

May I ask you how you played the game(PC or console?) Is this your first time playing the series?

If you are serious about it being repetitive, then you haven't played Halo. HL2 has some of the most diverse gameplay mechanisms in the genre.

Exploration and NPC interaction scenes
Shooter sequences
Airboat sequence
Buggy sequence
Gravity gun
Antlions in nova prospekt
Shooter sequence with NPC allies
Special GG


Half-Life 2 set raised the standards for the genre. The game is one of the most revered in recent history. It was highly anticipated and it did not let down. The story was intentionally not blatantly explained to you. It was up to the player to figure whats going on and pick up clues from the surrounding. Most people catch on pretty quickly as to whats going on when you play from the start of HL2. It wasn't nessesary to play HL1 to enjoy HL2, but it makes some backstory references make more sense.

In Episode 1 I was blown away by the first section in the citadel. The focus was on the partnership with Alyx. The game pulled it off pretty well. It had critism for being too short.
Episode 2, the focus was more about emotional attachment that valve tried to get the player to feel through a variety of events which I will not spoil here. The gameplay was top notch stuff. Some of the car driving bits were not quite as exciting when theres not a gunship chasing after you but luckily that does happen though. The puzzle design is clever and doesn't feel like a typical video game puzzle. For example, you have a cord with 2 plugs. And you have to use it to connect a powersource and an elevator, but the cord is too short. So you have to turn off a different machine and trade its longer powercord to progress.

I'm going to need some much better explanations as to why you don't like HL2 than what you have already said.

While I do like Half-Life (better than Halo, even, and I'm defending Halo) your diversity can easily be applied to Halo.

Shooter Sequences
Warthog Sequences
Tank Sequences
Mild stealth elements
Flood sequences
etc etc

Or any other game, for that matter. Just as I can easily argue that Halo and Half-Life are both easily repetitive and boring (not that I want to, obviously). I suppose the only real reason I'm responding to you is that you demanded a better reason for his opinion (implying your fanboyism), and it pissed me off.

Oh, and inb4 "halo completely ripped of half-life blahblahblah" or anything else that directs attention away from the fact that you don't really respect other people's opinions.

 

[GoldenShadow]

While I do like Half-Life (better than Halo, even, and I'm defending Halo) your diversity can easily be applied to Halo.

Shooter Sequences
Warthog Sequences
Tank Sequences
Mild stealth elements
Flood sequences
etc etc

Or any other game, for that matter. Just as I can easily argue that Halo and Half-Life are both easily repetitive and boring (not that I want to, obviously). I suppose the only real reason I'm responding to you is that you demanded a better reason for his opinion (implying your fanboyism), and it pissed me off.

Oh, and inb4 "halo completely ripped of half-life blahblahblah" or anything else that directs attention away from the fact that you don't really respect other people's opinions.

My gripe with Halo is the obvious architecture tiling. Just about all of the interior locations are a copy paste of the same rooms connected by similar tunnels. I mean the underground complexes and the insides of the space ships, both human and alien ones. Its easy to get lost because you might as well be going in circles. And this is the only game I can think of that does this. I played Halo and Halo 2 on my PC. Halo 2 is somewhat better at repeating the environments so much. I also feel like the gameplay stagnates too long before giving the player something new to try out. Most of the time you are just going to pick your favorite gun and mindlessly shoot your way to the end of each level.

Half-Life's (and all the sequels) have extremely diverse environments. I was especially impressed by the citadel, a location that you would imagine to be easy to build out of cutout rooms to paste around in a maze like configuration for a developer. But no, valve really went all out and made it look and feel like a scary and dangerous place. I especially love the work they did on it in Episode 1. I never once passed a location and did a double take. Haven't I been here before? But I was thinking that question everytime I turned a corner in Halo. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.

Half-Life constantly is giving you new abilities and guns and then new ways to utilize them as you progress. Diverse environments and new enemies cause you to try different tactics.
You remember the giant tentacles in the test silo?(HL1)
Using 3 tripod turrets to defend a prison cellblock(HL2)
Using your flashlight to help Alyx see in the dark(Episode1)
Using your gravity gun to fight a chopper with its own bombs(Episode2)
Just an example from each game.

 

[Overlord Moo]

Somehow HL made me feel extremely epic. Throughout a lot of the game like the chase scenes, running to and from nearly-invincible helicopters... it was very immersive for me.

I loved it.

Still haven't been able to beat the end strider battle in episode 2 :/

That battle was freakin' HARD!!

( don't give up. It's worth seeing the end.)

 

[Overlord Moo]

Call me crazy, but I don't care for the Half-Life series.
I just didn't care for it's brand of gun-play. I loved the physics, that was my favorite part of the game, but I just didn't like the story or the characters. It felt very repetitive to me, and I put it down half-way through half-life 2 episode 2. Any thoughts?

SHUNNN!!!
SHUN the non-believerrr!!

sh,sh,sh,shunnn!

 

[Twilight_guy]

Call me crazy

Okay, you're crazy.

On a serious note, yeah Half-life, like all games, has a repetitive nature to it. Run here and shot things, then run there and shot things, then run somewhere else and shot things. That's pretty much the formula for a lot of games, just replace "shoot" with "swing sword at", "solve puzzle", "level up", etc. It is all a matter of how well they present their gameplay. I think they do it well, but it really is all a matter of what you prefer that will determine if you see fun or just grind in the gameplay. If you don't like the game, more power to ya just ignore the Valve fanboys here.

 

[JC175]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

I liked Bioshock's story, even though annoyingly cliched and lacking a certain believability (especially the way the main character just starts injecting himself with strange blue crap because a disembodied voice tells him to... I'd tell him to get stuffed personally) it was pretty good as far as game stories go. Although since I'd played System Shock 2 beforehand I pretty much knew what was going to happen in Bioshock for the most part, as both games go through very similar plot twists and turns.

Bioshock isn't that old... most people have heard of it here, right?

Would you kindly pay more attention to the story.

I see what you did there.

I am a big fan of Half-Life, just thinking about the original right now makes me want to play it. It's an incredibly varied game, the immersion factor is pretty huge, and in my opinion it still stands up to today's gaming standards (excepting graphics, of course).

 

[GoldenShadow]

For the Half-Life 1 fans:

http://www.blackmesasource.com/

 

[elitecrewer]

Call me crazy, but I don't care for the Half-Life series.
I just didn't care for it's brand of gun-play. I loved the physics, that was my favorite part of the game, but I just didn't like the story or the characters. It felt very repetitive to me, and I put it down half-way through half-life 2 episode 2. Any thoughts?

No sympathy here. There simply aren't any better FPSs around. Perhaps it doesn't have enough of Tom Clancy's name on the box for you?

No need to flame the guy- the HL series is not going to appeal to everyone. I loved it, but enjoyed Bioshock quite a bit more. This isn't to say that there are simply no better FPSs around than Bioshock.

Well Metacritic says HL/HL2/Orange Box/Bioshock for the best shooter ever, so I suppose we're all rational here.

HL just has something a little more, for me. I enjoyed Bioshock a lot (so much that I managed to finish it in 2 sittings without intending to!), but Half Life, Valve's original game remember, completely revolutionised FPS ( I'm basing judgement on HL's mods, but they certainly affect the way I look at it.

 

[WrongSprite]

1: Search button.
2: Use a better title.
3: Don't worry I thought it was crap too.

 

[Tekrae]

I liked HL2 and its episodes, however they were never as good as the original games.

 

[elitecrewer]

That's a pretty close-minded view... Whilst half-life might have an allright story, I the presentation of said story, and gameplay incredibly boring, it was all air ducts.

I can think of several FPS games that are way better than half-life.

Oh and by the way, most of the "Tom Clancy's..." games are quite good (especially the earlier ones), even though they are lacking in story.

I think Half Life is almost best-known for the excellent way which it *presents* a fairly standard story. Games up until then either used text or cutscenes -> to have the story happen *while you played* was pretty impressive.

As for the Tom Clancy comment, I think he mentioned that the gunplay/firefights weren't what he wanted. I was suggesting that it doesn't count as a good firefight unless it's Tom Clancy style -> with the voice on the radio constantly briefing you on the situation and the constant cries of 'Tango down!'.

 

[Kstreitenfeld]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

New gamers? Like a few months new? Bioshock is not a old game.

 

[Rhayn]

I wasn't that impressed by HL2 when it first came out, and even less so impressed by Episode 1. I mainly bought The Orange Box for Portal, but after an hour in Episode 2 I couldn't stop playing it. Episode 2 was where I really started to like the characters, got immersed in the world and enjoyed every minute of the game. The finale was one of the most fun experiences I've had in a game.

 

[rockchild17]

wait, so you don't like halflife, and yet you played all the games of the series, save a few hours of game play in the latest one? wow, you really hate hate halflife.

i must say, halflife and it's sequel are just impressive muthers. that is all.

 

[Smurfy 0151]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

New gamers? Like a few months new? Bioshock is not a old game.

It is on the 360, it was one of the first releases. Im talking about the 360 version. I know it came out on the PS3 recently, a few months ago if I'm not mistaken. Sorry about the confusion, my fault

 

[Smurfy 0151]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

I liked Bioshock's story, even though annoyingly cliched and lacking a certain believability (especially the way the main character just starts injecting himself with strange blue crap because a disembodied voice tells him to... I'd tell him to get stuffed personally) it was pretty good as far as game stories go. Although since I'd played System Shock 2 beforehand I pretty much knew what was going to happen in Bioshock for the most part, as both games go through very similar plot twists and turns.

Bioshock isn't that old... most people have heard of it here, right?

I've heard of it and saw a violent video which scared me but it was sooooooooooooooo epic...anywaaaaay where was I call me a noob but it's a pretty hard game for me

WoW....you are indeed a noob if you had a hard time playing Bioshock. Just kidding. xD

Like Yahtzee compared in his Bioshock review: SystemShock 2 difficult is somewhere betewen challenging and murderous and Bioshock is in the games for you mom difficult.

No sorry I meant HL2 is hard

I'm not gonna call you a noob, cuz, and you fellow escapists can make fun of me about this, it did take me a while to get the powers down. I mean, those abilities in your hand, I forget what there called, it's been a while. I understood how to use them, but swapping between them, and swapping between weapons, and swapping between the two...why could I shoot my pistol with one hand, and throw bees at the opposition with the other. IT'S CRAZY! but, it was a good game, good story. I've never played System Shock or System Shock 2, but I've heard they were both f-ing excellent. But, even if I did magically come across a copy, my pc isn't built for gaming, so I probably couldn't run it. Hell, half the time, I think my PC is older than I am...

 

[syndicated44]

I occasionally go on my half-life tangent and do nothing but sit infront of my pc and grind through HL1 and HL2. But for the most part they never really won me over. Hell I still really dont "get" HL in general.

 

[Kstreitenfeld]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

New gamers? Like a few months new? Bioshock is not a old game.

It is on the 360, it was one of the first releases. Im talking about the 360 version. I know it came out on the PS3 recently, a few months ago if I'm not mistaken. Sorry about the confusion, my fault

the xbox bioshock is still not "old".

 

[Smurfy 0151]

Bioshocks theme and storyline were both excellent. It's a shame that most new gamers have never heard of it

New gamers? Like a few months new? Bioshock is not a old game.

It is on the 360, it was one of the first releases. Im talking about the 360 version. I know it came out on the PS3 recently, a few months ago if I'm not mistaken. Sorry about the confusion, my fault

the xbox bioshock is still not "old".

I don't mean old like that. What I mean is, it came out before alot of new 360 owners had a console, and it's not sold in stores, thus, they have never heard of it, except through friends, and maybe used game shops