How does the Thief series and Half-Life 2 hold up?

[NickBrahz]

Never played thief but i have played every Half life so i will comment on them.

To me the HL2 series has not ages well, it does not take any brains as others has stated, its a linear shooter with "Puzzles" and by puzzles i mean, stack 10 bricks on this piece of wood to make a ramp, or stack 10 bricks in this bucket to move this thing, there is no puzzle by any stretch of the imagination so don't expect some actual puzzles, its a run and gun game and it feels like every level is on replay, defend this elevator over and over that moves slower then a snail, you will have that a few times, story is nothing special by today's standards, nothing is special by today's standards.

Its an average shooter, 5-6/10 maybe, nothing special whatsoever, to me it felt very repetitive with no real challenge whatsoever, half the game is spent in a boat or in a car just driving down a corridor pretty much.

As for half life one, i would rate that maybe a 2-3/10

 

[Retardinator]

I've just finished The Dark Project yesterday and it was a fantastic experiance. Download TFix, revel in the greatness. I didn't mind the graphics that much if I'm being honest. How is Deadly Shadows compared to the other two? Is it decent and people are just disappointed with it or is it genuinely bad?

Edit: Oh right. do they hold up? You bet. Just get used to the controls and you're all set.

I wouldn't really use those words to describe T3. It has fancier graphics, but less freedom. It's not a bad-bad game at all. Just less good when compared to Thief 2.
This can be a good thing, because if Thief 2 proves itself too ugly and/or complicated, you can always get a similar experience from Thief 3 without those problems.

 

[erbkaiser]

Both second games are still good and fun to play.
Both first games have not aged well, but by using mods/graphics updates (ENB series) or remakes (Black Mesa) they can be really enjoyable.

Sadly neither series has a real third part.

 

[DoPo]

If you're considering getting the Orange box, I'd recommend getting the mod Black Mesa. It's basically Half-Life 1 with Hl2 engine.

Worth pointing out that Black Mesa is more than HL in Source. Since there is Half-Life Source already which is a direct port - Black Mesa is HL completely rebuild in Source so it actually feels and plays as a source game, not like HL with (some) physics. Also, Black Mesa is free.

Though, they still haven't released Xen :/

 

[erbkaiser]

Though, they still haven't released Xen :/

Xen is planned for when they finally get out of the Greenlit stage and release the mod on Steam.

 

[sanquin]

For half life 2, download the cinematic mod if you have HL2 and both episodes. It gives better graphics and some other options as well. As HL2's normal graphics look kinda dated now.

I played through HL2 and both episodes recently and I have to say, it's still just as great as it was the first time I played through it to me.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Well I will just go on the record and say that I just played a little bit of Half-Life 2 about two months ago and absolutely loved it. I have no idea why that game just felt really really good. Gameplay was solid and fun, and the world just felt so fleshed out.
I really should get back to that game (Problem is I went on a game buying binge last year so I still have at least 20 that I haven't completed yet)

So anyway I would say Half-Life 2 defiantly still holds up.

 

[J.McMillen]

Remember, the Orange box is more than just Half Life 2. Along with Episodes 1 & 2 you also get a paid copy of Team Fortress 2 (with whatever bonuses you get over free players), and the original Portal.

And if you're still not sure:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/10-The-Orange-Box

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Thief, though not pretty, is still brilliant. It's first sequel is very similar and the gameplay is just great. They were the progenitors of the FPS (First-Person Stealther) genre and to this day go unmatched for the amazing tension and white-knuckle fear of discovery. Clinging to the nearest available shadows as a guard patrols feet or even inches from your hiding place (while muttering about some "taffer" still causes me to hold my own breath and pray to the Gods that he doesn't spot me. And those mechanist robots in 2 still creep me out.

If you enjoy stealth action, get them. I strongly suggest getting them on GoG for compatibility reasons. You may want to investigate some of the fan patches [https://www.google.com/search?q=thief+fan+patch] in case of issues.

 

[kingthrall]

The Thief series is an excellent series. However I do not know about Gog or Steam but its a god damn nightmare with newer OS systems. I remember putting my cd and having to recode it through scripts, run by admin and all that other crap just to get the main screen only to crash afterwards.

I found Half life 1 to be tedious, I bought it on steam and found myself quitting later because it was way too easy, and no kill points like cod for example. If you can bear the gameplay though the story is above par.

Save your money, go buy Myth II, and Myth III. There is a free port to play Myth I on the Myth II program so you get a whole game for free. By far this game has aged as a series and still has a multiplayer community/tournaments that I am in with around 60-70+ players in it.

 

[kyuzo3567]

I own the Thief collection from GOG and it runs perfectly for me on my laptop... definitely buy them from GOG instead of Steam

 

[recruit00]

I got Thief on Steam but did update it to work. Like others say, get it from GOG.

However, I tried playing Thief and I just could not handle it. It aged very poorly. Graphically it is fine but the sound design is awful now. The shoes are a joke amongst players for a reason. They are too loud. To get anywhere I had to hold down the walk button despite it saying toggle. Could be because of Steam version. I don't know. As for the guards, bleh. So bad. I'll be honest. I didn't beat the first level because I raged. The mansion started out really cool with the awesome map idea where you are going off what you learned from people. However, when I started to have to deal with guards, it was awful. I was on the second floor of the mansion and was around the pool. A guard had heard me walking and I decided to sit around the corner waiting to whack him. Well, he got closer and closer and I could hear him right around the corner. I was in the "he's so close to me" mode then... "Stop right there!" He actually was behind me when it sounded like he was around the corner. Fighting is a bad option both because you are not a good fighter but also because the controls limit you too with the awful block. I basically rage quit there. I can't play a stealth game if I can't hear other people areoiund the corner. From what I heard, Thief 2 was more along the lines of fixing up the game by tossing the zombies and stufff for whatever reason they were there in the first place and I never heard anything good about Deadly Shadows. SO I gacve up on it. Kotor is taking its place in the backlog right now. Currently in the Undercity.