Poll: Challenging Half-Life's Praises

[Soviet Heavy]

And again someone expects a game that was released eight years ago to hold up by modern standards. It was good for its time. If you play it with that in mind, you will enjoy it more than jumping into it expecting the end all game.

I never understood this standpoint. I can see that argument working for other games, but for Half Life? Considering the first Half Life is still one of the best, if not the absolute best shooter(s) around, it doesnt really hold up.

You seem to misunderstand me. I'm not criticizing Half Life, far from it. I love the game, and I hold it up as one of the best examples of story told through gameplay, even to this day.

I'm just saying that I always get annoyed when people come and complain about how the game that was made 8 years ago, made with a different mindset, is somehow not what they were expecting from the game when they bought it.

 

[Weaver]

I think it deserves all the praise it gets even if you find it boring in 2012 (I still really like it, but to each their own).

It brought a ton of fresh stuff to the FPS genre, and for that it deserves priase.

You might find the ultima series nigh unplayable now but you can't say it doesn't deserve credit for what it did to evolve CRPGs.

 

[Russirishican]

Later on, in ravenhold, all I literally did was walk down a straight, narrow path, with zombies bathed in lights, alerting me to their presence from over 12 miles away with a hilariously badly recorded scream. I remmeber hearing critics say that that was the worst kind of horror!

Soon I found myself in yet another vehicle section, just following a path with the only real thing being done, was dodging mines and hopping out for the occasional road-block. A ruined city (No sarcasm needed from this, you get the idea by now) followed by a large bland, military complex, shooting the same enemy who was in endless supply.

You are the 'only freeman' who is able to save the world from an alien threat that has taken over the world. The human society has been crushed into just a resistance, their only allies being another alien race who believes that man should not be treated this way. However the aliens control-

....

You know what? I'll just stop there. The only thing 'unique' that Half-life plot brings to the table, is the 'Gman'. Which even then, is easily summed up with "He is an interstellar being, who can manipulate time and space, and uses mortals to do his biding."

I know that the story is presented well enough in the actual gameplay, but the story in question, and the gameplay, just are not as stellar, as so many critics claim them to be

You my friend, are incredibly picky.

1. Ravenholm, Half-life 2 is not a horror game, it is a FPS with a psuedo-horror section. It never tried to be horror, all it tried to do was create a more oppressive atmosphere then the rest of the game, using fear to create that oppression, and I would say it succeeded. It never actually tried to scare you.

2. The vehicle sections were hardly the samey vehicle sections that come shipped with every FPS these days.
*It let you drive and shoot at the same time, something which I haven't seen since Halo, and it did it in first person.
*There was total freedom, no linear pathways, no invisible walls, nobody to tell you where to go, just you, the open road, and a couple thousand antlions and zombies to shoot.
*The pit stops to clear road blocks were, in my book, a big plus. It wasn't just shooting guys to get them out of the way like in halo or COD, there was always an objective, and it was always exciting. Either hunt down some batteries to get something working again, or tiptoe across a dilapidated bridge. Not to mention, this is an excellent example of pacing out the driving sections between the rest of gameplay.
*Sit there and tell me that the vehicle section in EP2 wasn't one of the best ever. Besides Alyx being annoying.

3.I wouldn't call that an overused story, halo used something similar, unless you count the story as just having aliens in it halo is really the only one. Also, you do realize that half-life did it first right? Thats like saying that Elvis was unoriginal just because he did rock, sure a couple did it before him, but without a doubt he did it best. The story is delivered very well, and half life gets big points because it can do that without interrupting gameplay, and even more, weaving the gameplay in with the story.

4.The plain, military weapons, were part of the aesthetic, plus, the focus of half-life isn't the guns themselves, like say battlefield. They were plain, simple, and got the job don- well, except the crowbar, haven't seen one of those anywhere else. Oh and the crossbow was original, not to mention the bugbait and- wait a minute? You think the gravity gun was un-original? PLEASE tell me the last game you played, that had physics, and gave you a tool to mess around with the physics, THAT WAS ACTUALLY FUN. I'm not going even to ask you to tell me that sawing zombies in half with that thing isn't fun, because you can't.

More than anything it sounds to me like you've just gotten bored of it from playing it so many times, which is understandable, I love half-life 2, that doesn't mean I play it anymore. You don't read a book more than once, which means continued plays are only giving me gameplay, which is only half the game.

 

[Batou667]

I can usually decide whether or not a game is my cup of tea within the first few minutes. Half Life 2, however, quite happily trolled me for over 20 hours with moments of gaming and storytelling genius interspersed with dull, lifeless plodding and vehicle sections.

This game really did throw me. In the end, the best I can describe it is by saying that it contained some elements of an AAA-game and also many elements of a 4/10 game, often simultaneously. The opening 30 minutes were an interactive work of art. The rest of the game was inconsistent as all hell, and I'm a monkey's uncle if this wasn't a glaring fault that should have been obvious from launch. Why did no reviews at the time mention this? Emporer's New Clothes syndrome?

A lot of the game was very atmospheric - but then again, there were sections that just killed immersion completely. The dystopian elements were great, the sci-fi elements laughable. I never knew whether I was meant to be speeding through the scenery on the vehicles, or stopping to check every sewer and shack. Sometimes I'd try out-shooting enemies and get turned to Swiss cheese for my impudence - other times I'd play it safe, and realise in hindsight that I should have used the huge crate of rockets just around the corner to blow shizzle up Hollywood-style.

tl;dr: Playing Half Life 2 is like going pearl-diving in a sea of urine.

 

[Kanova]

Why do people make polls that don't have all real answers. It is like you don't want to know what people really think.

Anyways, not looking at the reviews and stuff, I like Half-Life, it is just a well made game. Very enjoyable.

 

[Erttheking]

Off topic rant: That's why I don't think HL3 will ever come out. The formula is stale now, and I don't think Valve will release a game "that would have been good 5-10 years ago."

This is why Half Life 2: Episode 3 isn't coming out. They're making a Half Life 3, but I'm pretty sure their plan is to be as revolutionary to gaming as the first and second games were. The story-line will continue, but with completely new engines, etc.

If that's true, then I, (not a big fan of the series) will give the series one last chance to wow me...if it's on the 360 that is which I kinda doubt, VALVE seems to hate consoles and in particular XBL. It's a shame because when I bought the game I was honestly trying to enjoy it but it just didn't suck me in, I'm kinda hoping their next release changes that.

 

[Bobic]

In defense of your complaint of the story itself being quite standard I'll use a comparison to Lord of the Rings.

LOTR is just some guys walking for ages so they can climb up a mountain, drop a thing in a thing, and kill a generic evil overlord (Yawn).

It's not the basic story that is so good, it's how it's told and the characters involved. Hell, Alyx is consistently bought up as the prime example of a female character done well, and who doesn't love a bit of Barney (seriously, where was he in episode 2, I missed him.)

As an aside, just because most sewer levels suck doesn't mean that every time a player enters a sewer it's gonna be awful. Plus, they rather suited the underground railroad type thing the plot was going through.

But still, you may not have enjoyed it, which is fair enough. But my main point is that when people praise the story, it encompasses a lot of things.

Also, I feel I should point out that I think episode two blows half life 2 outta the water, in all aspects. Half life 2 was great, Half life 2: episode 2 was excellent (in my opinion at least.)

 

[Bobic]

I never thought Half Life 2 was that impressive. It leaves a lot to be desired in almost all areas. Sure, the pacing is acceptable and it can get quite engaging at times, but overall, I view Half Life 2 as the weakest entry in the series.

God tier - Half Life, Blue Shift
Good tier - Half Life 2: Episode 1 and 2
Meh tier - Half Life 2
Why tier - Xen

Have you not played Opposing Force? I honestly prefer it to the first. I should probably rank mine, I guess:

God tier - Half-Life 2
Good tier - Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Half-Life: Opposing Force
Meh tier - Half-Life, Blue Shift, Episode 1
Why Tier - Still Xen

Ok, I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed Xen, I found it to be a pleasant, weird change of scenery. Then again, I was 9 when I first played it, so I probably wasn't the best judge. Still enjoyed it on replays though.

 

[Spud of Doom]

Sup guys. I think I'm actually pretty qualified to comment on this topic.
I played through Half-Life for the first time in December 2011.

Here's what it does really well:
- Atmosphere is very strong in this game. You always feel like you are alone in a mysterious, hostile environment. Gman, radio sounds, etc.
- Mystery and storytelling. The way most of your story is told through the things you see and hear means they don't need to break the flow of the game with cutscenes or text, and dialog is only around at major events and when it makes sense.
- Pathfinding and exploration. While most of the game is very linear (Except for On A Rail, I guess) you don't often feel like you're being pushed to move in a certain direction against your will.
- Pacing and tension are pretty good. I think the scarcity of health and ammo made this one easier for the devs.
- Mechanically it's tight and generally still holds up well.
- The start is pretty good. They give you time to run around and get used to the controls and the feel of the game before you have any threat.

Here's what it isn't so good at:
- Variety of enemies. The aliens in particular are really, really samey by the end of the game. It's the same few enemies and most of the time they appear out of nowhere jfor shock value.
- Enemy AI is very weak, and it does stand out compared to newer games. It's weak to the point of making the game easier.
- Characters. The whole game basically has 1 character: Gman. Nobody else is developed at all really.
- Some of the weapons really aren't much use at all. I think I went the entire game without using the trip mines or the bug shooting thing, except to test them out.
- The sections with enemy "tanks" or similar. These were just really clumsy and felt so wrong in the game.
- Some of the plot points aren't explained very clearly. I remember having no idea why I did the whole thing with the rocket launch.


I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, but I'll just edit those in later if I need to.

 

[rob_simple]

Don't people generally criticise that all FPS's are like this now, rather than the content itself?

It's like how the first time your character dies in Modern Warfare it's a genuine shock and quite original, but playing MW3 I was just trying to guess which level it was going to happen on. I didn't anticipate it being almost all of them. Spoilers, BTW.

 

[Casual Shinji]

In a day and age where FPS' have no sense of story, atmosphere, character, or pacing, this 8 year old game oddly enough feels like a breath of fresh air everytime I play it. And that's not the nostalgia speaking since I first played it when the Orange Box came out.

 

[Aircross]

You have to play Half-Life as though it was just released back in the time when fps cancer was not around.

 

[shrimpcel]

Half-Life is the series that does it BEST, and more importantly that did it FIRST.

Ex: That's why COD4 is considered a masterpiece whereas its sequels are considered crappy. COD4, MW2 and MW3 are all very similar, and the later games have slightly better graphics than COD4, but COD4 bests them because it was the first to combine all the elements that make a modern Call of Duty game. The sequels are just uninspired and therefore weaker games.

You can't blame Half-Life 2 for being "uninspired", it's all the other games that copied it!

 

[Mr.Swiggly]

Well here's my experience with the Half-Life series.

When I bought the orange box when it first came out, I had no idea what Half-Life was. I'd never even heard of Half-Life before this. I loved Half-Life 2 and all of its episodes. Then because it was so awesome I went and bought the original Half-Life including all of the Gearbox expansions. Now I've replayed Half-Life 2 about 5 times and I still think its exellecnt, Ive had way more fun with it then alot of other shooters Ive played and I am still amzing in how fun, involving and smooth everything is. Even now I have lots of trouble putting the game down. There are just so many rich details in the game.

Personally I still think that both Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are still some of the best fps out there.

 

[Spud of Doom]

You have to play Half-Life as though it was just released back in the time when fps cancer was not around.

Nope, nope, nope.
If anybody uses this argument on any game, I find it hard to take their stance seriously. A game should always be taken as it is, including strengths and weaknesses, even if they are related to the age of the game. Playing a game "as though it was just released" is an easy to way to just write off mistakes as due to aging. It's also basically conceding "new games are better than this."

 

[V8 Ninja]

It depends.

If you're solely talking about Half-Life 2, then the game has held up marvelously well. While the gameplay and story aren't anything unique or special, it's all about how everything is presented. The player almost always feels like an active participant in the world and the world doesn't ever feel artificial to the point where it breaks the immense amount of immersion.

HOWEVER, if we're talking about the Half-Life series as a whole, I would say that the series doesn't quite live up to its original praise. The first Half-Life definitely shows its age and un-mastered presentation elements, while both of the expansion packs were honestly "OK" when compared to the official Valve games.

 

[Skin]

This is exactly the problem. Half Life 2 is an average game now, only because it redefined gaming at the time it came out, and everyone jumped onto these amazing new things it introduced.

HL2 did not redefine anything. That was it's predecessor. No one wanted to make games like HL2...

It was fun when I played it, but I can never see myself marching through tiny corridor after tiny corridor for its piss poor story again.

 

[Swifty714]

You had some good points here, but it seemed like you were wearing rose-tinted glasses that were 12 inches thick!

2. The vehicle sections were hardly the samey vehicle sections that come shipped with every FPS these days.
*It let you drive and shoot at the same time, something which I haven't seen since Halo, and it did it in first person.
*There was total freedom, no linear pathways, no invisible walls, nobody to tell you where to go, just you, the open road, and a couple thousand antlions and zombies to shoot.
*The pit stops to clear road blocks were, in my book, a big plus. It wasn't just shooting guys to get them out of the way like in halo or COD, there was always an objective, and it was always exciting. Either hunt down some batteries to get something working again, or tiptoe across a dilapidated bridge. Not to mention, this is an excellent example of pacing out the driving sections between the rest of gameplay.
*Sit there and tell me that the vehicle section in EP2 wasn't one of the best ever. Besides Alyx being annoying.

This argument was a bit of a stretch.

*The last game I saw IN single-player that would let you drive and shoot at the last time was...Battlefield 3...which was only released a month ago.
* This was complete rubbish. The very constricting sewage tubes and waterways of Water Hazard?The level which the Dune bugger (Highway 21? something along the lines) was very linear. All you did was follow the road, and get out to blast a road block every now and then. Even the "Expansive" beachhead was just an illusion of depth. Sure the beach was large, but it was just empty.

3.I wouldn't call that an overused story, halo used something similar, unless you count the story as just having aliens in it halo is really the only one. Also, you do realize that half-life did it first right? Thats like saying that Elvis was unoriginal just because he did rock, sure a couple did it before him, but without a doubt he did it best. The story is delivered very well, and half life gets big points because it can do that without interrupting gameplay, and even more, weaving the gameplay in with the story.

I had trouble reading this portion. You claim that half-life was the first to use the idea of aliens invading earth (I don't have to say that's wrong) and then turn around and start a rant about NOT being first.

4.The plain, military weapons, were part of the aesthetic, plus, the focus of half-life isn't the guns themselves, like say battlefield. They were plain, simple, and got the job don- well, except the crowbar, haven't seen one of those anywhere else. Oh and the crossbow was original, not to mention the bugbait and- wait a minute? You think the gravity gun was un-original? PLEASE tell me the last game you played, that had physics, and gave you a tool to mess around with the physics, THAT WAS ACTUALLY FUN. I'm not going even to ask you to tell me that sawing zombies in half with that thing isn't fun, because you can't.

A crowbar is hardly worth praising. It's just a stick with a handle. As for the graivty gun...not all that great. It was a cool concept, though besides a few simple puzzles, and the ability to throw wooden crates made from balsa wood at things, really didn't take advantage of the untapped ability. Hell, Gary's mod made a batter use of it.

And slicing zombies in half got boring after the first two.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I played it for the first time a couple of months ago. And its a good game alright, maybe even a great game, but not for the reasons people seem to praise it for.

first of all, people always use it as an example of genius storytelling expertly mixed with gameplay. No, this is not true. I had no idea what the fuck was going on. Granted, I only ever got to the Ravenholm section, maybe it got explained after that, but that would still have left me with over 5 hours of not knowing what the fuck is going on.

Everyone praises the physics engine, never have I heard anything good said about half-life without the word physics. And yes, this is true, but it generally has no impact on gameplay at all, once I used boxes to climb up an obstacle, but if it doesn't impact the fun, then it really makes no difference to how good a game it is.

I'm way to tired to explain more than that, so quote me if you want me to explain more, tomorro, when I'm not insanely sleep deprived.

 

[Swifty714]

I played it for the first time a couple of months ago. And its a good game alright, maybe even a great game, but not for the reasons people seem to praise it for.

first of all, people always use it as an example of genius storytelling expertly mixed with gameplay. No, this is not true. I had no idea what the fuck was going on. Granted, I only ever got to the Ravenholm section, maybe it got explained after that, but that would still have left me with over 5 hours of not knowing what the fuck is going on.

Everyone praises the physics engine, never have I heard anything good said about half-life without the word physics. And yes, this is true, but it generally has no impact on gameplay at all, once I used boxes to climb up an obstacle, but if it doesn't impact the fun, then it really makes no difference to how good a game it is.

I'm way to tired to explain more than that, so quote me if you want me to explain more, tomorro, when I'm not insanely sleep deprived.

These are some things I have addressed in my posts. The physics engine is only good for rag-dolling, stacking things, and doing over the same seesaw puzzle again and again.

I however, would like to hear more of your opinion on the matter.