Poll: Half-Life 2

[jacobschndr]

Oh shit here we go. First it was "Why Halo?, it sucks", Then its, "Why Modern Warfare and MEWTWO they both blow" Now its time to be asking why Half-life two is so good.

Look, it just is. Simple, yet classic FPS gameplay with some nice puzzles, great physics (for its time anyway) great characters, and my personal favorite, an awesome atomsphere. Sure the story is hard to follow, but your playing the sequal "first" what do you expect to happen if you jump in the middle of a story line? That only worked for star wars.

To be honest, it probably helped set the standard for many FPS's today. I still like playing it from time to time. So there..

 

[Nerdfury]

Edit: Removed magical double post.

 

[laryri]

It is the most average game I have ever played. I wouldn't hate it for that, if Valve Fanboys didn't proclaim it to be the 2nd going of Souplex. It is full of bad ideas. When ideas are popular, they are mimicked by other games, spreading. When bad ideas are popular it's like a cancer. Half Life 2 is game cancer.

I have to agree with Souplex here. The game itself is among the first to get average right, not exactly excelling at anything, but not really dropping the ball, either (except the driving. Halo has gotten driving far better. I'd argue the shooting as well but that's mostly my opinion).

What really annoys me is that the fans praise it to the same degree many claim Halo fans do, while claiming to be "above them", which will in my eyes make them the worse of the pair.

Half Life 2 has better shooting so long as you play on PC.

 

[Baby Eater]

It's a decent game if you expect it to be like Halo but it's even better if you've played Half-Life first so you know what to expect.

Headcrabs are rather annoying but they're easier to hit than Flood in my opinion.

Does the Stryder's design really ruin the boss fight? Would you approve if they had tree trunk legs?

I dislike waypoints but it may help. Maybe if they were an option I could agree.

I personally think the original Half-Life is better but Portal is my favourite FPS.

 

[The Paradigm]

I liked Half-Life 2 and it's episodes. I liked the simple shooting mechanics and character and even the vehicle sections, but the parts that i liked the best were some of the setpieces and the atmosphere. Places like Bridge Point, Ravenholm, and the Citadel, they just felt really awesome.

 

[CincoDeMayo]

Are you complaining about a bad game? Because to me it sounds more like you complain because you suck at it, no offense. I've never, ever heard anyone complain about the level design of HL2 or any of it's sequels, and if you get owned by a barnacle (the hanging pimples you referred to) you should probably play something easier. Also, immortal sidekicks make games too easy, do you want to finish the game or do you want a NPC to finish it for you?

Again, no offense, just throwing it out.

To me, HL2 revolutionized the FPS genre just as much as Halo did. Amazing story telling, amazing graphics, interesting story, really fun gameplay mechanics, large variety in scenery and enemies, what's not to digg?

And just to slip it in, ranting about anything at all related to fun and pleasure is not really productive, everyone has their own opinion on things, and claiming that someones favorite game, band, car or whatever doesn't quite float your boat is not their problem, it's your problem. If you can't deal with HL2 without finding it frustrating then fine, it's alright, but nobody else really gives a damn.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Half Life 2 has better shooting so long as you play on PC.

Eh, I have played both console and PC, and I still found it clunky. It's likely just me on that point.

 

[Whodat]

Good but not best. The best has a special place in my heart and that is STALKER SoC.

 

[Banana Phone Man]

It's a good game in my opinion. Not the best FPS but probably one of the best story based games as far as I've played.

It's my favorite game that I have played though so whatever i say will be a little biased towards it.

 

[oktalist]

I really don't see how a waypoint system would help. I in fact absolutely hate it when a game grants me a very obvious pattern of "Go Here Then Here"; it's much more interesting when they guide you into where to go using subtle hints, so you more or less "figure it out" on your own.

There were too many places where the budget for subtle hints seemed to run out and it turned into a mad search for a needle in a needlestack.

I worry that you're perhaps just a bit too used to games that focus on the linear sequences of enemies rather than the exploration/problemsolving systems.

My two favouritest games in the whole world evarr are Deus Ex, Stalker and Portal, and also many point-and-click adventures. I also enjoy well-done linear shooters like Quake and the first Half-Life. However, my opinion of HL2 is quite similar to the OP's, especially about the level design: mostly excellent, but there were too many places where it seemed to break down. Maybe those bits were designed by the one rubbish level designer, who everyone else at Valve hated but who had somehow managed to get a job there.

 

[Tsunimo]

The plot is also nonsensical. Maybe it's because I never played Half-Life 1, but all I can gather is that Gorden Freeman is a very famous Scientist that is better trained in combat then any soldier on the planet. Other than that, I know there's a rebellion going on, and very little else. Often, I just walk along, praying that I'll hit a safe zone for long enough to collect a little ammo before being kicked out on my own.

Yeah it usually help if you want to know the story to have played a game that lays out what the entire story is, who the characters are, and why you are were you are, et cetera.

 

[dfcrackhead]

Yeah, so I just borrowed The Orange Box from a friend, and decided to play Half-Life 2.

I'm about 8 hours in, and it's easily one of the most frustrating games I've ever played in my life.

Firstly, lots of the enemies are just plain annoying. From the pimples hanging from the ceiling that snag you and pull you up to the head crabs that seem like the Infection form Flood from Halo on a permanent sugar high, to the Head Crab thing that THROWS crabs at you that reduce your health to 1 hit point, and the guy who throws them can take an unnatural amount of damage, often ranging from an exploded barrel and a grenade to 10 shotgun blasts. It almost seems like Valve tried their hardest to make the most annoying enemies of all time. Plus, those giant crawler things take a ton of damage to. For something that seems like a grape held up by three toothpicks, it can take an upwards of 8 rockets. I bet I could cut through that thing's leg with a butter knife, and it takes 8 rockets? Get out of here!

The plot is also nonsensical. Maybe it's because I never played Half-Life 1, but all I can gather is that Gorden Freeman is a very famous Scientist that is better trained in combat then any soldier on the planet. Other than that, I know there's a rebellion going on, and very little else. Often, I just walk along, praying that I'll hit a safe zone for long enough to collect a little ammo before being kicked out on my own.

The level design is what kills it for me. To its credit, there are some pretty cool puzzles, but so often I can never find where I need to go! I end up walking around for up to 20 minutes before I find an inconspicuous vent, or a little staircase tucked away in the corner. This is not good game design. If the places you are supposed to go are not easy to find, you put WAYPOINTS in the game, or objectives, or something to help me figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.

Oh, and why is it that whenever you have a plot-important ally around, they can die? That makes me groan whenever Alex or someone else rears their ugly head, because suddenly things turn into an escort mission!

So, I suppose the point of this rant of mine is, am I missing something? People rave about Half-Life 2 as one of the best Single Player FPS games ever, and while it can be fun at times, I've certainly played better FPS games before. If the design was less sloppy so I wouldn't get lost all the time, I might amend that statement, but really, am I missing something here?

I've played through HL2 twice and I've never once gotten lost or even had Alyx or any other NPC get killed and enemies are supposed to be aggravating, if they weren't hard to kill, the game would be too easy. Either way, in my opinion it is a fantastic game and is THE FPS that got me hooked on the genre.

 

[BlackIronGuardian]

I've always liked the aesthetic. The way everything looks really gets the point across of being that revolutionary bringing down a very communist-like regime.

I find it fun.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Meh. I tried playing it, got attached to the characters but has failed to Wow me. Best FPS goes to Farcry 1. Damn I think I've played through that like 8 times now and I still want more.

It's silly how underrated Far Cry is, I'll be digging it out of the draw in a minute now...

OT: None of the poll options really speak to me, I'll just say that it's a very good game, and was fairly groundbreaking on it's release.

It was big, it deserved it's fame...I guess the backlash was inevitable. It earns credit for it taking nearly 6 years to finally happen.

 

[cybran]

keep in mind that its quite some time since this game came out, if you were into video games WHEN thisgame came out, and played it, you'de be slightly more impressed, and if you've played the first games aswell you might find the story more compelling.

The video game industry didnt make many games with impressive physical elements, but then along game half life 2 with a flawed one, not to mention the !!GRAVITY GUN!!

small conclusion, this game was impressive when it came out, but it has aged, it still deserves the "best game ever created for its time" though. Go valve, looking forward to half life 3.

EDIT: can I just edit that waypoints... You rant about half life is missing out on waypoints... the mosy of the game is pretty obvious my friend... not to mention its LINEAR, so if you don't know which way to go you're probarbly staring into a wall or something... I dont mean to be offensive, but ifyou think half life 2 was non-linear and frustrating becasue of that, you would HATE half life 1. It ahs harder puzzles and it won't give you any clues, clues which are nearly brought out on a silver palte in half life 2.

 

[JohnDoey]

No cares if you like the game or hate it why do people broadcast their feelings with these threads if you don't like the game it's your personal feelings.

 

[QuickDEMOL1SHER]

I enjoyed it, but it's not even close to the shining diamond most people make it out to be. When I got to Ravenholm (or however you spell it.) I honestly thought I was in a dream sequence the horror was so cheesy.

 

[Judgement101]

The enemies are like that to make you conserve ammo and to be cautious.

 

[JLrep]

it certainly is a good game, i really enjoyed playing it/them, but the title "best FPS evar" is for TimeSplitters: FP

Sir, you win.

 

[Bananafoam]

I can safley say I like this game. Though the poisen zombies pissed me off.

And I found you can kill the striders by aiming for the exhuast vents at the top.

But the reason I like this game is it has the friendliest mod enghine ever.
It's really easy to make custom contenet.

And there is alot of guess work as to the plot, even if you played the first game, which I have.

asically you were a scientist, like Dr.Kliener, who worked at a research facility called Black Mesa. Your dumbass scientist pals accidently open a dimensional rift to another dimension, sending hoirrific creatures to our world from the planet Xen. (pronounced zen)

You have to kill them along with saving your scientist buddies (Like Eli and Kliener, the leaders of the resistance in Half Life 2) And helpin your security guards, all suspiciously named Barney. One of the Barneys survived for the sequel, and in Half Life, one of the Security officers says he'll buy you a beer after work, so he was the original Barney.
The Combine (The main enemies) camew through the portal, though you never see them in the first game, and they enslave humanity.

Thats all you need to know, except that Breen is the adinistrator for Black Mesa.

(P.S., Timesplitters is indeed the best.)