Haha, i don't think HL2 was a TERRIBLE game. It was fun and entertaining but i must agree HL1 is the classic.
Whilst games should always be compared to each other in context, there is one exception: the storyline. Comparing the storyline directly HL1 vs. HL2, can you really say how HL1 is better? Maybe my view of HL1 is a twisted perspective, because I played HL2 first, but I think the HL2 storyline shows more maturity, and a departure from an overdone genre. My mind is open to new things, but not so open that my brains fall out... H.B.
I like both. Really waiting on Black Mesa though, as much as I love Hl1, I find the graphics slightly dated.
I just finished playing through Opposing Force for the first time since buying it--it just sat under my desk for 6 years. Although just 2 hours long, I'd love to see a continuation of A. Shepherd's story in a future episode. Perhaps an encounter him while playing Gordon in the next episode?
QFT, except I've played the episode. I'm really waiting for the Black Mesa mod (HL1 recreation in Source, blackmesasource.com) to give HL1 a proper judgment. I liked Ep1 and the concept of episodic content, but the delay is WAY too long (as you wrote about in a column, Joe) and the passenger-ferrying at the end felt a little too repetitive. So my vote goes to HL2, probably because I think it has the best replay value at this point.
Got to be 1 for me. I think the way that the graphics are so dated now make it a classic, I don't think it will be the same running on source, but we'll find out soon enough I guess. Still a big fan of 2 and episode 1 though.
******** the lot of you, how can any of you say HL2 was the superior of the two? Half-Life was such a massive, MASSIVE fundamental shift in how FPS games were made, before HL you didn't have stories, or real characters, or scripted sequences, or ANYTHING like that in major FPSs. Before HL, FPS games were of a different period, game such as Q2 and Unreal were just nothing compared to HL, it totally redefined the entire genre and, easilly, has to be one of the best games ever made. HL2, on the other hand, was good, even great, but a genre redefining masterpiece? Hardly! Yeah it had decent (if previous generation) graphics, had a physics gun that worked quite well (even if it wasn't the first to have one) and certainly did an awful lot very well, but it wasn't the revolutionary masterpiece the original was, it hardly redefinined the entire genre, sending all subsequent games in a different direction and altering the entire course of FPS history. I guess if you're too young to remember the sheer effect HL had on FPS gaming you won't fully understand, but take it from someone who was there, HL was everything, HL2 was just... something. And Epsiodes is just nothing.
Same, i sort of enjoyed the first, but still being only 20, i didn't get a huge chance to play it when it first came out etc, where as the second, i bought the first second i could and have completed it over and over. Brilliant everytime, except Ravenholm... hate that place *shudders*
HL1 was a great game, but HL2 achieved, in my opinion, perfection. Never before have I had so much fun with a game, neither have I felt so "inside" (so to say) a game's story and action. Episodes are great too, but even though they bring tech innovations (HDR, better physics, etc), they lack the impact HL2 was able to create (story-wise and gameplay-wise). Come to think of it, I've finished HL2 more than 10 times!! I can't say that of any other game, ever.
Half Life 2 is the best game. Ever. I am a complete Half Life fan boy. I admit it so very oppenly. I map for it. I have been in several mods for user created chapters too the stroy, i am working on my own one at the moment. The setting and gameplay of Half Life 2 is beautiful. And its when you really delve into the source engine and you see how the maps were made, and all the work they put, into making the game as amazing as it is you really appreciate it. Out of all the games ive played, even Doom 3, i really think that Ravenholm was the place that desensitised me from scary things in games. The feel of the place just feels. So. Real... Obviously the zombies and what not arnt real, but old miner towns are...
Amen! Glad I'm not the only one keeping an eye on this mod. It looks hot! EDIT: Oh, almost forgot: HL2 for me. I'm plenty old enough to remember playing through HL1 numerous times and completing opposing force and blue shift. HL1 was indeed an amazing piece of work, revolutionary infact. However, HL2 took that to the next level. Nostalgia has a funny effect on the mind. I agree that HL1 set new standards for the FPS genre but that's not the question being asked. If HL2 had come out when HL1 did (granted technology at the time wouldn't have permitted it) I think you know which title you'd choose. "Which title do you prefer:" HL2. "Which title did more for FPS as a genre?" HL1 all the way baby! And Jamie, cmon seriously, how can a lover of HL1 say that HL2 was "terrible". I mean I know the cs1.6 fanboys have some serious gripes with the source engine and CSS but HL2 is by no means a terrible game. Are you sure that statement wasn't just to stir things up a bit over here?
HL2 was good, don't get me wrong, I love it to bits, but HL1 defined and inspired me as a gamer tbh. The Episodes are good, even if there is a bit too long between them.
