I loved HL2 at first, however after a while I just lost interest (which isn't common for me). For an FPS there seemed to be more and more 'puzzles' and less and less... well... shooting/FPS, as the game went on. I understand I'm in a minority here, however I'm just giving my opinion on it Plus my opinions on games are fairly odd - I only thought that Fallout 3 was okay (just seemed like a copy and paste of Oblivion with different weapons and scenery), and whilst I enjoyed Oblivion I much preferred Morrowind. And I really loved Assassins Creed and didn't find it repetitive. Just me being odd I guess
Hardly being odd. Everyone is different. If everyone liked the same games then there wouldn't be many developers left. I started playing Oblivion, and then got bored because of its huge scale and endless trudging around, I'd love to play it through, but haven't got the patience. Same with Fallout 3, although I'm trying to stick with it this time, but I've already resorted to using cheats to get some ammo, .
When it first came out it was not only leagues ahead of everything that came before it, but also leagues ahead of what came out around the same time. Even now it still plays better than 95% of FPS's, packing in more gameplay options, more set pieces, more believable and likeable characters, still the best vehicle sections and still decent looking graphics (after the Source engine updates). And half the levels were terrible?! Half the levels were awesome, the other half were amazing. Highway 17, Sandtraps, Ravenholm, Nova Prospekt and Anti-Citizen One are amazing fun to blast through all guns (and saw blades, scrap buggy and turrets) blazing.
^^ Before I jump in and make my piece: They are not essentially the same game. Not by quite some distance. hl1 is a shooter for a start.
the graphics are still fairly decent even now, the pacing is brilliant, the storyline varied, an npc who could take care of herself. valve dont do bad games.
Not yet they dont. Left 4 Dead 2 is pretty weak. Could be a portent of things to come. (characters are really REALLY meh, single player isn't really fun, but versus is. The opposite from L4D1. The multiplayer is better than the story telling part of it. I mean who gives a toss about nick? or rochelle?) For a start, mentioning this for a second time hl2 is not in the least anything like hl1. There, i said it. Or you could say its hl1 but with terrible guns, far fewer guns, much less variety in enemies, infinite ammo bins, easy in the truest sense of the word until the town hall storming, in a narrative where YOU are the story instead of YOU being in the story. Thats that sorted. HL1 is an fps, hl2 is not. @ghys - "Are you sure your love for HL1 is not somewhat over hyped by nostalgia ?" Yes because HL2 came out in nov. 2004 which was very recent wasnt it. This is your nostalgia vs. mine. The episodes are not part of this topic neither. @ninja speak - I dont get the donut reference. @unicorn - "The fact that you're talking down a game that without a doubt was and is one of the most important games of the past decade in terms of software technology" What does the engine have to do with the topic. @Jipa - Im not a sheep. Neither am I a child. I don’t have to like what everyone else likes. Metacritic can go and lick. @Elton, Pete J, Robots - Thank you the voices of reason. The plotline of HL1, oh where art thou? 12 years on and still we dont know. Shoutouts out the way, onto business. In my mind hl2 has some serious issues stopping it from being amazing. Some of the levels are just plain rubbish. Six years in the making, a city and world in ruins, oppressive regime enormous silver tower, and here we are knee deep in turds in dang dark tunnels. Not impressed. You get the crow bar of barney, head across a train siding, lookin good so far, and then bam! were in tunnels. TUNNELS FFS. Oh theres soo much exciting stuff happening but we cant go have a look yet. The boat bit was good, black mesa east was a joke. Cant we revisit the site of the first game for more than 2 minutes?? (Oh thats right we buried it to start a new storyline.) The combine show up and your shooshed out the door by dog and alyx to go and fight the undead. Makes sense.... Yep loads happening in this world cant wait to get involved with it anytime now, but first time to trudge along on my tod, but after that it'll get good.... Sandtraps, a tad dull so it was - the ant lions are fun but what if i want to leave them behind? Thats right, i cant. We worked very hard making these things and you WILL enjoy them right up to when we say you will stop using them. Nova prospect was a good level. The squads you pick up later in the game, you cant get rid of them and they endlessly respawn, trapping you in corners and narrow alleyways. Go forth and get cut down pls my pretties. And theyre rubbish at shooting anything. Infinite ammo and health rears its ugly head once more. The second half of the game and were finally into the action though, makes right all wrongs. Oh wait, were at the citadel. The big showdown cometh. We get to peer into its guts and face wave after wave of readily assembled combine forces, the paint on them not yet dry. The problem is we dont. A few skirmishes on the ground floor after a quick tour of the foundations of the structure, then whisked to the penthouse via express elevator. Convienently missing all the interesting stuff going on in the other 85% of the tower, stuff the game has been building too. In fact the most intense stuff of the entire experience was left behind on ground level, in the streets. heads up folks, being a minor god with mega health and a all pwning super gravity gun is fun for all of once. again, you cant choose not to use it, you cant pick up enemy weapons and use them. Oh no who do you think you are? your gonna play it the way we want you to and enjoy it. Anyways a scanner takes all your gear and squishes it into a super gravity gun? how very contrived. The ending is terrible. G-Man: "close but no cigar mr freeman, better luck next time!" Ah, the same ending as HL1. Nothing like waiting 6 years to see that again. Step 2, uninstall, sell to friend at work. .....other problems are thus: the pistol is more effective than the sub machine gun, no i dont mean the magnum either. On the subject of the magnum its more powerful than an alien plasma rifle with mini blackhole secondary fire. Sigh, thats w@nk indeed. You can do the whole game with only the shotgun. Try that in HL1. The crossbow is silly powerful. why have such a prevalent weapon as the sub machine gun and make it soo inaccurate and sooo weak? why not just stick an m16 clone in their and be done with it. No wait we wont do that because we have the gravity gun, and all other weapons must be sunk in usefulness to put the gg in the spotlight. The combine troops, look cool, sound cool, ...... are weak as kittens. Even the super dooper elite white suit combine are no match for my trusty shotgun. GAY. Its a bit of an issue when the little poisonous black hissing jumping spider things are tougher than any combine trooper when it has the mass of a large fox, most of which is in its legs. SUPER GAY. The ai is pretty poor too, especially compared to those preview videos. Remember trap town anyone? In short, its a game of smoke and mirrors, if you plan on deviating from the way you are intended to play the game, your met with a smack in the chops. Its on rails, its easy, its claustrophobically restrictive. Its almost like the tunnels and chambers of hl1 but with scenerry painted on them to make it look like its outside. What i liked: Graphics - even on a radeon 7000 i was awestruck. Sound - just lovely. The submachine gun of all things sounded very good. Bullets hitting metal objects too was very well done. Voice acting - really really nice. Good choice of voice actors, no voices seemed a bit meh or a bit of a miss. Music - skeptical at first but later warmed to it. Zombies - gotta love em. Especially the running ones. I was genuiely scared when they were around and if you burnt a regular zombie they seemed to whail: "why! why!, i like me!" I think you either enjoy riding the wave of this constructed film type narrative or you dont. As somneone already said here, its typical valve fast paced gameplay. Trouble is if you wanna play a bit slower, poke about, it is actually a dreary experience. I give this to the floor. i put my musings better much closer to the time I bought the game. i went under the name of soididitagain http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic17165-2.html
I bought half life 2 when it came out, but never bothered finishing it, so i guess you could say i didnt find it particularly catching! AS a genre FPS are not my favourite though. I am inclined to go back and give it anoth bash though.
I know. Havent been gaming very long have you. Like the people who think gpus started with g80. Nice witty retort btw. Ditto for you
The first PC game I played was Fallout 1. The first GPU I owned was Riva TNT2.... PS; multi-quote, learn to.
Because it was? No other game previous (that I have played, and i've played pretty much all the big games) had such a perfect blend of characters, atmosphere, graphics, sound, physics, action, pacing, vehicles, balance and tied them all together with more set pieces than a Stallone VS Schwarzenegger action film party. I can absolutely understand someone "not getting" HL2, even finding it boring (I was the same with Mass Effect, universally praised but never engaged with me), but to say it's a below par game is just lunacy.
I never actually said it was below par. I would have said 82% as a score. I just didnt think it had atmosphere because i thought its predecessor did, and much of what it did to have atmosphere was based on much of what hl1 did before it but done via junking the storyline and starting afresh. I found it an empty and souless affair and engaging combine forces was rarely anything more than a trifiling matter. Thats a 180 from hl1. If you dont play with the gravity gun and you dont want to run through everything, it fell over royaly. Your statement remains short-sighted however.
Cut out the flame-baiting Parsnip - phrases like "Your statement remains short-sighted however. " is nothing but bait for those who you've already upset by questioning how right they are to love HL2. Keep it to justified, carefully written opinions. The moment this thread turns fiery it's going in the bin.
I quite like HalfLife 1 & 2. Half-life 1 got me at the resonance cascade. Half-Life 2 got me from the word go. It had an interesting storyline and left it open for future episodes. Everyone has their own oppinion. I love Half-Life 1 & 2. Have both installed on my PC. I go back through them every now and again. My GF doesn't see the point she thinks Deal or No Deal is EPIC WIN. This thread is meaningless.
"They're waiting for you Gordon. In the test chamber...." Ive got the whole shebang, including blue shift, opposing force, ep1 and ep2. I like them all, except hl2. Noones commented on the link to the list i posted. Btw which kind soul keeps editing my posts?? Many thanks to them!
