Half-Life 2

Just started playing Half-Life 2 again yesterday. It's probably one of the best FPS games ever made. Anybody else ever played it?

...Yes.

Ya meng.

Yes.

Good, but it does not deserve all the praise it gets.

Maybe the best FPS that I ve ever played, after that, every other SP FPS are average at best

Fun game. Nostalgia filter says it's the best. Reality says it was, at best, the best of its time. We've got better these days.

edited 2nd Oct '12 7:39:59 PM by Journeyman

Nah, the game is legitimately awesome. No nostalgia filter required. I find it funny that "nostalgia filter" is basically the default argument of anyone who doesn't like these older, very well-regarded games. I've seen it trotted out on TV Tropes so often it's beginning to sound like a broken record.

Actually, thinking of HL 2 as old makes me feel very old. I bought the original Half-Life when it was new. Hell, I bought Duke Nukem 3D when it was new! (with my parents' money!)

edited 2nd Oct '12 8:04:22 PM by Talby

Half Life 2 has some really great sections. I love the Water Hazard, Ravenholm, and Gravity Gun parts. There's a ton of creativity in the level design, even with its linearity. Also, I really loved shooting down that damn helicopter.

It also has some terrible sections. Sand Traps is a pain in the ass, and Highway 17 is even worse because you have to deal with that buggy's clunky controls. The in-game story sequences, while great on the first playthrough, become annoying in future playthoughs when you just want to get on with it and can't skip them like a cutscene. Also, the Combine ai is hilariously bad (In practice; I know it's good in the right situation, but you're never going to see that situation in-game).

It's a good game. Not a perfect game, but a good game. I'd say I actually like the original Half Life better in some ways.

edited 2nd Oct '12 9:13:36 PM by Scardoll

Ugh, the buggy. And the damn muscle car in Episode Two. Can't tell you how many times I got stuck in small roads, or tipped over off of cliffs.

edited 3rd Oct '12 5:15:22 AM by TheFreeman

I've played Half Life, and Half life 2, and it struck me that they're almost completely different games.

Tone means a lot to a story, and they have completely different tones.

Have you played Black Mesa yet, Jimmmy? Fixes that problem completely.

After completing BM, I feel a replay of HL2 is necessary. The only problem is that Combine soldiers are laughably easy to defeat compared to BM's HECU Marines.

edited 3rd Oct '12 7:00:01 AM by pagad

I will have to play it.

The thing is, when I played Half Life, I felt like a survivor. Everyone around me was dying, and I was just barely making it, while completing objectives that usually didn't help anything. The mainly indoor environments felt cramped and stifling, and the lack of dialog and companions contributed to that "Lonely survivor" mentality.

Half Life 2 was completely different. You were no longer the "survivor", you were the hero. Your main goal wasn't escape, and you knew a lot of what was going on most of the time. You were a leader, a freedom fighter. The environments were wide open, and companions could last for quite a long time; we even had NP Cs in this one.

So we will see if Black Mesa changes that.

I love the levels in this game. Just, how much variety they have, and the way it never feels likes you are going down corridor after corridor. It's like the game is in a real place, despite all the locked doors.

I never felt the vehicles clunky, in fact I want more levels like that

-Rolls his eyes.- I'm not saying it's not awesome. I'm saying it's not the best ever.

It's like Star Wars. It's legitmately good, was one of the best things of its kind at its time, but has flaws. Him being silent, for one. It was supposed to maximize the player's connection to the world by not providing an interfering personality, but it cuts you off from opportunities to feel a deeper bond in the world. We have no idea why Gordon himself chose to do any of this.

The boat isn't clunky. The buggy is incredibly frustrating, although the car is slightly better in Episode 2.

It doesn't help that Highway 17's Ant Lions are going to slow you down even more after you crash into something.

Played and completed Half Life 2 and all its addons. Loved it. Which is all I am going to say otherwise I will start ranting at Gabe Newell for not bringing out Episode 3.

Its great but platforming segments make me declare it is NOT the best FPS game ever.

I loved the oppressive atmosphere of the Combine's rule in Half-Life 2. It made it that much more satisfying when I got to start shooting them in the face. I hadn't played many shooters before I played this, so I freaked out at times (I actually quit before entering Ravenholm because the tension was too great). Ravenholm is still the creepiest video game level ever for me.

I play through HL 2 very recently for the first time and I must say, I loved the game to bits.

The Dark Energy Gravity Gun is the best item in the game. Too bad it the 11th-Hour Superpower.

edited 11th Oct '12 7:48:10 PM by PippingFool

Ravenholm is the most overrated video game level ever.

And then it becomes a First Hour Superpower that you get for a little bit

edited 11th Oct '12 3:40:27 PM by hnd03

Lies! Lies and slander!

edited 11th Oct '12 11:49:54 PM by JimmyTMalice

I actually like the first areas of the game the best. The urban environments do a great job of establishing what the Covenant have done to the Earth. It's never really spelled out explicitly, you learn bits and pieces as you go. Some people don't like HL 2's style of environmental storytelling, but I think it's a refreshing change from the boring exposition scenes and opening text crawls we see in so many other games.

As awesome of a crossover between Halo and Hal-Life would be, I hope you meant 'Combine'?