Half Life 1... what is it, and why have i never heard of it?

[300lb. Samoan]

HL1 was the first "real" FPS I've ever played. Sure you could count doom and wolf3D but in my book, the FPS chapter starts with HL1.

i play Doom more than i do half-life 1. but that's probably because i've beat hl1 at least 10 times, and i'm now finding more and more Doom wads that i've never run through. and i still haven't ever played doom 2 all the way through...

on topic tho, half-life is the beginning of what we now know was first-person shooters. doom is just a light-speed slaughter simulator - which is awesome in its own way

 

[GrinningManiac]

...

It is up there with DOOM and Wolfenstein as one of the most influential PC FPSs ever made. Now, I want you to open up your Steam client, and go to the Steam Store, and Buy either Half Life, or Half Life: Source (Source is a port to the same engine as HL2, but the difference is not huge)

It is a must-play.
Get it.
Get it now.

Or I will send Lamaar after you in your sleep.

But Lamaar is useless. They de-beaked him

OT: I got it on that £1 deal a while back. It sucked, I thought. and I can't help but wonder why it became so sucsessful and ended up becoming something as good as HL2. Thank god it did, though

 

[Mr.Squishy]

Half Life 1 was just a run and gun shooter from the late 90s, HL2 was ALOT better.

By being a run and gun shooter from the 00's instead?

 

[duckfi8]

u must live under a rock if u have never herd of half life one dear sir

 

[Trivun]

I really want to get the original Half Life, but no game store I've found sells it. Basically, there are no copies left except those taking up dust in countless people's bedrooms, when most of those don't even play it anymore because they're so engrossed in Half Life 2 and its Episodes. I feel like I'm losing out because I won't buy the second game or the episodes until I've played the original, because I'm a stickler for story, and because of that I won't get the Orange Box yet, so I can't play Portal or TF2 yet. I refuse to buy them seperately when I can save money getting them together, you see. I'll probably just buy the Valve Complete Collection on Steam, but I'm a bit iffy about using Steam for certain games because my laptop doesn't have the greatest graphics, and I can't play L4D on it because there's too much lag...

dude, you'll be fine. half-life 1 is available on steam, it's updated to run its original engine on XP and Vista, and believe me you could that game at 300fps on a netbook. it's noble of you to postpone your enjoyment of portal and TF2 just so you can properly progress thru the half-life series, but that means you have no excuse to not grab steam and try half-life 1 on your laptop asap! after that, you might wanna rent orange box for 360 to play hl2 and the episodes. graphically they are still up to par and i'm finding playing with a controller still satisfying. portal also is fun on console, but TF2 needs to be enjoyed on a good gaming rig so you can enjoy the updates and custom maps.

Thanks for the info dude Since The Orange Box was released back in 2007 and L4D wasn't until late 2008, given the age of my laptop and it's components, I can probably play all of the Orange Box games on my laptop, even though it isn't a majorly good gaming rig. Fine, the quality won't be as good, but the only real problem I've had with my laptop so far is that 2008 and onwards games run slower, anything pre-2008 I've found is still pretty smooth, so I'll definitely be getting the Orange Box on my laptop soon enough. As for Half Life, I've literally ten minutes ago found a copy being sold on ebay for a minimum bid of £0.99, which I immediatly bid for. There's only about 40 minutes left too, and nobody else has bid, so I'm highly optimistic that I'll end up getting a good copy of the original game for less than a pound (free postage too) .

EDIT: There shouldn't be a problem running an original copy of the game on my laptop either, even though I have Vista. I can, for some reason, still play the original Total Annihilation that I had for Windows 98 on my laptop, on Vista, with no problems. I know that because I've done it. Strangely, my laptop doesn't seem to care too much about compatibility issues with older games... :s

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Thanks for the info dude Since The Orange Box was released back in 2007 and L4D wasn't until late 2008, given the age of my laptop and it's components, I can probably play all of the Orange Box games on my laptop, even though it isn't a majorly good gaming rig. Fine, the quality won't be as good, but the only real problem I've had with my laptop so far is that 2008 and onwards games run slower, anything pre-2008 I've found is still pretty smooth, so I'll definitely be getting the Orange Box on my laptop soon enough. As for Half Life, I've literally ten minutes ago found a copy being sold on ebay for a minimum bid of £0.99, which I immediatly bid for. There's only about 40 minutes left too, and nobody else has bid, so I'm highly optimistic that I'll end up getting a good copy of the original game for less than a pound (free postage too) .

the original game? as in, the 1998 box release or 1999 GotY box release? i've gotta warn you, they most likely will not run. i tried installing my original copy of half-life last year and no matter what updates i applied to it, it would not run under XP. XP blocks it and dings you saying that it's not compatible software. you need the steam distribution for that, and if the person selling ever registered his copy on steam (most likely reason they are selling) you won't be able to play the game at all using that CD key. your best bet is buying new thru steam.

 

[Jonny49]

I actually prefer HL1 to HL2.

 

[Darth Pope]

The original has been engulfed by the monolith of awesome that is it's sequel.

 

[David_G]

Thanks for the info dude Since The Orange Box was released back in 2007 and L4D wasn't until late 2008, given the age of my laptop and it's components, I can probably play all of the Orange Box games on my laptop, even though it isn't a majorly good gaming rig. Fine, the quality won't be as good, but the only real problem I've had with my laptop so far is that 2008 and onwards games run slower, anything pre-2008 I've found is still pretty smooth, so I'll definitely be getting the Orange Box on my laptop soon enough. As for Half Life, I've literally ten minutes ago found a copy being sold on ebay for a minimum bid of £0.99, which I immediatly bid for. There's only about 40 minutes left too, and nobody else has bid, so I'm highly optimistic that I'll end up getting a good copy of the original game for less than a pound (free postage too) .

the original game? as in, the 1998 box release or 1999 GotY box release? i've gotta warn you, they most likely will not run. i tried installing my original copy of half-life last year and no matter what updates i applied to it, it would not run under XP. XP blocks it and dings you saying that it's not compatible software. you need the steam distribution for that, and if the person selling ever registered his copy on steam (most likely reason they are selling) you won't be able to play the game at all using that CD key. your best bet is buying new thru steam.

What? Last month I finished it on my PC with an old copy of the game, I guess I must be lucky, or whatever.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

What? Last month I finished it on my PC with an old copy of the game, I guess I must be lucky, or whatever.

Well, maybe they changed it, my XP is still on service pack 1. I just wouldn't recommend it after my experience. I've never tried installing it on my laptop, no reason to when it's already on my steam account.

 

[David_G]

What? Last month I finished it on my PC with an old copy of the game, I guess I must be lucky, or whatever.

Well, maybe they changed it, my XP is still on service pack 1. I just wouldn't recommend it after my experience. I've never tried installing it on my laptop, no reason to when it's already on my steam account.

Mine is on service pack 2, but I have no idea if that's the reason I could play it.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

It's because you were a microscopic tadpole floating around in your dad's left ball when it came out.

Alright, that was an exaggeration, but seriously, I don't know anyone who doesn't know what the first Half Life was. I mean, for god's sakes man, my 12 year old neighbor knows exactly what it is, and he was literally a year short of being nothing but sperm when it came out.

 

[Fasckira]

Please, stop posting. When you post, you make me want to harm myself.

Er, what have I done to remotely upset you?

 

[ThisWasAWaste]

It was released in 1997, and my best guess is you were not born yet, so thus why you never heard of it.

 

[Captain Pancake]

though both were good, Half life 2 had a much better narrative and storyline. Half life was the run of the mill "science experiment gone wrong" affair, with copy and pasted NPCs and no memorable characters. The second had an amusing gimmick by taking each stereotype from the first game and turning them into a major character (Dr Vance, Dr Kleiner, and Barnie).

HL2 is a prequel to the original HL in terms of story, so you can get away with not playing it.

What are you talking about? It's set 10-20 years after the original.

Also, is anybody else looking forward to the Black Mesa: Source mod? Because I sure am.

 

[Fasckira]

though both were good, Half life 2 had a much better narrative and storyline.

I think they learnt considerably from the feedback for HL1, especially in terms of the narrative. Dont get me wrong, HL1 was pretty damn legendary for its time and it changed my expectations for future games after it but HL2 managed to push the boundaries again and add a cherry on top.

 

[Lordmarkus]

Half-Life 1 isn't great. It's just very very divine.

[sub]Will play do_spaceneedle til death if Valve doesn't release EP3 next year[/sub]

Also, is anybody else looking forward to the Black Mesa: Source mod? Because I sure am.

Personally, can't wait. Have been waiting nonstop for a year now.

 

[Ben7]

You can get it really cheap on steam (like £2), and its an excellent game which fills in alot of the backstory to 2.

One of the best lines in half life 2 comes from a reference to 1, something along the lines of the Vortiguants only human experience was that of a crowbar down a steel hallway. Good old G man.

Half-Life 1 isn't great. It's just very very divine.

[sub]Will play do_spaceneedle til death if Valve doesn't release EP3 next year[/sub]

Spaceneedle sucks brah, get some do_seaside

 

[Lordmarkus]

You can get it really cheap on steam (like £2), and its an excellent game which fills in alot of the backstory to 2.

One of the best lines in half life 2 comes from a reference to 1, something along the lines of the Vortiguants only human experience was that of a crowbar down a steel hallway. Good old G man.

Half-Life 1 isn't great. It's just very very divine.

[sub]Will play do_spaceneedle til death if Valve doesn't release EP3 next year[/sub]

Spaceneedle sucks brah, get some do_seaside

Get your facts right. I chose Spaceneedle for three clear reasons. It is located in Seattle, Valve is located in Seattle and it is ridiculously easy to earn enoigh points for a nuke .

Although Seaside are probably the best map in the game.

 

[Ben7]

You can get it really cheap on steam (like £2), and its an excellent game which fills in alot of the backstory to 2.

One of the best lines in half life 2 comes from a reference to 1, something along the lines of the Vortiguants only human experience was that of a crowbar down a steel hallway. Good old G man.

Half-Life 1 isn't great. It's just very very divine.

[sub]Will play do_spaceneedle til death if Valve doesn't release EP3 next year[/sub]

Spaceneedle sucks brah, get some do_seaside

Get your facts right. I chose Spaceneedle for three clear reasons. It is located in Seattle, Valve is located in Seattle and it is ridiculously easy to earn enoigh points for a nuke .

Although Seaside are probably the best map in the game.

Curse my stupidity!, I did get one fact right, needle sucks!