Half Life not that great?

[teh_gunslinger]

Ah, here we have another progressive-minded, forward-thinking gamer who isn't afraid to regale us with their insights. Do you want a pat on the back? Yep, you taught us all a lesson about the importance of individuality and going against convention. I'm cleaning up the fragments of my monocle as we speak.

Really? My issue isn't so much that you say that don't like the game, but that you bothered to share this opinion with the rest of the world when the sum of your critical evaluation can be boiled down to, "Uh, it isn't good." How is that supposed to spark a discussion? You haven't bothered to actually analyze the game and your reaction to it and share those issues, be they technical, design-based, art-based, plot-based, etc. Because your opinion doesn't contain any analysis, the only counter-argument one could make is, "Nuh-uh!"

Yes, yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and so-forth, but by the same token, no one needs to respect under-thought and/or poorly communicated opinions. If the OP had contained some measure of analysis that explained WHY they feel the game didn't work for them, then that would carry more weight. Without any additional information, it just feels like yet another person on the internet trying to prove their "edgy" bona fides.

Tl;dr: this is super dumb.

If this was Reddit you'd have my upvote.

As for Half-Life, it's probably a matter of perspective. I remember loading it up in 1998 and being blown away. That feeling is unlike anything else in my many years of gaming. Half-Life 2 didn't blow me away the same way but it was a strong iteration on the Valve style of game design. To this day HL2 is the bench mark how to do a scripted game and all the CoDs and BF3s can't hold a candle to it, being too clumsy and hamfisted to do anything worthwhile. And yes, that certainly includes CoD4, that terrible game that singlehandedly have poisoned almost every FPS game, save Serious Same 3 and Hard Reset, ever since.

 

[felbot]

and another one is let out, i wonder how many are left?

seriously though dude there is a search bar, just use it and you will see how many of these threads have already been made.

 

[Kroxile]

Doom 2 is way better

Half Life is pretty meh when it comes to action.

Half Life 2 is leagues better than the first one but still not intense enough, though the Ravenholm level was pretty creepy.

 

[cjspyres]

I don't get the point of this thread. So you played a 15 year old or so game and you didnt like it. what a shocker.


It's all about context man. They are not that great now, when their elements have been used over and over the place, mostly better done and shit.

HL1 was the first shooter with rich storyline, detailed background and things done purely for eyecandy. At the time it was pretty damn well the best shooter made.

HL2 introduced something every game nowadays has - physics. Havoc, physx everything that was inspired by the source engine.

The praise is mostly not about what it is now, but what it was then - a breakthrough in the gaming. Hell, I dont like HL anymore, but back then... good god was it awesome.

I'm sorry, but what you've said makes no sense. A games age doesn't affect how fun it is. I play games older than that pretty much on a weekly basis, and I still enjoy them as longs as they're fun.

The Model T analogy is about right. Games like HL2 should be appreciated as classics rather than compared to newer games. It's a product of its time, it was years ahead of that time and the reason it now looks a shade generic is because it became the textbook on how shooters should be made. It's a series that, more the first instalment than the second, has dragged the industry forward.

So, I'm saying the HL series (so far) deserves a free ride on a historical basis (you probably wouldn't care much for any of the old arcade games any more, but only rabid contrarians would argue that Pac-Man doesn't deserve a place in the hall of fame). The world is full of great historic relics that would be as lame as hell if they were made yesterday.

Well, the thing is, when I'm playing a game, I don't compare it to anything. I take it based on it's own merits. Make no mistake, I absolutely agree that HL2 is a technical masterpiece. I actually feel kinda bad that I don't enjoy it. I wish I'd named the topic a lot better.

 

[Terminate421]

The only thing I like about it at all is the modding capabilities. Beyond that, Half-life is nothing special. And I still am flabberghasted as to how people are totally hyped for the 3rd installment.

 

[Terminate421]

Ah, here we have another progressive-minded, forward-thinking gamer who isn't afraid to regale us with their insights. Do you want a pat on the back? Yep, you taught us all a lesson about the importance of individuality and going against convention. I'm cleaning up the fragments of my monocle as we speak.

Really? My issue isn't so much that you say that don't like the game, but that you bothered to share this opinion with the rest of the world when the sum of your critical evaluation can be boiled down to, "Uh, it isn't good." How is that supposed to spark a discussion? You haven't bothered to actually analyze the game and your reaction to it and share those issues, be they technical, design-based, art-based, plot-based, etc. Because your opinion doesn't contain any analysis, the only counter-argument one could make is, "Nuh-uh!"

Yes, yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and so-forth, but by the same token, no one needs to respect under-thought and/or poorly communicated opinions. If the OP had contained some measure of analysis that explained WHY they feel the game didn't work for them, then that would carry more weight. Without any additional information, it just feels like yet another person on the internet trying to prove their "edgy" bona fides.

Tl;dr: this is super dumb.

If this was Reddit you'd have my upvote.

As for Half-Life, it's probably a matter of perspective. I remember loading it up in 1998 and being blown away. That feeling is unlike anything else in my many years of gaming. Half-Life 2 didn't blow me away the same way but it was a strong iteration on the Valve style of game design. To this day HL2 is the bench mark how to do a scripted game and all the CoDs and BF3s can't hold a candle to it, being too clumsy and hamfisted to do anything worthwhile. And yes, that certainly includes CoD4, that terrible game that singlehandedly have poisoned almost every FPS game, save Serious Same 3 and Hard Reset, ever since.

You totally ignored the Halo games. Halo has never been about copying call of duty, its been about pushing forward and colorful battlefields.

Even then I personally loved Call of Duty 4.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

These topics are hilarious... its just so much opinion flung around like shit in a monkey enclosure.

 

[David Bjur]

Half Life is most certainly a good game, however there will always be people who doesn't like something that is popular with others and there is nothing wrong with that. We all got different tastes. And diversity is what made us into the people we are today, don't worry to much if you ever find yourself disliking something that others might like.

 

[marfin_]

I'm going to be honest, I've never really liked the Half Life series. I've tried to play it multiple times and I've never been able to force myself to finish. And before anyone accuses me of having bad taste in games, I've played many great games. System Shock series, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Elder Scrolls, Red Dead Redemption, both Portal games, you get the idea. I've just never found it to be so good that it should receive the praise that it does. It just feels like a generic run and gun shooter. Is there something that I'm missing?

Half life is probably my favorite video game and right after Half life series is System shock 2... So I don't know what to say dude. I have noticed myself last winter whenever I played it that it is really just run and gun with a few simple physic puzzles. I guess I'm really drawn to the unique atmosphere and great characters. There are very few games where I was able to care about the characters like in this game, however yeah the gameplay is limited, but still fun! Headcrabs and Ravenholm still scare me, shooting waves of intelligent combine soldiers, and getting chased by antlions... I don't know man I seem to enjoy playing it at least twice a year, but it's your opinion.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

I could never be bothered to finish it. After the soldiers show up it gets boring and that's about where I stop playing.

Hehe, that's exactly where I always got tired of Half Life (the other day I found my Half Life Ultimate Collection box from Best Buy; seems I paid $39.99 for HL and its stand-alones and whatnot). At around the point soldiers started showing up, I turned invincibility on and charged through the rest. I've never beaten the game legitimately.

It's a shame so many gamers can't see how fleshed out it is. Also, I have no idea how you can call it generic when there is so many different types of challenges.

I agree; recently I fired up Half Life 2 because I had some strange impulse to try playing it on a gamepad. I hadn't played the game in a long time, so I was surprised how much gameplay variety there was in just the first hour or so of the game. Now I'm running from cover to cover to avoid bursts of a heli's machine gun spray, now I'm doing a physics puzzle, now I'm platforming across floating docks while having exploding barrels dropped on me, now I'm defending a postion from a commandeered enemy turret, now I'm throwing barrels at tongue monsters so they'll eat corroded metal instead of me.. *Takes breath* Now, I'm NOT having control ripped from me for a cutscene, now I've unexpectedly found another portion of the underground railroad, now I'm being chased by roaring buzz blades down narrow corridors, now I'm desperately trying to find an air pocket, now I'm in a standard firefight, now I'm speeding through a canal on an airboat.

There seemed to be more variety--small but significant tweaks to the gameplay, and frequently done too--in the first hour or so of Half Life 2 than there is in most full campaigns of other shooters. Makes me wonder why I don't like HL2 or Valve games more. After that hour, I couldn't play anymore, cause I'd played that part so many times. Think I've only played HL2 all the way through once... and gotten really far into maybe 2 or 3 times. It's weird how a game I admire can get so old so fast for me now.

What HL2 has that I miss in other shooters is its variety, pacing, and movement actually mattering in a shooter. I miss maneuvering actually being an important and interesting part of shooters. Like fast paced rocket jumping and bouncing around in UT2004 or Quake Live, or using suit powers to leap about in Crysis. Not just a mindless trudge between walls to get between shooting gallery set pieces.

 

[Ziame]

I'm sorry, but what you've said makes no sense. A games age doesn't affect how fun it is. I play games older than that pretty much on a weekly basis, and I still enjoy them as longs as they're fun.

Maybe for you it doesn't affect the fun factor. I play Original War on a monthly basis and it's really fun, because no other game done anything similar to it.

When I've played countless shooters that IMO where in many aspects better, then that old Half-Life that was awesome doesn't make it that interesting.

Besides, first Doom was pretty awesome at it's time, but compared to today's shooters IMO it ain't fun anymore. Why would I play it, when there are better games.

Let's just agree to disagree - IMO some games don't age too well: shooters mainly.

 

[Sexy Devil]

I don't see the appeal in Half-Life at all. Not going to try and take anything away from people who love it but I just outright find it boring. Not sure why exactly, mechanics just don't click with me.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I won't call you out on having bad-taste in games. We all have different opinions, so an accururate person with a bad-taste of video-games would be someone who hates all of them.

Also, I didn't like 2 for the most part, untill about half-way through when it picked up the slack. And I guess one has aged relatively decently over the years, because it pretty much was technologically better at everything during the time. So, you're not missing anything, I don't think. You just don't like it.

 

[Lilani]

Things that made/make Half Life 2 awesome (feel free to add to my list anyone who thinks of more)

1. A fully fleshed out physics engine where every brick, and splinter of wood, and tireswing behaves realistically in the environment... ...in 2004.
2. A very creative and engaging storyline that never relies on cutscenes and rarely takes control away from the player.
3. Dog
4. Gman (keep an eye out)
5. Alyx Vance, heck all the characters
6. The gravity gun, turning everything in the entire world into a potential weapon, add this to the dynamic physics engine, and remember this is 2004.
7. Very well designed enemies, especially the fast and poison headcrab zombies, I nearly piss my pants whenever I play Ravenholm.
8. Great music.
9. You get to command an army of antlions against the combine (which have good AI amazingly)
10. The Dark Matter Gravity Gun. F**** beast weapon.
11. Oh, and the graphics weren't half bad for their time either.

I think I'm just gonna save this list as a word document so I can use whenever another one of these threads rears it's head.

The other thing that I think sets HL2 and the episodes apart is how well paced they are. Hell, even HL1 had some good pacing. The puzzles and combat were well spaced, and the climaxes actually FELT like climaxes. You were given a chance to feel the anticipation building, and the calm after the storm was always gratifying.

But yeah, it's not everybody's cup of tea. I'm not sure where so many get "generic" from, I feel like it has too many colorful characters, too much pacing, and too much well-written story and intrigue to be "generic." But eh, to each his own.

 

[Chknboy]

I'm getting tired of people posting "I've never really enjoyed x even though everyone enjoyed x, I even enjoyed y and z but x is overrated."
As with most things timing is everything, it's been brought up plenty of times before, but when these games were first released they were amazing, going back to play them now they may still be amazing for those with nostalgia for them. (see: old school nintendo games) But those with no connection with an older game besides the glowing reviews of their peers won't have that kind of connection, and are more likely to judge it based on the standards of today's games.

 

[Zukabazuka]

Don't think Half life was so generic when it came out. There wasn't that many fps titles back then. Quake 3, Tribes, Unreal Tournament and the mods for HL. Sure there where few more but can't remember them. So there wasn't that much competition back then.

With Half life you could actually have an AI with you for a while that actually did some good things and wasn't useless. Then mod support for the game was great too. As for graphic it was good for its time and had some great sound effects.

Another thing would be to expect is if you never played it around the time it came out of course you gonna feel the game isn't that great. Because you played similar game before. Same reason for me being able to play N64 games without much of a problem because I grew up with them, at the time they where great.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Half Life like Final Fantasy 7 are both very good and solid games that have been over hyped by some people so others get the impression that they are Jesus Christ games. Absolutely amazing games for their time that have aged well in some ways and not so well in others.

Just remember these are the games that set the standard for generic games in their genre.

 

[NiPah]

I'm going to be honest, I've never really liked the Half Life series. I've tried to play it multiple times and I've never been able to force myself to finish. And before anyone accuses me of having bad taste in games, I've played many great games. System Shock series, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Elder Scrolls, Red Dead Redemption, both Portal games, you get the idea. I've just never found it to be so good that it should receive the praise that it does. It just feels like a generic run and gun shooter. Is there something that I'm missing?

I've always loved the atmosphere of the series, you're placed in this sprawling research facility that borders on the insane while keeping an air of believability. It's easy to take a step back and see how day to day work was done just days before the invasion. What was once one of the safest and most secure locations in the world then changes into a kill zone and the very things that kept you safe before now hinder your ability to escape, plus as soon as you get to the top and find the soldiers, the people who you thought would save you, they start killing you instead.

It was a great game, sure the engine is now dated and copy cats have over done the story, but Half Life remains one of the best and still has a loyal following.

Oh and fuck hype, if I want to listen to a bunch of idiots about what is and isn't good I'd read IGN, I just get to know the genres that I enjoy and find games myself.