Half-Life
- Thread starter BolognaBaloney
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What? Everyone here will have heard of it. I might say that it's a shame that few will have heard of System Shock 2... but even that's fairly famous.miracleofsound said:
Poor level design? It had some of the best designed levels I've played in recent history.BolognaBaloney said:
You need to go back and re-type that post so that it quotes the person who actually wrote it.elitecrewer said:
That's a pretty close-minded view... Whilst half-life might have an allright story, I the presentation of said story, and gameplay incredibly boring, it was all air ducts.elitecrewer said:
I can think of several FPS games that are way better than half-life.
Oh and by the way, most of the "Tom Clancy's..." games are quite good (especially the earlier ones), even though they are lacking in story.
For the time... Half Life was simply amazing... especially with all the mods that came out. Early TFC, Counter-Strike, Firearms, etc.... Those were damn fun back in the day.
If you missed those early days of Half Life... you missed some fun games, and I'd understand why you don't care for it, but I'd also feel sorry for you for missing it.
The story was pretty good I thought.... but Half Life 2.... the story just never interested me.
If you missed those early days of Half Life... you missed some fun games, and I'd understand why you don't care for it, but I'd also feel sorry for you for missing it.
The story was pretty good I thought.... but Half Life 2.... the story just never interested me.
"Halo, Killzone, Resistance"Arachon said:
Seriously, most of the people who don't like Half-Life are the ones who didn't get it when it first arrived. When it first came we were like "Woah" it was fun. Sure, it ran on the Quake engine but it still felt different.
Also, if you liked the shooting in Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem, then why didn't you like Half-Life's?
Haven't played Episode 1 or 2 for HL 2, but I did play HL 1 and all its addons.
I have to say, HL 1 (and addons, especially Opposing Force, Blue Shift not so much) was great. Totally awesome. Almost as good as System Shock 2.
However, I didn't like HL 2 too much. Compared to HL 1, it just felt... dull.
Well, I probably never will play the addons for HL 2 or anything else, but I'll keep HL 1 as a very fond memory.
I have to say, HL 1 (and addons, especially Opposing Force, Blue Shift not so much) was great. Totally awesome. Almost as good as System Shock 2.
However, I didn't like HL 2 too much. Compared to HL 1, it just felt... dull.
Well, I probably never will play the addons for HL 2 or anything else, but I'll keep HL 1 as a very fond memory.
No need to flame the guy- the HL series is not going to appeal to everyone. I loved it, but enjoyed Bioshock quite a bit more. This isn't to say that there are simply no better FPSs around than Bioshock.elitecrewer said:
This I don't understand. Yes it is a very linear game in nature, but there are sections that require searching for mechanisms to pass the section. I think you're mistaking the terms "poor level design" and "player frustration", perhaps?BolognaBaloney said:
This was one of the great innovations of Half-Life 1, and a hallmark of the series. If you want to knock the game for being TOO immersive, Half-Life ain't gonna be your cup of tea.
Understandable, if you've played many of the games that ripped Half-Life off. You gotta understand the impact these games had on the industry, back in 2004 scenes like the escape from the city where the combine soldiers are shooting down at you in the canal was a pretty new experience, and is still a difficult scenario to design effectively.
The vehicle section? Another Half-Life innovation.
ANOTHER vehicle section? This is one of the most played out cliches today! "Hey why don't we put in a section with a car and let the player just run over people instead of having to battle them face to face!" Also one of the most difficult aspects of FPS design to effectively implement... Compare the jets, helicopters, and tanks of Battlefield 2 to the Mechwarrior-walker-thingy in Quake 4 - what an awkward hunk of crap!
If it weren't for Half-Life, who would have attempted this kind of gameplay? Has ANYONE even tried to copy this? Don't know why, everyone agrees that it's fun as hell! If anything, the series relies on this aspect of the game TOO MUCH, and could benefit from work in other areas!
To be specific, we're talking about the pheremone aspect of the antlions, right? I can't think of a good word for this mechanism, so I'll just run with one that I know is completely wrong - let's call it Anamorphic Combat, using intellectualized entities (in this case animals) for combat. That I'll give to ya, it was fun to watch them swarm enemies but not so engaging. There wasn't any creative application, just throw a stink bomb at a guy and suddenly he's swarmed by aliens. Although beachfront scene near the end of the game does use them effectively, for you simply can't beat that section without them. I think this type of design was put to good use in the first game, though: the wasp-gun and the snarks - snarks were annoying as hell! The only other game I've seen approach this type of weapon design is Bioshock. We've all heard of BIOSHOCK, haven't we?
OK, the npc ai in Half-Life 1 is notoriously dumb, even when the game first came out valve were forced to release a patch to improve the NPC handling mechanics, and they were still a pain in the ass. "OK I'll follow you..." "Oh I'm sorry, you mean you actually wanted me to leave the room with you? Oh..."
BUT - this was another one of Half-Life's great innovations. No one had put NPC characters to use before like they were in Half-Life. Without Barney and the gang, a game like Deus-Ex simply wouldn't have turned out the same.
If the gun play isn't satisfying, again this just might not be your cup of tea - Half-Life is born from the Wolfenstein-Doom-Quake lineage of games where the player is very strong in terms of health and weaponry, and the challenge comes more from the oppressive presence of the enemy force, not so much their cunning. Although again, Half-Life was the first game to introduce enemy AI that would retreat and make use of cover.
That's fine, I suppose. It'd be foolish to think that Half-Life would stay current this long after it's genesis. The recommendations you are getting is from an army of fans who were there to see the evolution happen first hand, and were enjoying all these aspects of game play long before other games came and copied (improved?) them. To many of us, Half-Life is still the best application of these ideas we've tried. If you still have the game on your system, though, I would recommend trying Minerva: Metastasis. Adam Foster created a set of levels based on Half-Life 2: Episode 1 that are much more realistic in their architectural lay-out, and as a result feature more intense gun-play than what valve typically offers. Also, Adam Foster has since been hired by Valve and is helping design the levels for Episode 3, which I think could lead to VAST improvements.
'Twas pretty much the same for me. Except I played it through to the end.BolognaBaloney said:
The only thing that was funny story-wise was the fact that everywhere you went everyone seemed to know who you were: "Gordon Freeman", "Dr. Freeman", "Mr. Freeman". I found that extremely amusing.
Well, nearly singlehandedly fighting off an elite military taskforce and halting an invasion of Earth by extra-dimensional beings can do wonders for your reknown, you know? So, not that funny really but fairly plausible given the events of the original...Xvito said:
Worr Monger said:
GIDDY GIDDY GIDDY GIDDY GIDDYWhat a happy memory!!!!!
Brother you nailed it - it was a great time to be playing games, if you weren't there it probably doesn't make sense. No amount of words could express the joy of being there for TFC, Counter-Strike Beta 1, Firearms, Science & Industry, Action Half-Life...
My new Voodoo 3 3500, Quake III beta, Soldier of Fortune "omg his arms come off wtf", Team Fortress 2 "will be the most realistic shooter ever made - coming next thanksgiving", Duke Nukem Forever "coming next thanksgiving"...
But also high ping and dial-up packet loss. Yuck.
WoW....you are indeed a noob if you had a hard time playing Bioshock. Just kidding. xDTriple AD said:
Like Yahtzee compared in his Bioshock review: SystemShock 2 difficult is somewhere betewen challenging and murderous and Bioshock is in the games for you mom difficult.
