Is Half Life that good?

[JudgeGame]

I'm not trying to anger anybody but I've given the Half Life series decades to grow on me and I honestly still think it sucks. I don't even know where to start with all the things I just can't stand.

The story. There isn't one. I don't get Gordon Freeman. He isn't a character and I don't care what happens to him. The sequence of events I take him through are repetitive and uninspired. The pacing is just garbage. It's what I expect from a forgettable summer action flick. Thank God you made it. We have to go here! Oh no! Now we have to go here! There's no time to talk! Get out of here! Hurry! *explosions* Repeat from the top. I just don't give a shit.

The whole algorhythm that ensures you can never run out of ammo or health is bullshit. For me it's the greatest cop-out in game mechanics ever.

When I played the first hour of Half Life back in the day I was impressed. It was interesting and new. The problem is that that after that it's pretty much crawl through vents and shoot aliens. I had the exact same experience with Half Life 2.

It's not even that I hate the style. I've been playing Metro 2033 lately and while it isn't a masterpiece it does everything Half Life does but better and it manages to fit in real stories with real characters and a real understanding of the different stakes you have to play with at every moment. I felt like it gave me a reason to want to do something and gave me a way to do that.

I thought Portal did a good job but Portal 2 ended up being a lot of what I hate in Half Life games too.

I guess what I'm getting to is that I feel really alone in this opinion. I am very aware that Half Life 2 is regarded as one of the most important games of all time. I'd just like to know if I'm really alone in this opinion.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

wow people are still making "...is half life good" threads to fish for attention? Here is a blanket statement for you. "Yes, there are people who don't like thing, even if thing is very critically acclaimed. Some of these people will go out of their way to tell others about their negative opinion on thing. Most of them will be idiots, some of them are just contrarians, and a select few have good points against the thing, (you are not one of these people) and will dislike it just because."

 

[The Madman]

I replayed Half-Life 2 not too long ago, had fun. Oh the game has faults aplenty, the shooting mechanics are pretty lame and few weapons really have any 'umph' behind them, similarly the fights themselves range from boring to mediocre to frustrating and the pacing itself is all over the place.

But with that said I still enjoyed the game. It absolutely oozes atmosphere and its setting is extremely well done so long as you take the time to appreciate it. Similarly I like the semi-open world design the developers pursued, and little things like being able to explore the abandoned houses along the coastal road or taking a peek into ruined apartments was very enjoyable. Similarly although the pacing felt off, it also never felt boring. There was always something new happening, you always knew there was something exciting in the distance and although they're not particularly deep, I still enjoyed the characters as well. Good voice acting, a decent script, and some excellent animation work wonders in making a characters sympathetic.

And don't worry, you're far from alone. As Zhukov laments, it seems like there's a fresh "I dislike HL2" topic every week or so in these forums. You've got plenty of company. Me? I like Half-Life 2, it's an interesting experience and there really aren't many other games quite like it. I'm glad it exists and that I got the chance to play it.

 

[JudgeGame]

wow people are still making "...is half life good" threads to fish for attention? Here is a blanket statement for you. "Yes, there are people who don't like thing, even if thing is very critically acclaimed. Some of these people will go out of their way to tell others about their negative opinion on thing. Most of them will be idiots, some of them are just contrarians, and a select few have good points against the thing, (you are not one of these people) and will dislike it just because."

Sorry if I bothered you. I really have never heard anyone say Half Life is anything but genius but if there are dissenters out there I will take your word for it. Thanks for answering my question.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I guess what I'm getting to is that I feel really alone in this opinion. I am very aware that Half Life 2 is regarded as one of the most important games of all time. I'd just like to know if I'm really alone in this opinion.

No, no you're not. As everyone above me said, we get a thread like this once a week/couple of days.

Everything else about you're opinion has been said before and could be chalked up to personal preference or "Seinfeld is unfunny" syndrome. A lot of the major things the game revolutionized has been done better since then so it seems bad by comparison.

Actually, I'm a bit confused by this:

The whole algorhythm that ensures you can never run out of ammo or health is bullshit. For me it's the greatest cop-out in game mechanics ever.

I'm not sure what you're referring to, are you talking about the times where a rebel medic can pull infinite medkits out of his ass? If so, I don't think they can summon ammo too.

 

[Zeke17]

I bought both Call of Duty 4 and the original Half Life on the Steam Summer sale. I had way more fun with Half Life. I just found it more engaging.

 

[JudgeGame]

I guess what I'm getting to is that I feel really alone in this opinion. I am very aware that Half Life 2 is regarded as one of the most important games of all time. I'd just like to know if I'm really alone in this opinion.

No, no you're not. As everyone above me said, we get a thread like this once a week/couple of days.

Everything else about you're opinion has been said before and could be chalked up to personal preference or "Seinfeld is unfunny" syndrome. A lot of the major things the game revolutionized has been done better since then so it seems bad by comparison.

Actually, I'm a bit confused by this:

The whole algorhythm that ensures you can never run out of ammo or health is bullshit. For me it's the greatest cop-out in game mechanics ever.

I'm not sure what you're referring to, are you talking about the times where a rebel medic can pull infinite medkits out of his ass? If so, I don't think they can summon ammo too.

The boxes you break always have whatever you need. If the game decides you have more than enough ammo and/or health most boxes will be empty. It's really obvious and kind of annoying because for me it takes away any illusion that my abilities are being tested and IMO completely destroys any tension the gameplay might otherwise induce.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I didn't like it that much but for reasons opposite to yours. I like Gordon Freeman because he's just vague enough for me to fill in the blanks about his personality. The narrative is the most interesting part of the game, and whole moving in a straight line thing is cool because it creates a sense of having traveled really far

What I dont like are weapons and gun fights though I think the survival horror and monster fighting parts are pretty good. I also hate how they feel they have to spice up the game play with shitty vehicle sections with weird controls.

Have you really never seen anyone say "I think my half-life is overrated?" Cause your not the first

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sure it's good! And I think it's got great pacing. The sections are varied, I didn't find them repetitive at all. You could be in survival horror mode at one point, then as the spaces got bigger and your arsenal heftier you would go into full-fledged FPS action against bigger monsters, then the soldiers burst in and changed the combat rules, then survival horror returns, next thing you're riding a tram and avoiding fights, then there's a little bit of stealth bit with the assassins, you get platforming with no enemies at all trying to figure out the correct path home, then you'd lose your items and it's back to survival horror... and the game keeps alternating between open spaces and closed spaces, and Black Mesa looks so different as you delve further... this game is anything BUT repetitive. It's fun, it's immersive, there's enough suspense happening within gameplay itself, if you care to listen to fellow scientists and enemy radio calls and spotting the G-Man and taking a minute or two to use your imagination.

 

[Poetic Nova]

It has atmosphere but gameplay lacks, which makes me rarely play/don't liking HL2 (it's episodes fair a bit better). HL1 and it's expansions on the other side are quiet a bit better mainly due to any weapons having more oomph, not to mention a more varied arsenal to play with and generaly better level design (imo). Hell the HECU Soldiers are more fun to fight since they have better A.I. then the Combine have!

 

[darkhippie]

I enjoyed it when I first got it, maybe 2002 (on a 1998 computer). It has aged, especially in game play. The puzzles are weak and the platforming is a pain in the ass and don't get me started on the cliffhanger ending! . That said it has nice artistic touches in the zen level and playing with heath packs feels original in this era of regenerating health.

 

[cikame]

Unforseen Consequences.

Half Life fans feel a tingle over their skin when they see those words, that's why Half Life is amazing.

 

[Mech__Warrior]

The whole thing about Half Life is that it's a sort of a geek empowerment fantasy, where us gamers insert ourselves into Gordon Freeman seems how he doesn't speak or anything and feel like we're the one saving the world from aliens. I got this from Errant Signal and it explains a lot of why the series appeals to a lot of gamers/why many consider it good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-3gcVICiCs&list=SP44284B7F254B4024&index=27

I liked Metro 2033 as well because it had that open world feel to it at times, yet it also has a few similarities to Half Life; The first man to communicate to the Dark Ones, surviving an anomaly, killing entire armies by yourself, crawling through a few vents, etc. I think both games are well executed and good, yet I still regard Half Life as the better one because it was longer, had more interesting elements to it, and came out first. But, to each their own I suppose.

 

[stroopwafel]

Sometimes you have to appreciate a game(or movie) just for the ideas it introduced. I really liked HL2 but many of the things that made it great other games have done better since then. Just look at the original Resident Evil and the way it pioneered survival horror(ok maybe not technically but you get the idea). Or the way it made horror popular in games. Sure in itself the original RE aged horribly but it set certain benchmarks that reverberate till today. Or Resident Evil 4(aged spectacularly and still one of the best games if you ask me) and how it layed the vignette to how third person shooters control, from games as diverse as Gears of War to The Last of Us.

The immersive dystopian setting and emphasis on atmosphere in HL2 and how it created a 'believable' world is what made this FPS break out of its traditional mold. It showed FPS games could be more than just frantic corridor shooters with zero story. Now(just as with RE) maybe other games did that earlier but HL2 was certainly the game that popularized it. And with every classic for that it should be respected.

 

[MrDumpkins]

I'm not trying to anger anybody but I've given the Half Life series decades to grow on me and I honestly still think it sucks. I don't even know where to start with all the things I just can't stand.

The story. There isn't one. I don't get Gordon Freeman. He isn't a character and I don't care what happens to him. The sequence of events I take him through are repetitive and uninspired. The pacing is just garbage. It's what I expect from a forgettable summer action flick. Thank God you made it. We have to go here! Oh no! Now we have to go here! There's no time to talk! Get out of here! Hurry! *explosions* Repeat from the top. I just don't give a shit.

The whole algorhythm that ensures you can never run out of ammo or health is bullshit. For me it's the greatest cop-out in game mechanics ever.

When I played the first hour of Half Life back in the day I was impressed. It was interesting and new. The problem is that that after that it's pretty much crawl through vents and shoot aliens. I had the exact same experience with Half Life 2.

It's not even that I hate the style. I've been playing Metro 2033 lately and while it isn't a masterpiece it does everything Half Life does but better and it manages to fit in real stories with real characters and a real understanding of the different stakes you have to play with at every moment. I felt like it gave me a reason to want to do something and gave me a way to do that.

I thought Portal did a good job but Portal 2 ended up being a lot of what I hate in Half Life games too.

I guess what I'm getting to is that I feel really alone in this opinion. I am very aware that Half Life 2 is regarded as one of the most important games of all time. I'd just like to know if I'm really alone in this opinion.

The 2 half life games might seem mediocre, boring and forgettable, and it's true nowadays. Games like metro, far cry, and tons others use a similar formula but do it much better. The thing you're forgetting is that half life started it. You might look at all the features from half life 1 like: story progression without cutscenes, smooth level transitions (every level just blends in with each other), platforming, puzzles etc... and find those boring. But they were the first time those things ever happened. Half life trail blazed the first person genre. All of those features might seem boring and lame and the same as everything else. But when it came out, nobody had ever done anything like it before. And people have been using the same core principles for games ever since.

 

[Shadowstar38]

No. No game is ever that good. It could be. Quality of entertainment is largely subjective. Why has everyone not figured this out?

 

[Fox12]

wow people are still making "...is half life good" threads to fish for attention? Here is a blanket statement for you. "Yes, there are people who don't like thing, even if thing is very critically acclaimed. Some of these people will go out of their way to tell others about their negative opinion on thing. Most of them will be idiots, some of them are just contrarians, and a select few have good points against the thing, (you are not one of these people) and will dislike it just because."

Sorry if I bothered you. I really have never heard anyone say Half Life is anything but genius but if there are dissenters out there I will take your word for it. Thanks for answering my question.

I agree with you, I had no love for Half Life whatsoever. It wasn't terrible it was just... the most average game I've ever played in my life. Everything was median, like that guy from idiocracy. The gameplay was okay, but not great. The puzzles were okay, but not great. The vehicle sections were okay. Everything was gray or brown, and there was no story. The only thing I don't understand is why Valve takes so long to make the games. I assumed they just wanted to perfect a work of art, but now... I don't know, most developers could pump one of these out in a year or two. I still love Valve for Steam, and for Portal, and they seem to respect their customers, but Half Life doesn't do anything for me.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

wow people are still making "...is half life good" threads to fish for attention? Here is a blanket statement for you. "Yes, there are people who don't like thing, even if thing is very critically acclaimed. Some of these people will go out of their way to tell others about their negative opinion on thing. Most of them will be idiots, some of them are just contrarians, and a select few have good points against the thing, (you are not one of these people) and will dislike it just because."

Sorry if I bothered you. I really have never heard anyone say Half Life is anything but genius but if there are dissenters out there I will take your word for it. Thanks for answering my question.

I thought half life 1 was pretty meh. I mean I played through it but it was kind of an obligation thing.

Half life 2 is still amazing to me, sorry (why am I apologizing).

Though you have to remember that half life 1 was basically the first of it's kind, not only that it's the first game Valve ever published. A lot of the stuff that feels OLD now was brand shining new and amazing to people who played it back then.