Poll: Half-Life

[metalmmaniac]

So I finally got a copy of the orange box on ps3. I am excited to play, but I was just wondering, do you guys recommend playing half-life before half-life 2? Does playing Half-Life 2 (without playing the first) take away from story/gameplay?

Its a pretty obvious question, but i know some sequels never really refer back to the previous game in the series.

 

[Paperplanes79]

I would say no because Half-Life 2 has a pretty great stand alone story. But if you going to play Half-Life do it first because you probaly won't finish it after Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 2 is VASTLY superior.

 

[New Troll]

I would say no because Half-Life 2 has a pretty great stand alone story. But if you going to play Half-Life do it first because you probaly won't finish it after Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 2 is VASTLY superior.

I would for the reasons posted above. The first Half-Life was a really good game. Second just happened to be better. So, play them in order for greatest enjoyment.

 

[Unimaginativeusername15387]

Agree to that, I remember playing for the first time on the PS2 and got stuck and very bored in those train tunnels, I've been kinda put off the first since then, but I love Blue Shift and Opposing Force, probably due to the not getting stuck bits of them.

 

[squid5580]

I would say no because Half-Life 2 has a pretty great stand alone story. But if you going to play Half-Life do it first because you probaly won't finish it after Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 2 is VASTLY superior.

I would disagree. I played HL2 and never played HL and I felt totally lost in 2. I felt like I had been dropped in the middle of the story and by the end of ep 2 I still felt like I was lost somewhere in the middle.

 

[walls of cetepedes]

Nah, you'll be confused either way. I recommend just looking up the story.

I just looked up the story, and It really doesn't have much to do with Half Life 2, apart from the obvious massive tear in reality...

 

[Erana]

All you need to know about the first game:
scientists ripped holes in space-time, allowing aliens to come and take over earth. Now, go have fun!

 

[Nargleblarg]

I played half life 2 before half life and it worked out pretty well for me.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Yes.

Half Life 2 stands by itself, but if you play Half Life, Opposing Force and Blue Shift first you will come across lots of little details that will make you go 'ooohhhh'.

That they are excellent games in their own right doesn't hurt either, although if you're used to Halo/Gears type shooters the platforming/puzzle solving may come as a bit of a shock.

 

[Souplex]

Why spend money on an adequate game when there are great games out there?

 

[Anachronism]

It probably doesn't make much difference. The games' stories have very little to link them, apart from the fact that it was the experiments at Black Mesa which allowed the Combine to show up in the first place. That's all there is to it, really. I would still recommend playing HL1, because it's still a fantastic game, but you don't need to have played it to understand HL2's story.

scientists ripped holes in space-time, allowing aliens to come and take over earth. Now, go have fun!

Wasn't that basically the entire story anyway? That was the one thing I could never understand about Half-Life: why people praised the story so much. The plot is very simple; I could never understand what the big deal was.

 

[A random person]

All you need to know about the first game:
scientists ripped holes in space-time, allowing aliens to come and take over earth. Now, go have fun!

This. If you know that what happened in the first game led to the Combine invasion, you can just go ahead and play Half Life 2. I played it first and then played Half Life when it was on sale on Steam for 98 cents.

 

[Ontoue]

I played Half-life 2 then I just watched a playthrough of Half-life 1 on youtube, I'm still confused...

 

[BoxCutter]

Half Life 2 is pretty much stand alone, but to get 100% out of the story I would highly recommend playing the first HL. Besides its an amazing game anyways.

 

[The Shade]

If you have the opportunity to play HL1, then by all means, do it. Excellent game.

But if it's really out of your way to do so, go ahead and start HL2. You can sort of piece it together as you go. (Though I would recommend at least reading the wikipedia summary of the first one.)

 

[LINKXIII]

I would say no because Half-Life 2 has a pretty great stand alone story. But if you going to play Half-Life do it first because you probaly won't finish it after Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 2 is VASTLY superior.

I don't completely agree. they are both great games and I think 2 is just an improvement but not wayyy to much of one

 

[Arkmagius]

I would say no because Half-Life 2 has a pretty great stand alone story. But if you going to play Half-Life do it first because you probaly won't finish it after Half-Life 2 because Half-Life 2 is VASTLY superior.

I would disagree. I played HL2 and never played HL and I felt totally lost in 2. I felt like I had been dropped in the middle of the story and by the end of ep 2 I still felt like I was lost somewhere in the middle.

No, you'd probably feel that way regardless, it was intentional on Valve's part to make you feel lost in HL2. There was a twenty year timeskip between the two games, and that means a lot of hanging story threads - which Valve has an annoying habit of refusing to address.

The only thing Half-Life 2 has in common with the first is all the scientists who (somehow) escaped from Black Mesa, a couple of the old Xen (and other) creatures, and a few references to Xen itself. Everything else is new. When Half-Life 2 came out, I knew a lot of people who felt they just took a game concept they already had, modified the story and setting a bit to fit in the resonance cascade, and slapped the Half-Life label on it. That's how different the two games are.

 

[fix-the-spade]

understand what the big deal was.

The big deal was the way it avoided cut scenes and stuck you in the middle of everything. Something like the Tentacles in Blast Pit was pretty much unheard of back then, all of it's stand out moments would have been pre rendered rather than happening as you stood there (and in my case desperately tried to save the unfortunate scientist). Compared to other shooters before it upped the immersion level massively.

The plot is also a lot like Half Life 2's, there is a lot more if you go looking for it. There was already evidence that the whole event was somehow planned, that Nihilanth was running from something and that far worse was to follow.