Poll: What To Do About Half-Life 2?

[Emily Travisano]

So, I'm a huge Portal fan, and I want to learn more about the universe, so I thought I'd check out the Half-Life series on Steam.

Problem is, I have a Mac, and Half-Life 1 doesn't seem to be available for mac, esp. on Steam. I know Valve's games tend to tell a story in gameplay, not cutscenes, so what should I do to get the story so I can play HL2?

Note: I can't just play it on somebody else's computer, all my gamer friends have macs, and none of them have Half-Life.

Also: I'm a PC FPS n00b (I've played plenty of console 3PS's, but they're different) Can I play w/ a track pad, or do you recommend using a mouse?

Thank you.

 

[Internet Kraken]

You don't really need to know about the Half-Life 1 story to play Half-Life 2 and understand it. While there are indeed many connections between the events of both games, most of them are not readily apparent in the game itself. So it's not like the game is goign to constantly reference plot events you don't know about. Plus Valve didn't really employ gameplay storytelling in a significant way in Half-Life 1. While it is told entirely through gameplay, there's very little story. The opening scene and the one that follows it are excellent in my opinnion, but beyond that the story doesn't hold much weight. Honestly you'd be fine just reading a plot synopsis.

Just don't play Half Life 2. Alternate universe you who played it will probably agree with me.

Why do you go out of your way to post about how much you hate Half-Life 2 in every thread vaguely related to it? It's really annoying.

 

[Kajt]

Honestly, you don't have to play the first Half-Life to get the story in the second one. There's not much of a story in the first one, since it wasn't developed with a sequel in mind.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

You can't use a trackpad. you could watch a lets play?

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Honestly, HL1 has not aged well and I actually find it a bit of a dull chore to play through.

You don't need to play it to get the story in HL2 anyway.

 

[Wieke]

Wikipedia - Half-Life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game)#Synopsis]
TvTropes - Half-Life [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Half-Life?from=Main.HalfLife]

While the story isn't all that substantial, the setting is alright and gameplay is quite good. Note that i didn't play the two games in the right order.

EDIT:

Totally forgot my favorite way of catching up with the Half-Life story: YouTube - Freeman's Mind [http://www.youtube.com/user/Freemanmind]

 

[random_bars]

Yeah, what everyone else has said. The important events of Half Life are pretty much shown in the first 30 seconds of Half Life 2, and characters will talk about them in a way that you can understand even if it's your first time hearing of them. Valve definitely developed HL2 in full knowledge that a lot of its players wouldn't have played the first game, and made sure that wouldn't affect those players' understanding of the story.

 

[Souplex]

Just don't play Half Life 2. Alternate universe you who played it will probably agree with me.

 

[Mister Linton]

As others have recommended, watch a let's play or read a wikipedia synopsis. HL2 is where the best gameplay will be had so go find the orange box for cheap on your console and get to it! Warning: it will make you mad that Valve hasn't released ep.3.

 

[Pandaman1911]

Here's the extent of HL1 you need to understand to get what's going on in Half Life 2:

There was this big fracture in reality that allowed all sorts of nasties to pour through. There's also this mysterious guy called the G-Man who seems to be giving you a job of some sort.

That's it. Also, I'd recommend getting a mouse, unless you don't mind getting your face perforated by every enemy that has a gun stronger than a slingshot.

 

[hecticpicnic]

So, I'm a huge Portal fan, and I want to learn more about the universe, so I thought I'd check out the Half-Life series on Steam.

Problem is, I have a Mac, and Half-Life 1 doesn't seem to be available for mac, esp. on Steam. I know Valve's games tend to tell a story in gameplay, not cutscenes, so what should I do to get the story so I can play HL2?

Note: I can't just play it on somebody else's computer, all my gamer friends have macs, and none of them have Half-Life.

Also: I'm a PC FPS n00b (I've played plenty of console 3PS's, but they're different) Can I play w/ a track pad, or do you recommend using a mouse?

Thank you.

No real need to play it,but if you have to i think its on ps2.

 

[Emily Travisano]

Thank you very much, everyone! I'm off to play HL2!

with a mouse.

 

[Weaver]

You could always watch a lets play!

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

You don't need to know much of HL1 to know what's happening in HL2. They have two or three of the characters from HL1 (some of which weren't even named in HL1), a few similar-ish weapons, and a few mentions of the Black Mesa Incident. Just read it on Wikipedia or something.

EDIT:

Totally forgot my favorite way of catching up with the Half-Life story: YouTube - Freeman's Mind [http://www.youtube.com/user/Freemanmind]

^This.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Totally forgot my favorite way of catching up with the Half-Life story: YouTube - Freeman's Mind [http://www.youtube.com/user/Freemanmind]

I can agree with this fully. I found Half life 1 a chore after all these years, but freeman's mind is amazing.

 

[Netrigan]

Pretty much all the recap you need of HL1.

You are Gordon Freeman, a scientist at the Black Mesa facility. Shit blows up. Various scientists and security guards (with about four faces between them) and help you close down a portal to an alien world. Afterwards you get drafted by the G-Man for reasons unknown.

For a full plot recap, add "marines try to blow you and the aliens up" in the middle of that.

There's really very little plot in the Half-Life games. Lots of narrative, but the plot is really just a collection of plot complications. You need to walk across a room to charge your cell phone, something blows up blocking your path, you spend the next three hours climbing up stuff, falling down stuff, and shooting aliens and/or marines until you're finally able to climb in through a window to charge your phone.

Then you get a call, but you can't get a signal. You attempt to climb up to the room to get a signal and something blows up and you spend the next three hours falling down stuff, climbing up stuff, and shooting aliens and/or marines until you finally get a signal and receive the call.

The caller wants you to pick up a file from a nearby filing cabinet... and guess what happens. Shit blows up and you spend the next three hours...

But what it does do is create a world for you to inhabit.