Poll: What's your favourite Half-Life game so far?
- Thread starter Arcyde
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That's a tough one. On one hand, Half-Life 1 did a lot more for shooters than the second one, and it was my first real first person shooter. On the other hand, Half-life 2 was simply incredible from start to end. I'm gonna say Half-Life 2, because even though HL1 was arguably more groundbreaking, I enjoyed the second more.
Maraveno said:
I guess it really only counts as a tie-in or spin off at the moment. But that would me my choice too.Johnnyallstar said:
And does Half-Life 2 multiplayer count? Because any game where you can kill somebody with a flying toilet or steam radiator is pretty awesome, story or not.
Half-Life 2 is a monumental and entirely memorable game. It is one of the few, in fact, that I can recall every single situation from, even though I haven't played it nearly as much as some others. I have to give it the nod for some of its more experimental features, as well, like the Highway 17/Sandtraps chapter, where Valve tried their hand at open-ended exploration and did an excellent job of it, in my opinion, while still keeping the player on track towards the goal. The expansions lack some of that freedom and emergent storytelling.
Half-Life, though excellent, has some design flaws and dated gameplay that have become quite apparent over the years - still a lot of fun and holds up excellently, but it does not feel particularly modern and there's some frustrating parts here and there. Its influence, of course, cannot be understated, and was probably the first game I ever played that truly felt "real" to me. The visuals at the time were amazing, and the world itself beautifully realised. It seems obvious today, but navigating a science lab and military camp was a huge step above the drab, repetitive Gothic castles of Quake.
From a design perspective, I'd say Episode Two is the best, simply because it's the culmination of Valve's single-player design work up to this point. Excellent character acting, moody environments, enjoyable puzzles, great action, and a fast-moving plot with lots of variety in settings and gameplay. It never drags or gets boring - I can play it start to finish in an afternoon no problem, and enjoy it every time.
Half-Life, though excellent, has some design flaws and dated gameplay that have become quite apparent over the years - still a lot of fun and holds up excellently, but it does not feel particularly modern and there's some frustrating parts here and there. Its influence, of course, cannot be understated, and was probably the first game I ever played that truly felt "real" to me. The visuals at the time were amazing, and the world itself beautifully realised. It seems obvious today, but navigating a science lab and military camp was a huge step above the drab, repetitive Gothic castles of Quake.
From a design perspective, I'd say Episode Two is the best, simply because it's the culmination of Valve's single-player design work up to this point. Excellent character acting, moody environments, enjoyable puzzles, great action, and a fast-moving plot with lots of variety in settings and gameplay. It never drags or gets boring - I can play it start to finish in an afternoon no problem, and enjoy it every time.
Now that it's been mentioned, I think Opposing Force doesn't get the credit it deserves. It's easily one of the best expansion packs ever made and one of the first true real "expansion" packs, as opposed to mission packs (i.e. bonus levels with no actual plot or whatever to go along with them). Very well designed, almost as well as the original, and even if the plot is practically non-canon (Race X? Seriously?), it's impressive how close Gearbox got to matching Valve. Too bad they've gone downhill since then.
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I actually just got The Orange Box on Friday and have been playing throughout the weekend. I just finished Episode 1 about a half hour ago and moved immediately into Episode 2. I've already completed Portal and Half Life 2, and am loving them more than just about any other game I've ever played. Contrary to popular opinion, I really enjoyed the driving sections of HL2, while most thought those were the weakest area of the game. However I've never experienced so much win then when I was leading my army of Antlions into Nova Prospekt while blowing gunships out of the sky with my RPG.
Opposing Force gets my vote. I'd like to see Cpl. Shepard (I think that was his name at any rate) make a comeback.