What did Half Life 2 revolutionize?
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did doom, quake, unreal tournament and even metal gear solid (by a couple months) not do this before half life? I think you're selling these games short...Aby_Z said:
It did physics-based gameplay and high-quality NPCs first. Before HL2, physics never did anything other than knock things over when you shot or bumped into them. Additionally, few games to this day match the quality of HL2's character animation (and facial animation in particular), which really drew players into the storytelling in a way that few other games can.
I don't know if successful would be the word I'd use. Like Halo or not, I think it did a far better job of pulling off vehicle sections.Analogy said:
Anyways, I think Half-Life 2 was really one of the first games to pull average off just right. It didn't really excel at anything, but at the same time, it didn't really fall on it's face either (vehicle segments aside). My biggest problem with Half-Life 2 that I really can't attribute to age of the game is the prevelance of physics puzzles (yes Valve, we get it, you made a physics engine).
I think we can find a mutually acceptable solution that will resolve this dispute in an amicable way: unreal tournament > half lifeAby_Z said:
Half life 2 didn't revolutionize much, it just built on its predecessor.
I assume you didn't experience the original back when it was new, but imagine a world where all your first person shooters had stories that were told in text as the game loaded, if it told one at all. Imagine there were no characters you could interact with, and if NPCs were there, they were decorative cannon fodder at best. Imagine the genre was plagued by key hunting to open locked doors. The games were divided into levels that had seemingly no connectivity. Music was just the background for each level, not to set the mood to certain scenes or set pieces. AI involved pointing and shooting, and aimlessly wandering at you.
Then Half-Life came along, and fixed all of that with the bonus of top notch graphics.
I assume you didn't experience the original back when it was new, but imagine a world where all your first person shooters had stories that were told in text as the game loaded, if it told one at all. Imagine there were no characters you could interact with, and if NPCs were there, they were decorative cannon fodder at best. Imagine the genre was plagued by key hunting to open locked doors. The games were divided into levels that had seemingly no connectivity. Music was just the background for each level, not to set the mood to certain scenes or set pieces. AI involved pointing and shooting, and aimlessly wandering at you.
Then Half-Life came along, and fixed all of that with the bonus of top notch graphics.
Half-Life 2 didn't revolutionize or innovate anything. It wasn't a bad game, but I prefer the original far more, it was more fun to play. It had the standard arsenal, pistol, machinegun, shotgun, rocket launcher, with some more alien weapons like the pulse rifle. Doom did the exact same thing in 1993. The original Half-Life was impressive at the time due to the scripted sequences, but Half-Life 2 just continued something the original game did 6 years prior. The vehicle sections weren't impressive since Halo did them in 2001, and GoldenEye did them in 1997 with the tank. The physics were neat, but they had been done before but without quite as much emphasis. The original Half-Life, especially at the time had amazing enemy AI. The H-Grunts would actually use cover, dodge, retreat if wounded, throw grenades, flank the player, and used a pretty advanced way-point system to do so. Playing around with the Hammer Editor is interesting and it gives a person appreciation of how the game was set up. With Half-Life 2 it almost felt like they went backwards, the enemies all seem scripted, they'll rush the same areas, they'll use cover to a small degree but they generally just rush the player. It seems like they're on a set path as opposed to the original where they had several waypoints they could go to depending on the players position and their current health. The problem with Half-Life 2 was that it never wowed me. It was just a mediocre experience the entire time, especially with the extended vehicle sections and the platforming above ant-lion nests, it never picked up. All in all, Half-Life 2 was enjoyable enough, but completely average and pales in comparison to the first game. And it didn't revolutionize or change anything.
I have played through HL2 a dozen times and my favorite aspect is the mother fucking back story.
Take Highway 17 as an example, you drive down a European road, and you see all these cars in a big wreck. With further analysis, you can tell that a van in particular was transporting RPG's; was it for the rebellion? Was this why it was destroyed?
Highway 17 again, you come across a number of (mostly) deserted homes. In particular, the one with the super infected zombie tells a story of a man hiding in his home, he barricaded and locked all of the entrances; but clearly the combine bombed it with head crabs, thus the giant hole in the building.
I could go on, but that is my favorite aspect of Half-Life 2. It revolutionized back story.
Take Highway 17 as an example, you drive down a European road, and you see all these cars in a big wreck. With further analysis, you can tell that a van in particular was transporting RPG's; was it for the rebellion? Was this why it was destroyed?
Highway 17 again, you come across a number of (mostly) deserted homes. In particular, the one with the super infected zombie tells a story of a man hiding in his home, he barricaded and locked all of the entrances; but clearly the combine bombed it with head crabs, thus the giant hole in the building.
I could go on, but that is my favorite aspect of Half-Life 2. It revolutionized back story.
There's a lot of valve HL2 topics springing up...
It was really well made and still is a pleasure to play today, how many FPS have that going for them?
Excellent sound, great visuals, ran on almost any PC (Unlike Doom 3 at the time), had really nice physics going for it, great pacing. The story was told differently without cutscenes and whatever pulling you from control of the character. You can't tell by playing other shooters that were out at the time?
It was really well made and still is a pleasure to play today, how many FPS have that going for them?
Excellent sound, great visuals, ran on almost any PC (Unlike Doom 3 at the time), had really nice physics going for it, great pacing. The story was told differently without cutscenes and whatever pulling you from control of the character. You can't tell by playing other shooters that were out at the time?
It revolutionized awesomeness, is what it did!
Seriously, besides the technological and story telling advancements, some things just have some unexplainable "it" factor that make them really great.
Seriously, besides the technological and story telling advancements, some things just have some unexplainable "it" factor that make them really great.
I never had trouble with the vehicle controls, did you play it on console? I could imagine it being much more awkward not using a keyboard.ForgottenPr0digy said:
OT: It had the best physics engine ever and it was fun. Simple as that.