Worst Valve game?

[Weslebear]

Obviously I can't comment on all of them but of the ones I have played, Half Life 2.

I just can't get into to it for more than a few hours before losing any will to continue and wiping it from my harddrive, I have tried 4 times to enjoy it but it just doesn't do it for me personally.

Best though, probably TF2.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Half-life 2.

I've tried to like it, but the actual gameplay just isn't interesting enough to sit through all of the scripted sequences, pointless physics puzzles (weight something down by using the gravity gun to put garbage on it... for the 100th time), and level terrible level design (1 minute running through Valve?s scenery, 10 seconds actually fighting things).

The game just advances at a glacial pace, and none of the gameplay mechanics are interesting enough to compensate.

 

[Anezay]

Since no one else has said it, I think I'm going to give this award to DotA2 early. Why? Because Valve makes first person shooters. I know the following about DotA:

It is a sequel to a mod to a game that Valve does not own.
It is not a FPS.

Going off genre like this doesn't inspire confidence in me.
Other than that, they have an excellent track record.

 

[Bajinga]

I know that a lot of people will disagree, but take into accord that it is an opinion.

Half Life 2: Episode 2

The game didn't do anything for me. It was a waste of time with a lot of cliche's.
I expected a lot more from that game, but it seemed that it had almost no memorable value (beside the ending) and when playing all of the Half Life 2 series it seems really really repetitive.

Even so, I will buy Episode 3 if it comes out (but Valve have a reputation to not put the number 3 on a box).

 

[LaughingAtlas]

I would say Half-life, (I'm not sure which one this was) but maybe it was because I went in thinking of the gameplay footage (also not sure which game that was for) I saw of crazy guns being used on headcrabs and colorful facilities, a shooter that actually looked fun. What I actually got was dull, brown environments, dull, brown guns, (pistol, SMG, shotgun, etc.) and about 5 hours spent wondering when the gravity gun I'd heard so much about was coming along.

Spoiler: Long story

I was driving a boat(?) over a river of radioactive sludge to open another gas-mask-guy-controlled gate when I realized I didn't even care anymore, there hadn't been much of that amazing story I'd heard someone boast about and the gameplay felt like pulling teeth. (hence the level called "root canal," I guess)

Playing the Orange Box a year or so later, I started a different Half-Life game in which Dr. Freeman and the female companion had apparently just vacated somewhere by way of airborne subway car. Escaping the wreckage, I was able to play with the long-awaited gravity gun, picking up anything I could and blasting it into the sky.
"Wow," I thought, after killing my first giant bug thing, "that's kind of like the telekinesis plasmid in Bioshock... which had a lot of other enjoyable murder techniques. Which I liked much better than anything I've even heard about this series. In fact, one could say Bioshock mostly provided the crazy combat and pretty environments I initially hoped for in Half-life in addition to the standard pistol, SMG, shotgun, etc. with UPGRADES, so I've really just wasted my time with this overrated tripe."
Live and learn, no?

I didn't like TF2, but online shooters aren't really my thing, didn't care for Shadowrun, either. Between a plain orange and a rotton apple, the apple is probably worse even if you hate oranges. [sub](the slippery-fleshed bastards)[/sub]

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

You know, the fact that I own a large number of the valve games, and don't like the majority of them is strange.... I didn't like L4D or L4D2, because they're horrible without at least one other human player, I didn't like Team Fortress/TF2 because of a similar lack of ability to play with other people in a fixed-class shooter similar to battlefield 2 etc.. I haven't yet played counter strike (no flames plz), but I loved Portal, Half Life and sequels, HL2 and it's sequels and portal 2.

It's probably pretty obvious where that line is drawn for me. These are mostly computer games, and most people I know either don't have a good enough internet connection to play or the powerful hardware to run the game in the first place. playing on a console has it's own problems of either spit screening or multiple copies of the game.

I don't get it, what's so great about multiplayer games? yeah, sure, DDR, Guitar Hero and Deff Jamz Rapstar are awesome multiplayer games, but they don't require the entire screen and can switch between drunken friends very easily. But, none of those are *online* multiplayer. perhaps there's something bound to that.

I think Valve is missing the mark by putting out these online-based multiplayer games, I don't even know a person IRL that spends more then a single hour a week playing one.

Well, that's the whole point of online multiplayer; it's not who you know in real life, but who is willing to play on a server with you that counts. If you're going into it looking to play with people you already know, you're going in with the wrong idea. It's like joining an amateur soccer league and complaining that none of your friends play; you make friends while playing.

I didn't really like Team Fortress 2. I got it very shortly after release and it was still already too late to even try and get into it. It's the sort of game where, if you're not one of the first in, you're doomed to get beat down by everyone you come across and therefore get nowhere.

Maybe I'm just really bad at it, I don't know, but either way I'm not a big fan.

It sounds like you're just bad at the game. TF2 is about as easy to pick up as any game that involves skill can be; part of playing online in any game is getting your butt kicked for at least the first couple of hours of play. However, if you stick with it, you eventually get better. Heck, the whole point of team based games is to let players who aren't the best on the server still contribute to and have a chance of winning. In the early days of online multiplayer, it was every man for himself, and there was only one winner on any server. As for how TF2 has changed over the years, even the drops don't give that big of an advantage. A lot of the best players use the vanilla loadouts, because they're the general purpose loadouts, while the other ones are situational, and will get you killed if you're using them except at exactly the right time, where they deliver a slight advantage over the standard loudout -- but there's usually another class that counters the same thing with the vanilla loadout, making the drops completely optional.

OT: I was going to say Alien Swarm, not because it was bad so much as because it was the worst of a very good lot, but after seeing the video of Ricochet, I think we have a winner. Space maps with jump pads generally make for bad maps; and entire game built around it must be awful, especially when you realize just how small the landing areas are. I have a feeling people are more likely to kill themselves than get killed by someone else.

 

[Aphex Demon]

The worst one for me would have to be Left 4 Dead 2. It felt more rushed and definitely more unfinished than the first. What do you think?

Please explain your logic. It was a sequel game. And much was added while maintaining the basics of gameplay.

And I can honestly say I have not played a Valve game I didn't enjoy. Half-Life? Obvious masterpiece. L4D series? original and surprisingly time consuming (I have played over 400 hours of it according to Steam). Counter-Strike? Potentially the best multiplayer game ever. Team Fortress? Right up there with CS.

There's also the more minor games like Day of Defeat, Zombie Panic, Deathmatch, etc. All very entertaining.

This, over 9000 times.

 

[Judgement101]

Alien Swarm. Also, the people hating Half-Life 2, I notice how you guys are basically using the "We hate it because its popular" tactic. The only points you guys make are "Forgetable character, plot holes, and a bad story" 2 of which are opinions and the other (plot hoes) is practically in every game.

 

[Judgement101]

not a fan of valve at all and to me their worst is Team Fortress 2. No excuse for the lack of bots and I hate the aesthetic of it.

Lack of bots? In almost ever sever they have bots.

 

[CleverNickname]

TF2 since roughly the Scout update. That update itself was maybe not terrible (though certainly not the best on either), but it's gotten worse and worse since then. More stupid weapons, more stupid ways to randomly insta-kill, more survivability for arguably-OP classes, and a shocking decrease in map quality.

I don't like CS and never really played it, but it's not a bad game. I've played enough TF2 to confidently say it sucks.

The much-bemoaned L4D2 only had bad press (because of internet whiners) and the flaws that are really only most apparent in Versus are just being heavily exaggerated by whiners on the Steam forums. The actual game itself works as smoothly as a baby's bottom. Much unlike bloated broken TF2.

 

[Arafiro]

Not a huge fan of L4D2, but to be honest I would have to go with TF2 at this point, mainly for the reasons the poster above described. It started out pretty well, but I came back to it after a year or so and it's so bloody bloated that they just ruined it.

And TFC was such an incredible game. Shame.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Half Life 2: Episode 1 undoubtly.

After Half Life 2 it really was a let down. The scale of everything was brought down, there was very little story beyond "We need to get out of here" and I was just a little bored by it. There's a couple of moments that stood out to me, like the hospital sequence but there was also a lot of crap, like the escort mission for the final and the boss fight with the strider which just highlighted how scaled down the whole thing was, and not in a good intimate way.

It was still a decent game which tells you something about Valve. And they definitly made up for it with Episode 2 which I personally think is the best game in the series.

I'm not sure I completely understand the hate for Left 4 Dead 2. For me with the changes they made completely changed the game in general and made it so much better. I could never go back to Left 4 Dead 1 after picking up a melee weapon or meeting the new infected, who balanced the game emensly. My only problem with the game was the more goofy atmosphere and Rochelle, but it was still a massive improvement over the original.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I haven't played a Valve game that wasn't objectively a good game, but I never got into the L4D series. Maybe I was too busy with grad school at the time, I dunno, but it just never grabbed my attention.

Of those I've fully played, HL2:Ep.1 was nice but a bit short.

 

[synobal]

Half Life 2 Episode 3? Why's it the worst? Because it's not out yet. Damn you Gabe!

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm going with Counter-Strike: Source, in the fact that it's the same exact game that the mod was so many years ago: Same guns, same official maps, same models, same official gamemodes. I got bored with it fast.

 

[BeerTent]

Hear me out... Both Counter-Strike games.

Broken beyond repair. I've seen totaled NASCAR racers that are more salvageable. They went with the formula of a few shots means your dead, but the problem is that this applies to a few weapons. On an unarmored target, weapons like the USP and Glock take roughly 5 or so shots SMG's, roughly the same. Now, we have weapons like the AI and the M4A1, which, in my opinion are not balanced in any way, shape or form. The AK47 will be dead-pinpoint accurate if your standing still for the first shot. Include this with the fact that it is more powerful than the M4A1, and you have the terrorists at an advantage. The Counter-terrorists need to be more sneaky, or more dodgy in order to kill a terrorist.

Keep in mind now, this is a game where twitch reflexes are everything. If you can't twitch faster than the other guy, your out. Game over. Another problem, that they tried to fix mind you, was that there are 4 primary weapons. The Desert Eagle, the AK, the M4A1, and the AWM. These 4 guns trump everything else. You use them, or you had damn well get absolutely amazing with something else or it just won't matter. The only reason why someone can win with a TMP or with a Famas is because they're fucking amazing and nobody sees it coming. "Oh, he'll switch up to one of the four next round." You think. It never happens, and it'll always catch you with your pants down like a suicide bomber. I salute those people.

The maps are over simplified. The community blows, and while it is good that they toned the graphics so anyone can run it, they will not allow you to run with custom anything in any scrims or league play. So it'll look like ass when your machine can handle pretty.

Aand the objectives. With the maps how they are designed... the objectives in a map are a "last resort" option. Can't find the last guy? Grab the hostages or plant the bomb. That'll flush him out. Otherwise, it's just a free-for-all deathmatch. Incredibly boring. At least with Neotokyo the Objective helped you and your team a LOT when you picked her up.

 

[ezeroast]

TF2, i used to love it but then went overkill with class updates and god damn... soo many hats

Edit: as soon as i posted this comment.. steam crashed. (I think they are onto me)

Oh how i love hats, hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats hats