Half life 2

[agentorange]

The other major reason the first game was better is how it revolves around a single place (the black mesa facility, if you ignore the shitty ending part on xen). Riding through the entire place on a tram in the intro, and then having to work your way back on foot really contributed to the immersion and atmosphere, similarly to how youw ork your way through the Von Braun in System Shock 2. Half-Life 2 lost that when they made the game take place in an entire city, and when you load from one place to another that feeling of cohesion and immersion is lost.

I don't agree with this. I thought that was one of the things HL2 did extremely well. It was set up like a classic Odyssey plot; Gordon arrives in City 17, gets teleported accidentally into Breen's office - which unbeknownst at the time is the eventual final destination of the game - then spends the entire game journeying along a massive detour that takes him back to that destination. I thought it was done very well as a continuous trek through all the various environments. Though the part taking place in City 17, on the return, is the worst part, very unmemorable and muddled.

 

[DemonKing]

HL1 was awesome on so many fronts if you played it at the time of release - it was just so different and more evolved than all the shooters before it, yet still intuitive and fun.

HL2 was just a corridor shooter with decent physics and amazing facial animation. The one thing I will give the HL2 games though is the story-telling aspect - unlike last year's Bioshock Infinite, for example, you won't once find a tape recording you have to play back to hear the story - it's all presented seamlessly in game through voice work and animation.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Medal of Honor was also on the PS 2, one of the first FPS to be multiplatform while Half life 1 remained only on the PC.

Funny thing is that many if not majority of the most important golden age FPSs were ported to consoles: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Hexen, Half Life, Tom Clancy, Duke Nukem, Daikatana and even more obscure ones like Marathon. Some lesser titles were actually ported from consoles to PC, like Exhumed and Killing Time. Though that's not the same as releasing a game simultaneously to both platforms, as even games like UFO/XCOM, King's Bounty, Buck Rogers, Wizardry and Might&Magic got ported to consoles occasionally.

I had tons of fun with Half Life, but Half Life 2 bored me to tears (what a waste of excellent talent).

Design wise they're pretty much the same game (minus the first person view platforming sections, which many people hate), so you're either being a hipster or you outgrew FPS games between HL1 and HL2

 

[agentorange]

They're really not the same in terms of pure fun. The sheer variety of weapons and enemies in HL1 make it more entertaining (and even more in Opposing Force). You're literally fighting the same shit from beginning to end in HL2, and the weapon selection is below sub-par.

 

[TheGreatOne]

HL1 is a tad bit less repetitive when it comes to shooting enemies (though it has some awful shit like the train ride section. And most people seem to really dislike the Xen levels, I have no idea why, I like 'em), but HL2 has more things like physic puzzles and driving sections to give more variety to the gameplay. Though I agree that generally it's better to stick to doing one thing (core gameplay mechanics) well than to add in mediocre "mini games" like driving. Anyway they're both scripted, cinematic FPSs with out the cutscenes.There's a bigger difference between SS1 and SS2 than between HL1 and HL2, they're fairly similar experiences.

The one thing I will give the HL2 games though is the story-telling aspect - unlike last year's Bioshock Infinite, for example, you won't once find a tape recording you have to play back to hear the story - it's all presented seamlessly in game through voice work and animation.

That's an odd thing to criticize, given the popularity of the System Shock games. Even Deus Ex, Thief and to lesser extent Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines relied on this. Reading diaries/email messages and eavesdropping on conversations, practically it's the same as listening to audio logs: you'll have to kill the pacing of gameplay, find an empty room and stop so you can listen/read some exposition.

 

[agentorange]

The thing with Bioshock Infinite is that the story is lacking if you do not pick up the audio logs; a lot of plot elements hinge on you having the information contained in those audio dialogues that everyone seems to keep and don't seem to make any effort to hide. The information in them is too vital.

In VTMB everything you get from the tv/radio/e-mail etc. is world building, it is not required to understand the main story, the same goes for Deus Ex and Thief. SS2 does use a lot of them as well, and while it is not above criticism it does have the excuse that it takes place on a military/research vessel, so there is reason for the crew to keep audio logs. If Bioshock put some effort into integrating those logs into the fiction of the game (like e-mails in DX, radio in VTMB, hand written notes addressed to specific people in Thief), instead of just leaving them around as these giant voice recorders, it would be less problematic.

 

[Zero Credibility]

Put me in the HL2 haters camp. I think the main reason for me are other characters. In HL1 you would run into others from time to time, but they just stayed with you for a minute or two before you moved on. Here there seem to be a lot more of them. And all the fawning over Freeman makes me queasy. And I really hate the parts where you are escorting that girl. I hate that girl and that robot and the whole freaking story in HL2. And that gimmick weapon. And the weapons in general seem meh, as does the combat.

 

[TheGreatOne]

I'm not defending Bioshock, even with out playing it I'm certain Infinite only has audio logs because SS2 had them, not because they've put some actual thought into it or think that it fits the game world.

 

[Angthoron]

Ah yes, the amazing pandering the player receives in HL2 is something else. It's fairly recent that we've laughed at the same approach in Bioshock: Infinite, but even that is nowhere as centered at kissing the player's ass at every turn. Hell, I can't think of what games - short of mobile - out there are quite so bent on celebrating the majestic player presence. "Dr. Freeman, wow! You're a legend! All you do is amazing!"; I remember how those lines annoyed me. Why? What's so great that Freeman's done to be so excited? Did he save the world from the aliens? You know, by the looks of things, I'd say "no". All that the amazing Doctor did was push a cart into an energy beam, have a trip, and then spend the whole game shooting shit until it stopped moving, occasionally stopping to kill some even bigger shit. Wow, yeah, let's celebrate that. No fucking wonder Obama gets a Nobel for not doing anything. Even the fucking Vortigaunts worship your ass. Big woop - I'm sure that just killing that giant thing solved all their problems and Combine didn't just bring another one. I mean, the portal-closing sure helped Earth a big stonkin' deal.

And the "one free man" thing? Uhm, yeah, that's great and all but there's quite clearly a resistance movement, and they can shoot and do stuff, so what gives? Freeman's charisma will rally the crowds to the barricades? Oh. He's going to be a maniac in an orange suit, distracting attention from the real action. In fact, you know, if that was what was going on - you know, people leading a deranged, fucked-up doctor in an indestructible suit of armor along to do their bidding, that'd be pretty smart. All that pandering and ego-wank would make full sense. Except it's done with a straight face, of course. Argh.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Audio logs were serviceable before they became standard - after that, the logic flaws and laziness became too apparent. Southpark the game addresses it nicely with the audiolog you find in the alien ship: "Why are all these people taking the time to leave detailed audio recordings when they are quite obviously in grave danger? It's filler! MINDLESS FILLER!'

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Southpark ripping on the audio logs was amazing.

 

[Abelian]

I'm not sure whether it was Valve's intent, but the hero-worshiping of Gordon could also be a sly jab how "the one free man" is controlled by the G-Man and how his myth grew while he was absent. They did lampshade Gordon's scientific ability when Barney asked him to plug in the teleporter ("That MIT PhD is really paying off"), so I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[Volrath]

Both HL1 and HL2 were utter fucking shit which destroyed the FPS genre as we knew it.

 

[Angthoron]

I'm not sure whether it was Valve's intent, but the hero-worshiping of Gordon could also be a sly jab how "the one free" man is controlled by the G-Man and how his myth grew while he was absent. They did lampshade Gordon's scientific ability when Barney asked him to plug in the teleporter ("That MIT PhD is really paying off"), so I wouldn't put it past them.

I think Freeman must be a panda. Everyone's like "Oooh, pandas are amazing", but when was the last time a panda did something for you? No-when, that's when. So people are like "Holy shit, a panda with guns! That's so awesome" when Freeman ambles by.

 

[Abelian]

I think Freeman must be a panda. Everyone's like "Oooh, pandas are amazing"

Pandas are amazing when you rent them out to zoos for $1 million/year.

 

[Angthoron]

I think Freeman must be a panda. Everyone's like "Oooh, pandas are amazing"

Pandas are amazing when you rent them out to zoos for $1 million/year.

And that's without gravity guns and bright orange jump suits.

 

[bert]

I played HL1 for the mods. I was disappointed that 95% of HL2's mods either died off, were boring as fuck, and/or filled with kiddies like Garry's Mod.