Honest Opinion on Half-Life 2

[octavius]

A major decline.
First you have to wade throught an hour of cutscenes. Gameplay consists of enemies popping up and Gordon popping them. The enemies always knows where he is, yet all they can manage is those pop-a-moles.
Then there's the linear levels with stupid physics puzzles, which turns the game more into an Adventure game.
I was not impressed.

EDTI: I think my biggest disappointment was that the physics engine was not used to create emergent gameplay, but instead for stupid Adventure game type puzzles.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Didn't like it as a whole, the gunplay felt good but too puzzley/platformey/set-piecey overall for my tastes. Half-life 1 was the start of this tho, didn't particularly liked that one either, would have been better if it had went less into FPS and more into SS territory. I can see the merits but just not for my tastes.

 

[Spukrian]

I played Half-Life 2 for the first time in 2012 I think. I was disappointed, Half-Life was one of my absolute favourite games. The progression of changing the gameplay every so often made me feel like I wasn't progressing at all. The physics didn't impress me, I felt Deus Ex 1 and Invisible War had better physics (and was more interactive). I absolutley loathed the airboat sections.

Gordon as silent protagonist works in HL1, in every dialogue I could imagine Gordon just communicating nodding, shaking his head, doing thumbs up or down, etc. In HL2 however this doesn't work, I have to imagine Gordon saying a lot of stuff in order for the dialogue to make sense, it just feels lazy.

The story feels like they initially wanted to make something unrelated to HL1 but in the last minute they shoehorned in Gordon et all because they didn't have faith in it to stand on it's own legs?

Did you know that in HL1 if you play on Hard Difficulty the enemy AI becomes smarter and more difficult? In HL2 they just get more health and do more damage, that's it.

Overalll though it was an OK game, just very disappointing as a HL1 sequel. Then again, would I have played it if it wasn't a sequel and instead something totally unrelated? I don't know...

 

[JamesDixon]

Like Half-Life it was Meh. I don't remember anything about either game other than it being the first corridor shooter for PCs that really removed player options to complete the levels.

 

[Jvegi]

It impressed me for a while many moons ago. Then I got tired of it.

Played the first one much later and it was on another level.

 

[Butter]

a tech demo made out of setpieces. not really engaging tbh

This. It's not a game built around a set of really fun mechanics. It's a series of small games, each one built around a different mechanic.

"This is the level where you drive a boat around for 6 hours."
"This is the level where you control antlions."
"This is the level where you get the gravity gun to pwn all the enemies."

Definitely not as good as HL1, and the vehicle sections going on for way too fucking long makes me hesitant to ever replay it.

 

[orcinator]

It's basically an evolution of Crash Bandicoot 3 which was my favorite when I was a kid but replaying it a few years ago made it obvious it was the worst one.


Despite the flaws listed by the previous posters, it technically manages to hold up, not as a shooter, but as a novelty-experience, mostly because the imitators are so shit at figuring out the formula.

i.e. look at something like NuWolfenstein TNO which clearly imitates HL2 down to plagiarizing Breen's speech at the end and note how that game's special gimmick weapon, the laser, is used to cut through highlighted chains and open crates, there's less enemy types and the weapons are all ultra generic (the laser's ranged mode is just a semi-auto rifle, complete with recoil).
Or all those other setpiece shooters whose idea of a setpiece is a stationary turret section (granted, many were more into copying Halo).
Or Call of Fucking Duty which plays itself half the time.

 

[Dodo1610]

It's still my favourite FPS of all time. I genuinely have no idea, how anyone can dislike this game.

 

[Konjad]

It was overall bad. I got it on release because it was packaged with Counter-Strike: Source which I wanted to play, but thought it will be a decent game. It wasn't, it was a huge decline over the first Half-Life that I enjoyed. People say at least it had some good levels like Ravenholm, but to me they were equally meh. The only thing I was amazed with were graphics and physics, but gameplay was boring. Never replayed it and never will, unlike the first HL.

 

[Maxie]

fpps are a decline genre in general, at least valve salvages it with portal puzzle games

 

[El Presidente]

It's still my favourite FPS of all time. I genuily have no idea, how anyone can dislike this game.

Yeah, the Codex never liked HL2 for some reason, this is like the Nth thread about it and it was always blasted around here since the beginning

 

[Lemming42]

I preferred the original (even if in retrospect its use of scripting basically doomed modern FPS campaigns to a great extent), but the one thing HL2 got right was the delivery of the narrative. Instead of audiologs left lying around like so many games rely on to tell their story everything was organicaly delivered by NPCs with great facial animations and voice acting as well as environmental storytelling. It's almost 20 years later and still a lot of games haven't caught up.

I think HL2's narrative delivery is very overstated, there's not a huge difference between locking the player in a room and just taking control away from them for a cutscene.

HL1 was quite good at delivering plot points organically by letting you see things - "Surface Tension" conveys the HECU starting to lose against the aliens by basing most of its setpieces around that idea, for example. You see the Marines on the retreat, you see the alien aircraft gradually gaining air superiority, etc.

But HL2 relies more on dialogue, which is weird because they have to lock you into small areas for the sake of letting the dialogue play out, and also doubly weird because Gordon can't talk. So you're left to bounce around throwing books at people's heads, to which they don't react because they're playing out their cutscene totally independent of what you're doing. HL1 did it twice (once before the test, once right before Xen) but HL2 makes a habit of it.

The ways you get locked in rooms are increasingly amusing too - I think Alyx even deliberately seals you in at one point during "Nova Prospekt" (or maybe "Entangled"), and then there's shit like having to listen to the rebels' three-hour-long explanation of how you're about to get attacked by a helicopter because a woman is leaning in the doorway and Gordon can't get out.

The real kicker is that - subjectively - the plot sucks, so the game keeps stalling and stripping you of your ability to move forward just for the sake of a sub-anime quality story.

 

[destinae vomitus]

It's an enjoyable setpiece rollercoaster once you get past the tepid canal chapters and aren't stuck with two terrible peashooters, never even comes close to reaching the same heights as Half-Life 1's Surface Tension chapter though.

 

[Hag]

Yeah, the Codex never liked HL2 for some reason, this is like the Nth thread about it and it was always blasted around here since the beginning

There are good reasons for it I think. Played it almost on release and I was very much non-plussed with the whole deal. Tried to replay it a couple years later and when I reached the first vehicle part I got overwhelmed with boredom and quit. I fondly remember the bridge, and the first two levels in Ravenholm, but that's it. While it was a technical achievement, it had many flaws that went against the player's enjoyment (mine at least) :
- The forced companion thing. Alyx is good looking but bland and useless. She's just there to make your life more complicated and to progress through the heavily-scripted scenario. YES I COULD HAVE USED A HAND FIGHTING THOSE WAVES OF COMBINE THANKS FOR NOTHING BITCH.
- The gravity gun is a novelty. It's not very useful apart from selected levels where it becomes your only option.
- Most importantly I think, it drags on all the time. Speeder levels ? too long. Buggy on the beach. Tooo long. Ravenholm ? TO. FUCKING. LONG. Each level, each fight, every small part is stretched to suck all the fun out of it. There are good moments but they are drowning in repetitive lookalike gameplay.

But as with most games, it is a question of mileage. By the time of HL2 I had clocked hundred of hours of Doom, BF1942, Counter-Strike. I was solid at multiplayer FPS and enjoyed open maps and the problem-solving aspect of them. Not to say efficient murdering. So when I played a game that is a long corridor filled with bullet-sponge brain-dead AI, when I have to ride through endless sewers or beaches or solve cute little puzzles when I was used to infiltrate bases, steal planes and base-jump to capture flags for hours on end, yeah it was underwhelming to say the least. The fact that the story wasn't compelling at all did not help.

But I know your feeling. Same for me when I hear people spitting on Morrowind.

 

[retardgrand]

The Citadel part is so incredibly bad that I'm surprised it hasn't become an internet circlejerk instead of HL1's Xen.

Also, HL2 is among the first games to use dynamic difficulty. That alone makes it worse than HL1, where every hp/ammo pickup was hand placed.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Do you guys also complain about slow movies and how unrewatchable they are? Or long books being unrereadable? Well this topic is certainly very repostable.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Mediocre and overrated game. I don't remember much from it but I still recall driving around with a fucking buggy and like every other driving section in a shooter, it was shit. One of the few shooters that I have played only once and have absolutely no desire to return to, even though I liked the Source engine.

 

[Vyadhis]

Half Life 1 was far better and more impressive. Half Life 2 marks the end of the golden age of FPS games that started in the early 90s with Doom and then led into the Quake engine.

I do enjoy HL2 though. I despise the driving sections. I hate it when video games add "gamey" stuff, like the stupid hovercraft missions in ME2. Feels out of place and awkward, like some executive had a bullet point list of things that must be in the game.

 

[Ash]

It's still my favourite FPS of all time. I genuily have no idea, how anyone can dislike this game.

Yeah, the Codex never liked HL2 for some reason, this is like the Nth thread about it and it was always blasted around here since the beginning

"For some reason"

Bro we've listed like 50 in this thread alone. And as you mentioned there have been many such threads over the years.

Why do some men not use logic?

But I forgive, because to truly see the issue with HL2 you probably do have to have played REAL fps and action games...which many haven't as the majority only came out in the 90s. Well, not quite true, there are a lot of good action games from 2000 to date, but they are not as common as they used to be. Pure FPS though have been largely trash since 2000.

The Citadel part is so incredibly bad that I'm surprised it hasn't become an internet circlejerk instead of HL1's Xen.

Also, HL2 is among the first games to use dynamic difficulty. That alone makes it worse than HL1, where every hp/ammo pickup was hand placed.

Keep it up and I'll officially bestow you your monocle.

Xen is monocled, literally one of the best end sections in all of FPS, and really topped off the pretty great experience that HL1 was. Citadel is straight trash. Boring mindless antlion rampage, boring mindless gravity gun god mode trip at the end, stupid tripod sections and awful squad-based combat. Corridoor whack-a-mole. Completely railroaded level design. Silent protag elevator rides with Alex the dud. Really, really bad finale that I too am surprised is not a meme, but then again people have no standards so...
Xen is only derided because Soy boys with no skill cannot handle that the platforming went up another level of involvement.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Would much rather it had been F.E.A.R. or Far Cry but HL2 remains the most influential of those three 04/05 big beasts today. Alyx's is the mugging face that launched a thousand shitty in-game cutscenes.

Didn't take to it at release and have never finished it. Haven't had the desire to go back since messing around with mods circa 2006.

The game's cardinal sin? The action is dull and anaemic. Not as fun to shoot enemies as it should be. That god-awful pistol and SMG do most of the heavy lifting throughout the game. Even the shotgun is pretty subdued. Mods like SMOD and HL2 Substance were popular back in the day for a reason.

 

[El Presidente]

I thought of writing a semi decent reply to you, then I read

Xen is monocled, literally one of the best end sections in all of FPS

 

[ds]

I do like Half-Life 2 enough to replay it every couple of years but have to agree that it does many things worse than HL 1. And having first played 2 before 1 that's not just nostalgia.

* Reduced number of interesting alien creatures is a clear downgrade. Having different varieties of head-crabs does not make up for the absence of houndeyes and bullsquids. Making Vortigaunts friendly isn't bad for the world building but there is no interesting alien enemy to replace them either.

* The complete absence of completely alien environments like HL 1's Xen is disappointing. You'd think with the improved graphics they could really make Xen shine, but not, instead we get generic dystopian sci-fi combine architecture.

* HL2's puzzles feel more like a tech demo than something that is designed to be challenging and fun. Was impressive for the first time but the tech itself is pretty standard fare these days.

* Friendlies in combat are just too annoying without much more advanced AI than what HL2 has. It didn't work well in Opposing Force and HL2 really doesn't do much to improve it - sorry, being able to spam C to keep them from killing themselves doesn't cut it.

* This is going to be subjective but I prefer HL1's much more solitary levels and a bit more serious mood. Realistic human NPCs are hard to get right even outside combat so having fewer of them as needed is generally better for immersion.

* HL1 also gives you a bit more freedom in how you approach things. You can easily kill the first helicopter as soon as it appears over the dam if you save up enough heavy-hitting ammo. Might be more down to over-testing for HL2 (something that Valve seems to be proud of in the developer commentary) to and preventing "exploits" and make sure players experience everything as intended rather than a conscious design in HL1. Both are quite linear experiences but somehow HL2 feels even more scripted.

Still, HL2 was technically impressive when it was released (at least I was impressed) and its lip sync animations are still ahead of the robot movement in many games released even today.

there's not a huge difference between locking the player in a room and just taking control away from them for a cutscene.

But there is a difference. Even locked in a room, things have to progress in real time instead of skipping over parts that the designers would rather not thing up a sensible sequence of events for. Designers must also actively come up with ways to restrain the player instead of just having you act a retard in cutscenes for plot reasons.

I agree that HL2 is often lazy and unnecessarily restricts player agency to make sure things play out how the designers envisioned but it could still be a lot worse if they felt free to take control away from you completely whenever convenient.

So you're left to bounce around throwing books at people's heads, to which they don't react because they're playing out their cutscene totally independent of what you're doing.

Well they do skip ahead if you slap them on top of the head, clearly reacting to you being annoyed at them for wasting your time.

IIRC there were some parts where NPCs skip/shorten the setpiece if you don't pay attention to them but maybe that was in the episodes. In any case, there could have been a lot more reactivity to player actions during not-cutscenes.

- The gravity gun is a novelty. It's not very useful apart from selected levels where it becomes your only option.

Disagree, throwing saw blades, mines, radiators and toilets at enemies remains fun throughout the entire game.

 

[Dave the Druid]

It's basically an evolution of Crash Bandicoot 3 which was my favorite when I was a kid but replaying it a few years ago made it obvious it was the worst one.

I just had the most bizarre series of mental images when I read that: Gordon Freeman riding around on the back of a warthog, Gordon Freeman getting flattened by a boulder Wile E. Coyote style, G-Man's head appearing as a giant hologram and telling you to collect crystals and so on.

I do kinda get what you mean, it just took a minute to shake off the initial impression

 

[Lemming42]

But there is a difference. Even locked in a room, things have to progress in real time instead of skipping over parts that the designers would rather not thing up a sensible sequence of events for. Designers must also actively come up with ways to restrain the player instead of just having you act a retard in cutscenes for plot reasons.

But HL1 already demonstrated a better way of doing this, as had several other games (eg Unreal).

HL2 seems to me to represent regression rather than innovation, its style is far closer to traditional cutscenes than HL1 was. Being locked in Kleiner's lab and forbidden from continuing until the scripted stuff has played out, with you unable to affect any of it, is functionally not much different from if it had just been a cutscene. I've never been able to understand why HL2 gets praise for that.

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

I do not think there is a game based on Gman.
Is Gman nothing but gordon freeman himself in the future?