So, Half-Life 2: Episode One Sucks

[DarkUnderlord]

The first half of the game you're stuck with one weapon which, by some trope game mechanic decides to start being an enemy gun and then stops right when you get other weapons.

The second half of the game is then you watching The Immortal Girl shoot enemies with her Unlimited Ammunition. In the end, I think I had more fun looking at the walls and picking out the different wall textures which consisted of this blue-grey one with dripping blue or just a simple grey.

Until you got to the end, where you were seperated from Her Immortal Highness, and you would use the shotgun because out of all your weapons, it was the only one that actually killed stuff where-as all the other weapons were comparable to pea-shooters. Oh yeah and those few tropes where you'd get an unlimited box of ammo for your missile launcher because without unlimited ammo, you'd never be able to kill anything and unlock the next area.

One of the best gameplay mechanics I think was where you'd use the tiny circle of light from your flashlight which would of couse run out about 12 seconds later, making you stand around in the dark for about a second while it re-charged because making it use the energy you got everywhere would've been too hard apparently.

Then the credits scrolled by and I was left wondering how on Earth it could take 500+ people to cobble together that piece of shit.

 

[TripJack]

It is pretty mediocre. Worst in the series too.

 

[deuxhero]

The commentary was fun, worth going through the game a 2nd time with it on, same for ep2. Ep2 has some decent parts (The end is pretty fun, mostly because you aren't using the weak as hell weapons), and was more focused on exploration and puzzles though isn't that good either.

 

[Baron]

I never played it. I was too annoyed at how little plot they'd fed me in HL2. I don't mind cutting zombies in half with a bandsaw but my marginally curious mind likes to know why.

The 1993 and 2010 map is interesting though, and kinda funny. I was about to say why couldn't they combine cutscenes (fuck youse awl I luv 'em) with the 1993 map? But then I remembered they did in Bioshock. And it worked beautifully.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

A bit of an exaggeration, but largely true. I prefer the Doom style semi-nonlinear map design, but you have to remember that most of the level was gated off at any given time by colored doors, and that although the map itself did not have a clear linear thrust to it, the actual player path was largely linear. For example, explore one room and connecting chambers to find door A is locked, and door B is only way to proceed. Enter door B and explore adjoining rooms and corridors to locate keycard to door A; enter door A explore until you find switch which opens up new path in starting area, etc.

 

[Gragt]

Out of curiosity, I recently replayed Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and F.E.A.R. While I liked it very much at release, I found that Doom 3's gameplay aged incredibly bad, but was also surprised to see that it stills holds up nicely on the technical side of things. Half-Life 2 wasn't as bad but still far from satisfying, with its weak weapons, ego stroking and weak story — forced-fed through the infamous cutscenes that aren't cutscenes. I also forgot how boring the anti-climactic end is, with its super-gun of pwnage.

And F.E.A.R. is still cool. Corridor shooter on rails, lots of scripting, but the weapons are powerful and feel like it (even the starting pistol when dual-wielded), and the enemy AI still managed to surprise me with their flanking maneuvres. And firefights never get old, with the dust they create and the various effects during slow-mo.

I should replay the HL2 episodes as well. I remember that Ep1 didn't impress me, especially the start with the super-gun of pwnage that stops working when you find other weapons, ad DU said. Ep2 was a tad more enjoyable, though I was disapointed Alyx didn't die and shut up once and for all. Magnusson was a more interesting character, even if he appeared out of thin air, and the last battle sequence against the striders was actually fun — a first for the HL2 serie!

 

[SCO]

This is the game that killed bloodlines.

Spoiler

shut the fuck up. I need a scapegoat and gamers being morons doesn't cut it

(to be fair, bloodlines maps are shit too).

 

[SCO]

Oh wait. It actually isn't.

I guess it's the sequel (proudly uninformed about fps).
Bloodlines had no sequel.

 

[torpid]

And F.E.A.R. is still cool. Corridor shooter on rails, lots of scripting, but the weapons are powerful and feel like it (even the starting pistol when dual-wielded), and the enemy AI still managed to surprise me with their flanking maneuvres. And firefights never get old, with the dust they create and the various effects during slow-mo.

Yeah, F.E.A.R. is the best of the corridor shooters. And although you're railroaded, the game isn't a fucking tightrope like HL2 -- all areas tend to have at least two passages to allow the AI to flank you, and sometimes more. Great level design, unfortunately the backdrop was depressingly repetitive (warehouses then office buildings), and since people confuse the two, they always whine about it when the game is brought up. Shame.

 

[Malakal]

Its a linear shooter with scripted events and in-game cutscenes. Good psychics too. Not much else.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

That picture is a start, but nowhere near enough to give an accurate picture of what you mean.

For example, if you'd used the first map of Doom (E1M1) you'd get a map almost identical to the one on the right. It wasn't until several patches later (Doom 1.9 IIRC) that they added a second path through the level. The current example (E1M6) is not a good example, as your path forward is immediately blocked by a locked door, and you need to go... right, IIRC to find the key to open that. Then you immediately get hit by another locked door and you need to make another right there to find the next key.

The best example I can think of to use for the "old" style is E2M2. Multiple pathways, a large map and only small parts of it are inaccessible due to locked doors.

Now, the picture on the right doesn't show well enough how monolinear FPS shooters have become. Every turn in the road needs to demonstrate that the deliberately blocked path goes on for another 20 feet or so to complete the chapter or current objective, but the detour you're being forced to take will take you an hour to get through. HL2 is so full of such detours that eventually every level starts to look like this:

Except, of course, all the other exits are blocked or closed or just dead ends.

Oh, and The Immortal Girl isn't actually immortal, but she has a boatload of HP and heals faster than Wolverine ever could. But the gun does have Unlimited Ammuntion.

 

[Lightknight]

I found that Doom 3's gameplay aged incredibly bad, but was also surprised to see that it stills holds up nicely on the technical side of things.

Riddick Chronicles came out 2 months earlier, had the same engine capabilities, was several times faster, and was on XBOX. So...no, Doom3 was surpassed before it even came out, technically speaking. And going by visuals alone HL2 is still better looking, since it was made by artists who actually knew more than just mechanical design.

Yeah, F.E.A.R. is the best of the corridor shooters.

If only it wasnt so damn ugly...

 

[KalosKagathos]

Hexen had some p. cool interconnected levels.

 

[racofer]

:Gordon...woah! That was amazing!

:You my new hero!

----------------------

Yes. For those wondering if I made it up I didn't. This is one of the last things she says to you at the end of EP1 after you kill the Tripod Walker.

 

[Orgasm]

Breaking news! HL sucks.

 

[Luzur]

i just want episode 3 so it can end.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

i just want episode 3 so it can end.

 

[Achilles]

Episode One is the weakest of the series but I wouldn't say it sucks. It's decent IMO.

 

[DemonKing]

I was pretty disappointed by HL2 and its expansions - they were just linear corridor shooters with amazing facial animations and decent physics. The storytelling was also decent in the sense that it was told without the device of a bunch of audio tapes/phone messages being left around to relate it.

However I far preferred the original Far Cry in terms of graphics, level design and non-linearity and for combat, FEAR wins hands-down (although they managed to make the sequel into consolised crap).

 

[ElectricOtter]

E1M6, son? That shit be weaksauce

 

[Multidirectional]

I was pretty disappointed by HL2 and its expansions - they were just linear corridor shooters with amazing facial animations and decent physics.

And HL1 is a linear corridor shooter without amazing facial animations and decent physics (well, non Source HL1 version, that is). What a legitimate reason to be disappointed in the sequel.

 

[CrimHead]

I find it funny that people blame consoles for the decline when it was half-life that started this whole ZOMG CINEMATIC bullshit. Then HL2 came around and just made the industry go full retard.

 

[attackfighter]

How was Half Life 1 cinematic? The only pseudo-cutscene is at the end, and everything else is literally composed of corridor shooting or puzzles. Oh wait there's that part where you're knocked out by marines, but that only makes 2 cutscenes.

 

[DemonKing]

I was pretty disappointed by HL2 and its expansions - they were just linear corridor shooters with amazing facial animations and decent physics.

And HL1 is a linear corridor shooter without amazing facial animations and decent physics (well, non Source HL1 version, that is). What a legitimate reason to be disappointed in the sequel.

The original HL was awesome at the time of release, but HL2 didn't really evolve the core gameplay very far, whereas some of the competition during the mid-2000s were actually innovating beyond the superficial.

 

[Jaesun]

Pick up the can. Is the single best part of Half Life 2. Play until that part, then un-install.