Best/Worst chapter?

Favorite: Dark Energy or Our Benefactors. Loved the super gravity gun. Loved the levels. Loved the James Bond-esque scene with Breen. Loved the ending.


Least Favorite: Highway 17. I thought it was great, but just not up to par with the other chapters. The buggy ride seemed to go on forever, and there generally just wasn't as much cool stuff. At least you could break the piers the Combine were on when you had the airboat.
 
Hercules331 said:
Favorite- The end where u have to kill that bigass alien floating in that room.
Least Favorite- On a rail- def. too long and i always get scared that im going to get lost!!!
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That's the original Half-Life...
 
Favorite- The end where u have to kill that bigass alien floating in that room.
Least Favorite- On a rail- def. too long and i always get scared that im going to get lost!!!
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Lol, your talking about half life 1 :)

Thats not a problem though
 
Why did people like the Citadel levels so much? I didn't. They were too drab and blocky for me - just endless blue steel walls. Not much character. And too easy.

I liked everything else, esp Nova Prospekt and HW17. Ravenholme was fun too.
 
donutty_uk said:
Why did people like the Citadel levels so much? I didn't. They were too drab and blocky for me - just endless blue steel walls. Not much character. And too easy.
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I like the huge and barren monolithic structure of the citadel. It was grand, imposing, sleak, clean, and efficient. It suited the Combine very well. Plus, there were so many cool effects. Tossing enemies at their friends and watching them all twitch with electricity, tossing them into an energy beam (seeing them desintegrate), or watching their bodies slowly drift through zero gravity. Just cool looking all around.

As for the easiness, I really didn't mind. I felt as if that was my reward; getting to be a deadly badass after all that hard work. I really didn't care if it was challenging or not, mainly because I was having way too much fun.
 
The first chapters were amazing.

The boat and buggy rides we visually amazing, the boat a bit more so than the buggy, but both were great fun, but that the buggy was also a bit too long for my taste.

Ravenholm was an awesome chapter to give the game more variety, gotta love the good father!

Nova Prospekt was awesome using antlions.

Returning to the citadel was amazing. Seeing the walls eating the city and going back to City 17 and seeing what all has been destroyed while you were gone.

The game is by far the best ever, IMO. It seems time has no affect on such an amazing production.
 
donutty_uk said:
Why did people like the Citadel levels so much? I didn't. They were too drab and blocky for me - just endless blue steel walls. Not much character. And too easy.
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Becase they do, it is really fun when u play around with the super gravity gun!! Has anyone figured out how to get it on other levels??
 
My favourite part was by far setting up the turrets in Nova Prospekt, or more specifically;

the part where you have to defend Alyx while she powers up the teleporter
It was just fantastic holding off these oncoming waves of Combine, and it was really damn tense at the same time.

Least favourite was probably Ravenholm. I prefer fighting human (well, "human") enemies rather than zombies and all that.
 
I agree, Axyon, that bit was really good. Although gotta disagree with you on the ravenholm bit though, i liek a change
 
I loved all of them.

Ravenholm, an abandoned town full of the walking dead, it's a damn classic. And a good change of pace. The creepy atmosphere was fantastic.

The last level I though didn't have good combat. Yes the super gravity gun was fun but overpowered, I would not want more levels with it. Good as last level kind of thing though. I much prefered the frantic street battles or the Nova Prospect carnage. The ride, those little speeches by Breen and when you finally confront him (not when you kill him) made up for the rest though.
 
I really enjoyed the last chapter, the confontration with breen was great...it was interesting...it was different.
 
I thought the boat level was cool, but went on for too long.

My least favorite chapter though was 15(credits) because it meant the game was over.

My favorite was Follow Freeman, because of one word.

STRIIDERRRRRR !!!!!!!!
 
Hmm, I actually liked Ravenholm, it was one of the best parts of the game! Throwing saw blades around was just too much fun.

Route Kanal was pretty good, though the manhacks ruined it a bit.

The buggy part was the least interesting part to me, but still good I suppose. It was just too long. The airboat part was similar but still more fun because the airboat was more versatile and better.

The final City 17 area where you had to kill lots of striders was also a little bit tedious. It was too much "find a box of infinite rockets, kill strider, repeat 600 times until there are no more striders, then continue". I'm sure it won't be as bad when I play that again, though. (I'm currently just beginning "Sand Traps" on my second play through).

The final Citadel area was boring as well. Too colorless, etc. It was pretty cool at first but quickly got a bit stale. I liked the super duper gravity gun, but it was still pretty cheesy. I'm glad you didn't get it sooner in the game.

Anyway, still a fantastic game, and as a whole it is one of the best games of all time, in my opinion.
 
SandTrap - The Ant Lions rocked! And I liked the area were you walked on a beach and saw all the bunkers. Were really cool when they opened fire on you and you hear that lovely "pop" sound from the gun firing. :)

Nova Prospekt - When you first start on this chapter it's really cool going around in the prison and seeing all the Ant Lions attacking the Combines. But more towards the end when you used the turrets wasn't really any fun in my opinion. I don't like when you get to slaughter 30 enemies just running towards their death like in a Medal of Honor game. No thanks. :)
 
RE: Gun sounds. One thing that really impressed me (well HL2's cardboard boxes impress me so it must be easy to do!) was the way that the in-game ('real-time') gun sounds sounded realistic at a distance - ie futher away they are more dull and muted - like on a war film when a machine gun is firing in the distance. I really noticed it when you return to City 17 and you come out onto a blocked motorway underpass and in the semi-distance is a lone Combine soldier and he opens fire on you.. sounded amazing (is my Audigy 2 actually doing its job?)... and then

Comes the bloody strider!!
 
Anticitizen 1 and Follow freeman levels are best, or any that are on foot!!!
 
When you think about it Half-Life 2 is pumped full of so much variety- Valve should be proud that their individual chapters are loved/hated because of their differences rather than the intrinsic weaknesses. I.e., how some can love/hate the epic city-wide warzones and/or love/hate the cramped, atmospheric hellhole that is Ravenholm.

Don't get me wrong, I loved all of the game in a way that isn't suitable for minors to hear, but the manhack filled tunnels in Route Kanal and the repetetive zombie splattering started to get to me. Water Hazard and Highway 17 were indeed brilliant, but perhaps overlong (never thought I'd be saying that!). Rocket crate hunting in Follow Freeman! gradually got to me too...

I'm weird, perhaps, because for me some of the best moments in the game (hell, make that in any game) involved the linear, but lovingly crafted, super-fluid antics of Lamarr and Dog.

Daaaamn, I love this game...
 
m00j said:
And for those who have finished the game:
Any one else feel there should have been a final boss? HL1 style?
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I really felt that having a standard boss battle at the end of hl1 was an impediment to the game. It was such an original game up to that point. I was half expecting the Dr. Robotnik theme song to play while I was fighting the Nihilith. Cleary though, this comes down the mater of personal taste in climactic endings. Neither way is necessarily right or wrong.

Favorite level: Follow Freeman
Least Favorite: Ravenholm (even this level was pretty good though. It was commendably different from the rest of the game play too.)
 
I like pretty much everything beyond any extent, but if I feel I could have lived without Ravenholm. Don't get me wrong, that level was excellently made and atmospheric and all, but it just didn't feel like it fit into the rest of the game.
 
Favorite: Highway 17 and Sandtraps. It makes you feel little and small in this huge world. Awesome.
Least Favorite: Anti-Citizen 1 and Follow Freeman. Too many parts where the enemy has infinite spawn points.
 
The whole game was to good. No bad chapters.
 
Is This Tea said:
I really felt that having a standard boss battle at the end of hl1 was an impediment to the game. It was such an original game up to that point. I was half expecting the Dr. Robotnik theme song to play while I was fighting the Nihilith. Cleary though, this comes down the mater of personal taste in climactic endings. Neither way is necessarily right or wrong.

Favorite level: Follow Freeman
Least Favorite: Ravenholm (even this level was pretty good though. It was commendably different from the rest of the game play too.)
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Good point, and come to think of it I never actually ever beat Nihilith without cheats (got bored fighting it) but there should have been something a bit harder at the end! I wanted to fight those giant bullsquid like things that you see when going on the converyor!

The ending, had a sense of urgancy, but I found that when I reached the very top of the citadel, I could just mess around for a while without anything happening. Now if a huge swarm of combines was following me, and I had to outrun them (too many to grav gun), that would have been good. Then when it blew up at the end the shockwaves could have knocked them over :D
 
I loved every second of it.

And why does everyone keep saying the buggy chapters were too long but the air boat was ok? I seem to remember the airboat levels being longer than the buggy levels.

I also liked the buggy levels more than the airboat levels because there were so many litte villages scattered around, you could get out at any time and run around, as oposed to the airboat when you're constantly surrounded by water.
 
Favorite: The beginning, where you're running away from Combine with few or no weapons and you have to think fast and find cover.
Also, the approach to Nova Prospekt with antlions helping you.

Least favorite: The airboat, and the Anticizen One/Follow Freeman stuff got old.
 
nova prospekt, entanglement, anti-citizen one, follow freeman got better and better. nice urban warfare etc... awesome stuff. sandtraps was fun too. the airboat and buggy levels had their moments but overall were not as quality. the citadel level was awesome cinematically and visually and just as a whole concept, but the gameplay was not as tight as the first chapters i mentioned. oh yah. ravenholm was good because it was so unique and it had atmosphere.
 
I really don't quite understand what everyone's fascination is with the last two levels, you pretty much just walk through areas of the citadel that all look the same and you kill all the enemies the same way, no variety at all. I think the citadel could have been done much better gameplay AND atmospherically wise.

I absolutely loved everything else in the game, my favorite level would probably be a tie between Ravenholm and Anti-Citizen One/Follow Freeman. Honestly though every level had it's moments that just blew me away.
 
I really don't quite understand what everyone's fascination is with the last two levels, you pretty much just walk through areas of the citadel that all look the same and you kill all the enemies the same way, no variety at all. I think the citadel could have been done much better gameplay AND atmospherically wise.

I absolutely loved everything else in the game, my favorite level would probably be a tie between Ravenholm and Anti-Citizen One/Follow Freeman. Honestly though every level had it's moments that just blew me away.
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Wow, it's like you read my mind! Saves me some typing. ;)
 
From best to worst:

Follow Freeman
"We Don't Go to Ravenholm..."
Our Benefactors
Highway 17
Point Insertion
Black Mesa East
Dark Energy
Anticitizen One
Entanglement
Nova Prospekt
Sandtraps
Route Canal
Water Hazard
 
Favorite = Our Benafactors (not much action, but totally immersive, blew me away. Favorite action level = Follow freeman)

Worst = Ravenholm. I got lost a lot, couldn't figure out where to jump, kinda ruined it for me.
 
Best ones for me atleast would have to be the Ravenholm sections and especially C17 towards the end (tons of fun), canals are pretty good too, if a little long
 
Best: Water Hazard, Citadel and anything with antlions!

Worst (though still pretty good): Highway 17 and Ravenholm.

Highway 17 got boring, I was actually hoping that it would end already (which I'm a bit ashamed of though)! Apart from the lovely bridge level, there wasn't really anything new and exciting going on, it was just drive to point A, kill some combine, drive to point B, kill some more combine, drive to point C... yadadada etc etc.

While Water Hazard was a much more restricted area (and probably just as long as HW17), it was still a lot more exciting, to me at least. A real adrenaline rush the whole way through, especially the parts with the chopper, I loved being chased by that thing! Great on-foot battles as well as some nice puzzles. Looks gorgeous, too!

I don't know what exactly it was about Ravenholm. It just felt somehow a bit "fake", it was still pretty good but after five brilliant chapters it was a bit of a letdown. Also, I still can't figure out if Father Grigori was a total badass or just completely ridiculous as a character. :)

I also hated colonel Cubbage or whatever his name was in HW17. I mean, I understand they were probably just trying to be funny playing with stereotypes, but it was just so cliche that it hurts. Come on, Valve, you can do better than that! Oh well, maybe it was just the ridiculous voice acting...

Btw, anyone else thought the strider battles weren't really that intense? Ít was just a lot of hiding behind a wall near the crate containing unlimited ammo for the rocketlauncher...

The citadel levels were absolutely amazing, although easy towards the end (which surprisingly didn't bother me as much as I would have thought). One thing I had always loved about Halo was the architechture, but the citadel was just as amazing if not even better as the buildings found on the ringworld! And the rides in those weird conveyors are equivalent of the beginning tram ride in Half-Life, brilliant! I think my chin is still on the floor...

I need to play this game again, maybe I'll grow to like the chapters that I didn't like the first time through! An amazing game in any case.

EDIT: The Dark Elf, where the heck is that quote from? :)
 
Best: Entanglement. The fight EVERYONE seems to hate, with the three gun turrets and streams of soldiers I thought was fantastic. Only real challenge in the game, and I like a challange. First time through I didn't know you could set up the guns again after they got knocked over, or that you could pick up grenades with the gravity gun, so I lost my turrets after about 10 seconds and just relied on a mix of shotgunning and bunnyhopping. I tell you, I was on the verge of turning the mode down to normal, but I managed it on hard in the end :) I died so many times though.... Hard to match the feeling of accomplishment though.

Worst chapter, probably Route Kanal. Manhacks just irritate me. Water Hazard was fantastic though, the airboat was good fun.
 
I enjoyed Highway 17 the most. The buggy was fun, and I felt the area had the best atmosphere in the game - the boarded up buildings along the coast really gave you a sense of how things must have been during the invasion, and every one was a little self-contained diversion of its own.

Ravenholm was easily my least favourite level. The poison zombies/headcrabs and the fast zombies weren't fun to play against, and I don't think they did as much with the level design as they could have. It would have been very powerful to add more backstory to the area, and feature some big set pieces. Important buildings, and such.
 
the best part was dog rippin the s*** outta the combine in anti-citizen 0ne
 
Favorite chapter would prolly be the whole sandtraps/nova prospekt/entanglement prison scene.

I disliked water hazard and most of highway 17, though I thought the bridge scene was just genius.
 
Ravenholm was the BEST! It was so scary, and then things that run really fast at you and start smashing you up creep me out i got chills down my back in that level!
 
Btw, i LOVE dog! I hope it comes back in Half Life 3, i haven't finished the game yet though, does it die?
 
Wow, tough call. I loved Water Hazard in that you start off being chased and hounded by soldiers and choppers, but then you end by taking the fight to them. The big chase at the beginning makes taking down those choppers supremely satisfying.

Highway 17 was fantastic. Spotting buildings and roadblocks coming into view up ahead was great... should you get out and creep up on foot? Roar into the middle of town and leap out, guns blazing? Speed through and try to run down any soldiers in your path? I thought it was great fun.

The antlions were incredibly entertaining to use in Nova Prospekt, and the turret fight in the jail cells was probably the most challenging and nerve-wracking sequence in the game.

The urban combat in Anticitizen One and Follow Freeman was simply intense and exhausting.

Ravenholm was fantastic for sheer horror and scares. The Citadel was immensely fun and had a lot of powerful and eerie images.

Guess I can't pick my favorite, which is what makes the game so great. So many different kinds of action -- fleeing, invading, standing your ground, and the sci-fi, horror, and action genres were all well implemented.

If I had to pick, I'd say Nova Prospekt was my favorite.
 
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