Best/Worst chapter?

[m00j]

... the turret fight in the jail cells was probably the most challenging and nerve-wracking sequence in the game...

I found that bit incredibly difficult, until I realised the trick to doing it. You place the turrets right up against the electrical walls leaving the bottom left (when facing the health machine) unguarded. Then defend that side, periodically checking the turrets. I found itso much easier that way then holeing myself into the room with the health.

I found the part later on where you have to defend while Alyx is deactivating the shields around the generator a lot harder.

The one where you have to defend alyx in the teleportation room was laughably easy.

 

[insig]

Favorite: Anything in City 17 or the Citadel
Least Favorite: Water Hazard and Highway 17

Not to say that they were horrible, because they weren't. They were just too long and monotonous.

Besides the levels mentioned, I liked Ravenholm because of the fear instilled by the fast zombies and poison headcrabs, as well as Father Gregory. And I liked Nova Prospekt for the bug baiting. Hell, I liked the whole game!

 

[Jezlin]

The whole game was a joy to play. My fav was Ravenholm because of the whole creepiness factor. Lest fav....Hwy 17. Very boring.

 

[gov_property]

Least favorite: vehicles.
Favorite: "cutscenes", everything after nova prospekt, ravenholm first and last part.

 

[daverince]

City 17 was brimming with atmosphere. When I got chased to the roof I had to take a few bullets just so I could admire the view. Like someone else has already said, Valve managed to get that 1984 look down just right.

I haven't finished it just yet (I'm eating my cake slowly to enjoy every mouthful). The feeling of actually being in a real place is so fooking impressive...except my girlfriend just doesn't understand.

Ravenholm was cool, it looked good and admitedly scared the shit out of me several times. I like chopping zombies in two (how could you not like doing that? - and then watch as a torso scrambles towards you)

I really want some kind of death-match in City 17 now.

 

[MikeH]

So far, hmm it's hard to tell. I keep coming across great bits, and keep going, but so far I've reached Highway 17.

Route Kanal was good, the start of the game was great aswell, but I enjoyed the bit just after the snipers, where you had a gunfight in the docks/trainyard. Wish it was a bit longer if anything!

 

[kupocake]

Favourite: Water Hazard. I don't think i've played such an intense section in an FPS before. Of course, the whole sequence from the minute you step off the train until you arrive at Black Mesa East was one of the most perfectly orchestrated i've ever seen. The tension just keeps building and building, but when you finally take that Helicopter down, you feel like almost like you've won a marathon.
Least Favourite: Ravenholm. It was saved by some excellent set pieces (the traps and the Manipulator Gun ) and Father Grigory, but it was essentially a "more of the same" feeling. I've battled zombies and headcrabs so many times before, and despite the new moves and types, the experience is a low one because it becomes a little irritating. Black Headcrabs just made an already annoying enemy, annoying AND deadly.

But for me, it's not a case of "Best" and "Worst". My least favorite sections are merely "Great" where the others are "Awesome". Every chapter that feels like it is getting a little boring is always save by something: Highway 17 is another good example. It feels too long and there isn't the adrenaline pumping tension of Water Hazard, but that sequence with the Bridge was just excellent.

 

[cky]

My favorite has to be Nova prospekt. I really liked the combine vs antlions battles there, an the place itself. It was so atmospheric to hear faded gunshots all the time, and the place looked perfectly. Also the battles against the ant lion guards was cool.

I also enjoyed figthing the striders.

I don't really have a least favorite chapter, but the part i liked the least was in the citadel when you just runned trough places that looked the same, killing enemies with the gravety gun, though the cinematics in there was really cool.

 

[krushdbug]

To the guy who finished the turret battle in Entanglements on hard setting: my utmost respect.

However, for those out there NOT masochistic by nature , there is another way to do this battle: stack crates and barrels until you can reach the spot from which you previously jumped down. Bring the turrets with you upstairs and place the two first in each of the spots overlooking what is soon to become the battlefield. The third one, you can place wherever you want for your own protection. As you do ,the battle will commence, with guards running into the battlezone as usual but not finding Freeman. The two guns you placed should take care of any unwanted combine downstairs, as long as you keep them standing. Meanwhile, you will have to battle magical combine, spawning before your eyes on both sides of the hallway you're in. Kill'em as you see fit until it's over. Still not supereasy, and the fact that combine unnaturally spawn before your eyes suggests that this strategy wasn't really supposed to be feasible, but it's the best way for us non-gods to get through this bit.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Btw, i LOVE dog! I hope it comes back in Half Life 3, i haven't finished the game yet though, does it die?

Nobody knows and you'll find out why when you get to the end.

My fav were the last two chapters (Our Benefactors and Dark Energy) graphics were f**king amazing!!!!!! :bounce: :bounce:

 

[ouchie_giver]

My favorite would have to be water hazard or highway 17 (there's nothing like seeing the light at the end of the mine shaft). I loved the chase on the water bike with the chopper and the music cranking in the backround.

Although the first time trough I didnt really enjoy Ravenholm that much because it seemed to get repetitive after awhile but the second time I enjoyed it alot, I dont know why.

Also i think Ravenholm plays a big part in giving the game more variety in the fact that if you were to fight combine soldiers that whole time from black mesa to hwy 17, I think the game might get a little repetitive and like I said theres nothing like seeing the light at the end of that tunnel.

Overall I enjoyed the whole game ALOT

 

[Tyguy]

I like the first couple chapters, when you get the pistol....not sure why

 

[Apocalypse89]

Reviving threads from two years ago = no-no.

 

[bbson john]

I don't know which chapter I like the best, since they are all indispensable.

The worst Chapter: Credit

 

[VortigauntLover]

In Order From Favorite To Least Favorite:

Dark Energy (Loved being so high above the Citadel, and all of the scenes involving Breen and the climatic ending)
Our Benefactors (I couldn't wait to get into the Citadel from the first second I saw it. I really enjoyed seeing it in this chapter)
Follow Freeman (I liked disabling the supression device and always enjoy battling the striders, plus the chaotic-ness with striders booming and 4 teammates being vaporized and a gunship gunning at you)
Anticitizen One (I liked seeing ruined City 17 and enjoyed the combat scenes)
Point Insertion (An excellent beginning that really set the mood)
Nova Propsekt (Very interesting gameplay, but very difficult)
A Red Letter Day (Some of the first combat in the game, and I loved the scene where you teleport into Breen's office)
Highway 17 (Enjoyable, the tunnels with the zombies were scary, and the bridge was quite good. Plus the lighthouse point gunship.)
"We Don't Go to Ravenholm..." (Fun, but too scary and kind of ruined the feel of the game. Then again, it does transion us out of the opressed City 17 and into the wildlife)
Sandtraps (The antlions got old, but it was fun for a couple of minutes, and the vort camp rules)
Entanglement (Far too difficult in my opinion)
Black Mesa East (Too short)
Route Kanal (Fun, but I hate manhacks and they were everywhere)
Water Hazard (Too long, it got very repitive, this is my least favorite chapter by mar)

 

[Midnight Cowboy]

Too many good moments, nothing in particular which tarnishes a whole chapter, though I thought by Entanglement there should of been more variety considering it's basically Nova Prospekt without it's coolest element, the Antlions.

Storming that beach with Antlions was just so awesome.

Of course though, Point Insertion was an amazing introduction, yeah, there's just too many awesome elements.

 

[Asknoone]

The teleporter sequence in Entanglement was sheer awesome.

 

[Midnight Cowboy]

Yeah, that was one of the best moments of Entanglement, that and the Eli/Alyx moment, really emotional.

 

[Holycloudzero]

I'll make this quick...

Anticitizen one/Water Hazard

Not that water hazard was bad, I just thought all the others were better.....

 

[laughterkillsme]

Favorite: Last Chapter in HL2. I gotta admit though, without the build up from the rest of the gamea it would not ahve been anywhere near as amazing.

 

[Wingman]

My oh my, what a great topic. Let’s see:

Favorite: Surprisingly Ravenholm really struck a cord with me even though I usually hate horror in all its forms. It was an intense mood with great gameplay. Nothing was quite as satisfying then cutting that first zombie in half. And how they burn, really neat animation.

Least favorite: Our Benefactors. I liked all the chapters, really. This one just didn't sit well with me. The Citadel wasn't as cool as the developers intended it to be. All that sight seeing could have been really amazing if you weren't flying through the uninteresting grey innards of ho-hum Combine technology.

 

[VortigauntLover]

Least favorite: Our Benefactors. I liked all the chapters, really. This one just didn't sit well with me. The Citadel wasn't as cool as the developers intended it to be. All that sight seeing could have been really amazing if you weren't flying through the uninteresting grey innards of ho-hum Combine technology.

Funny how people disagree. I thought the blue-ish black metal inside indictated the cold and heartless nature of the Combine. The wide open spaces in a huge foreign building, populated with stalkers and soldiers. Invading the enemy stronghold and getting those personal Breencasts. (What exactly is it you have created? Can you name one thing? I thought not.)
So your least favorite chapter is my second favorite.

 

[99.vikram]

Least favorite: Our Benefactors. I liked all the chapters, really. This one just didn't sit well with me. The Citadel wasn't as cool as the developers intended it to be. All that sight seeing could have been really amazing if you weren't flying through the uninteresting grey innards of ho-hum Combine technology.

Disagree on all counts.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I love it all, but my fav would have to be Dark Energy. The conversation with Breen, the reactor bit, the G-man picking debris of Alyx..so cool.
My second fav is Follow Freeman, particulary the final Strider bit.
My worst would have to be Anticitizin one. Like I said I love it all, but this was the worst. I also rarely replay Sandtraps, save for the Nova Prospekt assault.:afro:

 

[knut]

I think my favourite chapter was probably Nova Prospekt. I just loved how atmospheric the place was, espeically right at the start. As you enter the first cell block area, and the sounds of gunfire and radio chatter echo quietly in the background, the the lights and cables above swing gently with the breeze through the broken windows and the way the lights flicker on and off as you make you way down the darkened staircase into the prison. The music really added to it, the deep heartbeat that interwined with the haunting theme of the area. I loved it, just that first 5 minutes alone.

I also loved the way you go from the 'old' area, which is Nova Prospekt, and into the 'new' area which is the Entanglement chapter. Right after you kill the second Antlion guard and you drop down into the 'valley' of destroyed buildings, broken pipes and chain linked fence and somewhere around you a train rumbles by. The way the walls are half normal, dirty plastered walls, but the Combines sleek material is slowly starting to cover up spaces of it. And the Entanglement part of the facility, the newer area, is just awesome anyway. The way you have to walk under the train line, the pod depot, the abandoned parts of the facility. Damnit, man. Awesome.

I'm actually playing through Nova Prospekt on my X-Box right now.

EDIT: What the hell? I just got to the first Antlion guard part and the thing just stopped and stood pretty much motionless from charging and attempting to kill me. It just stood there, scratching itself (I think thats what its doing) with one of its 'feelers' type things and it didn't do anything? Still killed it.

 

[Asknoone]

I couldn't agree more TheBleeding.

 

[Leviticus]

I hate to say it, but one of my favorite chapters will always be Point Insertion. From the G-man's cryptic monologue you automatically feel overwhelmed (In a good way) and totally taken over by the game world. It was all handled perfectly, from the totalitarian Combine bossing you around to the confused and oppressed Citizens. Then, of course, you hear and see Doctor Breener. Just from seeing that chapter alone I knew that Half-life 2 would be worth the wait. Other favorites of mine include "Our Benefactors" and "Dark Energy" for all the story content and "Highway 17" for the exploratory feel of it.

My least favorite chapter of both Episode 1 and Vanilla is "Follow Freeman!". I still didn't like the train escorting in Episode 1 very much, but at least Valve improved on "Follow Freeman!", which I found fairly exhausting and messy.

 

[Asknoone]

Messy? (Just interested)

I personally found it a big bucket of sheer awesome.

 

[Leviticus]

Messy? (Just interested)

I personally found it a big bucket of sheer awesome.

Just a matter of taste, really. I didn't like having to deal with anything other than Gordon's well-being. In Half-life 2: Episode One it works with Alyx because she is necessary to Gordon's survival. (I actually wished they had left it like they said they had it in the commentary, with Gordon not having a gun until well after the Low Life chapter.)

 

[99.vikram]

It's not so messy if you use citizens as Strider bait

 

[Lamoidz]

Best : Anti-Citizen 1 and Follow freeman

Worst: Route Canal

I loved Anti Citizen 1 and Follow freeman because the whole game I was running, now I fight back with earth on my side. I also loved giving movie-like personalities to characters "Ok you'll be the rookie no one trusts, you'll be the wiseass-sarcastic medic who swears alot, you'll be my best friend who gets killed by the rookie's mistake, and you'll be a possible love interest who always outlives the cool ones for some reason"

I didnt like Route Canal because it had nothing special. Just an FPS level it felt so... Farcry... it wasnt BAD it just paled compared to other levels.

 

[Tagaziel]

I vote for Nova Prospekt and Entanglement, as my favourite chapters, in particular due to the true post-apoc feel of these places, and the bizarre marriage between featureless Combine technology and run-down human architecture. Plus, taking five Combine sentry turrets from earlier 'defence' sections, for a whooping total of eight turrets, for the final teleportation chamber sequence leaves a very pleasant memory written in the brain.

My least favourite is propably... well... if I HAD to name one it's Anticitizen One and Follow Freeman, due to me getting increasingly aggravated at keeping my squad alive and kicking, when facing multiple Combine soldiers, Fast Zombies and grenades.

But still, it's a damn enjoyable game. And even though my least-favourite, they contain few priceless lines, most notably "That's my corner, and I'm sticking to it!"

-- Mikael Grizzly

 

[Daroy]

Best: Highway 17 and the rest.
The part where you need to cross the bridge is awesome!
But sometimes it's a bit long...
I also liked Anticitizen One and the later part of Route Canal.
Worst: Nova Prospekt
Standard fighting, it bores me to death.

 

[Midnight Cowboy]

On further thinking/reading some other repiles;

Follow Freeman and Anticitizen One both had some really, really visceral and robust action; especially the part after the museum/bank where you're fighting a strider from a three-story skeleton of a building that's below ground level next to a tunnel, while scanners blind you and rebels attempt to distract the strider with gunfire. Now that was intense/amazing.

Of course Dark Energy was just stunning, Breen's office sequence is just amazing in terms of storytelling and dialogue, even before entering "vast intelligences spread thin across the membrane, impossible to describe in our limited vocabulary..." (I love you, Mr. Laidlaw). Of course the setting and facial expression and atmosphere were just perfect, and the voice-acting was phenominal. Of course the ending was just superb and one of the finest of any game, there was just nothing I could it fault it for.

 

[victor]

In terms of actual fighting, there was something great about "Anticitizen One" and "Follow Freeman!". I guess that after massacring combine soldiers and metrocops for the last 6 hours, it was nice to see them kicking ass for a change. It's just awesome to feel the relief of finding 4 rebels to replenish your squad, only to have them instantly killed a moment later by a combine grenade.

Thank the gods for hard difficulty.

 

[Asknoone]

I enjoyed those chapters because I felt that after all this running, all this evading capture I was finally beginning to make a difference. Pushing the Overwatch back into the centre of the city.