D
DreadLord
Guest
There are countless threads comparing games like HL2, Farcry, and Doom3. The majority of them get flamed to hell and closed / deleted. I wanted to write this because I think it’s important to compare the two fairly (based on what is MY opinion) rather than just saying one is better than the other. I suppose I’ll get plenty of people who disagree with me, and that is perfectly fine, and your right, but please don’t flame me. I’m doing this in as professional a manner as possible, and would like the same from you. This is also a comparison of just the straight package you get with the two games, this will NOT include potential mods, or the capabilities of the Source or Cry engines. For HL2 this includes the single player chapters, CS:Source, and HL2
eathmatch. For Farcry this includes the single player campaign, and the stock multiplayer mode. Now on to the topic!
GRAPHICS
Seems like a logical place to start comparing two games released around the same time. Both have amazing graphics, and have separate qualities that make them shine. Neither game has a clear sweep over the graphics in my opinion, so I’ll break the section up. I should note that both games are run on the HIGHEST possible settings to be fair.
WATER
I admit, a random place to start, but it seems clear that both have advanced water effects, and seeing Farcry takes place on a friggen island, I think we can assume water is a big part. Generally half the map in Farcry is covered in water, and at many times throughout the game, you are either swimming, or driving a boat/raft. Half-Life 2 has water in certain chapters, and one entire chapter takes place on (well I suppose it’s really green waste?) a watery type liquid (Route Kanal). Half-Life 2’s water looks incredibly realistic, I could stand there for 30 minutes just tossing boxes in the water and watching the splashes. The reflections (set to reflect all) are amazing on their own, and give an eerie effect to say the least. Farcry’s water looks excellent in it’s own way. The reflections aren’t as special, and the splashes certainly don’t look nearly as good. Nonetheless the water looks good while you are driving a boat, or as you’re running along the beach. The Farcry water also doesn’t seem to drop FPS as much as the HL2 water does. One other excellent part related to Farcry’s water is the fact that you’re arms actually swim in Farcry, where as in HL2, you swim holding your weapon no different than usual. The sheer quality of Half-Life 2’s water makes me choose HL2 as the winner for this section.
Winner: Half-Life 2
WEAPON / PLAYER MODELS & TEXTURES
Something you simply can’t forget in a game. The models and textures you see most are those of the weapons in your hands, and the enemy and friendly player models. In HL2 your weapons are very nicely textured, and the models fit the screen quite nicely. The player models are insanely high quality and look as realistic as you can possibly imagine. The facial animations in HL2 surpass those of any game I’ve ever played (A lot of movies I’ve seen too!). Just watching the G-man talk in the opening sequence had me hooked. Farcry’s weapon models aren’t quite as detailed or well textured, and are actually quite large on your screen as to block your field of vision. They are nice models nonetheless, and certainly get the job done. The player model’s for the enemy were great, I’d say just as good as the Combine from HL2. On the other side, the Trigen just can’t come close to the fast zombies. Farcry wins a few parts in animation, but HL2 clearly sweeps this section, highly detailed models and textures throughout the game.
Winner: Half-Life 2
PLANT / ANIMAL LIFE AND OTHER NATURAL SURROUNDINGS
I suppose Farcry naturally has the upper hand in this section, due to it being set in the wild. Farcry’s maps are truly brought together by the trees, bushes, grass, and other natural surroundings. The island is insanely immersive in this aspect While walking in the jungle, you really get the sense of being lost, and just trying to get to your next objective. The grass and bushes can provide ample cover from enemies (especially in MP). In HL2 the only real time you see the outside world is the Highway 17 area. The beaches look quite good, but then again it’s sand. The grass looks good on the few parts where it is. The CS:Source map de_aztec looks stunning, especially when compared to the 1.6 version of it. I think Farcry is the clear winner of this section, the wild has never looked better!
Winner: Farcry
LIGHTING
This is a tough category, neither game focuses on lighting nearly as much as a game like Doom 3 does. Both have their good spots, but it’s still something hard to decide. Half-Life 2 has excellent lighting in Ravenholm. The effects of the fire, and the darkness really contributes to the immersion and creepiness. Flashlights also looked surprisingly realistic, with the rays actually coming out of the player model now, rather than just lighting up the targeted spot that we were all too familiar with in HL1. In CS:Source, it’s truly fun to use the flashlights, seeing you can see each other’s so well. The shadows are quite well done if you have them set to high. Farcry’s lighting effects are rarely seen, as the vast majority of the game is full bright day time. The lighting in the offices when you first discover the Trigen certainly sets the stage for you. The lights and shadows made me feel like I was back in the office building in Dino Crisis on my Playstation (that‘s a good thing immersion wise). Another cool, but sort of overly used effect in Farcry is that the sun can reflect off weapon scopes, or shiny objects. You have to make sure in multiplayer to not snipe facing the sun, or a glaring light will be going across the map straight off your scope. Neither of the games have the most elite lighting, but HL2 wins out just barely for me.
Winner: Half-Life 2
VEHICLE MODELS & TEXTURES
Another tough one. Farcry has a larger arsenal of vehicles. There are boats, hummers, jeeps, etc.. All of them have quite high quality models, and certainly look like their real life counterparts. HL2 has the buggy and airboat, along with the Combine APC and gunships. I thought the buggy looked like it had taken about an hour to make and they just stopped. Due to the model being unusually low quality by VALVe, the texture was nothing too special. The airboat was decent, but not exactly top notch, especially for something that you drive for an entire chapter. HL2’s vehicular strong points are the gunships. These massive behemoths are as high quality as you would expect something that YOU would drive to be. Blowing one of these things up is fun enough, but to see the sheer brilliance of the model and texture up close is awesome. I have to give this one to Farcry, the buggy and airboat models upset me too much. While the gunships are awesome, they can’t win this one for HL2.
Winner: Farcry
Overall Graphics: Half-Life 2
GAMEPLAY
Probably the most important part of any game. Gameplay is the reason the HL series lasted so long, even though it was graphically inferior. Both games have some excellent spots, but we need a clear winner!
VEHICLES
Well, seeing we just ended the part about the vehicle’s looks in both games, I suppose we can start with the driving of them. In Half-Life 2 the vehicles had very simple controls which made me quite happy, as I hate games that make you master driving and fighting all at the same time. The airboat is a bit of a bore until you get the gun mounted on it. It handle’s quite well, and certainly makes taking down gunships fun. The buggy part could have been more fun if the main objective wasn’t to run the living hell out of the antlions, by crushing them like beastly bugs. The weapon on the buggy is no where near as effective as it should be in my opinion. It works well against antlions, but taking on Combine with that gun, won’t do crap. In Farcry you get a buggy right off the start pretty much. When you first get in, it looks quite nice, and you start it up, soon to realize that this vehicle, combined with this terrain is perfect. The hills and wilderness of Farcry make the vehicles that much more fun than HL2’s. In Farcry you can go wherever you want, endless possibilities. The handling is as realistic as it gets, and the damage is a nice little effect. The weapons are switchable between rockets and machine gun on the hummers. The raft feels like you’re actually on the water as it bounces up and down on the waves and it just feels like you’re there. I give this one a clear victory to Farcry.
Winner: Farcry
LEVEL LAYOUT
Half-Life 2 takes you through an unbelievable amount of different environments. It shows you war torn cities, zombie infested towns, and the outskirts of the world (as they know it) where large bugs beat the crap out of you! Farcry’s levels are MASSIVE and have almost no loading times. You can explore all you want, and it has the least linear gameplay I’ve ever seen in a FPS. Farcry will give you an objective, and you have to think about how you want to get there, and how you want to use the terrain and surroundings to your advantage. Sometimes it seems like the levels are endless, as you go from path to path through the wilderness in your buggy, trying to find your way, all the while being attacked by mercenaries. Half-Life 2 is littered with loading times, but rightfully so. City17 alone is absolutely amazing. The way the enemies are placed, feels like there is a reason for it, rather than Farcry’s seemingly randomly generated enemies. The physics will constantly be put to the test, as will you in the physics puzzles. Buildings cover the entire horizon, making it feel like you are in an endless city, and just trying to find the quickest way out. Half-Life 2 gets a clear victory over Farcry in this category, despite Farcry’s amazingly large levels.
Winner: Half-Life 2
PHYSICS
Hmm I wonder who could win this one, or if it’s even worth writing. Well here we go. The source engine quite possibly amazed me the most with the physics. The way things are so life like, really made HL2 as advanced as it was. Entering the train station you can pick up Chinese food cartons, and suitcases. I was sold. Right then and there HL2 could have ended, and I would have been happy. The way they just fell and bounced to a stop realistically was just utterly amazing. Then I discovered that you could toss things at the Combine’s head. Well, this kept me entertained for hours. Quite possibly, the longest time spent by anyone on point insertion on that glorious day of November 17th. Farcry has more advanced physics than a lot of games, but lets be honest folks, they don’t compare. HL2’s rag dolls will keep you entertained for hours, while the rag dolls in Farcry seem to just go stiff in mid air and fall over and clip into the ground a bit. Source beats Cry in this case.
Winner: Half-Life 2
SCRIPTED EVENTS / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Both games have some pretty smart AI. The Combine in HL2 particularly amaze me with their radio chatter about the current battle going on. They showed right from the start how superior they are to a lot of other PC games. The friendly AI was something else though. All you heard was “Sorry Gordon” the whole time, as they stepped all over you. They got annoying as hell too, when you would tell them to hide for a second, just to see them bolt across the street and get nailed down by a sniper. The AI in Farcry on medium (note, easy is just ridiculous), is quite good, they respond well, and will attempt to outflank you. They don’t seem to be as smart as the combine, and don’t even get me started on their voices. HL2 really only has one very memorable fighting scripted scene. That is with Dog. Utterly amazing what Dog can do with Source’s physics, tossing APC’s and demolishing Combine. This one is a tough call, as Farcry’s AI really does serve the game well enough, but HL2 squeezes a victory out of me in this category.
Winner: Half-Life 2
Overall Gameplay: Half-Life 2
SOUND
This will certainly be a short section. I can’t stand playing with music so I won’t even delve into that section, as I really wouldn’t be at liberty to say.
WEAPON / MONSTER SOUNDS
The sounds in HL2 are very well done, the SMG sounds just like an SMG, the revolver sounds like a revolver etc. The fast zombies will scare the living hell out of you with their screams, and I know I jumped every time I heard an antlion burrow out of the ground. Farcry’s weapons sound equally good, with the exception of the abysmal deagle, they all sound quite realistic and powerful. The Trigen are scary when they are charging at you with their roars. It’s a tough call, as both games get what they need out of their sounds, so I will declare this one a tie.
Winner: Tie
VOICE ACTING
Oh dear God, anyone who has played both games already knows the outcome of this. Farcry has quite possibly the absolute WORST voice acting I have ever heard in any game. All your base are belong to us, sounds like amazing acting, compared to Jack Carver’s ramblings. The sheer stupidity that is you (Jack Carver) ruins any chance you had at feeling like you were in the game. The enemies say dumbass things like “How about those apples” Or “I’m gonna kill you”. All the while they sound like they are trying out for a high school play, about to get boo’ed off stage. Doyle is quite possibly the only decent one in the game, but he CAN NOT make up for the pain and agony gamers have to face listening to the other crap. Now on to HL2. From the second you start the voices sound realistic as possible. G-man’s muttering will have you hooked. Alyx and Eli’s acting is superb, and makes it look like a 3D movie viewed in the first person. Then you get to see Breen in person. Well if that man didn’t get paid a TON for HL2, then it’s just wrong. He did an excellent job, and going with the already mentioned facial animations, it’s utterly awesome.
Winner: Half-Life 2
Overall Sound: Half-Life 2
STORY
Farcry’s story is very well done. It’s a topic that has been used before, but they did it well, and aside from the terrible acting, it was accomplished amazingly well. Half-Life 2’s storyline follows Half-Life 1’s 10 years later. It is so intricate and detailed that you can’t help but love it. Every moment you are wondering what is going to happen next. I can only compare it to reading a novel, that has a 6 year cliffhanger every time. The story is THE BEST I have ever seen in a game, or movie for that matter. No other game can by discussed in detail, and in depth as HL2 can. These boards are an example of just how much can be speculated and predicted about a story, but only getting something confirmed every great while. Farcry does a great job, but nothing beat’s HL2 in storyline, nothing.
Overall Story: Half-Life 2
Overall Best Game: Half-Life 2
eathmatch. For Farcry this includes the single player campaign, and the stock multiplayer mode. Now on to the topic!GRAPHICS
Seems like a logical place to start comparing two games released around the same time. Both have amazing graphics, and have separate qualities that make them shine. Neither game has a clear sweep over the graphics in my opinion, so I’ll break the section up. I should note that both games are run on the HIGHEST possible settings to be fair.
WATER
I admit, a random place to start, but it seems clear that both have advanced water effects, and seeing Farcry takes place on a friggen island, I think we can assume water is a big part. Generally half the map in Farcry is covered in water, and at many times throughout the game, you are either swimming, or driving a boat/raft. Half-Life 2 has water in certain chapters, and one entire chapter takes place on (well I suppose it’s really green waste?) a watery type liquid (Route Kanal). Half-Life 2’s water looks incredibly realistic, I could stand there for 30 minutes just tossing boxes in the water and watching the splashes. The reflections (set to reflect all) are amazing on their own, and give an eerie effect to say the least. Farcry’s water looks excellent in it’s own way. The reflections aren’t as special, and the splashes certainly don’t look nearly as good. Nonetheless the water looks good while you are driving a boat, or as you’re running along the beach. The Farcry water also doesn’t seem to drop FPS as much as the HL2 water does. One other excellent part related to Farcry’s water is the fact that you’re arms actually swim in Farcry, where as in HL2, you swim holding your weapon no different than usual. The sheer quality of Half-Life 2’s water makes me choose HL2 as the winner for this section.
Winner: Half-Life 2
WEAPON / PLAYER MODELS & TEXTURES
Something you simply can’t forget in a game. The models and textures you see most are those of the weapons in your hands, and the enemy and friendly player models. In HL2 your weapons are very nicely textured, and the models fit the screen quite nicely. The player models are insanely high quality and look as realistic as you can possibly imagine. The facial animations in HL2 surpass those of any game I’ve ever played (A lot of movies I’ve seen too!). Just watching the G-man talk in the opening sequence had me hooked. Farcry’s weapon models aren’t quite as detailed or well textured, and are actually quite large on your screen as to block your field of vision. They are nice models nonetheless, and certainly get the job done. The player model’s for the enemy were great, I’d say just as good as the Combine from HL2. On the other side, the Trigen just can’t come close to the fast zombies. Farcry wins a few parts in animation, but HL2 clearly sweeps this section, highly detailed models and textures throughout the game.
Winner: Half-Life 2
PLANT / ANIMAL LIFE AND OTHER NATURAL SURROUNDINGS
I suppose Farcry naturally has the upper hand in this section, due to it being set in the wild. Farcry’s maps are truly brought together by the trees, bushes, grass, and other natural surroundings. The island is insanely immersive in this aspect While walking in the jungle, you really get the sense of being lost, and just trying to get to your next objective. The grass and bushes can provide ample cover from enemies (especially in MP). In HL2 the only real time you see the outside world is the Highway 17 area. The beaches look quite good, but then again it’s sand. The grass looks good on the few parts where it is. The CS:Source map de_aztec looks stunning, especially when compared to the 1.6 version of it. I think Farcry is the clear winner of this section, the wild has never looked better!
Winner: Farcry
LIGHTING
This is a tough category, neither game focuses on lighting nearly as much as a game like Doom 3 does. Both have their good spots, but it’s still something hard to decide. Half-Life 2 has excellent lighting in Ravenholm. The effects of the fire, and the darkness really contributes to the immersion and creepiness. Flashlights also looked surprisingly realistic, with the rays actually coming out of the player model now, rather than just lighting up the targeted spot that we were all too familiar with in HL1. In CS:Source, it’s truly fun to use the flashlights, seeing you can see each other’s so well. The shadows are quite well done if you have them set to high. Farcry’s lighting effects are rarely seen, as the vast majority of the game is full bright day time. The lighting in the offices when you first discover the Trigen certainly sets the stage for you. The lights and shadows made me feel like I was back in the office building in Dino Crisis on my Playstation (that‘s a good thing immersion wise). Another cool, but sort of overly used effect in Farcry is that the sun can reflect off weapon scopes, or shiny objects. You have to make sure in multiplayer to not snipe facing the sun, or a glaring light will be going across the map straight off your scope. Neither of the games have the most elite lighting, but HL2 wins out just barely for me.
Winner: Half-Life 2
VEHICLE MODELS & TEXTURES
Another tough one. Farcry has a larger arsenal of vehicles. There are boats, hummers, jeeps, etc.. All of them have quite high quality models, and certainly look like their real life counterparts. HL2 has the buggy and airboat, along with the Combine APC and gunships. I thought the buggy looked like it had taken about an hour to make and they just stopped. Due to the model being unusually low quality by VALVe, the texture was nothing too special. The airboat was decent, but not exactly top notch, especially for something that you drive for an entire chapter. HL2’s vehicular strong points are the gunships. These massive behemoths are as high quality as you would expect something that YOU would drive to be. Blowing one of these things up is fun enough, but to see the sheer brilliance of the model and texture up close is awesome. I have to give this one to Farcry, the buggy and airboat models upset me too much. While the gunships are awesome, they can’t win this one for HL2.
Winner: Farcry
Overall Graphics: Half-Life 2
GAMEPLAY
Probably the most important part of any game. Gameplay is the reason the HL series lasted so long, even though it was graphically inferior. Both games have some excellent spots, but we need a clear winner!
VEHICLES
Well, seeing we just ended the part about the vehicle’s looks in both games, I suppose we can start with the driving of them. In Half-Life 2 the vehicles had very simple controls which made me quite happy, as I hate games that make you master driving and fighting all at the same time. The airboat is a bit of a bore until you get the gun mounted on it. It handle’s quite well, and certainly makes taking down gunships fun. The buggy part could have been more fun if the main objective wasn’t to run the living hell out of the antlions, by crushing them like beastly bugs. The weapon on the buggy is no where near as effective as it should be in my opinion. It works well against antlions, but taking on Combine with that gun, won’t do crap. In Farcry you get a buggy right off the start pretty much. When you first get in, it looks quite nice, and you start it up, soon to realize that this vehicle, combined with this terrain is perfect. The hills and wilderness of Farcry make the vehicles that much more fun than HL2’s. In Farcry you can go wherever you want, endless possibilities. The handling is as realistic as it gets, and the damage is a nice little effect. The weapons are switchable between rockets and machine gun on the hummers. The raft feels like you’re actually on the water as it bounces up and down on the waves and it just feels like you’re there. I give this one a clear victory to Farcry.
Winner: Farcry
LEVEL LAYOUT
Half-Life 2 takes you through an unbelievable amount of different environments. It shows you war torn cities, zombie infested towns, and the outskirts of the world (as they know it) where large bugs beat the crap out of you! Farcry’s levels are MASSIVE and have almost no loading times. You can explore all you want, and it has the least linear gameplay I’ve ever seen in a FPS. Farcry will give you an objective, and you have to think about how you want to get there, and how you want to use the terrain and surroundings to your advantage. Sometimes it seems like the levels are endless, as you go from path to path through the wilderness in your buggy, trying to find your way, all the while being attacked by mercenaries. Half-Life 2 is littered with loading times, but rightfully so. City17 alone is absolutely amazing. The way the enemies are placed, feels like there is a reason for it, rather than Farcry’s seemingly randomly generated enemies. The physics will constantly be put to the test, as will you in the physics puzzles. Buildings cover the entire horizon, making it feel like you are in an endless city, and just trying to find the quickest way out. Half-Life 2 gets a clear victory over Farcry in this category, despite Farcry’s amazingly large levels.
Winner: Half-Life 2
PHYSICS
Hmm I wonder who could win this one, or if it’s even worth writing. Well here we go. The source engine quite possibly amazed me the most with the physics. The way things are so life like, really made HL2 as advanced as it was. Entering the train station you can pick up Chinese food cartons, and suitcases. I was sold. Right then and there HL2 could have ended, and I would have been happy. The way they just fell and bounced to a stop realistically was just utterly amazing. Then I discovered that you could toss things at the Combine’s head. Well, this kept me entertained for hours. Quite possibly, the longest time spent by anyone on point insertion on that glorious day of November 17th. Farcry has more advanced physics than a lot of games, but lets be honest folks, they don’t compare. HL2’s rag dolls will keep you entertained for hours, while the rag dolls in Farcry seem to just go stiff in mid air and fall over and clip into the ground a bit. Source beats Cry in this case.
Winner: Half-Life 2
SCRIPTED EVENTS / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Both games have some pretty smart AI. The Combine in HL2 particularly amaze me with their radio chatter about the current battle going on. They showed right from the start how superior they are to a lot of other PC games. The friendly AI was something else though. All you heard was “Sorry Gordon” the whole time, as they stepped all over you. They got annoying as hell too, when you would tell them to hide for a second, just to see them bolt across the street and get nailed down by a sniper. The AI in Farcry on medium (note, easy is just ridiculous), is quite good, they respond well, and will attempt to outflank you. They don’t seem to be as smart as the combine, and don’t even get me started on their voices. HL2 really only has one very memorable fighting scripted scene. That is with Dog. Utterly amazing what Dog can do with Source’s physics, tossing APC’s and demolishing Combine. This one is a tough call, as Farcry’s AI really does serve the game well enough, but HL2 squeezes a victory out of me in this category.
Winner: Half-Life 2
Overall Gameplay: Half-Life 2
SOUND
This will certainly be a short section. I can’t stand playing with music so I won’t even delve into that section, as I really wouldn’t be at liberty to say.
WEAPON / MONSTER SOUNDS
The sounds in HL2 are very well done, the SMG sounds just like an SMG, the revolver sounds like a revolver etc. The fast zombies will scare the living hell out of you with their screams, and I know I jumped every time I heard an antlion burrow out of the ground. Farcry’s weapons sound equally good, with the exception of the abysmal deagle, they all sound quite realistic and powerful. The Trigen are scary when they are charging at you with their roars. It’s a tough call, as both games get what they need out of their sounds, so I will declare this one a tie.
Winner: Tie
VOICE ACTING
Oh dear God, anyone who has played both games already knows the outcome of this. Farcry has quite possibly the absolute WORST voice acting I have ever heard in any game. All your base are belong to us, sounds like amazing acting, compared to Jack Carver’s ramblings. The sheer stupidity that is you (Jack Carver) ruins any chance you had at feeling like you were in the game. The enemies say dumbass things like “How about those apples” Or “I’m gonna kill you”. All the while they sound like they are trying out for a high school play, about to get boo’ed off stage. Doyle is quite possibly the only decent one in the game, but he CAN NOT make up for the pain and agony gamers have to face listening to the other crap. Now on to HL2. From the second you start the voices sound realistic as possible. G-man’s muttering will have you hooked. Alyx and Eli’s acting is superb, and makes it look like a 3D movie viewed in the first person. Then you get to see Breen in person. Well if that man didn’t get paid a TON for HL2, then it’s just wrong. He did an excellent job, and going with the already mentioned facial animations, it’s utterly awesome.
Winner: Half-Life 2
Overall Sound: Half-Life 2
STORY
Farcry’s story is very well done. It’s a topic that has been used before, but they did it well, and aside from the terrible acting, it was accomplished amazingly well. Half-Life 2’s storyline follows Half-Life 1’s 10 years later. It is so intricate and detailed that you can’t help but love it. Every moment you are wondering what is going to happen next. I can only compare it to reading a novel, that has a 6 year cliffhanger every time. The story is THE BEST I have ever seen in a game, or movie for that matter. No other game can by discussed in detail, and in depth as HL2 can. These boards are an example of just how much can be speculated and predicted about a story, but only getting something confirmed every great while. Farcry does a great job, but nothing beat’s HL2 in storyline, nothing.
Overall Story: Half-Life 2
Overall Best Game: Half-Life 2
