Half Life vs Half life 2

[Gordan Freeman]

Which is better in your opinion not actually better offically but opinion based.Whether its gameplay,setting,story,weapon s,A.I but graphics dont count!!! My opinion: To me Half Life was better than sequel.I think the setting,story and gameplay is better in hl1 even the A.I but what makes half life special is its chilling atmosphere because the levels are so enclosed you actually feel like your trapped underground.But dont get me wrong half life 2 still is a masterpiece that cant be touched.Please give me your opinion guys...

 

[Aizawa]

both on the same level for me.

 

[TigerX]

For me they both are better for different parts of the game.
Half Life because of the atmosphere, sometimes claustrophobic, sometimes hopeless, fighting ALONE something unknown trying to survive. The feeling of loneliness ( most of the game ) in the face of danger. Discovering that in fact there were some shitty experiments done in secret. Also Xen! The mystery of the G-Man and discovering more about him at the end.
Half Life 2 because of the technology ( which is already used in Black Mesa, so... not any more a stronger point ). Represents a larger scale setting, usable vehicles, and the vehicle levels ( boat and car ). The WOW feeling when waking up in an invaded world. Discovering that the universe is in fact larger than thought initially. Ravenholm.

I'm still expecting HL3 to be better that the sum of both of them...

 

[Acurt1982]

op4 > hl1 > hl2

 

[TheWiktor]

HL 2 > HL > HL: OF > HL: BS

 

[Aizawa]

HL2EP2>Portal 2>(HL2=HL1)>Portal>Black Mesa>HL:OF>HL2EP1>HL:BS
(I love EP1, dont think I dont like it because its only better than blue shift)

imo HL:OF was not consistent and had too much stuff in it. It was like todays games where devs just put everything into the game they can, but sometimes less is more (or however you say that in english). It had really awesome moments though, my favorite is when you see Gordon jumping into the Portal to Xen.

Id love to see Adrian Shephard return though as an NPC. I had some ideas like you turn against Gman, and he uses Adrian Shephard to kill you, there is a boss fight, but at the end of the fight the vortigaunts do their stuff and free him from Gman´s control and he becomes a friend or something like that.

 

[Emnu]

#1 Hl2 Episode 2 I love the intense moments it had like the antlion battle with Vortal Combat playing in the background
#2 Hl2 Isn't as good as I remembered when I played it recently, I didn't really dig the driving sequences. Maybe it's because I played it on my PS3
#3 Hl:OF Good game, but I hated fighting against grunts and black ops because they did too much damage.
#4 Hl1 I played this game a lot when I was younger, but I can't get myself to finish it anymore
#5 Hl2 Episode 1 I didn't like this, it was easily worst of the HL2 games. Only part I did like was the hospital bit, it was awesome!
#6 Hl: Blue Shift was just boring

 

[Aizawa]

I dont understand the hate against Episode 1. Yes the citadel part was a little bit long, but I love the underground part in pure darkness, I love the hospital and the Strider endfight was also really good imo. The escort part was a little bit long too.

 

[Emnu]

I dont understand the hate against Episode 1. Yes the citadel part was a little bit long, but I love the underground part in pure darkness, I love the hospital and the Strider endfight was also really good imo. The escort part was a little bit long too.

Well the citadel part was long and pretty boring like you said. I can't really pinpoint why the underground part was annoying, but maybe it has to do something with overly dark areas and forced usage of physgun (the antlion burrows).

I myself did enjoy the escort part, but I was hugely annoyed when a citizen got killed, I felt like I let people down The strider battle was pretty meh because I've killed them lots in HL2 and even more in Garry's Mod.

ALSO one big problem I had with EP1 was the graphics, it's the same engine as in the other games but for crying out loud everything was either orange or blue regarding lighting

 

[Skyace65]

I'd have to say they are about equal. both have fantastic environments that set a great mood, good soundtracks, good art style. Half-life is better than HL2 when it comes to weapons and combat, but HL2 beats HL1 with the story.

 

[Mr. Sir Shpee]

I dont understand the hate against Episode 1. Yes the citadel part was a little bit long, but I love the underground part in pure darkness, I love the hospital and the Strider endfight was also really good imo. The escort part was a little bit long too.

I think the issue for me is that it just isn't much fun. I'm really thinking about screwing it and playing Episode 2. I have already watched LPs of the whole franchise, so skipping Ep 1 is not a huge issue for me.

 

[Xenian Phenocryst]

I still love Half-Life 1 because of:
a) How the story is told
b) The dark humor
c) The scientists
d) The monster design and behavior
e) The map design
f) The marine enemies
g) The overall structure
h) The puzzle based bosses like the tentacles and the gargantuan
i) How the final bosses were done
j) The Xen maps
k) The simple mechanic of pressing "use" on an NPC to make them join you or stay where they are
l) The athletic platforming
m) The Hazard Course
n) The weapon arsenal

The only thing that I was disappointed by was the cut content. Yeah, that makes my complaints weird by comparison to other complaints, but I never saw anything truly wrong with that game. It was the first game I never cheated in (I didn't know how to cheat in Half-Life then), and it was the first FPS game I was good at without the help of cheats. Anything that I found missing in Half-Life, I just saw it as an opportunity to fill for an expansion pack.

As for Half-Life 2, the things that obviously impressed me about it are
a) The lifelike and cinematic visuals
b) The physics
c) The lighting
d) The large scale environments
f) The character animations
g) How advanced the scripted sequences are
h) The implementation of the physics to solve puzzles
i) The enemy behavior
j) The story progression
k) How certain characters behaved and talked around you
l) The vehicle based levels
m) Ravenholm and how the headcrabs and zombies (aka Mawmen) behaved
n) The antlions
o) The Striders
p) The manhack sequence

For me, Half-Life 2 was a much more successful realization of the plot Blood 2: The Chosen tried to pull off. That plot being the main character emerging into a warped future unknown to him, where his old enemies are more successful thanks to the influence of a self-satisfied corporate CEO. There were even some borrowings from other games, like Redneck Rampage Rides Again (for the Swamp Buggy, though it obviously inspired the crowbar for the first Half-life), and Deus Ex for some of the location designs.

Still, while I love the first two quarters of the game, the rest of it drives me crazy in other respects. Like:

a) The later human enemies being not quite as fun to fight
b) The turret defense sections in Nova Prospect
c) My ally NPCs being very expendable, and me not being able to stop them from killing themselves
d) The exhausting Strider fights in the city
e) Dr. Mossman's very narrow motivation for her treachery, and her annoying dialogue near the later half of the game
f) Other characters saying very stupid things near the end
g) Not being able to kill NPCs
h) Very little of Half-Life 1's dark humor is present
i) No unique boss fights like the ones in HL 1: Just Striders, Helicopters, and Combine Dropships.
k) None of the other Xen wildlife enemies return

Aside from my complaints, I am rather surprised by some of the complaints made by other players. Some go on to complain about Half-Life 2 putting the player in a new setting without explanation, while that is precisely the point of it all. What I like about HL2's story can be summed up in Woody Allen's line from Sleeper. "I'm a clarinet player in 1973, I go to the hospital for a lousy operation, I wake up 200 years later and I'm Flash Gordon!" That's one aspect which makes Half-Life 2 still pretty funny: Gordon started the whole accident, and because he killed a bunch of aliens and human marines with a crowbar and a massive arsenal, he's turned into some kind of space opera super hero.

 

[Xenian Phenocryst]

Now, Opposing Force still works pretty well, because it has some fun with the Half-Life setting. It also is a prime example of what an expansion pack is supposed to be. Back then, most expansions were just add-on levels. The cheapest expansions you had include D! Zone, H! Zone, and Q! Zone.

What is great about Opposing Force:

a) It made you one of badass grunts
b) It added new gameplay mechanics, like rope climbing/swinging and Barnacle grappling
c)) Added an awesome and creative arsenal (which is what a good expansion should do)
d) It added some new and unique enemies to fight
e) Used Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket as inspiration for the outdoor maps in which you fight hidden forces of Black Ops and Race X aliens
f) The map design
g) The progression of the story
h) How it explored the Half-Life's story from the grunt's point of view
i) Otis, the fat Barney
j) The puzzle based boss fights ( the Pit Worm evidently being inspired by the Tentacle boss fights)
k) How the G-Man is implemented, and what he says at the end
l) The night vision and PCV being different from the flashlight and the HEV
m) The chapters Crush Depth, We Are Not Alone, and Vicarious Reality
n) The ability to teleport yourself to Xen with the Displacer Cannon

I was disappointed when certain promises weren't fulfilled, like:
a) the grunt A.I. not behaving as they would when you fought against them
b) you couldn't drive those mechanical yellow cargo walkers, which was supposed to be a big feature
c) scripted cutscenes (probably not a bad thing, but it would've been interesting to see what Gearbox would have done)

One personal gripe of mine is that there was much to the Grunt experience that I wanted explored in Opposing Force. It was all good for Adrian to enter into Black Mesa ignorant of what his mission is supposed to be, and working with both the soldiers and the aliens. I think it would be cool if they had you witness your fellow grunts doing more unsavory acts, and choosing whether to help them do it or not. Maybe that should be saved for a fan modification.

I have really nothing much to say about Blue Shift. It was short, with some interesting gameplay moments. The High Definition Pack really isn't good, because it takes away from the expressive textures which endeared me to the original NPCs.