Sorry but my vote is still on HL1

[pblse]

..for the best game ever. It had a better story (yes it did) and you got that feeling while playing it while HL2 was running and shooting all the time.

Still a nice game and spectacular graphics but it wasn't the sequel I was hoping for.

 

[A_Denial]

It wasn't the sequel I was looking for, but then I don't really know what I was looking for, so in that case, I think it's amazing, and pretty much perfect. HL is still better, but I like to think of both games being one. (Just to play it safe :thumbs: )

 

[koopa]

In 6 months time many more people will agree with you, but for now we're still trying to pretend that HL2 wasn't pretty pedestrian in places

 

[NB.]

Yeah i agee, HL1 is the better game for me. HL2 is very good but i really dont see why its revolutionary or mind blowing as a lot of the reviews etc.. said it was. I thought it was actually a pretty generic fps myself, a good one but still pretty standard.

 

[Absinthe]

I recognize the pros and cons of both games, and I feel that HL2 is the better game in nearly every aspect.

 

[koopa]

I recognize the pros and cons of both games, and I feel that HL2 is the better game in nearly every aspect.

I guess I feel that HL2 is the better game now, but that HL1 was better for its time (if you see what I mean). HL2 still has too many scripted deaths for a modern game.

 

[Absinthe]

I guess I feel that HL2 is the better game now, but that HL1 was better for its time (if you see what I mean).

Yes, I do see what you mean. And I agree. However, I don't think that makes HL2 a lesser game. I didn't expect a full-on revolution of the FPS genre, but some greatly improved Half-Life formula. HL2 also has its own smaller revolutions, such as its amazing facial animation and the first successful attempt to integrate physics into gameplay.

I think that HL2 succeeded HL in many ways, aside from the obvious visual imrovements. The characters were more fleshed out. The story felt more involving to me. And the gameplay had variety and was overall more exciting and fun than the original's.

That's my opinion, at least.

HL2 still has too many scripted deaths for a modern game.

I'm unsure as to what you mean by this. Care to elaborate?

 

[sobergrad]

If only you guys had a good computer to understand how HL2 is better. I guarantee you, if you had a computer that can run HL2 perfectly with all settings on high (like my computer ), you would understand why half life 2 got all the high reviews. So just shut up, get a job. Buy a decent computer. Play half life 2 again, then come back and tell me it isnt what you thought it was going to be.

 

[sobergrad]

what the hell? I just typed HL2 and it gave a link for a fake free copy of HL2? what the hell is this?

 

[pumako]

I haven't finished HL2 yet. So I can't give an opinion about the storyline.

But the thing I have to say HL2 gives me the same exact feeling than HL1. That's just great.

 

[Ruefus]

Half Life 1 had nothing to prove, nothing to live up to and it was a gigantic step forward - even when no one expected it.

Half Life 2 is supposed to follow-up the greatest game in PC history and eclipse it by such a margin as to make HL1 pale in comparison? Never, ever going to happen. Too much expectation and anticipation. People were watching, waiting and building this game up as if it were the second coming of Christ or something. Far too much to live up to.

People weren't waiting with baited breath for HL1 - they most certainly were for HL2.

 

[Fighter]

HL1 had a more simplistic story, it was just more laid out. Anyway last time I played HL1 was many years. Right now HL2 kills it. The story has a much more "epic strugle" feel to it as well as brilliantly executed atmosphere of mystery and confusion (in a good way).

If we had an HL1 with the same graphics and every other cool HL2 feature then we might have a competition. Both games had great atmosphere which in my opinon is both games' main strength. But HL2 takes it for me, City 17 under opression had a superb feel to it.

 

[Gordons_nan]

ARRGGGHGHHH!!!!

Half life 2 was never going to be as revolutionary or groundbreaking as the original. This is 2004, that was 1998. The gaming industry was a lot different then. Half Life was like The Beatles: right place, right time.

Half Life 2 is about as revolutionary and groundbreaking as a FPS can get in this day and age. Things have moved on so just deal with it!!!

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Here's my view of it;
Half-life was brilliant, but it contained parts I alwaysdid not want to play when thinking I was gonna play through it one more time; Power up, On a Rail, Xen.
Half-life 2: None of those levels, even Ravenholm which is the kinda level I hate I love in HL2! Therefore, HL2 wins!

 

[daverince]

They're both great games, but HL2 just has more involvement, much more atmosphere (reminding me, in parts, of Akira), and it looks so good I sometimes hate going so fast through a particular location becasue I want to sight-see with my camera. Sad, I know, but I know everyone else does it too.

HL2 pisses over most every other game...excpet, of course, The Secret of Monkey Island. Fact.

Who remembers Pajama-rama? Oh, the days of my Amstrad 6128 (with colour!)

 

[miked4o7]

Yeah i agee, HL1 is the better game for me. HL2 is very good but i really dont see why its revolutionary or mind blowing as a lot of the reviews etc.. said it was. I thought it was actually a pretty generic fps myself, a good one but still pretty standard

See that's kind of funny, I feel pretty much exactly the opposite. I don't understand all the reviews saying that half-life 2isn't revolutionary. I mean... the physics. There's nothing that even comes close to implementing physics in the same way that hl2 did. The facial animations on the characters is also pretty revolutionary even though it doesn't affect direct gameplay.

I just don't understand when people say things like "It wasn't as revolutionary as I thought it was going to be". I can't even imagine what they were expecting. Hl2 obviously doesn't revolutionize every single aspect of fps that there is (AI for example is still pretty standard), but I don't think that should hold anyone back from recognizing that it is in fact revolutionary because of the physics.

 

[NB.]

If only you guys had a good computer to understand how HL2 is better. I guarantee you, if you had a computer that can run HL2 perfectly with all settings on high (like my computer ), you would understand why half life 2 got all the high reviews. So just shut up, get a job. Buy a decent computer. Play half life 2 again, then come back and tell me it isnt what you thought it was going to be.

Are you some kind of idiot?

 

[Thadius Dean]

am i the only one who liked the xen levels?

 

[Maskirovka]

Yeah i agee, HL1 is the better game for me. HL2 is very good but i really dont see why its revolutionary or mind blowing as a lot of the reviews etc.. said it was. I thought it was actually a pretty generic fps myself, a good one but still pretty standard.

i don't understand what you would classify as "groundbreaking"

since the quake and HL1 era, FPS's have been done in 100's of ways. in what way could you break new ground with the FPS genre?

if you knew the answer to that question, it'd be worth a lot of money. valve took their in-house engine, a decent storyline, and a great established franchise and created a very fun, solid, sequel with greatly varied gameplay (controlling antlions, physics puzzles, grav gun)

if CS was the groundbreaking thing created from HL1, just think of the things that can be created from the havok physics and source engine.

i think it's a great accomplishment...especially if next week's "surprise" is multiplayer. don't be so narrow...

 

[Fighter]

The character animation and physics gameplay are real breakthroughs of for the whole fps genre.

Yes some other games had physics too like Far Cry and Doom3, but none of them implemented into gameplay as well as HL2. Oh and the best water I have seen in a video game to date.

 

[Maskirovka]

am i the only one who liked the xen levels?

yes...yes you are.

 

[Mountain Man]

I liked the Xen levels.

As for Half-Life 2, if folks don't think it's revolutionary then I'd love know what other currently released game is.

 

[NB.]

@ Miked4o7 & Maskirovka, i agree that everything about HL2 is technically better than the first game but thats not my issue with it. My issue is about the gameplay, and i'm not saying that the game is bad, just that it feels stale in places and very ordinary. To me it feels a lot more repetetive than HL1 ever did, several times i thought i was in fact replaying parts that i had already done (strider battles in particular).

Plus the heart of the game just feels fundamentally changed imo, instead of being an appealing unlikely hero, you are now a world famous super hero of sorts, i dont like how that feels. Gordon shouldnt be a rambo character imo.

The best way i can sum up how i feel about HL2 vs HL1 is what i said in another post somewhere. HL2 is like a big budget sequel to one of your favourite movies, its much more of an impressive show, but the original magic and the soul isnt quite there.

@mountain Man, there havent been any revolutionary games in the last few years imo.

 

[Lyric]

See it's like the matrix. 98% of people say the 1st was the best, and then bash the 2nd and 3rd. You can't re-create a mind-blowing new original idea. That's what the first one is for. Introducing you into this totally new world of reality...then the next step would be to bring you to that world and have you exist in it, and then expand on how much you don't know...eventually at the end giving you a glimpse of it. Now valve has set themselves up where they could make this the greatest trilogy in the gamming history of man-kind....or they could come out with and infant number of sequels. That would piss a lot of people off and start to seem like they are improvising the story as they go...but even then, I'll be honest, I'd still play.

 

[PvtRyan]

yes...yes you are.

I liked them too, just didn't love them like the rest. Same goes for some parts of HL2. But parts that weren't as good as the rest like Highway 17 or Root Canal, are someone else's favorite, and I've seen many people who didn't like Follow Freeman.

My point? You'll never satisfy everyone, ever. Some may have wanted a revolutionary groundbreaking game that cured aids, cancer and gives (free) blowjobs while the game box spawns clowns on tricycles and fireworks, some just wanted the improved concept of a previous game.

I remember what qckbeam (pretty sure it was him) here said about HL2 when he played it at Valve a few months ago: "HL goodness taken to the next level" and that's exactly what it is.
Everything that was good about HL minus many bad things plus an assload of new cool stuff = my gaming heaven.

Don't like it? Then I pity you, because I'm afraid no FPS in a long while will satisfy you then.

 

[zapperio]

Discussing HL vs HL2
Feels like discussing Alien vs Aliens

There are always going to be people who prefer Alien. :|

 

[Fighter]

I think they did a good job in "reinventing" the game, the story and everithing else is taking to a new level.

But otherwise a sequel to "greatest game of all time" will never meet the expectation of certain proportion of people.

 

[NB.]

Don't like it? Then I pity you, because I'm afraid no FPS in a long while will satisfy you then.

Thats a pretty pointless thing to say, i dont see anyone here who flat out doesnt like the game, but then again it seems like a lot of people here just cannot see shades of grey, you must either love HL2 or hate HL2 apprently

I think HL2 is a very good game and i had a lot of fun with it, but i do not see it as revolutionary and i didnt think it was significantly better than a lot of other games out there. Just because i carries the HL name doesnt mean it immediately deserves my undivided loyalty, i'm simply saying how i feel about the game. I think its awesome, but it could have been quite a lot better imo.

 

[SIN55]

I think HL1's success is blown way out of proportion. The great thing about HL1 is that its goodness grows as time goes on. The memory of the game is better than the game itself. I played HL1 a couple of times, even last year. It wasn't that great of a game, but as time goes on, it seems better when I think back on it.

For me HL1 was a pretty standard FPS, kept alive by Counter-Strike. If it wasn't for CS, I would have forgotten HL1 a long time ago. One thing HL1 did perfectly though, was the feeling of being trapped and needing to escape. That, is what I think is memorable about it.

HL2 is another story. I am not finished with it yet, but from what I've played up until now, it is pretty amazing and fun. Way more fun than HL1 was. Will it be as memorable, though? We'll see in about 5 years.

 

[TigerRei]

Lot of unwarranted assumptions floating around. If you dont like it, then you dont. No need to try and force your opinions on somebody.

Anyways, I like both HL1 and HL2. Trying to say one is better than the other though for me is like comparing apples with oranges.

HL1 was great because it was THE groundbreaker. Nobody thought you could take an action shooter and merge it with a compelling storyline. People of the day thought that it would be like merging a horror movie with a love story. I bet we're all glad today that those people were wrong. HL1 turned out beautifully. As for the multiplayer aspect, I have to disagree with people saying that HL1 brought out the modders. It didnt. It just encouraged them. Modding has been around since the first Quake. Only problem then was you had to hack the code to get it to work, so in a sense modding was almost illegal then. Good thing John Carmack didnt mind. Valve saw people changing HL1 and decided "Hey..they already bought the game. Why not let them mess with it a little?" History goes from there. HL1 has to be the longest marketted game in history. That's why it's groundbreaking. Merging two genres, modifying a game to run much better than anybody ever thought possible, and selling for the longest period of time.

HL2 itself is great, but not in the same way as HL1. As a standalone game it's good, but imagine if HL2 was put out and HL1 had never been created. It wouldnt have gotten that good of a review. It's a good sequel. I know that doesnt sound very great, but HL2 was really nothing more than HL1 expanded. I'll try and break it down:

Character Development: This really started in HL1. As stated above, nobody thought you could merge a shooter with a storyline. In HL2, they pushed it farther. Not only is there fast action with a compelling storyline, but now the characters are believable. They arent nuisances with dialogue in the way now. You almost find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Will Alyx fall in love with Gordon? Will Barney ever give Gordon his beer? Will Dog ever fetch the newspaper? Oh no, the strider stepped on my hotdog. It's these things that allow you to feel like you're a part of the game, in a way that has never been done before.

Graphics: It's hardly revolutionary. In and of itself the graphics may be good, but we've all seen good graphics before. But the key thing is the way it ties in with the story. How many games can you name where things you see around you actually have meaning? You ask yourself questions, "What does the diagram on the wall mean? Are combine soldiers really machines? 7 hour war? When did Earth surrender? Hey, that's the old HEV recharger plate! I wonder how it got here..." The world is fleshed out to look real. But it has to have a reason for it: the story. When you play most other games, when you look at the graphics, all that comes to mind is, "Hey, neat graphics." But when you play HL2, you think past that. You wonder where the city is. You look at the architecture. You think past the glam and glitter to the core of the world itself. It ceases to be good looking and instead becomes quasi-real.

Physics: Once again, in and of itself, it's nothing new. Other games have done it before. Max Payne 2, Doom 3, Far Cry (er..forgive me on this one, havent played it much and not in a while so I honestly cant remember if it actually did have physics). By itself the physics is nothing grand. But once again it's tied to the story. City 17 wouldnt have the atmosphere without looking grimy. If the world doesnt act naturally, your mind tells you. It's too alien. It couldnt be real. But with HL2, the physics are tuned properly to make your mind think it's real. Just because barrels dont serve much of a purpose (in the most part) for actually completing the game doesnt mean they arent crucial to making it feel right. In other games with static objects, it makes the world feel as if it were poured out of concrete. You feel as if you're in a dollhouse. In HL2, bumping into a table and watching everything rattle on it brings you down to the reality. You almost find yourself saying 'oops' because you knocked over Dr. Kleiner's spare monitor. Physics may have been a selling point, but it proves every bit as crucial to making the game feel real.

Sound: This is probably one part of HL2 that doesnt receive as much fanfare as the rest of HL2. It's also one of the areas that HL1, in my opinion, didnt bother much with. No longer are we forced to hear repetitive noises, bland beeps, assembly line explosions. Each sound itself is unique. Blowing up a grenade in a building is not the same as blowing one up outside. Have a barrel explode next to you, and a few hundred meters away. With the sound system that HL2 employs, it once again makes the world itself feel as if it is real. Like a bat finds insects in the dark of night, the sounds you hear in HL2 give it depth. Only so much of the game can be told by your eyes. Your ears are an important part of it as well. Lots of games try to set the mood of their games by the music. Few try to set the mood by the absence of it. A quiet drip of water in an echoing room can be just as unnerving as pumping music. The scream of burning zombies as the enslaved human souls cry from within for you to free them from the shackles of their zombied bodies. The constant drone of propaganda from the mouth of the ever-twisted words of Dr. Breen instill upon you a feeling that you are doing everything for the good of humanity. He must be stopped. The sounds of the combine radios make you wonder if you are the hunter, or the hunted.

It's everything HL2 does to tie the story into the world that makes it great. But once again, it's because of HL1 that HL2 is such a great game. Each has it's own place in the history of gaming.


Sidenote: I omitted multiplayer from HL2 for the fact that while there is CS:S, nobody has yet experienced what the modding community would be like, so it's not right to make assumptions right now.

 

[Odysseus]

The main difference between these two games is that HL1 was able to create an emotional response in the player.... Remember that sense of awe when you first made it to the surface? or when you knocked down the first helicopter? or when you went to Xen the first time? It's all these little things that made HL1 great.

HL1 was about a scientist shooting his way out of a lab that had been invaded by aliens and the military... a completely original plot. The ideas in HL2 were far from being original. It had a lot of Resident Evil (Ravenholm), lots of Medal of Honor (Uncitizen One, Follow Freeman).

I am still trying to figure what I accomplished at the end of the game. Did I kill/capture Dr. Breen? No. Did I save the Earth? No. Did I escape from City 17? No. The only reward at the end of the game was to say: yee, so you can also stop time in the Half Life universe, this idea sure should have been exploited a bit further...

 

[SFLUFAN]

"HL1 was about a scientist shooting his way out of a lab that had been invaded by aliens and the military... a completely original plot"

LOL - actually I take the opposite track. I thought HL1 had a completely UN-original plot that relied on a lot of standard sci-fi archetypes but used them in an absolutely brilliant manner.

HL2, on the other hand, drew its inspiration from such books as "1984" and "Brave New World" to create a very fearful world of fascistic alien occupation and human capitulation - something that had FAR more depth than the plot of the original game. HL2's structure drew me in far more than the original game because of this messianic sense of purpose as well as emotional drive to save humanity - something I didn't get with the original.

I guess this shows the brilliance of Vale and Marc Laidlaw that people can get different interpretations of the same events!

 

[Dragoro]

I much prefer hl2 to hl1. Half life 1 feels like your doing the same thing over and over again.

 

[Odysseus]

I much prefer hl1 to hl2. Half life 2 feels like your doing the same thing over and over again.

 

[SFLUFAN]

I much prefer hl1 to hl2. Half life 2 feels like your doing the same thing over and over again.

That's how I felt about some parts of HL1

 

[PvtRyan]

Thats a pretty pointless thing to say, i dont see anyone here who flat out doesnt like the game, but then again it seems like a lot of people here just cannot see shades of grey, you must either love HL2 or hate HL2 apprently

That was not what I said, I'm saying that if you don't like HL2 because it's not the revolutionary game some thought it would be, then I pity you because then every FPS in the near future will disappoint you, because I doubt there's gonna be a revolutionary shooter in a long, long while.

I much prefer hl1 to hl2. Half life 2 feels like your doing the same thing over and over again.

Other than finding buttons and shooting enemies, wha was the major variety of HL? No, seriously.
I've encountered a lot more variety in HL2, and it required many different styles of play. But opinion or no opinion, I honestly can't believe you're actually saying HL is more varied than HL2.

 

[SIN55]

Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!

 

[Maskirovka]

I much prefer hl1 to hl2. Half life 2 feels like your doing the same thing over and over again.

an ironic thing to double post...lol!