Half-Life 2
Game » consists of 18 releases. Released Nov 16, 2004
Several years after the Black Mesa disaster, Gordon Freeman awakens from stasis to aid a resistance movement against the Combine, a collective of trans-dimensional aliens that have conquered Earth.
Hey, you were right: Half Life 2
So, I can see why everyone wants a new Half Life game.
Anywhere you look, you seem to see pretty much universal appreciation of many of Valve's games. And while some might not approve of their business model (Left 4 Dead 2), many admit their games are both fun and have led to steps forward in the industry. So with all this hype and playing it six years after it's initial release, I was worried it would not live up to its hype.
Needless to say I was surprised when I booted up Half Life 2 and started making my way through City 17 that I was having a blast. The game still looks and sounds great.
Sure there have been graphical advancements in PC gaming since 2004, but everything looks good. The atmosphere is still holds up, while showing it to a friend he said "Jesus, why is everything so depressing." Everything, at least for the first part of the game, does a good job of creating a very oppressive environment.
The game controls right, especially the Gravity Gun. I don't think I'm alone in saying that playing around with that for the first time was one of the best parts of that game. Even the story does a good job. I did not play the original Half Life, but I read up on it before hand and while I'm sure playing it would make more of this game make sense, the game still did a good job of explaining enough to keep me interested in the characters.
The moment where this game clicked for me was where you had to cross a river under a bridge, jumping from beam to beam while fighting those future helicopters.
I would have to say that Episode 1 is easily the weakest point in the series for me. It basically consists of "Hey, get the hell out of this city, oh and shoot some zombies." You have no idea how long I was stuck in that underground parking garage before having to look up a video FAQ. Even with all its faults, it's still a fine game and does a good job setting up Episode 2.
Needless to say I want to see how this story ends. And while I haven't been waiting three years like many of you, the sooner the better, Valve.
Next Time: Deus Ex
So, I can see why everyone wants a new Half Life game.
Anywhere you look, you seem to see pretty much universal appreciation of many of Valve's games. And while some might not approve of their business model (Left 4 Dead 2), many admit their games are both fun and have led to steps forward in the industry. So with all this hype and playing it six years after it's initial release, I was worried it would not live up to its hype.
Needless to say I was surprised when I booted up Half Life 2 and started making my way through City 17 that I was having a blast. The game still looks and sounds great.
Sure there have been graphical advancements in PC gaming since 2004, but everything looks good. The atmosphere is still holds up, while showing it to a friend he said "Jesus, why is everything so depressing." Everything, at least for the first part of the game, does a good job of creating a very oppressive environment.
The game controls right, especially the Gravity Gun. I don't think I'm alone in saying that playing around with that for the first time was one of the best parts of that game. Even the story does a good job. I did not play the original Half Life, but I read up on it before hand and while I'm sure playing it would make more of this game make sense, the game still did a good job of explaining enough to keep me interested in the characters.
The moment where this game clicked for me was where you had to cross a river under a bridge, jumping from beam to beam while fighting those future helicopters.
I would have to say that Episode 1 is easily the weakest point in the series for me. It basically consists of "Hey, get the hell out of this city, oh and shoot some zombies." You have no idea how long I was stuck in that underground parking garage before having to look up a video FAQ. Even with all its faults, it's still a fine game and does a good job setting up Episode 2.
Needless to say I want to see how this story ends. And while I haven't been waiting three years like many of you, the sooner the better, Valve.
Next Time: Deus Ex
You're right. Half-Life is very different in a lot of ways. It wouldn't help much to play through it in terms of understanding what's going on. The plot of Half-Life 1 is, resonance cascade, ALIENS. Also, none of these characters even technically existed in the first game. "Barney" was a generic guard model (all the guards were named Barney). And Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Vance were just generic black character and white character models. The only real carry over is the G-Man.
How much do you love that plasma rifle?
And Episode 1 (along with Half-Life 2 and Episode 2) gets better on consecutive playthroughs in my opinion.
Glad you like it. It's one of my favorite games, for sure.
Be warned that Deus Ex is a much, much less friendly game to play for the first time than HL2 these days (or in general, really). Try to clear your expectations going into it and be ready to try to tangle with some of the most contrived roleplaying mechanics of any FPS out there (not putting the game down or anything, they just are).
I would highly recommend going back and playing HL1 someday. Fantastic level design and setup of every scenario, better gunplay and more involved combat than HL2 has, and a generally very unique feel to the atmosphere and pacing. I'd also recommend Opposing Force, and Blueshift is okay if you want to be really completionist.
Easily one of the best games ever made. You should maybe even go back and play Half-Life 1, it's simpler and obviously a little rough around the ages these days but I think it still holds up quite well. I'll be interested to see what you think of Deus Ex, I played it right when it came out in 2000 and about 5 times since, one of them just last year. I hope you enjoy it but I think the game may not have aged well for somebody who doesn't love the game in as firm and dogmatic a way as I do haha.
Half Life 2 was a really great game, but there's so many things that I dread in that game. Between Antlions, Ravenholm, and Nova Prospekt. Ehhg, maybe that's a good thing though....I mean, they are "enemies" and "Obstacles" for a reason.
" @GlenTennis: Also, none of these characters even technically existed in the first game. "Barney" was a generic guard model (all the guards were named Barney). And Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Vance were just generic black character and white character models. The only real carry over is the G-Man. "
Barney Calhoun was actually established as a specific guard in Blueshift, where you play as him. Gordon and Calhoun can briefly see each other at the beginning of Half-Life and Blueshift. But yeah, they were all generic originally.
Thank God someone else knows my pain with that goddamned parking garage. Episode 1 is grating, for sure.
Happy you enjoyed it and when you finish ep2, you can join the rest of us on the bandwagon of "where the fuck is episode 3?"
I'm playing through Half LIfe 1 right now myself and I think it holds up pretty well. And Half Life 2 is definitely one of my all time favorite games, I'm glad you enjoy it and now you must share our pain for the wait of Half Life 3.
" @JP_Russell said:It picks up. The most important thing is to realize that reading every single thing is pretty much essential to actually enjoy the game. You'll be glad you did. ...Even though I, myself, have never finished it (so many other games!)." Be warned that Deus Ex is a much, much less friendly game to play for the first time than HL2"Hoo boy, you're telling me. I started this tonight... I'll have to come back to it fresh tomorrow. It's a lot more rough, but I'm not giving up on it yet. "
I played the first Half-life game in a gaming cafe and after 6 hours I decided that it wasn't worth the $1/h. Played Half Life 2 for the first time in 2010 and I wasn't impressed... too much hype surrounding this game. It's just a good FPS, nothing more. Episode 1 is bad and Episode 2 is the best of all Half Life games. So... no I don't want more Half Life games...
I will be honest, I didn't like Half Life 2 after all the amazing things I heard about it. That game was more of a chore than fun, and I don't understand why since I loved the first one.
" @august said:You should use the .exe no matter what, it has proper widescreen options and bugfixes." @GlenTennis: Make sure to use this for Deus Ex. "I'm going to go through a lot of the game without any mods, but I'll use that one eventually for sure. I want to experience it as it was. "
Glad to hear you like Half Life 2, it easily earns its rep of being a great game and still holds up to games today.
If I may, I recommend you play Diablo 2, it is a pretty old game and it will take longer to play then HL2, but its worth playing.
Glad you enjoyed HL2, it's easily one of my favourite games I've played. As for Deus Ex, I agree with everyone here that it's kind of a bitch to master the mechanics but once you do, you will feel like a total badass.
Lastly, where the hell is Ep. 3 and the Black Mesa mod? Oh and I'm pretty excited for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
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