A 2004 game and i still rivals alot of games now days. Seriously i just decided to play it again after it being 2 years and game must be updated by valve or something because it looks so good i swear i dont remember it being this good looking at launch and i ran it at max. 

They have updated it with the HL: Ep 2 version of the Source Engine. That's why. 

The Source Engine has got to be one of the best video game engines ever developed in terms of shelf life.

" They have updated it with the HL: Ep 2 version of the Source Engine. That's why. 

But I completely agree with your point, Half-Life 2 still looks great. 

"

I'm playing episode 2, it's okay, could be better. I think what is strong is the design of the game and how clean everything looks. But i'm not that impressed these days, but still sort of impressed.

I have to agree. I played Lost Coast the other day, which I believe uses the HDR (?), I could be wrong, but it still looked very good. I was very impressed, and after 7 years, that's a huge accomplishment.

I'd say it looks about on par with games today in some spots, but below average in others.


I mean, I guess it looks great if you qualify it as a game that came out in 2004.

I wish I lived in you're nostalgia fogged fantasy world, because I just played it for the first time, and it looks and plays terrible and terribly... 

Played HL2 a couple days ago due to PSN and it looks bad.  EP1 and EP2 look alright though.

In 2004 it looked freaking amazing. 

" I wish I lived in you're nostalgia fogged fantasy world, because I just played it for the first time, and it looks and plays terrible and terribly... 
You should come check out my nostalgia fogged fantasy world, it's pretty rad, Ocarina of Time still looks amazing... First person sling-shot... GOTY 2011.
"

CoD4 looks like shit compared to Modern Warfare 2, yet they run on the same engine. I think it's just safe to say that EP1 and EP2 are just iterative updates to the engine and will obviously look a touch better, only a year seperates both Left 4 Deads and yet the second one looks quite a bit better.

My point was mainly that the Facial Expressions and Lip Syncing no matter which version of Half Life 2 you're playing is still far better then most games today. Add in the varied gameplay, characters that aren't just cardboard standouts and amazing sound/music and you're left with a visual experience that like I said before still beats games like Killzone 3 and Halo Reach.

I should replay Half-Life 2. Is 15 times too much?

" I wish I lived in you're nostalgia fogged fantasy world, because I just played it for the first time, and it looks and plays terrible and terribly... 

You should come check out my nostalgia fogged fantasy world, it's pretty rad, Ocarina of Time still looks amazing... First person sling-shot... GOTY 2011.

"

" I should replay Half-Life 2. Is 15 times too much? "

The characters still look really good. But that's about it.

HL2 drags on to much in the middle, like it or not.

It doesn't look that great.

Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

That Ravenhood part still scares the shit out of me

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

You can't.

"

I find that I only enjoy Half Life 2 when I'm not actually playing it.  I can reminisce about how good it was, but if I try to play it I just find myself saying "Well, it's a lot better after this part..." over and over until the end.

For those wanted to replay Half-life 2 and have a monster pc, take a look at the Half Life 2 cinematic mod ( http://www.cinematicmod.com/ ). Ultra high-res textures, models, and environment change the feel of the game considerably.

" @Potter9156 said:

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

You can't.

"

Dead Space? "

The cinematic mod disgusts me.  

I played Half-Life 2 for the first time quite recently without everything on max and it looked completely fine to me, so yeah, graphics-wise it holds up pretty well.

It is shocking how good it looked on the orange box

" The cinematic mod disgusts me.   "

"

                    The Source Engine has got to be one of the best video game engines ever developed in terms of shelf life.

                   

                "

" @Potter9156 said:

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

You can't.

"

Assassin's Creed 2. "

"   

  If this doesn't make you nostalgia hard, I feel sorry for you. "

" @natetodamax said:

" @Potter9156 said:

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

You can't.

"

Dead Space? "

Assassin's Creed 2. "

" I'd say it looks about on par with games today in some spots, but below average in others.I mean, I guess it looks great if you qualify it as a game that came out in 2004. "

" @ajamafalous said:

" I'd say it looks about on par with games today in some spots, but below average in others.I mean, I guess it looks great if you qualify it as a game that came out in 2004. "

It looks multitudes better than Oblivion which came out a year later. I'd say implicitly, it looks great for the time and maybe it holds a candle to plenty of modern games too. "

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock."

I guess it looks fine and still plays fine but I simply can't bring myself to finish it, It's so boring to play.

Valve games have a pretty clean style that lend well to ageing, but other than the characters much of the environment has aged quite a bit.  I agree that it looks great for it's time.  

" @Potter9156 said:

" Find me a game with better atmosphere that isn't Bioshock.

You can't.

"

Dead Space? "

Personal taste; Get off the damn internet!

" @FlamingHobo said:

"

                    The Source Engine has got to be one of the best video game engines ever developed in terms of shelf life.

                   

                "

Not really, they just keep updating it. The only reason it seems that way is because they don't sell it to other developers they don't need to put a new number after the name like the Unreal 3/3.5 engine but even today there are games that come out using an updated version of the Unreal 2 engine. "

A lickle bit of modding can spruce it up even more.

" @thehexeditor: Unless you're like 10 years old, I don't understand how you can feel nostalgia for a game that came out in 2004?  That's like me saying, "If you don't feel Nostalgia every time you hear *x song* from Dragon Age 2, I feel bad for you."  Sure, they're both great games, but nostalgia has to be brought on by distant memories I think, and I just don't consider a game that came out when I was in my later years of college to be a distant memory.  Anyway, I just played through Half Life 2 again two weekends ago, and I personally don't think the graphics have aged very well at all.   Everything is so blocky and static.  I guess, if you want to qualify it with, "for a game that came out in 2004", then you've got a point, but shit Bubble Bobble still looks great for a game that came out in 1990, so really that means nothing.  The gameplay on the other hand is still as much fun as the day it came out.  Slicing off a zombies head with a flying sawblade will NEVER get old. "