[Closed] Gamers- does half life 2 get good?

From memory turn the lights off... Was excellent at the time

As with any game, if you're not feeling it, then don't play it. Games are for enjoyment.

I love HL2 with a passion, so think you're just weird 😉

Northwind - Member 
I got Black Mesa, the HL1 total conversion, and played it grimly to completion despite it being pretty rubbish

Rubbish conversion or just HL1 being rubbish (plot etc)?

Probably dead inside if you don't like Half Life 😛

It's like someone saying they don't like Duke Nukem 3D! 😉 That's just wrong (accepted saying that about the much much delayed later awful sequel though).

That said, not played Black Mesa version so maybe it just isn't the same.

I don't think I'd revisit it, but was was ground-breaking awesome at the time.
I'd make an effort and play it through, but if it's that much of a chore, then it ceases to be fun.

I imagine it feels quite dated now. I would recommend the portal game's though.

mikewsmith - Member
Was excellent at the time

What mike says. A lot of videogames that were mind blowing 10/10 five stars at the time date badly. HL2 is 13 years old, what seemed like spectacular cinematic set pieces at the time have been eclipsed in each successive generation, and some of the tropes in it weren't so tired at the time. Ravenholm is probably the best bit, and you get the Gravity gun there.

At least none of it's Xen from the end of Half Life. Finicky 3D platforming and trying to [url= ]shoot this giant spider in the bollock[/url] with a magnum was where I gave up.

trying to shoot this giant spider in the bollock with a magnum

Fun times

Lights off, and insanely drunk.

Seem to recall falling painfully off a chair trying to dodge a face hugger.

oh and occulus rift with it made me very very confused

Arguably the best thing, apart from being a damn fine game at the time, os it made modding kinda mainstream, portal was a hack job originally based on hl2, team fortress, counter strike, it really blew the doors off for customisation.

Damn, this takes me back. I'd love a game of unreal tournament right now

I think I could happily play duke 3d 😆 Or outlaws!

Thing is... I'm a decent length in. I've killed a million identical combine soldiers (or the same combine soldier, a milion times, some headcrabs and zombies, and those annoying ballsack things that hang off bridges. Oh and an awful boss fight helicopter. And that's all! I'm halfway through the game and I've only faced 4 different monsters...

**** it, I'm reinstalling Stalker.

mattyfez - Member
Arguably the best thing, apart from being a damn fine game at the time, os it made modding kinda mainstream, portal was a hack job originally based on hl2, team fortress, counter strike, it really blew the doors off for customisation.

HISSSSSSSSS. I was an Unreal modder 😀

(You're right, modding has died since but for eight years or so from the time of Half Life and Unreal, it really drove games and the industry forward to new places)

Northwind - Member

**** it, I'm reinstalling Stalker.

A much maligned yet great game! Really unusual for it's time, seven endings quite cleverly worked out to match your playstyle for the whole game rather than pushing a button near the end, and one of the only FPS games at the time not doing the gung-ho all-American hero thing. And it felt like the world itself HATED you. I've not tried it, but heard the Stalker Complete mod makes it even better.

I'm still waiting for half life 3 😥

Not played 2 since release, but I find most games that were innovative at the time tend to age badly. Ravenholme with the lights off and headphones on was the highlight.

?2 only eclipsed by Deus Ex.

Half life 2 was epic. At the time.

As mentioned though it's what, 13 years old now? That's a loooong time in the gaming world.

Some googling reveals that Goldeneye on the n64 was only 7 years old when hl2 was released 😯

Have you done Ravenholm yet? That's a highlight. See if you can do it using only the gravity gun.

Must be what, a decade old now?

shoot this giant spider in the bollock with a magnum was where I gave up.

Things have really moved on since then. I mean, look at the end level boss on the latest Doom. 😀

team fortress, counter strike, it really blew the doors off for customisation.

Especially on the Quake engine.

I had it up there as a work of art when it was fresh. Felt drained when I completed it. I recall you need a dark room, proper sound and no distractions.

Not sure I'd revisit it, spoil the memory.

i played it for the first time abut 3 or 4 years ago and enjoyed it, but had no real expectations as i'd been out of pc gaming for a goodly while. it was enjoyable enough.
both portal games however i thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a good game, the whole series was, but if your after a story, I'd look elsewhere...

They did 2 expansions that really opened up the story but leave you with more questions than answers, then, they just gave up.

There a running joke about when HL3 will come out... (it wont!)

It was a great game when it came out, I played (some of) it again a couple of months ago and it hasn't aged well IMO. Once you've been hacked apart by the millionth manhack that you didn't see coming it gets a bit samey! If 3 ever actually happens then I'll definitely play it but I might be dead before that happens. The other good thing that the source engine has going for it is that the games not only run in but support Linux, which is nice.

The only problem with HL2 is that a couple of the levels are a bit too long - particularly the driving levels and some of the squad based stuff later on.

But there are a few sections which still feel pretty amazing, and are remarkable if you look at some of the games that came out around the same time. The physics was revolutionary, the 'look' of the game was exceptional for the time, even the soundtrack was very atmospheric.

I'd never played anything which felt as immersive as the bit where you cross the underside of the bridge.

kenneththecurtain - Member 
Half life 2 was epic. At the time.
As mentioned though it's what, 13 years old now? That's a loooong time in the gaming world.

About the last time I bought a game though. They've all got too fast and complex, and like with the threads about TV and film recently, I just don't have the time/patience to play games these days.

They've all got too fast and complex

Some are, some aren't.

For example, 3 games I've played in the last few months:

About the last time I bought a game though. They've all got too fast and complex, and like with the threads about TV and film recently, I just don't have the time/patience to play games these days.

I still have the original disks for HL1, HL2 and one of the add-ons. Are they likely to go on easily on a Windows 10 system?

I would say no.

Might be easier to pick it up on Steam, as assume it's been patched to run on Win10.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220

Just DL it from Steam, it's all up to date. I started re-playing it on the Surface Pro under W10. Steam knew I'd bought the real life version but that's cos it installed Steam for me when I originally instaled the disk years ago. I'm sure there'll be a way of telling the online system you own the disk

deadkenny - Member

They've all got too fast and complex, and like with the threads about TV and film recently, I just don't have the time/patience to play games these days.

You could try something like Bastion, or Life Is Strange (I don't know if I [i]like[/i] Life Is Strange tbh, but it's definitely good). Or FTL, FTL is awesome.

You can enter CD keys for some games you owned on disk that they support. Recognised my old HL/HL2 keys and also gave me HL:Source (bit more up to date graphics), expansions and the multi player games.

It doesn't get any better, I thought it was average at best when it was new.

I still bore the mrs with the 'welcome, welcome to city 17' thing whenever we find ourselves in a quiet train station. For me HL2 did atmosphere very well!

Superb game. one of my all time favourites. But, as others have said... its 13 years old.

HL2 Death match was utterly brilliant for the time though.

(I don't know if I like Life Is Strange tbh, but it's definitely good)

I've half a mind to ban you for that. (-: I've evangelised about LiS before, IMHO it's truly superb.

nach - Member

mattyfez - Member
Arguably the best thing, apart from being a damn fine game at the time, os it made modding kinda mainstream, portal was a hack job originally based on hl2, team fortress, counter strike, it really blew the doors off for customisation.

HISSSSSSSSS. I was an Unreal modder

And I made a few levels for the original Doom. 🙂 I'd have said that Doom led the way when it came to PC games with customisable engines and the ability for significant user generated content. Did anyone play AliensTC back in the day? It was brilliant.

OK, now we've got a bit of a four yorkshiremen sketch thing going on, I think it needs to be topped by someone who hacked April Showers or something similar into Jet Set Willy...

I have played a bit of Half Life 2 but it never clicked with me. Neither did Half Life, come to think of it, despite being a massive fan of the original Doom 1/2 and Quake 1/2 games.

With Half Life 2 I think I got as far as Water Hazard before my interest waned. Did the game use checkpoints or save points rather than allowing saves at any time? I remember getting frustrated that I wanted to stop playing but couldn't find where my progress would next be saved.

Just checked Steam and the whole orange box is still in my collection, and this old laptop is about double the spec for the game 🙂
Time to start flinging sawblades

Sweet 😀 I've been thinking about the tunnel section all morning. The black face crabs were scary.

Keep being tempted to get back in to games. Last things I played were Demon Souls, The Last of Us and Bio-Shock Infinite. Figured it was a good place to stop.

I started again in HL2 and am now somewhat stuck in ravensholm or whatever it's called - with the strange vicar/priest shouting at me. Killed everything but cannot find my way out.

HL2 was probably one of my favourite games when it came out, and haven't played much since (apart from Portal). But after Christmas we got a PS3 from eBay and I'm now obsessed with Fallout 3.

Everyone's gone to rapture is really really making me want a PS4

What a great thread. Aren't people so much nicer when not ranting on about brexit and trump.
Probably best left in the memory banks as being awesome at the time though I think.
HL1 - recon squad, GO! As they lobbed a grenade down a lift you were in and some funky music started before the battle. That was a highlight for me.

The music in HL was so good. I loved that is just pre-empted things kicking off with the military such as in Surface Tension.

Both phenomenal games. The first is my favourite because of when I played it but the second (well Episode 2) is still the best game I've ever played.

what was the level where you had to squeeze a bag of powder to attract some beasts or something. very odd. I liked the level where you had to set up turret guns to kill the beasts, took me days to get past that as i recall.

OK, now we've got a bit of a four yorkshiremen sketch thing going on, I think it needs to be topped by someone who hacked April Showers or something similar into Jet Set Willy...

Well now you mention it, Repton 3 had a built-in level editor and you could create your own sprites as well as complete levels. I won a school competition by creating three new space-themed levels... 🙂

preferred counter strike myself. Can't mind if that came with/was a mod for HL1 or 2 though?

Pierre - Member
Well now you mention it, Repton 3 had a built-in level editor and you could create your own sprites as well as complete levels. I won a school competition by creating three new space-themed levels...

I remember that! I never had a BBC but I played one the ones at school quite a bit. I'm not sure I ever did much with the Repton 3 editor beyond making enormous rock falls though.

I did have the Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit for my C64 though, and I had a go making at least a couple of games. One was a typical scrolling space shooter but one was inspired by the style of Thalamus's Creatures so involved playing a bubble-firing balloon trying to evade the attacks of various cute things attacking it as it rose into the air.

CS was originally a mod for HL1.
CS: Source was a remake by Valve in the HL2 engine.

There been 2 standalone versions since with CS:GO being the latest and very good.

what was the level where you had to squeeze a bag of powder to attract some beasts or something. very odd

Pheropods, or more commonly known as bug bait. Used to pacify/control the Ant Lions.

Kamakazie - Member
CS was originally a mod for HL1.
CS: Source was a remake by Valve in the HL2 engine.

There been 2 standalone versions since with CS:GO being the latest and very good.

For those that think it's a shiite game, I can assure you that it right shits up my 10year old. He won't even watch me play ravenholm, although he's happy to put some caps in combine ass.

I loved HL1 the first time I played it (like 15 years ago); it was genuinely epic for the time. But I played Black Mesa a couple of years back (when it was free), and it felt like a real grind. I don't know why - maybe it was knowing the major points and having forgotten the platforming and time required to get to them?

But as above, if you're not liking HL2 then it probably won't improve for you

Just went on a nostalgia trip and played through Ravenholm with just the grav gun. Still fun. 🙂

OK, now we've got a bit of a four yorkshiremen sketch thing going on, I think it needs to be topped by someone who hacked April Showers or something similar into Jet Set Willy...

/waves

Inspired to pick it back up. Now I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse to connect the Surface to, and some headphones. It's 2001 all over again 🙂

Half life 2 is still awesome now.
Some games hold up forever. Mario 64 being an example.

The orange box is something every gamer should own.

Still love Quake, or the memory of it. Slower, more about the atmosphere and solving puzzles than just blowing away monsters, and a game I could manage to complete. Nice Trent Reznor soundtrack.

Likewise the Dark Forces series. Nice big maps to wander around, bit of atmosphere, star wars music chucked in, and shoot up stuff when necessary.

As I say, modern "shooters" are just a bit too much action for my liking. Not enough time to soak up the atmosphere. And if it's multiplayer just not enough time to exist. Dead within a few seconds, killed by some spotty kid playing god knows where.

I bought HL2 on Steam about 6 months ago, not played it yet but loved the original.

Recent purchases also include Deus Ex Human Revolution (again nostalgia for the original game) and Civ V as I'd never played a strategy game and Civ V is supposed to be pretty good for newcomers.

Reading this thread it looks like of the three above, only Civ V will stand the test of time...

Rise and shine, Mister Freeman. Rise and... shine. Not that I... wish to imply you have been sleeping on the job. No one is more deserving of a rest, and all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until... well, let's just say your hour has... come again.

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So, wake up, Mister Freeman. Wake up and... *smell the ashes*...

The first Far Cry on PC was also a classic for it's time. Spent hours sniping mercenaries from miles away and accidently hang gliding in to the ocean.

Civ is pants.

Is there any news on HL3??

mrlebowski - Member
Is there any news on HL3??

Yeah - same availability date as the new STW forum.

It's been out 4 years already?

mrlebowski - Member
Is there any news on HL3??

Making gaming great again.

[img] [/img]

Is there any news on HL3??

Yup it's not happening.

I suppose the thing about halves, their defining quality even, is that there's two of them.

Half life 2 and Far Cry came out roughly the same time and were both groundbreaking PC games. The fact that they still hold up well to modern games is no mean feat. EP 1 and 2 were pretty good also.

Damit... gona give TF2 a rest and fire up HL2 tonight.

HL3 hype is some high quality cruel fun, much like watching Star Wars fans getting excited for then disappointed by films in the prequel trilogy was.

There must have been dozens of false starts by fans on suspected ARGs by Valve, etc., screenshots accidentally showing HL3 project folders on Valve computers ("Oh yeah we kind of gave up on that… twice"), and a series of increasingly obtuse fan theories.

Also this from Reddit yesterday, some people discussing just making their own Half Life 3:
[img] [/img]

Yeah, on most big budget videogames projects, the other 200 - 600 people are just superfluous 😀

I'd love a game of unreal tournament right now

I was discussing gaming with people at work the other day. I was pretty good at Quake back in 97-98, knew all the timings of the power-up and weapon spawns. Deathmatches in the office were dominated by a colleague and I, the other half dozen people just refused to play eventually.

ChrisL - Member

And I made a few levels for the original Doom. I'd have said that Doom led the way when it came to PC games with customisable engines and the ability for significant user generated content. Did anyone play AliensTC back in the day? It was brilliant.

I love that even today, Doom still has a modding scene!

With the prototype for an Unreal and a later Source conversion, we uh, *cough* definitely didn't end up working on Aliens-ish tactical game for six months then stripping every last trace of Fox's IP out of it before showing it to anyone 😀

HL3 hype is some high quality cruel fun, much like watching Star Wars fans getting excited for then disappointed by films in the prequel trilogy was.

It's a curious decision by Valve to walk away from the franchise. I would have thought HL3 would be a massive money-spinner for them. Perhaps they just don't think they could meet expectations?

I was pretty good at Quake back in 97-98, knew all the timings of the power-up and weapon spawns. Deathmatches in the office were dominated by a colleague and I, the other half dozen people just refused to play eventually.

Back in the mid 90s, we set up a mini-network at work (coaxial thin Ethernet!) and half a dozen machines running Doom. The others were masters at it, running it at the highest speed and had all the weapon spawn points memorised. I usually managed about six steps before getting a BFG in the face.

Then Descent came out, so we set that up. Without the benefit of loads of experience it was suddenly a level playing field, and my spacial awareness is pretty keen - I fare far better with that sort of thing than with sprawling 2D maps, I can do the Rubik's Cube but those 4x4 puzzles with 15 sliding plates and a gap baffle the crap out of me. I absolutely dominated it, after a week they refused to play and went back to Doom.

martinhutch - Member

It's a curious decision by Valve to walk away from the franchise. I would have thought HL3 would be a massive money-spinner for them. Perhaps they just don't think they could meet expectations?

Their official position is basically "We don't comment on rumours and speculation". As far as most people in the videogames industry can tell (and Valve employees are tight-lipped even with their friends), there are two main factors.

Owning Steam and taking a cut of every game sale has made Valve more money than they need. Most studios are one flop, if that, from going bust. Valve have enough money that they can probably function as an independently wealthy organisation for a very long time yet. Team Fortress and DOTA2 have only added to the heap of money, and they were both experiments with new things. HL3 might be a money spinner, but not one they really need that badly.

The kind of linear storytelling that the Half Life games did was revolutionary for it's time, but as people have said in this thread, things have moved on. Making something that feels like a continuation of the Half Life games yet reflects modern game design is quite a challenge. At various times, small teams seem to have formed internally at Valve and later given up. As you say, fear of not being able to meet expectations could certainly be a factor in that.

[quote=Cougar ]Then Descent came out, so we set that up. Without the benefit of loads of experience it was suddenly a level playing field, and my spacial awareness is pretty keen - I fare far better with that sort of thing than with sprawling 2D maps, I can do the Rubik's Cube but those 4x4 puzzles with 15 sliding plates and a gap baffle the crap out of me. I absolutely dominated it, after a week they refused to play and went back to Doom.
Descent!!!

Whilst we're on games/series that are quite old there's a new unreal tournament in development which appears to be part-epic and part-community written. It's basically open source, you just have to register with epic to get at the repository. Playing the original UT online over dialup with a ping of ~600 was always fun.

scotroutes - Member

Descent!!!

If you liked Descent, check out Sublevel Zero - it was made by a couple of mates from Manchester.

The kind of linear storytelling that the Half Life games did was revolutionary for it's time, but as people have said in this thread, things have moved on.

Can't say I see a decently-made linear (or semi-linear) game is necessarily a bad thing. The massive open-world games have their place, but I must admit on some of them (Fallout various and Far Cry as examples) I got bored of grinding resources almost straight away.

Valve can afford to indulge us!

Just bought and installed the counter strike bundle on the back of this! Pure awesomeness! I don't think there's a better FPS level than de dust, they should have just stopped there, no point going any further! 😆

I'm a tad rusty though, kill death ratio sitting about 1:4, awful and unacceptable! Need to get good at this carry on again, how to mighty have fallen! 😆

Just reloaded Portal 2 (It's about 3x the disc size of HL2!!) had to get out it was about to consume me....

If you liked Descent, check out Sublevel Zero - it was made by a couple of mates from Manchester.

That looks pretty cool, though I've an inherent dislike of procedurally-generated levels.

Just reloaded Portal 2

Portal 2 (and 1) is brilliant. The 2-player co-op is especially good.