Gamers- does half life 2 get good?

I got Black Mesa, the HL1 total conversion, and played it grimly to completion despite it being pretty rubbish. Then, after seeing yet another “top games of all time” listing, I got HL2:Update…

And I’ve got as far as Ravenholm and so far it’s pretty awful. A tunnel shooter with reeealllly long tunnels. Occasionally something happens that makes me want to play a good shooter, but really nothing’s happened that makes me want to play more halflife. A few minutes of enjoyment with the gravity gun… Is it worth persevering? I was sticking with it til I read that apparently Route Kanal is supposed to be a highlight…

What do you reckon? Is it just one of those games you had to play at the time, or should i stick with it?

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 shoot this giant spider in the bollock 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.

Similar situation here. HL2 was the last game I bought, other than stuff for my daughters Wii. I’ve thought about trying to install it again. I’m not sure tissue thread is convincing me 🙂

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 like 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 [/quote]

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