Just Completed Half-Life 2

Okay, so I only got HL2 recently, and I finally completed it just now. Brilliant final episode, but overall I've got to say I'm pretty disappointed.

First, I can't believe how many bloody grunts there were in it! It seemed like 70 percent of the enemies were the same monster (except for having a shotgun or a machine gun!). And the middle levels got really repetitive. Hours and hours of running or driving around looking for somewhere to go, carrying out an objective that you really don't care about.

I mean what's the deal with your allies' clothing, anyway? They look like a bunch of "save the whales" hippy students from the 70s or something. I thought the bad guys were much cooler. And then there's Alex, with her strange, semi slow-motion movements. She runs like she's been stuck on a bus-ride for five hours.

It's a good game (there are some really beautiful moments, and the engine is really fun), but I think it's seriously over-rated. Nowhere near as good as Half-Life 1, in so many ways- storyline, locations, monsters, weapons etc. I don't understand why they cut the variety down so much in HL2.

I respect your opinion and everything, you backed it up with good reason, and for the most part I agree with you on a few aspects :biggrin: (Yes I think HL1 had more depth to it), but I have to ask: why critique a 3 year old game? hehe Don't take it the wrong way, its just here at the pit I think the whole critique HL2 is kinda over with. I guess we should ask if anyone here has completed HL2 recently.

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Posting And You

I've actually never completed HL2. I started playing but stopped mostly because I got motion sick when playing. I downloaded it again a couple of days ago though, so I might get around to play it.

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!

You got something against whales?

HL2 taught me that "quality over quantity" is not everything. I missed the quantity.

When HL1 had 15 weapons (I didn't count), HL2 had 10. When there were 30 different enemies in HL1 (again - didn't count), there were 20 in HL2. Considering most of the guns and enemies were copied from HL1 and that a lot of them were just variations of the same (3 types of headcraps, 3 types of zombies, 3 types of grunts, 2 types of helicopters,...) the fights got repetitive pretty soon. And they didn't bother thinking of an equivalent for the assassins, the alien grunts and all the other really freaky ideas of HL1. Instead they merged Snarks and the huge-ass tentacles into one kind of boring, Starship Troopers-style bugs. Instead of cool scientists and even cooler barneys you got CS-stlye, nameless soldiers running along with you in big hordes.

The physics gameplay made it all up for me, personally, but I hope they're thinking of a few new things to shoot (and shoot with) for Episode 2.

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Why snark works.

Nothing against whales, actually they're really cool. I'm against whaling, killing them via pollution etc., I'm just not sure environmentalist hippies have the solutions. Especially the ones in Half-Life 2.

Anyway yeah, about HL2. I'm just amazed at the reception it got, really. Again, don't get me wrong- it's a great game, and I enjoyed it. Like Reaper says, the physics lead to some really fun moments. It's just not the best game ever. Too many grunts.

I really hate weapons like the Guass Cannon and egon and snarks from half-life1. I suppose the combine made the civilans dress that way in hl2. I do agree though, I was sick of fighting the combine.

The story was better in hl2, things like the seven hour war, .... all that stuff made it cool. I liked the easter eggs in half-life 1 though.

Anyways imo, games like hl1 and hl2 dont have much replay value. You have completed the puzzels already, its not fun to do them twice and the ai, well its good but repetitive.

Physics are cool, but well there is also physics in goldsource to :smile:

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Aaron's Stuff

I enjoyed HL2 more than any other SP game I've played yet. I dont know exactly why that is. I guess I found it easy to get caught up in the story. I agree the game does lack a bit of depth as far as combat is concerned, but for me the depth of story makes up for it.

Anyway, if you dont like the game as it is, go make a better SP campaign for it. Thats what this site is here for, I suppose.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

I really hate weapons like the Guass Cannon and egon and snarks from half-life1.

[...]

Anyways imo, games like hl1 and hl2 dont have much replay value. You have completed the puzzels already, its not fun to do them twice and the ai, well its good but repetitive.
Physics are cool, but well there is also physics in goldsource to :smile:

glup - DIE!

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Why snark works.

The Gauss Cannon (I thought anyways) was one of the first unique weapons in first person shooters. It was your power house for taking out choopers, tanks, turrets from a distance with extreme power.

As far as replay value...i'll have to disagree with HL1. Load up office complex and replay it. You'll find a lot of little secrets and complexity. Same deal with surface tension. Surface tension is when you bring out the big guns to fight with lots of explosions and combat. I like to load up those levels and replay them from time to time. Its funny how both chapters are made by Dario Casali.

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Posting And You

Aaron, this is not the place to say that if you want to keep your head!

I agree with you about HL2, though, I've only played it all the way through twice, but I've beaten HL1 more times than I can count.

As for Aaron's dislike of the gauss, that's probably because he never got to play much HLDM, which is where it really shines, IMO.

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Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

I was too busy playing HLDM, CS, FLF, SI, NS, Poke646, and TS to play through HL1 more than once.

The main attraction for me in HL2 was the way the characters were animated in the non-fighting sequences. And that secret area in HL2 where the secret ending is viewed was pretty cool too.

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Reckless disregard for childrens well being, women and nothing but utter contempt for other cultures.

I guess I dont like the guass because its unrealistic. I also thought the rpg is so unbalanced. For example, crossfire, its on the floor, out in the open where anyone can easily get it and make cheap kills. Mabye this is because I play alot of lan with like 2-5 people ( and mabye its designed for more folks ) but they (valve) have to think about that. Imagine a two player game on crossfire. Someone graps the gauss, the rpg and the egon and makes cheap kills (bloody campers!) and they can because they can hold every weapon they pick up and not just 2. Half-life 1 is fun with alot of people though and I can see how the rpg in the middle of crossfire would be fair.

He's gonna deny this, but when me and white test out reddawn multiplayer maps, it is so boring. He sucks at half-life, it would be nice if could handicap my self.

But if I didn't like half-life 1 or 2 I wouldn't be mapping for it. And no joke, but one of the teachers at my school looks like Gordon Freemen from half-life 2.

What secret area/ending Gaara?

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Aaron's Stuff

But it's out on the floor, in the middle of the room, exposed to attack from all sides. You want to get the RPG? There it is. But you can't watch all the windows. You're making yourself a target most the time.

Most of the HLDM weapons can be DEADLY. The .357 with a headshot = death. Double shotgun blast to the chest from point blank = death. Side grenade from MP5 = death. Crossbow quicksnipe = death. Well-timed hand grenade throw = death (if you think they're a weak weapon, you haven't DMed against me). It's not all about the Egon. The gauss is great because once you learn to Gauss jump with the LJM, you have lift off like nothing else.

Oh yea thats right, The grenades are useless because there is no physics in half-life. The bounce un realisticly off walls and the speed and distance of the grenade depends on how fast you are walking.

But thats because half-life is an old game that was the best of the best back than.

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Aaron's Stuff

It's not about realism, it's learning to use them. They have a timer, c**k it, hold it, throw it just right and you can make it explode in someone's face, midair. Don't bounce it off a wall.

Grenades were one of my favourite weapons on HLDM. That along with the "double shotgun" and crowbar were my preferred kills.

Although its not realistic or good in terms of design, I always like killing my foes with a crossbow, zoomed in. I'm a good sniper.

I didn't think about holding the hand grenade back and waiting. I suppose it is alright.

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Aaron's Stuff

That's not how to use a crossbow. You gotta quicksnipe. Run around unzoomed, find someone, pull the crosshair on him, then right-click, left-click really quickly. All the aiming power and maneuverability of primary fire, all the deadliness of secondary fire. Then, hit your bind for shotgun and do a double blast while you're waiting for the crossbow to 'recharge'. Probably a good time to launch an MP5 grenade, and then back over to the crossbow. You can become a monster if you try.

Totally agree with you bengreenwood. Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift combined had way more style than HL2

The exposure of the RPG in the middle of the room is always a heated debate. I guess a good reference to something that you might get is in Halo's Blood Gultch in the center of the field is the rocket launcher. You have it there in the open, but you risk getting picked off by pistols and sniper fire or even the occasional flying warthog. Its the whole risks/benefits type thing.

As a further note crossfire was one of the most celebrated maps on the original game (well they all were really). It was so popular Dario Casali made a remake of it called doublecross (same concept).

Generally though arron your not getting the whole experience of HL1 DM. You kinda got in the game too late to really appreciate what HL1 had accomplished.

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Posting And You

Not all the HLDM maps are good. Lambda Complex is a pile of junk. Hooray dead ends! Hooray poor weapon placement! Hooray useless bouncepads! If you want the experience Lambda Complex should have been, play ReNo's Echo.

And of course no one truly likes Bounce.

And the one with the tracktrain (name escapes me right now) would have been great if the tracktrain code wasn't so hysterically buggy in multiplayer.

Thats what tends to happen when you take a map straight out of the SP campaign and pop deathmatch entities in it.

Crossfire = good. Undertow = good.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

I found HL2 more of a grand cinematic experience, while HL1 was an art house film. Both great in their own way but really not up for comparison.

Though I was able to play through HL1&2 a number of times each, but I never really find myself getting lost due to my more intimate knowledge of how levels are designed.

Also, I never mind the lack of enemies. I feel like most games have a bunch of babbies that just get stronger and stronger rather than the same guys in more challenging situations. For instance, Metal Gear Solid. You are up against grunts for 98% of the game minus a boss fight or helicoptered fight. HL2 pulled off the same thing, rather than boss fights you had points where you are faced with very challenging grunt fights.

anyways, I'm sure we will see some more depth in coming episodes.

Well, I'd have to disagree. Let me explain:

Call me naive, but I thought HL2 had a good balance of enemy types. Grunt appearances are always going to be the most common. There are more than 3 "factions" of enemies, which always keeps things interesting, and the environments were superb (not in retrospect any longer of course). The kinds of enemies kept me on my feet. The infamous headcrab never ceases to surprise me with its jump attack, the Combine ball spawners were kinda cool, along with the striders and now the hunters, which make me feel like they're more efficient at killing things than I am, which really makes me feel uneasy when thinking about going up against one.

The manhacks were a cool innovation that freaked me out from time to time and the switch with the antlions from foes to friendlies was a surprise. Not to mention the engine, and the weapons, and many other things like AI, gravity gun and physics and such.

Remember, this game came out in 2004, and we've had quite a few games since then copy many aspects of it. Are you guys sure you're not giving this game too hard a crit in retrospect? Think about what you were thinking when you played it after it first came out. I thought it was pretty freaking awesome all around.

/2 cents

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

I always liked subtransit from half-life 1. Probley my favourite map in half-life 1.

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Aaron's Stuff

The manhacks were a cool innovation that freaked me out from time to time...

Yes, the manhacks... I wish HL2 had more truly innovative enemies. Probably just as cool are the new sentry guns (which can be moved around, used as friendlies etc) Those two were probably the best examples for what went right with the enemy changes in HL2.

I also liked the antlion tunnels suddenly becomming relevant and how rollermines could be used against enemies (once or twice) in Episode 1.

There should be more 3-party fights (aliens vs grunts vs player). They're totally absent from HL2 except for a few random zombie encounters. I miss those moments from HL1 were you heard a fight between aliens and grunts from a distance, only to take on what's left once you enter the fight.

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Why snark works.

Riven, Half-Life 2 is the most recent FPS game I've played, so I'm not comparing it to today's games. And why should Grunt appearances be the most common? They probably were in Half-Life 1, compared to the other types of monsters, but in HL2 there are more grunts than all the other types of enemies put together! Also once you got near the Lambda Complex the grunts disappeared altogether, made way for other enemies i.e. assassins and alien grunts, which kept things fresh.

The new sentry guns were cool, I'll give you that. Knocking them over was fun. I dunno, maybe it's just the level design of some of the episodes. If they'd done more with the aliens in the middle episodes it would be different. And they could have had cooler grunts in the later episodes than just the same old ones in white costumes.

I'm definitely looking forward to making an episode for HL2, don't get me wrong (playing as the Combine against those rebels I found so annoying). I like HL2, I just don't think it's as good as the original.

BTW Dr. Glass yeah MGS did have loads of grunts but it also had really cool boss characters every so often like Sniper Wolf etc. Plus it was a s**tload shorter than HL2.. and not as good anyway imo.

I always liked subtransit from half-life 1. Probley my favourite map in half-life 1.

You never tried to play it online when 56k was the standard. It's a good map, but the technical limitations at the times frowned upon it.