I am an enormous fan of the original Half-Life. I loved it. So I was really excited when a friend recently gave me, through Steam, a gift of Half-Life 2.
I’ve played for a couple hours now and I’m pretty close (I think) to the end of the speed boat segment.
The game, up to this point, has pretty well sucked. It’s been getting swarmed by cops and the little flying buzz-saw thingies while running around looking for the exit to the next scene. The next scene, of course, being getting swarmed while looking for the exit. The addition of the invincible helicopter that never runs out of ammo did not improve things.
Does this game ever manage to recapture some of the atmosphere and plot that made the first one so great?
I would like to state something up front.
I was not impressed by Half-Life 2. It was, frankly, dull and reptitive. HL1 was not a shooter on rails, but HL2 is. HL1 made you go from area A to area B and so on, but there was much more freedom within each area. There’s really not much of that within HL2.
That said, yes, you are getting past the suckiest area in a run-of-the-mill game and will never have to do this again. You’ll soon be getting the grevity gun, which is reasonable fun to play with. Many people believe it’s teh shiznat, but I found it only so-so. Later on, you get an “upgrade” and it’s riotously fun to use it. But I won’t say any more.
What pissed me off was that they crippled the Ravenholm stage. I hear it was originally going to be much larger and more involved, with both Combine soldiers and monsters running around, with traps everywhere to lure them into. Unfortunately, they seem to have eliminated most of the stage. I understand there were going to be other enemies and stages in the game which were all cut.
My guess is that if you don’t like it by now, you’re not going to like it.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s head and shoulders above the first Half-Life, from the very beginning. Better storyline, niftier weapons, and a little more realism IMO.
The first HL had me firmly taken in. I was part of the game.
The second one, not so much although the graphics are better, I didn’t like the weapon choices as much except the gravity gun. You have more vehicles to use in HL2, but I don’t care for that as much. There is also way more character interaction in HL2 which is kind of gimmicky. HL1 was more like exploring and surviving than just surviving. I think the original world (in HL1) was more interesting and the world in HL2 was just more detailed but not as interesting.
I think you are pretty near the level with gravity gun and head-crab zombies (Ravencroft?). I recommend at least playing through that.
I thought Ravenholm was the best part, along with killing combine with your own antlions.I hated hated hated hated the part in the jail cells area with the tripods. The final battle was really easy compared to some of the earlier stuff. Killing the attack copters (both types) and striders is a nuisance.
Yes. Totally worth playing the rest of the game no matter how much you dislike it, just for that.
That said, I personally found the airboat stage and the dune buggy thingy stage to be ridiculously awesome.
Also, Ravenholm scared the crap out of me. I found it a bit too much like the original game, which I never liked.
Also, yes, the final battle/stage was stupid, even though the advanced gravity gun was heaps of fun.
At least get the gravity gun and play with that through Ravenholm before giving up. FTR, I loved HL2 as much as 1, and am playing through it again right now. And let me put in yet another plug for the webcomic Concerned, written with an HL2 mod. It’s awesome enough to be a Michael Bay movie.
I guess I’m in the minority in thinking that HL2 is heads and tails better than HL1. I put off buying HL2 forever, since I really didn’t think HL1 was worth all the kudos it got. I finally got HL2 on sale a few months ago, and was blown away. I very very rarely finish first person shooters, but I’m currently working through the Orange Box as slow as I can in order to draw it all out for a loooong time.
I guess I’ll stick with it long enough to give the Ravensholm part a try.
You’re not alone, Athena. I did not enjoy HL1 at all. I thought the mechanics were clunky and unfnished, and I truly didn’t care if I or anyone else got out of there alive.
HL2 on the other hand was an absolute masterpiece. I was utterly sucked into that universe from beginning to end. I’ve played HL2 three times through, but could barely muster the enthusiasiam to plod through HL1 the first go.
I thought HL2 was great at the beginning, and got even better when you left the city. Then when I got back to the city (near the end?) I got bored/frustrated and never finished it.
I agree, and I loved the original game. I’ve never played a shooter as engrossing as Half-Life 2.
I thought the ending was the best part. Don’t want to give anything away, but it’s very atmospheric and different than the rest of the game. BTW, Portal takes the best puzzle aspects of HL2 to unimagined heights. So if you like the part of HL where you are figuring out how to get over and around obstacles definitely check it out.
Not being an ass, I’m actually curious…What did you find engrossing about the first part? Running while getting shot at from 500 directions is exciting as part of something bigger, but so far that’s all the game has been.
The grunts in HL1 seemed smarter than the cops/soldiers/whatever they are in HL2, also. The grunts used coordinated attacks and knew enough to take cover and flee from grenades before they exploded. The cops just kind of run out and stand there while shooting at you. They also have an odd habit of taking up positions right by barrels full of explosive chemicals.
Except for the fact that the cake is a lie!
R.I.P.: W.C.C. 
Well, IMHO that’s the whole point. Unlike most FPSs where you can just go charging about with guns blazing, you have to scope out every situation carefully and always keep alert for Combine/zombies coming at you from odd places or doing clever things like tossing exploding barrels at you and then shooting them.
Man, this thread surprises me by the negativity. When HL2 came out there was a thread with a kazillion pages extolling its virtue. Is it only that it’s four years later and people are forgetting the original experience, or have all the people who wrote hundreds of posts adoring HL2 left the SDMB?
I adored HL. LOVED it. The immersive environment, the nerdy scientists who had such disdain for Gordon until he/I turned out to be their only hope for survival, the marines who shocked me by murdering civvies, the ability to swim and watch the bullets whiz past me underwater… Everything except Xen, pretty much.
When I finally got a computer that would run HL2 – about seven months ago – I fell in love with HL2 just as much. Why? Well, just describing stuff without spoiling anything past your current area…
- Exploring the 1984-esque squalor of City 17, and hearing the Administrator’s ongoing announcements revealing why we’ve all been effectively neutered;
- The fear of ending up on the wrong end of a CP baton only to discover Barney undercover;
- That thrilling first chase sequence along the rooftops, desperately trying to find escape from the relentless CPs;
- The cast of characters – I mean, c’mon, how could you not love Eli when he’s ribbing you about gettin’ it on with his daughter and when he’s played by Isaac freakin’ Jaffee? And the facial expressions Alyx makes whenever Dr. Mossman is bitching at her?
- The sheer beauty, expanse and exploratory joy of Water Hazard level. The chasey bits were awesome enough, but frankly I’d’ve been happy to just zip around and suss out the scenery, plus finding all the extra supplies floating in the reeds.
- Ducking in and out of refuse during the first helicopter chase. Sure it was frustrating not to have a way to destroy it at that time, but eventually you do get your revenge.
I won’t mention too much extra because it’s spoilers, but I will say that once you get past another helicopter chase (with new weapons), and you’re back to Alyx and play with her companion using the gravity gun, things go to a whole 'nother level. Ravenholm! Sweet, sweet, scary Ravenholm, with its hilariously crazy-as-a-mofo guardian/guide and all those multiple methods of dispatching creepy beings. There’s much more even after Ravenholm but if you don’t enjoy that, there’s no hope for you liking the game beyond it. Your soul is dead.
For me, it’s using the gravity gun to throw circular saw blades like frisbees and cut zombies in half. I dunno why I find that so incredibly fun, but I do. I could do it all day (and I think I have).
Technically, cutting them in half only slows them down. As Minsc would say, “Go for the eyes, Boo. GO FOR THE EYES!”
Personally, I’m more of a pyromaniac and prefer to watch them burn