Half-Life 2: is the whole thing on rails?

Cafe Society
1

Just bought HL2. Graphics are amazing. Atmosphere is great. I nearly shit myself the first time the helicopter shot that massive spray of tracered minigun fire at me. The smokestack tumbling over in my path in “Water Hazard” - whoa!

But I’m a little miffed by the unoriginality of the whole thing. It just seems like another FPS killfest-on-rails. Run, shoot 75 guards. Blast headcrabs. Figure out which valve to turn to make the water rise. Watch cutscene.

No choices. No alternatives. One path. Go go go or die.

I mean, sure, it’s a tried-and-trusted formula. Doom, Duke Nukem, Red Faction, Serious Sam, Halo, Painkiller, hundreds of others. But I went into this game hearing how it was the absolute bomb shit most fecking bestest game EVAR! I wanted to think it really was original. I mean, how long did they develop it? How many people died by the hands of Valve’s super-secret cyber-soldiers when the code got snatched?

But it’s not like a little multipathing has never been done before. I mean, hell, Deus Ex came out when? 1998? That game blew my socks off. You get a mission bundled with storyline. You decide how you complete the mission. Stealth? Frontal assault? Diversion? Up to you. But then again, they completely blew it later with Deus Ex: Invisible War. Made it a standard game-on-rails killfest. Meh. Perhaps I do not share the majority’s opinion on what makes a good PC game.

I mean, I’m not precisely…disappointed. Not precisely. HL2 is still big time fun. Very well thought-out and executed. Tops in the genre. But it makes me wonder when something, well, different is going to come along. When are folks going to realize that “eye-popping,” “stunning,” “jaw-dropping” - or whatever other industry buzzwords - graphics do not necessarily a groundbreaking game make? Graphics are just going to get better, right? Nature of the beast.

I got the version with Counterstrike: Source bundled, by the way, and I’ve been playing the ever-lovin’ shit out of it. Waaaaay more than HL2. Choices. Paths. Tactics. Different outcomes. I like that. It’s also made me a better shot when I play America’s Army, whose pacing makes it not quite so run n’ gun.

By the way, is there still an SMDB sever out there? Anyone mind if a total n00b plays in? Warning: I’m hell at FF so far. :slight_smile:

2

I thought the same thing of HL2. All the hype and it seemed to be just Yet Another FPS. It was cool for a while but I eventually gave up when the dune buggy made me want to barf one too many times.

I don’t know if there are many single-player, non-linear shooters out there. Let me know if ya find other good ones :slight_smile: In the meantime, have you tried other multiplayer games? Some games offer you the opportunity to play however you want. Team Fortress, the Battlefield series, Planetside, and the Tribes series all let you choose different modes of play… stealth, frontal assault, sniping, support, etc. Maybe that’s more of what you’re looking for? Not sure.

Oh… hmm. They’re not exactly like Deus Ex, but what about games like the Rainbow Six / Ghost Recon line? They’re certainly very tactical and require careful planning and stealth, but not in the Deus Ex way.

3

There’s the Thief franchise, of course. I need to go back and play the first two, since I’ve heard that they are executed in a similar way as Deus Ex. I picked up the much-hyped Thief 3, and was disappointed in the same way as I was by Deus Ex: Invisible War. Sure, there were extra goals you could choose to take on, and you could explore, but it was so cramped and compartmentalized…and the frequent loads (with the same dull “tip screen” every time)…oy vey. Bad, bad, bad. Remember that first look out across the Liberty Island scenario in DE? Remember how huge and open it was? Man, that was great.

And yes, I have a set of tactical multiplayer FPS’s I like (America’s Army, etc.) but I would love to see an open ended story-driven game again.

Sigh…

4

I loved the game, but I understand your criticism. The linear nature of the FPS genre made me appreciate the open-ended gameplay of Far Cry a while back. In HL2, I found the variety of ways you could tackle most enemies and the ability to interact with the environment kept it interesting throughout the game. This was particularly the case after getting the gravity gun, which gave a whole range of options not seen in other shooters. I also thought the level design and detail was incredible. The various puzzles felt like an organic part of the game rather than random or tacked-on obstacles. Levels like “Ravenholm” (I think that was the name), with the lone nutty guy, the cleaver traps and the handy saw blades showed me that the developers put a lot of work into making the gaming experience as good as the engine.

Then of course there was “Dog,” one of my favorite NPCs ever.

5

I loved it. It took over my life. I know how sad I sound when I say that there were few waking moments during those initial ten days when I wasn’t turning the thing over in my mind - looking at the angles, and basically living it.

I found it incredibly immersive. Actually, I wanted to find it immersive and Valve obliged by providing… well, you know what they provided - I don’t need to describe it.

When it ended I felt fucking bereft. I was a bit dazed for a few minutes… then I got a grip on myself:

'It’s a bloody game, go outside and experience some real life - in the pub."

Yes it is on rails - rigid, locked-down and immovable rails. I got stuck once, right after I got the airboat. I just set off in the wrong direction - it never occurred to me to go forwards! I went back through the whole level looking for the way out. I was there for about three hours getting incredibly frustrated. Once I had cleared out the straggler enemies that was it - the place was deserted.

I would love for it to be non-linear in the way that Vice City is - and I’m sure that that’s the way forward for Single Player FPS games, but I think that the feel of Half-Life is that’s it’s cinematic and narrative driven, and I guess that mood doesn’t lend itself so easily to free-ranging shooting and killing.
Of course - the whole thing is so subjective… I suppose I’m just saying: I’m a fan. (Though strangely not of Doom3 )

6

It never pretends to be anything but on the rails: it’s an ongoing cinematic FPS, not an adventure sim. And for what it does, it does better than any other similar game. Once you stop pretending that exploration type games are an evolution of rails-FPS, instead of basically a different genre, you’ll be able to enjoy it more for what it is.

7

All I know is that I have a first-person perspective with a little gun sim sticking out of the bottom right corner of my screen. I basically run around in both types of game shoot the shit out of anything in my way. I set up my controls the same way (the same way every game since UT '99 :)), they both have nominal storylines/cutscenes/etc.

I’d hardly say they were different genres. Subsets of the same FPS genre, sure, but not really all that different.

One just happens to bore me and one doesn’t.

No, that’s not fair. I’m not bored with HL2. It’s wonderful for what it is. But what it is is…limited.

8

I think of it as playing an action movie. You can’t do anything but what they want you to do, but they want you to do some pretty spectacular stuff.

It’s a kind of game that’s got its place, but its very nature makes it more restricted than Deus Ex or Thief.

9

Look, just take it like it is. They make it obvious where you have to go. You advance, the story and action advances. You want to hang back and play, hang back and play. But their approach has its advantages, in part because it allows some of the most innovative aciton and story sequences ever. Sure, you can sneak around all you want in far Cry. But you just try to beat someone to death with a sink in Far Cry. Try it! Half-life 2 rules.

10

yeah i was dissapointed too. you know it could have been on rails and still been “fun” like resident evil 4, that game was great. i don’t know what it is but it had a lot of what half life 2 was missing. thinking on it right now maybe it was too forgettable? i can only remember one or two scenes in HL2. the game itself is striking while your playing , but it fades quickly from your memory. yet i can remember plenty from far cry, RE4, and the original half life. hell i can remeberr tons from fallout 1 & 2 :smiley:

11

^ I echo your Resident Evil 4 sentiment. While HL2 was fun, it really didn’t leave any lasting memories for me. RE4 however, consistantly blew me away and it’s a shame HL2 couldn’t offer a similar experience.

12

Yes, at least for a month. Contact me on aim as senorbeef00 or yahoo as senorbeef and I’ll include you in games.

13

I still think Half-Life 2 is the best game ever made. It’s also completely linear. At first, I saw this as a criticism of it, but now I don’t see how it makes a bit of difference. There is only one experience to get out of the game, and it’s a damn good one, written intelligently, assuming intelligence on the part of the player, and engaging you every bit of the way. I don’t see how its being a great game with only one clear path is any more valid a criticism than saying that Casablanca would’ve been a better movie if they’d shown two versions of what happened at the plane scene.

Knights of the Old Republic is a game that got a lot of press for having a light side and a dark side path. It’s still an excellent game, but the whole light side/dark side, multiple-routes thing was pretty weak in retrospect. You could either be cloyingly good, or petty and juvenile (not really evil), and your choice didn’t significantly affect the storyline one way or the other.

I’d much rather have a single story told brilliantly, than force a “choose your own adventure” type of meaningless on something just for the sake of saying it’s non-linear.

14

I get a feeling that the whole HL2 was just showcasing what the new engine does. I think the Valve people know that the most game play will be through online versions and that will give variety (developed by players), so why bother developing it for HL2? And with the new steam account thing, people who want to play online will have to get a legit copy, so that’s where the revenues are.

Myself, I don’t enjoy online playing communities and I hate it, when there’s only one way to pass an obstacle - especially if it involvers to time driving a stupid and uncontrollable buggy over a bridge and miss getting hit by a train.

The Zelda franchise is in reality pretty linear too, but when you’re stuck, there are enough side quests and fun stuff to explore, while you’re trying to figure out how to get further on in the game.

15

You’re right, but the difference is (for me at least) is that Zelda doesn’t feel linear. I suppose while you have to go through the story in a particular arc (sans a couple temples you can do out of order), the side questions, huge organic world and the sheer amount of ways to go about any particular task really lends the game a very dynamic feel.

In other words, going through the game feels natural as opposed to being lead from begining to end, as if reading a book.

16

I still think Half-Life is superior to the sequel. It just felt different. It felt like a little nobody of a game that had some fucking awesome stuff to offer, for what it was. It felt like it materialized from out of nowhere, and was pure gold.

HL2, on the other hand, feels like it was delivered from the very hands of God but was somewhat… lacking. The load times were killer (call it Half-Loadtime 2). The guns were pathetically nerfed, especially compared to Counterstrike’s accuracy system. The enemies weren’t really all that bright (if you were being chased, just duck into a room… they’ll walk right into your gunfire, one right after the other)… the AI in the original still impresses me more. Those marines were wickedly cunning…

Half-Life felt like a diamond in the rough. Half-Life 2 feels like a really, really, REALLY well-polished smooth marble pillar. Still impressive and really beautiful… but it’s no diamond.

17

No, they’re not. The first two are completely mission-based, but like Thief 3, you have a wide variety of ways of going about that mission. T-3 lives up to that, but it is not and never was anything like Deus Ex, except in quality.

18

good points SPOOFE. and I don’t think alot a of people wanted multiple paths, just more of a choice in dealing with enemies. in half life 2 the a.i. sucked all i ever did was rush them and they stood there and died. try doing that to the marines in half life 1. in the original i set up some trip mines went to the marines threw a det pack , the ones who survived the blast would chase me. i would jump the trip wire and they blow up. anybody left over was mp5ed. speaking of, what happened to the det packs and trip mines, two of the best weapons from the original half life.

19

i forgot to mention half life 1 was the first game where i felt the guns had a “real” feel to them if that makes any sense. in HL2 they feel chintzy.

20

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know whether Team Fortress 2 is still in production? Has there been any news? They kept HL2 secret fro ages, but there were videos released of TF2 in action years back, so I wonder if they’re going to make it with the new engine?