from this thread on Steam Forums:
I dont want to flame, but: HL > HL2 > other FPS
THe following is a list of shortcoming, if you feel offended, remember that I do not point out good stuf about HL2 in the first part.
HL never let you know what would happen next. things very often had a tendency to change from one thing to a completely different thing. In HL2 its shoot combine with pistol, use hovercraft, kill zombies in ravenholm etc… Its doing one job straight until the next chapter. and then its the next thing straight until the next chapter. I’ll admit with the odd puzzle thrown in and stuff, but its just not the same.
HL also had more of those “wow thats cool” moments.
There are less different guns in HL2, and half of them suck:
pistol: love it (where’s that stupid/pointless but fun alternate fire mode)
magnum: does what it should (zoom?)
smg: the I dont hit anything and it doesn hurt anyone gun. doesnt feel satisfying to shoot with. (only 3 grenades?)
pulse rifle: approx what the smg should be, but doesnt look like a gun in first person mode. not satisfying. (what do the “grenades” do?)
shotgun: cool! (only 6 shells?)
crossbow: I wont event comment on it
rocket launcher: nice. (3 rockets?)
yup, thats all the guns we get! gravitron and bugbait things are fun, but NOT GUNS. This should not be a first person THROW STUFF AROUND or LET OTHERS DO YOUR
JOB game. those parts are fun, but please, I want to shoot stuff.
and now the worst(?) part: 4 different basic monsters. NO MORE
- headcrabs poison and not
- zombies, fast, headcrab throwing and standard
- combine
- the ever annoying flying stuff , armed and not
the bugs are cool too, but we get as good as no actual combat with them. The not many different monsters part is probably what makes my first point as
noticable as it is. In addition, in comparison with the old HL soldiers, the combine STINK!
The puzzles in HL2 sometimes feel stupid, and solutions are sometimes too convenient. This might have been the case in HL too, but I never really noticed it. perhaps HL2 tries to create a too serious/realistic atmosphere and this makes gameplay compromises stand out clearly. And its noticable with the weapons too. Too much realism, no fun. ALso, more and more varied puzzles might have been cool. that does include jumping puzzles.
and before I forget, after jumping three times with the hovercraft, I GOT THE POINT!
health/power ups are also placed too much. You hardly ever feel worried for your life/running out of ammo = no tension.
I believe there some few more issues I wanted to point out, but hey, I’m sure you got the point. HL2 is a different game than HL, sure. ANd I do not ask for all monsters/weapons from HL to be back, and I do not expect them to be the same if they do (as such you may ignore the zoom/ only 3 grenades etc stuff). But the gameplay has changed completely. Opposing force showed how you could add more weapons/monster but keeping the gameplay in essence the same. And of course changes to the gameplay are cool too, but I feel too many good points about HL have been missed out.
on its own merits, HL2 is an excellent and perhaps even well polished game. The physics are cool, graphics are awesome, gameplay is average (a-v-e-r-a-g-e), story is good, perhaps even great. The characters are cool too, so are the face expressions. Though sometimes I think the expressions are “understated”.
Now, am I the only one who feels this way? I can’t be, can I? Or is this a devoted Hammer Legion Members only forum ?
i agree with most of what this guy says as he kind of points out where half life messed up for me.
