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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Half-Life 2 isn't good

IllegalPaladin on 06 January 2008
Played_Out said:
No, the story isn't very good. It's a darn sight better than most games though. It's just that games generally have weak, undeveloped stories intended only to progress the action. Bioshock supposedly had a great story even though the only actual plot development involved a really predictable "twist". Other than that, it was just a series of loosely connected fetch missions.

And the physics puzzles may not exactly be ingenious, but at least they break up the monotony of endless shooting. The gravity gun is probably the most innovative weapon in any FPS... or at least it was until the Portal gun came along.

 

I really like the story compared to most games. I agree that other games the story isn't that great and it's main thing is just to push the action along. While they might be okay for those types of gamers, I want story as a driving factor and not just to take out enemies. Like somebody said, Half-Life was one of the first to do storytelling and despite the fact that your character never speaks (one of the few games where the "you're the character" approach is actually good) and there aren't any real kinds of cut-scenes, it's doing pretty damn well in my opinion. 

Perhaps there will be lots of portal stuff in Episode 3 with the Borealis. 



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Halo on 06 January 2008

Halo 3 has the best pacing ever conjured up in a FPS. It is also unrivaled on the console with its multiplayer game options. Campaign mode never gets boring, like the hour driving the air boat in Half-Life 2.



IllegalPaladin on 06 January 2008
Teragen said:
MrMarc said:
Teragen said:
You're forgetting the fact that it's a game - and a great one at that.

The physics-based puzzles are simply ingenious and the somewhat linearity of the game is a good thing, as it provides for great pacing.


Actually... at the risk of making me look a further cynical bastard. I have one gripe with this.

 

Making a sea-saw with bricks and wood / barrels and metal sheeting is not puzzling. Putting plugs back into walls is not puzzling.

 

Like Zero-Punctuation said - "We get it Valve, you made a physics engine!"


Well, I was talking about Half-Life 2, which came out in 2004 and at the time, they were great. The fact that Episode 2 is doing more of the same various years later is viable criticism. But having to figure out that you have to use your enviroment and physics to proceed left a lasting impression on me as much as using your crowbar to clear your path in Half-Life 1 did.

While the sea-saw puzzles are plentyfull, they have their variations and some of them are more impressive than others. My favorite being the one where you had to leverage a sea-saw by placing barrels underneath the submerged end. In the end, they serve their porpose...


 Dude, the crowbar has left a lasting impression on me. Kind of like the one Half-Life 2 ad which had a crowbar and a date.... if you've played Half-Life, you (most likely) instantly knew what it was. 



Teragen on 06 January 2008

I'm sorry IllegalPaladin but I'm afraid I'm missing your point...

 

Are you agreeing? Disagreeing? In between?



IllegalPaladin on 06 January 2008
Halo said:
Halo 3 has the best pacing ever conjured up in a FPS. It is also unrivaled on the console with its multiplayer game options. Campaign mode never gets boring, like the hour driving the air boat in Half-Life 2.

Heh, I was bored with Halo 2 and 3 not long after I started playing them.

But hey, this wouldn't be a discussion without different opinions.



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SleepWaking on 06 January 2008

Half-life is the best gaming series ever and that's all I have to say.



IllegalPaladin on 06 January 2008
EliteStance said:
Opinions are opinions (everybodies got one, few know the dictionary definition) - then there's the majority vote and critical view.

The majority vote and critical view says the Half Life series of games represent just about best FPS ever overall.

You don't have to agree - but of course that puts you in the minority.

Halo is an extremely good FPS IMO - but overall not quite as good as Half Life universe.

Example of proof of critical view - Orange Box scores higher than Halo 3 on Metacritic (just as one example) for 360 - and not just because there's more in the package.

Personally I thought Half Life 2 was good but feel the Episodes (while a lot of fun) haven't quite hung together as well. Portal IMO is the best game this year although it will never win GOTY (although I note the number of critics who mention in blogs, etc. that they all know it should be). The reason is innovation and essentially perfection. Portal is the first game in a long time I've played where I though there are just no flaws. The experience is 100% perfect for the concept - although of course its a concept not everyone will like.

Hell, even the closing credits in Portal crush every other games credits I've ever seen (although Flow comes close with its innovative credits also).

 I LOVE STILL ALIVE, I feel that the song is amazing and the woman singing it did a great job. However, I liked the old combine woman voice from Half-Life 2 and I don't like how they're using that voice as the new female combine voice.

Still, I liked her in Team Fortress 2. Nothing like hearing a convincing "You Fail!"



IllegalPaladin on 06 January 2008
Teragen said:

I'm sorry IllegalPaladin but I'm afraid I'm missing your point...

 

Are you agreeing? Disagreeing? In between?


 I'm agreeing with how much the crowbar is symbolic to Half-Life.



Teragen on 06 January 2008
IllegalPaladin said:
Teragen said:

I'm sorry IllegalPaladin but I'm afraid I'm missing your point...

 

Are you agreeing? Disagreeing? In between?


I'm agreeing with how much the crowbar is symbolic to Half-Life.


 Figured as much, it's just that the formatting in that particular post was a bit confusing...



Lost tears of Kain on 06 January 2008
zackblue said:
Halo the superior series? What are you joking? Is this like the 30th joke thread this month? And its only the 6th..

My opinion is that it is, you gonna shoot me down with yours?

No

Or we can beleive that to some opinions it is and to others it is not?



                 With regard to Call of Duty 4 having an ultra short single player campaign, I guess it may well have been due to the size limitations of DVD on the XBox 360, one of various limitations multi-platform game designers will have to take into consideration-Mike B   

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Game trailers-Halo 3 only dissapointed the people who wanted to be dissapointed.

Bet with Harvey Birdman that Lost Odyssey will sell more then Blue dragon did.