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Forums - PC Discussion - Just finished Half-Life 2 and...

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Wagram on 24 November 2012
Chark said:
Wagram said:
Chark said:
It's about timing. You should have played it when it released.


Timing is what makes it a perfect game? I disagree.

I played the game in the future and didn't find it to be the game people said either, but I don't think time should be hailed as the reason it's good.


What? I never said anything about it being perfect. Don't impose on me. The game is considered one of the greats. A good game indeed. It came out 8 years ago and introduced a variety of new things to the genre and gaming itself. Think 2004, using a physics engines you don't see on home consoles. This was a PC game and it stood out. It had multiplayer with a mod community and played fluidly. The graphics were amazing, the weapons are great, and the first person shooters were stepping into their own. Steam grew in major populatiry thanks to this game.

When I say timing I say it was the best thing out there back then. Obviously today, games have taken some of its aspects and improved on them, as well implement physics engines. So yes, timing will have a large effect on this games seminality.

I didn't mean to suggest that you consider it a perfect game, but i've heard that from people many times. I was expressing those peoples opinions.



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Barozi on 24 November 2012
DarkD said:
Basically think of it this way, HL2 at the time was a year late and still managed to hold its own graphically for almost a year after its release. HL2 was the first to incorporate physics of any kind up to that point. I don't even think doom 3 which came out a year later was up to par in that respect with HL2. Same with lip syncing and computer AI. It broke the record for pretty much every aspect of gaming at that point. Every graphically impressive thing reviewers take note of in todays gaming market was started by HL2 and HL1 as well.

Until HL2 I think the only thing I remember the AIs in games doing was follow and shoot with the occassional grenade thrown in. Physics was a completely new term which almost no one ever even heard of up until HL2.

Well I think you got something mixed up here.

Doom 3 came out before Half-Life 2 and I think that Far Cry which came out before those two games was more technically advanced in graphics and AI.
But HL2 was definitely up there with the best.



sub-zero-TM on 24 November 2012

HL2 is the best sci fi fps and the nirvana of shooters. Ohh and here i will explain because its the best of the best, ahh kids these days are too addicted to rehash games like call of duty and halo.

And definitely you should play Ep1 and 2.



BradleyJ on 24 November 2012
sub-zero-TM said:
HL2 is the best sci fi fps and the nirvana of shooters. Ohh and here i will explain because its the best of the best, ahh kids these days are too addicted to rehash games like call of duty and halo.

And definitely you should play Ep1 and 2.

We're the same age...and I have played the episodes. I am referring to Half-Life 2 and it's expansions as one game, becuase that's essentially what it is. And an incomplete one at that.



DarkD on 24 November 2012

Sorry I was one of the people who was waiting in 2003 when it was supposed to come out counting the days and then the carpet got yanked from under me and the hacker took 1/3 of the source code causing valve to delay it a year.

Doom 3 came out before HL2 but HL2 was supposed to come first if it hadn't been delayed.

People always underestimate the Half Life series when they look back on it. They never seem to realize, it was the pioneer for almost everything you love about FPS games today. I don't think there are many areas of review that the Half Life series didn't pioneer.



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HoloDust on 24 November 2012
Barozi said:

Well I think you got something mixed up here.

Doom 3 came out before Half-Life 2 and I think that Far Cry which came out before those two games was more technically advanced in graphics and AI.
But HL2 was definitely up there with the best.


Yeah, FarCry came before HL2, and it had much better graphics and AI. In fact, if memory serves me well, its AI is probably better than most of the FPS titles that are released these days.



BradleyJ on 24 November 2012

Essentially what I'm seeing is that it was great for its time, but others have now learned from it and improved upon it. Makes sense.



sub-zero-TM on 24 November 2012
BradleyJ said:
sub-zero-TM said:
HL2 is the best sci fi fps and the nirvana of shooters. Ohh and here i will explain because its the best of the best, ahh kids these days are too addicted to rehash games like call of duty and halo.

And definitely you should play Ep1 and 2.

We're the same age...and I have played the episodes. I am referring to Half-Life 2 and it's expansions as one game, becuase that's essentially what it is. And an incomplete one at that.


I didn't call you a kid! :D



SvennoJ on 24 November 2012
DarkD said:

Basically think of it this way, HL2 at the time was a year late and still managed to hold its own graphically for almost a year after its release. HL2 was the first to incorporate physics of any kind up to that point. I don't even think doom 3 which came out a year later was up to par in that respect with HL2. Same with lip syncing and computer AI. It broke the record for pretty much every aspect of gaming at that point. Every graphically impressive thing reviewers take note of in todays gaming market was started by HL2 and HL1 as well.

Until HL2 I think the only thing I remember the AIs in games doing was follow and shoot with the occassional grenade thrown in. Physics was a completely new term which almost no one ever even heard of up until HL2.  Hell they didn't just add physics in, they threw in toys like the gravity gun to play with them.  Puzzle solving before HL2 was a series of button pushes and breaking walls that looked weak. 

I fully agree. And would also add the placement of sci-fi elements in a real world setting.
Pretty much everything has been copied from HL2, Resistance 3's campaign is basically a carbon copy of HL2's campaign. HL2 also had a big influence on one of my favorite movies of all time, Children of men.
I still think the atmosphere and seamless flow has not been matched in games today.



Scoobes on 24 November 2012
HoloDust said:
Barozi said:

Well I think you got something mixed up here.

Doom 3 came out before Half-Life 2 and I think that Far Cry which came out before those two games was more technically advanced in graphics and AI.
But HL2 was definitely up there with the best.


Yeah, FarCry came before HL2, and it had much better graphics and AI. In fact, if memory serves me well, its AI is probably better than most of the FPS titles that are released these days.

There's a reason for that. They made the AI too good to the point it was unrealistically good and too... artificial. Enemies had ridiculous visual perception and could sometimes see you before they'd even been rendered on screen. Other than that, they didn't really do anything too impressive. The original F.E.A.R is probably a better example of decent AI as they had very good pathfinding and would actively flank instead of relying on robotic sensory perception.




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