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"So, I hate Half-Life"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'Half Life'.
Mon 04/08/03 at 22:43
Regular
Posts: 787
Yup yup.
It's mediocre.
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:52
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
Yeah, Serious Sam was a bit too mindless. I think Perfect Dark on the N64 had the perfect balance of action/storyline, or at least how I like it.

Strangely, I quite like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, despite their lack of action. I suppose I just associate FPS games with action, so Half-Life disappointed me as it's not what I thought it would be, and it didn't really live up to my expectations, which were higher than usual because of the huge hype.
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:45
Regular
"Infantalised Forums"
Posts: 23,089
I can see how the lack of constant action would bore someone that primarily wanted that.
I loved the immersion, the time spent wandering about in Black Mesa etc.

And if you take something like Serious Sam - just a straight forward run and gun, no story, no characters. Just massive weapons and loads and loads of continual monsters...bored me stupid.

I guess it's what you want from a game.

Soldier of Fortune II, it's alright. Just shooting a lot.
Silent Hill 1,2,3 I love. Not much happens, but it draws me in.
I like some shooting/running, but I also prefer to be part of something, to really enjoy the experience of being in a different scenario to usual.

It's why I love Morrowind. It's a complete world, like nothing I've seen before and, despite being an RPG, I cant get enough
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:40
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
OK, fair enough.

First of all, I'm going to be honest, I've never cared much for storylines in games. As long as there's something to keep all the progressions on track, and it makes reasonable sense, then it's fine. All I care about is the gameplay itself, I'm not watching a film after all, I want to be part of the action. This is probably the main factor in my dislike of storyline intensive RPGs, so the Half-Life storyline is basically lost on me.

I didn't really find the weapons or equipment brilliant either. Most of it was fairly boring and standard. Nothing stood out enough for me to have a favourite weapon.

What I did find impressive, however, was the level design and AI (as you said). Everything was structured excellently, and the enemies did react very well, but it still didn't strike me as being 'fun'. I didn't like how strongly featured the adventure game element was. Sometimes it didn't even seem like an FPS, due to the lack of action in some parts.

Playing it was more like following a story than actually getting into the action.

The grapics and sound for the time were brilliant, too, but graphics aren't exactly the most important factor, so I wasn't swung round to liking the game just because it looked pretty.

I suppose it just wasn't 'shoot shoot kill' enough for me. I'm not saying it's a terrible game, and I do freely admit it's perfectly playable, and better than a lot of dross around nowadays, but I've deemed it 'mediocre' because it's not the amazing spectacle it's made out to be. At least not to me anyway.

How I see Half-Life - decent, but nothing special.


The multi-player, specifically counter strike and its many variations are a different story though. Counter Strike is pretty good when you have a good few players, and some others even better. I can't play online since it's too laggy, so I'm restricted to the occasional LAN game with friends.
I probably like them more because they're not story-based, and have a lot more action.

I'm an action-baby really. How the hell do I like Resi?!
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:13
Regular
"Infantalised Forums"
Posts: 23,089
Why didn't you think it played particularly well then?
What was it that you found mediocre?

Bearing in mind that at the time, it absolutely broke the FPS mould and set the standards for what was to come.
Excellent AI, the soldiers in Black Mesa acting and reacting to your actions, immersive storyline that was more than just "yeah, kill so and so", keeping the world entirely in 1st-person view, creating atmosphere through sound and lighting.
Bearing in mind that we're talking 1998 here and there wasn't a lot of competition around.
It basically created online gaming with the Team Fortress aspect and spawned Counterstrike.

I'm not saying you have to like it, I'm saying at least give reasons why you didnt, otherwise it's studied cynicism and comes off pretty lame.
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:03
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
I had the game wihin a month of release, due to all its critical acclaim, yet still didn't think it played particularly well.

I find that some of the mods for it are pretty good, but Half-Life itself isn't anything special.
Tue 05/08/03 at 12:00
Regular
"A man with a stick"
Posts: 5,883
Memorandum wrote:
> Because I thought someone might want to prove me wrong, and inform me
> as to what's so good about it?

Or, why do some people 'think' it's so good. I doubt you'd change your mind regardless of how many people list it's good points, and it would no doubt end it a post after post of users tearing apart each others opinions in order to get the last word.

All I'll say is I think it's a great game, but after so many years doesn't play as well as it used to. I can understand why people wouldn't like though, so I'm not going argue pointlessy with you or anyone else about this. One thing I will say though, is it's multiplayer support is still great, even after 6 years, in fact multiplayer is the only reason I still have Half-Life on my PC.
Tue 05/08/03 at 11:54
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
cipro wrote:
> If it was such a mediorce game, why do you keep talking about it?

Because I thought someone might want to prove me wrong, and inform me as to what's so good about it?
Tue 05/08/03 at 11:53
Regular
"I am Riki Takeuchi!"
Posts: 2,988
Memorandum wrote:
> Yes, DW, Red Faction does suck. That's why we compared it to
> Half-Life.

I'm not DW! Gahhhh!!!!
Tue 05/08/03 at 11:52
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
Goatboy wrote:
> No, I'm taking the "Wow, look at me I'm controversial and don't
> like half-life, look at me!" approach.

Oh, I see. I thought it was me doing that, or at least me taking the "I wonder if there are any others who don't like Half-Life out there, I know, I'll start a topic about it in the PC Gaming forum!" approach.
Tue 05/08/03 at 11:49
Regular
"bit of a brain"
Posts: 18,933
Apparently we love to be contraversial.

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