HL1 & HL2 first play comparison

Technology and Gaming
#21

I played HL1 when it first came out and was excited to hear about part 2 coming out so that I could see the continuing adventures of Gordon Freeman. When I first booted up HL2 and saw the G-Man’s face filling the screen, I giggled like a little girl. Then he said “So, wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and…smell the ashes.” I was like D: This is gonna be awesome!

Then I was introduced to the police state that is City 17 and was I was like “WTF”? It was almost completely unrecognizable as a Half-Life game. It was beautiful, yes. The graphics, the sound, but I was like…what happened? Then I met Barney and I began giggling again and started to understand that it was some time later and I was thinking “What happened?”

As I played the game, I became aware of what happened over the last decade or more years after I destroyed Nihilanth and accepted the G-Man’s offer. I enjoyed the airboat sequence getting to Black Mesa East (I giggled again, loving the references to Half Life 1) and finally understood what happened when I looked at the corkboard in Eli’s lab.

Then I went from “WTF, this isn’t Half Life” to “OMG, this is Half Life on steroids!” Then I wanted more. Then through the episodes (fucking Strider battle at the end of Ep2!) and, now, dammit, I want Episode 3 and Half Life 3!

#22

This is tough for me to answer, because the first Half-Life I played was the PlayStation 2 port. It was okay, but I wouldn’t play it too often, and got bored with it. When I first loaded Half-Life up on the PC nearly a year later, I was blown away by all the game-play changes going from console to computer. Then I loaded up Half-Life 2, it was laggy as hell on the PC I had at the time, so it was difficult to really enjoy. Then I bought a PC meant for gaming and loaded it up, it was so fresh, so enjoyable; Truly worthy of the fact that I had to buy it twice Let’s not get into that.

#23

When i first played HL1 and the expansion packs the sounds alone were enough to scare the shit out of me.

For example, at the start of the blast pit chapter there’s a bullsquid attacking a headcrab that it can’t actually hit, i thought it was some alien digging through the walls.
The ambient sounds you hear at some points really set the tone that not all areas in the facility were occupied at the time, and that stuff was breaking down.

HL2 then was shockingly good, but due to the game taking so long to download i had to wait up to 10 minutes to load another level, so i remember what those loading points look like very well. The airboat and coast levels were great, before HL2 i never had such freedom of game, and it was the highest quality game i ever played up until then, and i think it still is the best game i’ve played up until now.

As for making levels, the first time i used Hammer, one day felt like a week, having such a slow internet connection that i couldn’t be distracted meant that i could basically focus entirely on experimenting. That was still the most fun i ever had making a level, discovering new things all the time. The 15 minute compile times were offsetting that a bit though.

All in all, Half-life changed my life, i’m now going to college doing computer sciences because i want to learn to program and get into the industry.

#24

You lost me at “really great community”

#25

wat

#26

Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

#27

I actually liked Episode One the best out of HL’s main series. The mix of gameplay and puzzle solving elements was easily at it’s best. The flashlight mechanics in Lowlife made Alyx even more indispensable, as you had to work as a team to survive. It was also quite inventive in that most of the Episode was best balanced towards playing with the Gravity Gun- getting the achievement for “The One Free Bullet” was actually surprisingly easy (And fun, unlike “Little Rocket Man”).

Episode Two was still amazing, but Episode One was just so much fun, and it emphasized the urban combat of the later chapters of HL2 with an intensity and urgency that kept things moving forward. On the whole, Ep1 was just an insanely well polished shooter.

#28

I prefer HL1 by far, it had the atmosphere … HL2 was great, but it was dull at places.

#29

I like HL2 for the physics and damn better AI
I think I always replay Anticitizen One and Follow Freeman just to test out the new squad AI

And HL1 have a beautiful sense of urgency (prey to aliens, hunted by the military) and helplessness (seeing allies die and being alone and overwhelmed)

#30

Personally, I like HL1 much better than HL2. Both are great, but HL1 just had this feeling of “trying to get out” which is hard to create for a game. HL2 had more a feeling of “Lets save the world” which I didn’t like nearly as much.

And Hl1’s weaponry was cooler because there was much more, and they packed a hell of a punch. I really hated much of HL2’s weaponry, minus the grav gun, 357, and Crossbow.

#31

Freeman’s Mind got me into Half Life in the first place, though I played HL2 first. I thought it was awesome, though it was one of the first PC games I ever played, and it challenged me. (the only other PC games I ever played were the Star Wars Jedi Knight series, The Sims 2, and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3) so this was a nice change.

I eventually played HL and thought it was cool, the biggest reason being I got to see stuff from FM and explore on my own. Without FM, I probably wouldn’t have liked HL AS much. I’d still think it was good and keep playing it.

#32

It’s arguable weather the combine or the HECU had better AI.

And, in my experience, all the squads that follow you do is suck, die, and tell you to reload AFTER YOU ALREADY HIT THE R KEY :fffuuu:

#33

The HECU uses AI-less tanks, The Combine uses AI GIANT WALKING TRIPOD

And yeah, but still better than some other games (cod amirite) wish they could make squad AI like in brothers in arms or sumthin

#34

The tank has an AI.

#35

^This

#36

The cannon? That’s just self defense

#37

It’s just point and shoot, nothing more.

#38

I played HL2 & episodes first, and then bought HL1. Still haven’t finished it. Every time i try to finish HL1, i get stuck in “On a Rail”. The last loading screen crashed my game 3 times, even after re-install, and a new playthrough. :frowning:

#39
#40

I was talking about the version in HL1, not the one in BM.

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