So I just bought The Orange Box...

Community General Discussion
1

So I wanted to see what the big deal about Half Life 2 was, so I bought the Orange Box. Ooooooooooohhhh boy. I can honestly say I’ve had more fun with Call of Duty than this game.

People praise it for its amazing immersion and story. Well, I bought the Orange Box hoping that I wouldn’t need to play Half Life 1 to understand. Nope. I’m dropped right in without any recap or context of my situation. So the story is thrown out the window for me. Why should I CARE about this world and these characters I know nothing about?

Next people say the gameplay is incredibly fun… what? People accuse of Halo of being nothing but a point and shoot game, when Half Life 2 is the prime example of that. There is absolutely no strategy to the gunplay in this game, it’s like dirt compared to Halo’s gunplay. Enemies always know where you are and cover is ineffective. There is hardly any feedback when you shoot an enemy, or when you are shot, making combat incredibly dull and hard to judge. It’s just so barebones and boring.

Next the puzzles, if you can even call them that. Look, putting boxes on a ramp isn’t what I’d consider a puzzle. We know Valve, you have a physics engine.

I’ve tried to see what other people’s impressions were of this game by searching on Google. The only argument lovers of Half Life 2 seemed to have against people who didn’t like it was that “it was revolutionary when it came out”. Revolutionary? In what way? How? Do these people have amnesia of Halo CE and Halo 2, or are they just ignoring them because they’re console games?

I play one or two levels of the Campaign of a Halo game every day and I can safely say that Halo does everything Half Life 2 does and better. MUCH BETTER. In Halo you have a variety of ways you can tackle every single encounter. The enemies actually react to bullets. The general gunplay, AI, and vehicle gameplay is light years ahead of Half Life 2. I have a lot more fun with Halo than Half Life 2.

PLEASE. Enlighten me on what I’m missing from the “BEST FPS EVER MADE”. Because I am not having any fun with Half Life 2 at all.

2

I am one of those people who hold the Half-Life and Half-Life 2 on a pedestal. And it was “revolutionary” when it came out. That was back in the jam-packed year of 2004.
The original Half-Life was the first M rated game I ever played in 98’, and for that I have a fondness for it. You’re right in saying that it would be confusing just jumping right into Half-Life 2. There are many story aspects that you need to play the original to understand and appreciate.

Looking back, the game-play was standard shooter fare, but the Gravity Gun was the star of that show. finding sharp objects to impale combine and slice Headcrab Zombies in half was very satisfying (But as you said the general feedback from shooting enemies isn’t and that’s where Half-Life 2 begins to show it’s age).
I will say this. My least favorite part of Half-Life 2 was Sandtrap. all it is, is ant lions and wonky driving with a buggy. Aside from that low point, I personally found the game rather fun. Ravenholm was the best mission in HL2 imo.

Puzzles, yeah, they’re not all that complex, but they never bothered me much.

In closing, you have to remember that this game came out in 2004, the same month as Halo 2 in fact. It’s been a long time since that, and shooters have evolved exponentially.

3

~ cough ~
Garry’s Mod
~ cough~

It is sometimes considered to even be better than minecraft on terms of replayablility…

4

> And it was “revolutionary” when it came out. That was back in the jam-packed year of 2004.

Halo 2 came out the same year, and its gameplay had ten times more depth than that of Half Life 2. Please tell me what was so revolutionary about Half Life 2? What did it have over Halo 2? I actually went back and played Halo 2 after shutting off Half Life 2 to compare, and Halo 2 has aged marvelously compared to Half Life 2. Half Life 2 reminds me of Goldeneye in terms of how it has aged.

5

I for once, enjoy Half-Life 2.

Not because im a Valve fanboy (Team Fortress 2 being my 1# favorite game and Portal being my 5# favorite game) but i like it because of how fun it is.

There is nothing more satisfying that blowing a headcrab zombie in half with the Grav gun and something sharp, or just simply shooting at everything that moves, and see it fly sky-high, due to HL2’s weird physics engine.

For me, Half-Life 2 is just a game of just messing around, not really to play it for the story.

And the soundtrack is great.

6

Opinions. How do they work?

7

Opinions are boring and bring debate to a dead stop. I’m talking about my observations, what Halo and Half Life make me feel; satisfaction or boredom. Why people say Half Life 2 was revolutionary when Halo CE and 2 were already doing what it did, only better crafted and designed with more layers and depth in the gameplay. That’s not opinion, that’s observable evidence. All you need to do is play the games back to back for comparison.

8

> Opinions are boring and bring debate to a dead stop. I’m talking about my observations, what Halo and Half Life make me feel; satisfaction or boredom. Why people say Half Life 2 was revolutionary when Halo CE and 2 were already doing what it did, only better crafted and designed with more layers and depth in the gameplay. That’s not opinion, that’s observable evidence. All you need to do is play the games back to back for comparison.

There’s a difference between opinions and observable evidence.

Opinion is what someone thinks about it.

Observable evidence is what something can see, and agree or disagree on.

You not liking Half Life 2 and thinking it didn’t revolutionize anything is your opinion, because people like me like Half life 2 and think it did revolutionized some aspects of gaming.

That’s not observable evidence, its just an opinion.

9

At least you have Portal.

10

Even the Halo forums won’t let you put-down Half Life. You may want to reevaluate your observational skills.

11

I love the Half-Life games, and really, you don’t really need to know anything before playing Half-Life 2. I started with the Orange box back in 2008, and only within the last year finished Half-Life 1. The first game isn’t necessary (and honestly, doesn’t really explain much) to understand Half-Life 2.

Half-Life is unique in that it focuses on navigation and puzzles over shooting. Yeah, the puzzles aren’t that hard, but it’s different, and I like that. Further, and perhaps better, the game doesn’t hold your hand. You have to figure everything out. Hand-holding is a major issue with modern games, and I love that Half-Life treats players like they are capable human beings.

Still, Half-Life isn’t for everyone. To my experience, you love it or hate it. It’s rare that I’ve met someone who breaks this dichotomy.

And I’m sorry, but while I love Halo to death, Half-Life is a much more immersive game, with more depth. Halo will always hold a special place in my heart, but I find the Half-Life games much more fun and engaging.

12

> > Opinions are boring and bring debate to a dead stop. I’m talking about my observations, what Halo and Half Life make me feel; satisfaction or boredom. Why people say Half Life 2 was revolutionary when Halo CE and 2 were already doing what it did, only better crafted and designed with more layers and depth in the gameplay. That’s not opinion, that’s observable evidence. All you need to do is play the games back to back for comparison.
>
> There’s a difference between opinions and observable evidence.
>
> Opinion is what someone thinks about it.
>
> Observable evidence is what something can see, and agree or disagree on.
>
> You not liking Half Life 2 and thinking it didn’t revolutionize anything is your opinion, because people like me like Half life 2 and think it did revolutionized some aspects of gaming.
>
> That’s not observable evidence, its just an opinion.

Me not liking HL2 isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact that I don’t like HL2. However Halo already revolutionized the FPS genre before Half Life 2, playing the games back to back and THAT is the observable evidence, not my opinion. You’re going to need to provide your own evidence and reasons HL2 revolutionized FPS gaming and not just use the word “opinion” as a cop-out.

13

> Even the Halo forums won’t let you put-down Half Life. You may want to reevaluate your observational skills.

WHY? Give me a REASON.

14

> I love the Half-Life games, and really, you don’t really need to know anything before playing Half-Life 2. I started with the Orange box back in 2008, and only within the last year finished Half-Life 1. The first game isn’t necessary (and honestly, doesn’t really explain much) to understand Half-Life 2.

Well that’s obviously not true since I have know idea what’s going on at the moment. And since I don’t know, I don’t care, so I don’t care to pay attention.

> Half-Life is unique in that it focuses on navigation and puzzles over shooting. Yeah, the puzzles aren’t that hard, but it’s different, and I like that. Further, and perhaps better, the game doesn’t hold your hand. You have to figure everything out. Hand-holding is a major issue with modern games, and I love that Half-Life treats players like they are capable human beings.

The “puzzles” I have encountered just serve to bring the game to a dead halt for some ridiculously mundane tasks. What I consider a puzzle is Silent Hill 2 and 3 on hard puzzle difficulty. Plugging things into outlets and placing boxes are NOT puzzles. Both the shooting and puzzle elements in this game are incredibly weak to me. The game seems to lack proper focus.

> Still, Half-Life isn’t for everyone. To my experience, you love it or hate it. It’s rare that I’ve met someone who breaks this dichotomy.
>
> And I’m sorry, but while I love Halo to death, Half-Life is a much more immersive game, with more depth. Halo will always hold a special place in my heart, but I find the Half-Life games much more fun and engaging.

It seems HL2 is much more of an experience game than a GAME proper. Half Life 2 may appear to have more depth, but that’s because it’s on a significantly smaller scale; you’re always in the eyes of Gordon Puppetman. Halo has a lot more ground to cover in its stories since it’s such a big universe. The Half Life universe is immensely bleak, lifeless, dull, and boring. There’s nothing that pops out to me. And like I said before, I know nothing about the world or characters, so I fail to care. Not to mention I don’t enjoy the gameplay. So it’s impossible for me to even begin to get immersed.

15

> I love the Half-Life games, and really, you don’t really need to know anything before playing Half-Life 2. I started with the Orange box back in 2008, and only within the last year finished Half-Life 1. The first game isn’t necessary (and honestly, doesn’t really explain much) to understand Half-Life 2.

Well that’s obviously not true since I have know idea what’s going on at the moment. And since I don’t know, I don’t care, so I don’t care to pay attention.

> Half-Life is unique in that it focuses on navigation and puzzles over shooting. Yeah, the puzzles aren’t that hard, but it’s different, and I like that. Further, and perhaps better, the game doesn’t hold your hand. You have to figure everything out. Hand-holding is a major issue with modern games, and I love that Half-Life treats players like they are capable human beings.

The “puzzles” I have encountered just serve to bring the game to a dead halt for some ridiculously mundane tasks. What I consider a puzzle is Silent Hill 2 and 3 on hard puzzle difficulty. Plugging things into outlets and placing boxes are NOT puzzles. Both the shooting and puzzle elements in this game are incredibly weak to me. The game seems to lack proper focus.

> Still, Half-Life isn’t for everyone. To my experience, you love it or hate it. It’s rare that I’ve met someone who breaks this dichotomy.
>
> And I’m sorry, but while I love Halo to death, Half-Life is a much more immersive game, with more depth. Halo will always hold a special place in my heart, but I find the Half-Life games much more fun and engaging.

It seems HL2 is much more of an experience game than a GAME proper. Half Life 2 may appear to have more depth, but that’s because it’s on a significantly smaller scale; you’re always in the eyes of Gordon Puppetman. Halo has a lot more ground to cover in its stories since it’s such a big universe. The Half Life universe is immensely bleak, lifeless, dull, and boring. There’s nothing that pops out to me. And like I said before, I know nothing about the world or characters, so I fail to care. Not to mention I don’t enjoy the gameplay. So it’s impossible for me to even begin to get immersed.

And gameplay-wise, saying Half Life 2 is better than Halo 2 is like saying Bubsy 3D is better than Mario 64.

16

> > > Opinions are boring and bring debate to a dead stop. I’m talking about my observations, what Halo and Half Life make me feel; satisfaction or boredom. Why people say Half Life 2 was revolutionary when Halo CE and 2 were already doing what it did, only better crafted and designed with more layers and depth in the gameplay. That’s not opinion, that’s observable evidence. All you need to do is play the games back to back for comparison.
> >
> > There’s a difference between opinions and observable evidence.
> >
> > Opinion is what someone thinks about it.
> >
> > Observable evidence is what something can see, and agree or disagree on.
> >
> > You not liking Half Life 2 and thinking it didn’t revolutionize anything is your opinion, because people like me like Half life 2 and think it did revolutionized some aspects of gaming.
> >
> > That’s not observable evidence, its just an opinion.
>
> Me not liking HL2 isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact that I don’t like HL2. However Halo already revolutionized the FPS genre before Half Life 2, playing the games back to back and THAT is the observable evidence, not my opinion. You’re going to need to provide your own evidence and reasons HL2 revolutionized FPS gaming and not just use the word “opinion” as a cop-out.

You not liking Half-Life is a fact, but it is still your opinion about the game.

Halo did revolutionize the CONSOLE FPS games but Half Life revolutionized PC FPS games.

And you honestly think im going to go and do some research about how much did HL2 change the PC FPS genre?
I have better things to do in my life.

And i came here with the sole purpose of saying that i enjoy Half life, i didnt come here to start a long conversation.

17

Its YOUR opinion about the game.
And its MY opinion to like it.
You cant debate about these things.
Just live with the fact that some people say its the greatest FPS ever made.

18

> Its YOUR opinion about the game.
> And its MY opinion to like it.
> You cant debate about these things.
> Just live with the fact that some people say its the greatest FPS ever made.

“Opinion” is shield, a cop-out on the internet it seems. It frees you from giving examples or providing any evidence for your stance.

Opinion: “a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge”. Note the last statement. I don’t want to believe the love for Half Life 2 is purely because of nostalgia goggles at its finest, but I’m having a hard time gathering any sort of enjoyment from the HL2 coming from Halo, which would invoke positive response from any objective player besides myself who plays it today. This thread is about me trying to understand the enjoyment from the game which I did not receive, but everyone else did.

This is not just a matter of tastes. Well, perhaps it is in terms of the storytelling and “puzzles”. But from a pure gameplay perspective, it is inferior to Halo is every single regard. It is not arguable that Halo’s combat is far more developed and ahem evolved. This is why the phrase to describe Half Life “Best FPS ever” baffles me considering the barebones quality of the gunplay. I don’t doubt that Half Life has an amazing story, I just don’t get it diving straight into HL2, so I think the phrase “Best game story ever” is much more likely to make sense.

When game developers are making a game, they aren’t making it with the mindset “some people will have the opinion that our game is good.” They’re making it with a mindset of tuning the game to provide the players with positive signals that indicate they’re having FUN. Those signals largely reside in how your gun shoots, how enemies react to being shot, how they die, and even how you move. All sorts of little things that make up for how you perceive your experience.

Half Life 2 at best feels like a single step above Goldeneye in that you can actually look around without holding down a button. (Don’t start proclaiming that Goldeneye is STILL amazing and better than Halo. Please.) Movement feels like you’re ice skating, there’s so little INTERESTING movement and feedback in combat. Whereas in Halo, Elite shields flare BRIGHTLY and POP, Grunts flail when shot, Brute’s armor combust, Jackal shields go poof, Hunter armor explodes, and Flood fall apart in a spectacular mess of gore. THINGS that pleasure your brain and make you ENJOY combat!

I’m trying to see WHY people enjoy it and WHY people say it is better than Halo. It baffles me. When I can’t understand something or when, in my perspective, people may be flat out wrong about something, I get immensely frustrated. That’s why I’m making this thread.

So, instead of throwing the word “opinion” all over the place in this thread, please provide examples, comparisons between Half Life 2 and Halo 2 to help me see what’s so amazing. I’m more interested in examining the gameplay given that that’s the only thing I could potentially enjoy about HL2 without having played HL1.

19

> Halo did revolutionize the CONSOLE FPS games but Half Life revolutionized PC FPS games.

I don’t care what platform either games were on, they’re all GAMES. I don’t look at any games differently purely because of what platforms they may have been on as long as they were made in the same generation.

20

I think it is simply a matter of taste. I’ve played HL2, didn’t much care for it either. But looking at the puzzles, the gravity gun and ways it can be used and so on, I can see why people like the gameplay. Halo may have improved the console FPS, but that doesn’t mean it has gameplay everybody is going to like. This call for people to convince you that HL2 deserves the accolades it gets seems like a lost cause.