When does Half Life 2 get better?

[Monkeyboy]

I've been playing the game that so many hail as one of the, if not the best shooter experiences ever. I've been pushing through it waiting for it to wow me, or make me happy to be playing.

The game so far, is a monumental failure of praise. I've yet to experience one single thing in the game that was astounding, impressive, or even remotely enjoyable. The AI is horrible, the gameplay is incredibly shallow, and to directly focus on the console side of this game - the controls are a sloppy mess.

I'm currently at the part where you have to fight three striders in the courtyard. Running around, trying to find a rocket launcher so you can shoot three more rockets just doesn't create a gaming experience that's memorable outside of "wow, this is boring". When the third strider falls, does the game suddenly flash a message saying, "From this moment forward, you will be amazed."?

[Toxic]

If you haven't enjoyed it yet you probably never will.

[Monkeyboy]

If you haven't enjoyed it yet you probably never will.

Figured as much - am I at least close enough to the end to force myself to finish without having to endure a lot more of this boredom?

[Scott]

I don't know what to tell you man, 99% of people that I know that has it thinks the game is amazing. The story telling is top notch, the pacing is delivered perfectly, The AI is pretty good but not amazing, the gravity gun is one of the most innovate tool to be in gaming with the best physics based gameplay. Have you played the first one? maybe it would help knowing the story a bit.

[Monkeyboy]

I don't know what to tell you man, 99% of people that I know that has it thinks the game is amazing. The story telling is top notch, the pacing is delivered perfectly, The AI is pretty good but not amazing, the gravity gun is one of the most innovate tool to be in gaming with the best physics based gameplay. Have you played the first one? maybe it would help knowing the story a bit.

I played Half Life. It was incredible - except for perhaps the end when it felt rushed. I loved the game for what it did back then. The sense of immersion and atmosphere.

I just don't find the story telling that solid in this one. The AI is archaic to me - stand and shoot isn't "pretty good" in my mind. The physics are good, but it doesn't provide enough to bring this game above average.

[Mr Cool]

What part of the game are you on right now?

[Monkeyboy]

What part of the game are you on right now?
I'm currently ... oh wait...



I'm currently at the part where you have to fight three striders in the courtyard. Running around, trying to find a rocket launcher so you can shoot three more rockets just doesn't create a gaming experience that's memorable outside of "wow, this is boring". When the third strider falls, does the game suddenly flash a message saying, "From this moment forward, you will be amazed."?

[Cov3rt]

You probably decided pretty early on that you would hate Half-life 2. That is understandable, as the first several hours of the game aren't all that great. Realize, though, that the game was released in 2004. It took the shooter genre out of a dark age in which realism, physics, and pacing were almost totally ignored.

Anyway, you aren't going to enjoy yesterday's games by putting them up to today's standards. That is obviously what you are doing, as you didn't say a single thing positive about Half-life 2. No matter how much you hate it there are positives. Turn off the negative factor and play the game on its own terms. Actually, no. Just stop wasting your time and play something with whatever it is you are looking for.

[Mr Cool]

I'm currently ... oh wait...

Yea, skimmed the first post. Been a busy afternoon.

I don't know what to tell you. I thought the game was very fun, especially considering it's quite a few years old and that it's a worthy succesor to HL1. There were many parts in the game I thought were pretty awesome. However, like with all games it's a matter of opinion.

Don't like it? Don't play it.

[DeadCell]

I've been playing the game that so many hail as one of the, if not the best shooter experiences ever. I've been pushing through it waiting for it to wow me, or make me happy to be playing.

The game so far, is a monumental failure of praise. I've yet to experience one single thing in the game that was astounding, impressive, or even remotely enjoyable. The AI is horrible, the gameplay is incredibly shallow, and to directly focus on the console side of this game - the controls are a sloppy mess.

I'm currently at the part where you have to fight three striders in the courtyard. Running around, trying to find a rocket launcher so you can shoot three more rockets just doesn't create a gaming experience that's memorable outside of "wow, this is boring". When the third strider falls, does the game suddenly flash a message saying, "From this moment forward, you will be amazed."?

Just stop playing it and uninstall it from your pc or take the game disk out of your 360 if you got the orange box.
If you didn't get hooked into it by then you never will. The end.



Oh yea, To those saying the AI is good. It isn't. Really, It gets by with all the clever scripting in the game however.
This is comming from somebody who is a big time hl2 fanboy. For the record.

[ShakerMaker]

I think its alright id say its 8/10 material to me the games good and all but Halo 3 impressed me wayyyy more and it has half the gameplay in the singleplayer

[DeadCell]

I think its alright id say its 8/10 material to me the games good and all but Halo 3 impressed me wayyyy more and it has half the gameplay in the singleplayer

You mean the name "Halo" impressed you wayyyy more.

[ShakerMaker]

Uhh nope...

[IceCold]

I know exactly what you mean.

halflife completely blew me away and stood up as my favorite fps until halo came out. Even after that I continued playing the multiplayer up until halflife 2 came out.

Halflife 2 I think forgot everything about Halflife 1 that made it so great. Instead of awesome battles, fighting a ton of unique enemies with some of the most inventive and strategic weapons in FPS games, we got more scripted sequences and physics.
In fact they took out more than half of the weapons and enemies and made the AI nothing more than cannonfodder. This made the combat very boring for most people, which in a FPS is a pretty big problem.

But most people are too destracted by the pretty spectacles to even notice the gameplay is boring so it wins a ton of GOTY awards and they push out two expansion packs with very little new added after 3 years. Very dissappointing for me.

[TeknoVagrant]

Monkeyman,

I can sorta feel your pain. I never played #2 on the PC so waited until the original Xbox to play it. I thought it was good, but hardly the "greatest thing since sliced bread". My expectations were sooooo high after hearing all the constant praise that nothing would have made it work.

Just having played through it again via The Orange Box with Ep 1 & 2, I am surprised with myself that I didn't enjoy it as much when I originally played it (since I loved it this time around).

Call it expectations/perception or a cold dose of reality, but I now realize just how well done almost every aspect of the game is. It doesn't WOW you over the head ala Gears of War or something else with graphics or a huge monster.

Over time, just allow yourself to absorb the storyline, stop and listen to NPC's talk a little, watch the monitors anytime Sean Connery, um I mean Dr. Breen goes babbling on, it adds another layer of depth to the whole experience.

I think where this game succeeds is by instituting new gameplay ideas all the time, without forgetting the previous gameplay ideas and nothing feels overly forced or mind numbingly hard, so it's easy to enjoy.

It is a PC shooter, so you're going to get a slighter difference "vibe" from the way it looks/sounds/plays out .VS you're typical console shooter. The vehicle sections are done incredibly well (another aspect I didn't love the original time around)

I think I appreciate the game even more now, because after playing more shooters in the past year+ on the 360, this game still does so many things better and it's a PC game that came out 3 years ago. Also, the Gravity Gun is probably one of the best weapons ever in a videogame. It's hard to not have something of it's ilk in any other game.

IN CONCLUSION, it is NOT a WOW moment type of game, like people would think. There is nothing that immediately jumps out at you and screams "you have to show your friends this part of the game". I always want games to have those moments that you want to have a Save Point right before it so you can do it over and over again. But this isn't that type of game. It's just a well done game in sooo many respects and you never feel cheated by the controls/game design, etc.