Half Life appreciation thread.

Soldato
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Somewhere in the middle.
I still remember to this day the rail ride into Black Mesa, and Barnie greeting me. All while the gaming credits over layed the screen in the corner like a Movie.

No game has had that impact since.

The clanging noise where the giant creature was crashing around..
Marines on Radios, Headcrabs and the Mysterious G-Man. All of them completely memorable to me :)

Nothing comes close to the Half Life series in my opinion.

Show it some love :D
 
felt it had a great start...no the best start, especially when the marines came in but then the usual aliens crap/ ruined it.
 
Great games but I don't consider hl1 legendary just a brilliant game.

UT on the other hand, now that is a legend of a game.
 
I do admit that Zen was a bit of a crap part in the game, but it was flawless otherwise in my eyes.

Dont forget HL2 and episodes mind, they have all been pretty bloody brilliant. The Striders and Ravenholme are epic.
 
Yep pretty much the same memories as the op.

Awesome stuff if a little tainted by the lackluster final level.
 
Ah yes, first fired this up back when I shared a house and had my PC in the dining room. My housemates and a couple of other mates who were round at the time all gathered round the monitor and watched in amazement. None of us had seen anything like it before.

Pretty sure the comment "wow, it's like a film" was uttered by more than one spectator (none of them were into PCs or anything, but this did stir something).

And of course it led to many, many nights of playing CS and drinking until way too late (and more than one occasion when we didn't go to bed at all). Happy days (I guess) :)
 
Oh and yeah I must add, It created a Team Fortress Classic and Counter Strike addiction from Beta 5.2 which I played religiously for many years. Absolutely fantastic community back then.
 
Yup, HL1 certainly still lives with me - and I haven't played it for years. The part that I remember the most is when you first make it outside - I can still hear the crunch of the gravel under my feet, and practically feel the sun on my face.....the feeling of being free was almost overwhelming :)

The only other games that have had that affect on me are: Doom, Unreal 1, Deus Ex and HL2. I can't imagine any of today's games having the same impact. Skyrim is utterly jaw-dropping, but I doubt it will still be rattling around my head for years to come like the ones above.

I think maybe that as games become more realistic they also become more forgettable because you don't have to use your imagination as much. I think HL1 (and other games of that era) had the perfect balance - graphics that created an explorable world, but enough separation from reality to stimulate your mind to actually imagine you there. That's why they stick.
 
Never got into Half-Life. Certainly no appreciation of it from here.

Took me until I forced myself last year to sit down and play more of it than I ever have - and then it was still a bit "meh" - and I've not even got out of Black Mesa yet. The movement dynamics are rubbish, you're either running too fast on what seems like a frictionless surface (so can't slow down in time) or you plodded along so slowly the mutant snails were overtaking you!

I did get HL2 when it was released - in fact, I think I was one of the first to post screenshots on here when it became unlocked at 8am on 16th November 2004.

However, I only got as far as the airboat bit.

So - both HL games, never got past the end of the first paragraph in the "Plot" synopsis on Wikipedia!!


Now, the engines that power them - that's a whole other story. They have spawned many hours of gaming interest for me - with Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source and more recently Portal/Portal 2/Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2. (TF2 I've never got into, either)
 
I always REALLY loved Half Life's multi-player. It was quirky, idiosyncratic and required a huge amount of skill to be really adept at. I fear we shall never see its like again (HL2's MP was a huge let down for me).

Unfortunately I'm probably in the minority here.
 
Countless LAN games against my brother on Half Life and Opposing Force. Used to love the scarab (is that what they were called?) pit

Give me HL, UT or Doom over COD anyday
 
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