When does Half Life start getting good?

Before anybody starts in on me, this is not a rant. I am not trying to hate on a game that is loved by millions of people and is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time. I am being 100% serious with this and if I come off as a jerk I just want to say in advanced that I am not trying to.

Anyhow, I've been playing videogames since I was a little kid (I'm 18 now and I've been playing since I was about 4) so I've been playing games since the 90's. But, since I was just a little kid when Half Life came out originally I didn't get a chance to play it. Fortunately I was able to pick up a copy of Half Life during the Steam Summer Sale and I'm finally playing through one of the most important games in the history of the industry. My only question is... when does the fun start? I've been playing for about an hour and a half and I'm still in the starting level (Black Mesa facility I think?) and I'm just not having much fun. I know its way to earily to judge the game but I am just getting so frustrated and bored that I just don't feel like playing it anymore and just want to play Civilization or Halo or something.

Anyhow, so theres the question. I know a lot of people adore this game and I just want to know when it starts picking up. Thanks to everyone who answers.

It picked up for me when you get to Ravenhold.

It picked up for me when you get to Ravenhold.

Ballroompirate

i dun remember like half life 1 at all
but do you mean ravenholm
and that's hl2

oh and I didn't like half life 1 either that much tc.
Hl2 i liked moar, specially coop if you have fun friends. You can play hl1 coop with obsidian conflict and if you own half life source
then game is 500x moar fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rZOlbbUgM

or i think sven-coop allows coop for normal hl

just maek sure u have gud friendz who are not mentally handicapped

I honestly thought the first half of that game was where it shined.

I honestly thought the first half of that game was where it shined.

Phoenix534

OP likes Halo, problem solved.

OP likes Halo, problem solved.

HyperWarlock

WHEN does it get fun? It gets fun when you start having fun, is the game supposed to tell you when to have fun? Are gamers these days so on the rails with todays corridor shooters that they need to be told when to have fun? It's all subjective, for me, I started having fun the second the cascade happened, and it just ramped up from there.

I don't exaclty know what you were expecting OP but, it seems Half-life isn't a game for you.

Yeah I had fun from the very beginning. Maybe the games just not for you.

I've been playing for about an hour and a half and I'm still in the starting level (Black Mesa facility I think?) and I'm just not having much fun. I know its way to earily to judge the game but I am just getting so frustrated and bored that I just don't feel like playing it anymore and just want to play Civilization or Halo or something.

vault-boy

You could elaborate upon what exactly is frustrating you in the game, and why you're bored. Maybe you were expecting something els, and since Half Life doesn't present you with what you were in the mood in, you're temporarily uninterested with the game.

If i were going trough Icewind Dale expecting, and by all means, wanting a great story to immerse me and push me foward, i would have quit after a hour. But if i know what i'm getting into, if i'm the mood of a great dungeon crawler, in which the dungeon design itself (exploration), the loot, the strategic combat, all combined push me foward, then i'm going to enjoy myself immensly (which i have, i vastly prefer it over Baldur's Gate).

I only first played Half Life last year and loved everything from the opening sequence to the ending so maybe this game may not be for you.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

It picked up for me when you get to Ravenhold.

JigglyWiggly_

i dun remember like half life 1 at all
but do you mean ravenholm
and that's hl2

oh and I didn't like half life 1 either that much tc.
Hl2 i liked moar, specially coop if you have fun friends. You can play hl1 coop with obsidian conflict and if you own half life source
then game is 500x moar fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rZOlbbUgM

or i think sven-coop allows coop for normal hl

just maek sure u have gud friendz who are not mentally handicapped

BONK!

double post error

No point questioning the game when you are still at the beginning, play through the whole game and give us your thoughts.

For me, the start was slow but it gets better and better.

HL1 wouldn't be that good by todays standards.

Half-life 1 had me at the tram ride at the beginning.

It's nothing special by today's standards, the obvious reason being all modern gaming derives from Half Life. If you were to play Half Life in the era of its release, you would have been blown away.

Half Life 2 on the other hand exceeds even modern realisation.

The game is 14 years old. Its not going to "wow" an 18 year old these days is it.bonafidetk

I was quite amazed the the first time I played Fallout 2 when I was around that age. The RPG genre has come to deteriorate the last several years, and there simply aren't games being produced with the complexity of Fallout or Arcanum.

You have been playing games since the 90's? You were born in 1994... You haven't played any FPS games of the 90's. You try to compare Half-Life with games you have played after 2000. Try comparing it to games like Quake 2, Unreal and even older ones like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, Hexen, Heretic, Strife, Duke Nukem 3D...

Stop playing every Halo **** that exists (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: Reach, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST) until you play these FPS games.

Well it came out a long time ago. Although I still think it's one of the best FPS' I've ever played as it nails everything perfectly and offers you a good mix of different environments, whereas Halo put me off with its very cut and paste areas.

[QUOTE="Ballroompirate"]

It picked up for me when you get to Ravenhold.

JigglyWiggly_

i dun remember like half life 1 at all
but do you mean ravenholm
and that's hl2

oh and I didn't like half life 1 either that much tc.
Hl2 i liked moar, specially coop if you have fun friends. You can play hl1 coop with obsidian conflict and if you own half life source
then game is 500x moar fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rZOlbbUgM

or i think sven-coop allows coop for normal hl

just maek sure u have gud friendz who are not mentally handicapped

Ah I totally spaced out on that, anyways Half Life was pretty boring except for a few random parts.

You have been playing games since the 90's? You were born in 1994... You haven't played any FPS games of the 90's. You try to compare Half-Life with games you have played after 2000. Try comparing it to games like Quake 2, Unreal and even older ones like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, Hexen, Heretic, Strife, Duke Nukem 3D...

Stop playing every Halo **** that exists (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: Reach, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST) until you play these FPS games.

JC_AEK4ever

What's wrong with starting with Halo? Halo was my first FPS. Granted like him, I don't enjoy Half-Life very much, but I think that has to do with me starting with Half-Life 2 first (which I enjoyed a lot). And Not everyone is going to start out with these FPS, simply because they weren't old enough to play them when they came out.EliteM0nk3y

[QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]What's wrong with starting with Halo? Halo was my first FPS. Granted like him, I don't enjoy Half-Life very much, but I think that has to do with me starting with Half-Life 2 first (which I enjoyed a lot). And Not everyone is going to start out with these FPS, simply because they weren't old enough to play them when they came out.JC_AEK4ever

As for comparing games, that's always gonna happen since they all fit under the same genre (sci-fi first person shooter).

Every FPS game since Half-Life has copied it. So for a new player, I guess the trick is to pretend you haven't played any FPS game made since November 1998.

Just imagine it's 1998 and the only FPS games you've played before are nonsensical unrealistic run-and-gun games like Doom and Quake.

Of course it's not fun today as it was then, standards change. Half Life was a revolution compared to FPS before it.

That's like asking when Citizen Kane gets good.

It started getting good in 1998. When it came out and you were a twinkle in somebody's eye.

That's like asking when Citizen Kane gets good.

Former_Slacker

Pretty much, its slow to start and rather dated as well. Granted it aged much better then other titles from then (like Deus Ex and Goldeneye), but its still an old title, and it does take a bit for the action to kick in. It honestly would have been best played back when it came out, though I enjoyed Half-Life back in 2005 my first time so I got in a bit late as well.

When does Half Life start getting good?vault-boy

Half life 1 was great from the first 5 minutes, especially back when I was playing it.

You're expecting it to be much more modern than it is. It's not some action packed thriller with set peice moments and explosions every 30 seconds like modern shooters. You're pretty much not going to enjoy it because you're used to a completely different style of pacing and structure in your FPS gaming.

Half Life 1 hasn't aged well in my opinion. It still stands as one of the most groundbreaking games ever and at the time it was easily the best shooter on the market, but times have changes. It's easy for people to get really nostolgic and say "gaming was so better back during the Half-Life days" but the fact is that gaming is the best it has been now. Our standards for even low-budget games are through the roof because of games like Half-Life increasing our standards.

This holds true with pretty much every classic game. They were amazing at the time. Very few hold up today. Rarely those are FPSs because FPS gaming conventions have changed so much as the technology has improved drastically.

The only FPS I can think of that actually plays like a modern FPS and can hold its own against modern FPSs in terms of pacing, combat, structure, and feel is Halo Combat Evolved (and I know a lot of PC gamers think that game is one of the worst ever made for whatever reason). Half-Life still has a lot of survival/puzzle elements that have been phased out of shooters today and thus replaying Half-Life really feels like a classic. If your standards are more modern then Half Life will probably not be that much fun for you.

Half Life 2 on the other hand still holds up in my opinion. I enjoy replaying that game from time to time.

Half-Life starting getting good about 14 years ago.

Play Half-Life: Opposing Force instead. I actually thought that was the better game because it had better environments and better weapons.