Is Halflife 2 really overrated? Really?

The enemy AI is the thing that holds HL2 back in 2015. But it is EASILY one of the most memorable FPS games ever.

I can't think of many FPS games with better, or even any, characterisation. The Bioshock games come to mind, and maybe COD4.

And the gravity gun has to be the most fun weapon idea until Portal.

It would seem AI in general barring the original, fear and Stalker generally haven't been exceptional or impressive. It's not an excuse, but... at the same time, I wouldn't call it dated.

While the humanoid AI is serviceable at best, the air AI probably is the best of any FPS to date, the animation and behavior are very convincing and are used frequently. Strider and Hunters are also fairly convincing. The mechanized beasts seemed to have more conscientious effort put into them.

I think it's praise is deserved better than many games it its category.

You can't see your own feet when you look down so yes.

@uninspiredcup: Half life 2 was defenitelly epic and is a landmark in gaming history because of its use of physics.

It also improved on the AI and interactive storytelling. The reason why halflife 1 became legendary.

Valve has set the two most important landmarks in gaming history with halflife 1&2 imo. The interactive storytelling with an fps, the ai in an fps and physics in a fps is standard in todays games but in the past this wasn't the case. These two games added certain elements to the fps genre and now they are mandatory. Imagine a game without physics, decent ai or interactivity with story nowadays.

It are things you take for granted now and they only show when you play games before these games were released.

Valve is one of the biggest names in gaming history because of this and they will make history again with their virtual reality headset, which is not only better than the competition, it will also release sooner than the competition.

See, the "for it's time!", "impact it had!" always gets me. Those are pretty much the key things that lead to a game being overrated aside form pure nostalgia. Those are the same things that people lean against when they try to say that OoT is the greatest game of all time. That's the same stuff that has people putting old Rare on a pedestal like the thread we had just the other day.

Just because a game did something new at the time, or did something that impacted other games going forward, doesn't mean it still holds its own as some amazing masterpiece of a game.

Being a landmark title and having some impact is not that same as a having excellent, timeless game design.

Mmhmm, and it's made even worse when the original Half Life's guns feel better. Any other genre when the core mechanic sucks usually the game is called out for it, but Half Life 2 the shooter where the shooting is lame, is apparently excellent? I could understand if the game had a Metroid Prime thing going on where the shooting was a tertiary element to the exploring, atmosphere, puzzling, and was specifically used for more pattern based boss fights that ask you to use your tools. Makes the what would be mundane gunplay in a more standard shooter, respectable because it works the way it does because it has a purpose.

There is literally no reason in Half Life 2 for why the shooting is so limp dick in comparison to the multiplayer that came packaged with the game.

The notion of there are plenty of games that still hold the **** up is a non-existent idea to some people.

It's overrated. Very linear FPS shooter. It was great at the time for its graphics and physics but other FPS games have innovated over the years and they top Half Life 2.

It sucked. Let's be frank just like Crysis and a bunch of other trash it only got hyped up because for a time it was a PC exclusive. Planescape Torment, now that's a PC game that stands the test of time. Half-Life 2 does not.

And this doesn't prove that it's overrated. You only said, what have been said already that it was ground breaking when it released and now there are several copy cats out there.

I don't think it's overrated at all, and I think it still holds up today as one of the best first-person shooters ever made. Hipsters get out. And in its time it was something really, truly special; easily the best game of 2004.

That being said, Half-Life 1 is the better game, mostly because the more focused setting of Black Mesa allows for better atmosphere and level design.

It is a great game, however it does tend to be slightly overrated by some gamers..

Having said that I'm one of those who would love to see a sequel being made...

Never heard someone claim it's the ""greatest game humanity has ever witnessed". The general consensus is it's a great game, and I tend to agree. Moving on...