HALF-LIFE 2: An Honest Review
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- Опубліковано 29 кві 2022
- HALF-LIFE 2 might be the most influential FPS game sequel of all time. After 18 years of hype and critical acclaim, the release of Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two AND Half-Life Alyx - here is my HONEST Half-Life 2 game review. #HalfLife #HalfLifeAlyx #Valve
- Ігри
You can also take care of snipers with SMG grenades, rockets, or explosive barrels chucked with the gravity gun. Striders can also be hurt by these things, and if you throw a grenade straight up into the air, it'll detonate at the height of a standing Strider.
Disagree with your hate for the striders. Their introduction finally switches things up from just combine soldiers all the time and ramps up the stakes. Don't you want a bit more of a threat? The game would be worse without them if you ask me, I think they're great.
They definitely could of came up with better challenging enemies than striders, that’s why he’s criticizing them. They’re bad.
I appreciate the escalation they offer, but a better loop should have been constructed around them than "fire rockets, then return to crate to refill."
Did not enjoy trying to kill 3 nigh hit scanning striders running around for rocket ammo
@@ClarkKentai if it helps
SMG grenades,RPG missiles and AR2 Alt fire ALL can destroy striders
Heard Explosive barrels & grenades if they detonate near the strider both can as well,but unsure
@@honorguard7616 I know, they're always my backup options.
Toss a grenade straight up into air, and it'll detonate at the height of a standing Strider.
I replayed this game a week ago. Probably why I'm seeing this video at all. Honestly most of these takes i disagree with. I played it on hard might be why and had to retry parts but the main point i can agree with is nearing the end the game the fighting went on too long with nothing breaking it up. Probably spent over a hour shooting down striders and gunships alone. It got annoying. Basically every complaint I've heard till the end of the game i would disagree with. The game has good variety in challenges and enemies types which keeps it much more refreshing and interesting then any modern game. It was the biggest thing i noticed while playing. But playing on hard is pretty brutal. The shotgun guys nearly oneshot you with full hp and half armor. That's probably the main reason it got annoying
Oh man, Half Life 2 has some of my favorite level design. Despite areas being massive, you are never lost. The devs really did an incredible telegraphing what you're supposed to be doing at all times.
Man i love grilled cheese
sam
e
Sometimes... I dreammmm about cheese.
Nobody gives a shit
While Half Life Alyx is great, I would trade it in a heartbeat for an alternate reality where Valve never dragged their feet for no reason, so we’d have gotten the Episode 4 that was leaked, that starred Shepherd and Father Gregory, and had SO many new toys to play with.
Also not dragging their feet would have allowed the TF2 Adult Swim show to have been a thing.
it looked awesome as most Arkane games are
Fuck I wish that tf2 show actually happened
Unpopular Opinion but Half Life Alyx felt more like a tech demo than a game.
@@smugplush so did hl2
@@smugplush litterally doesnt, its by FAR the most polished vr game out there, so unless the entire medium is a gimmick thats just a bad opinion
Honestly I love fighting the striders in city 17, ducking and firing between cover and firing out rockets while the buildings your in are being destroyed was heart pumping and exhilarating for me
what is this .... why is there no spoiler warning!!!!!!!!!!! i got engaged so i continued watching but they i realized hes going through the whole fukin plot so i stopped myself and then began to write this comment in a furious rage that could only be tamed by time itself.
what a pity, the story in general is good, if you want a good review of the whole game and its expansions: "it is one of the only games that is objectively good" (that everyone likes even without being perfect)
That bit about Lazlo being the finest mind of his generation always confused me. It felt like they just wanted a moment of dark comedy, and didn’t think about the lore.
Because if Lazlo was so smart, why would the rebels EVER risk him by sending him out on a mission like that? They’d probably have him locked away in a hidden lab to keep him safe, like Kleiner or Magnuson.
And he would not move in the sand anyway.
I think it's funny. Its just his friend's opinion anyway. I think the fact that he is out there is an indication that he is probably NOT the greatest mind if his generation, so the fact that the other guy regards him with such hyperbole is amusing. Or maybe he is a genius but his field of study is not particularly relevant anymore in light of the alien invasion. He ends up being a common rebel and dying unremarkably.
"chapter 4 is somewhat short", YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW
I recall viewing the trailers for HL2 back in the day. The physics, the graphics were totally astonishing. I remember literally watching those trailers as an 8-9 year old over and over again. Very few games capture this. My favorite trailer is the one in Beta Ravenholm.
Nowadays, I prefer HL1 a lot over HL2. I think the gameplay holds up better because it's closer to old school FPS, with all the experimental weapons and enemy types.
Replaying HL2 with MMOD is a must imo.
Half Life 2 is more old school, you can't run and gun in 1
@@morkgin2459 not really.its so ridicolously easy that thats just inevetible that you can run and gun.
@@Damian-cilr2 I doubt it is easy but yes it is not challenging.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Alyx and Barney are literally the same character. They are rule 63’s of one another. There is not one thing either of them say, that the other wouldn’t, not even Alyx’s romantic dialogue, as I can perfectly imagine Barney saying all those things, and acting that way, to a woman he liked.
While I don't like HL2 that much today compared to when I first tried it on the OG Xbox back in the day... I can't give Valve enough credit for making this game feel like a memorable journey.
There's not many games that achieve that feeling.
I still love the clever lighting.
Personally Ravenholm is my best part of half life 2. I love the dark scary horror feeling as you step into this ruined town. The lack of ammo really makes you use the gravity gun and using saw blades to slice up zombies never gets old for me. One thing I love is how some of the items can have different effects on the zombies. For example on one of my later playthroughs I picked up a paint bucket and threw it at a zombie which actually covered them in paint. Moments like this really make this part of the game up there with some of the best moments I've had in gaming.
I also love the mechanic of covering zombies in paint, a nice touch.
My problem is the zombies aren’t a threat so I don’t find it scary at all
I’m of the opposite stance. Apart from your guys getting in the way, I think Anticitizen One and “Follow Freeman!” were my favourites… and though I don’t normally like gimmicky vehicle levels, I thought they were all pretty good and the vehicles handled well.
Please tell me how do the vehicles control well?
I'd never even heard of the series come 2007ish when the Orange Box dropped and I grabbed it for reasons I honestly can't remember. I did try to play HL2, and I think I got as far as going on the elevator with Alyx before it crashed out and then I couldn't ever get it to load right again on that computer. (Yet, TF2 and Portal worked fine and used the same HL2.exe, which was weird...) I've thought about giving it another go now and again, but never followed through. Videos like this scratch the curiosity itch about it enough, tho.
I absolutely loved this video (and all your fps coverage) but Max Payne 2 came out a year before Half Life 2 and it had the havok physics engine that ragdolled bodies and made all kinds of props with their own assets so maybe Half Life made there own modified quake engine to include ragdoll physics but I dont think HL2 was the first persay. I could be super wrong though! either way love the video bruv
I remember the hype for this and the infamous hack that led to Half Life 2 being delayed.
As to the game itself, I liked it. But I still prefer the original game and its expansion Opossing Force.
Sucks we rarely get games in the style of Half Life today. Most are: giant boring open world time wasters with RPG elements, multiplayer only, or based around early 1990s FPS design.
Love Half Life 2 today as much as did in 2002 and frankly I think the game has aged exceptionally well, nobody has produced anything more innovative than the gravity gun and it's more than twenty years old, we can only dream about what Valve could get a gravity gun to do in 2024
Although I've given up on Gabriel delivering a sequel in my lifetime I believe that Half life 2 is a masterpiece, Half Life 3 would be the ideal accompaniment to the next Steam Deck and could shift plenty of handhelds. Even today there isn't a more profound silent protagonist than Gordon Freeman.
Bummer they never did a remake for half life 1 or 2 aside from Black Mesa. The combine soldiers are memorable. You could hear a squad communicating, the gear moving, the boots stomping on the ground. Very few games get that right.
Half life 2 was the first fps I ever played on the 360 with the orange box I’ll always have a soft spot for this game, despite that I’ve played hl2 so many times that it’s almost lost it’s effect on me I still have fun when going back to it but not as much as I used to and I’d rather play the first game again because of its combat but I still really enjoy half life’s 2 world building characters and the gravity gun, I’m thankful we got alyx it was a really fun vr game that gave me hope we might get a proper conclusion to the series, vr still has a long way to go before becoming mainstream though but great review even if I don’t 100% agree with everything you said I like seeing reviews that differ from others same with you’re review for the first game
I haven't played HL1, but have seen speedruns/walkthroughs of it. It seems more focused on combat and not so much on puzzles (I guess Valve wanted to show off their Source engine physics in HL2 I guess, which is fine!).
HL2 focuses more on creating a more immersive environment and story, and I think the weapons are suitable for a Combine-ruled world, compared to having aliens everywhere, and then soldiers.
A lot of people hate how HL2 has less of a range of weapons. But Black Mesa would have more funky secret alien weapons than pistols/SMGs etc. (They're in HL1 too, but HL1 is set only in Black Mesa).
What are you on about? Black mesa and hl1 have the exact same campaign , its just altered a bit in black mesa environments and the terrible remake of xen, the weapons are the exact same between them
@@Helperbot-2000 *Reads comment from 1 year ago*
Ya BM is the same as HL1
HL2 shines in VR too
Some very valid points here.wasn't in love with Ravenholm either, but did vibe off Nova Prospekt, guess it's somewhat subjective. ..Love both HL1 and 2, but probably think 1 was the better game overall, in terms of pacing, inventiveness and story..not to mention weapon and enemy variety.
My favorite game of all time, thanks for the review
10:39 that particular soldier on this particular level is the strongest enemy in the entire game and that is not sarcasm. He has aimbot like the snipers but he can move around.
I loved this game and it was much more impressive when it first came out lol. Have you thought of giving Black Mesa a go?
Nah, total L takes sorry. My only problem with HL2 is the lack of enemy variety
inspiration of hellghast from guerrila 2:09
old killzone players will remember it!
Critic and nitpicks as well as some fun facts
5:30 esh fun fact he is actually trying to help your "social credit"
6:00 Metrocops ,not even full combine yet (well synths)
9:05 Can't disagree but they fixed it in E1 & E2 (flashlight has it's own energy,So nice) at least
12:16 Slight nitpick SMG not MG
18:00 Personal experience is I never really spun out using the buggy (Hit stuff yea,but not full spin out)
21:00 So sandtraps is rather interesting,it has a ton of potential free resources to grab (going from when it opens up,you have to the left a cave with some prespawned antlions,right a dock area with a large supply cache ,center with the several houses) but at a cost of risk and time
23:10 Nova prospect & entanglement tend to differ in the fact you lose the antlions & gain friends in turrets and so on (you when from the less combine effected part of the facility to a more combine effected part is how I think on it)
24:00 Aww you didn't bring the turrets (I love bringing every single turret with me to the end)
25:16 You can literally tap C to tell them to stand somewhere else (i tend to micro them some to be behind me and in cover generally)
26:09 ANY explosive works not just grenades (Barrels,SMG grenade launcher,Rockets even) otherwise they will shoot stuff you pick up to use as cover and you can use the gravity gun to act as a puesdo grenade launcher (drop nade with right click than use the gravity gun to fire it) also weren't these guys introduced after exiting the mine at ravenholm?
26:35 esh ; So know what I said about the Snipers above? Same here & more (Any explosive that is close enough to the "head" and ar2 balls) and other notes the striders shoot in Bursts ,use the time between to land a rocket in it's face (you can also do what I call rocket whipping where you prefire the rocket around a corner and than land it into the strider or target)
28:02 Docter Green made me chuckle a touch
The buggy definitely gets weird when boosting, like the physics can't handle it.
The extra ammo you could get on sandtrap is then subsequently dumped into the boss fight or whatever spawns while getting it, so it's pretty much a waste of time. I started trying to get some ammo, realized I couldn't be bothered to waste my time even more than the game was already forcing me, and skipped them.
Breaking into the prison sucked, and the following mission too. It's just repetitive combat for way too long and isn't engaging. The turrets are also annoying.
The dumb AI doesn't stay in place longer than about 3-5 seconds so you still get stuck on them on you're constantly micromanaging them. Either way it's a failure.
None of those options for killing the snipers are valid for long range. At least Half Life 1 had actual enemies there to hit.
16:13 nice rhyme :D
When are you going to review Going Down WAD?
Pretty much agree with everything you say here. I was late to the party for the first HL so I thought I was possibly underwhelmed as I'd missed the zeitgeist. With HL2, however, I was ready. I pre-ordered it twice (a hard copy import and a digital copy on Steam). I upgraded my PC and I was hyped. Then I played it. I enjoyed it enough but I just couldn't see why everyone was so utterly enamoured by it. Even my friends dismissed my views as me just being contrarian. I dunno, it just never 'spoke' to me in the way that it seemed to everyone else and their dog.
The bridge set piece was the dog's bollocks, though!
At this point, I’d take gabe just telling us at least how they might have wrapped up this journey.
the writer already post the sequel story to read for free but with different character names 🤫
@@mangosaltnic I’d love to track this down
@@sealboy1211 it's called "epistle 3"
you can just search it up and you'll find it pretty quickly
there are some fixed versions of it you also can find
I’ll say that Half Life 2 has probably the greatest first playthrough of any FPS, but I think that most people can agree that doesn’t hold-up with as well as the first game, at least when it comes to replays.
it is HL1 for me, always. Way better game.
@@Brylant1980 no just no
@@oofingberg half life 1 is better In almost every way
@@oofingberg i could barely even stomach to beat half life 2.and i actually never beat it.its just THAT BORING
This is less a review and more a summary. Tell us what you *think*, don't just recite the plot.
I think these kinda videos only for those who have played the game (like me) or who are absoultly (like 100%) sure they are fine getting spoilers of the game.
Dude, no one promised that fighting an alien race who have defeated and slaved humanity in seven hours would be an easy task. Their synths, as the striders, are supposed to be tough. To me, actually, Gordon is a little too bullet sponge-ish in this game.
But, yeah, that flashlight/air/sprint system was a bad thing. I guess it is the only thing I agree with you this time. (Your favorite part of the game even happens to be my least favorite one, lol)
:)
If I want a quick HL2 fix I usually play Ravenholm on its own as it feels more like a sandbox with all the physics objects to use with the Gravity Gun against the relatively harmless zombies. Oh, and the mods HL2: Update and MMOD are a must for updated graphical fidelity, effects, tweaks, and gun play.
I really don't understand how after playing HL1 and(or) Black Mesa someone can like HL2 more? The atmosphere of the first game cannot be compared with anything and HL2 despite the fact that it is more technically advanced, even in the middle of it, is not so interesting. Perhaps this is due to the fact that someone first played HL2 and then tried HL1 and the graphics did not suit him anymore and the lack of GG? HL1 is a much better game than HL2 IMO.
Some people just have different tastes. Personally, I think both games are equally good in their own way
I played original HL1 in 1999 and loved all its expansions. In 2004 I couldn’t play HL2 due to Steam so I played HL2 after a long time and I have to say that...HL2 was better in every aspect. HL1 had not so great atmosphere compared to his sequel, HL2 really was the first immersive fps where I could feel being in a virtual reality world. The only other game I felt the same feelings was Bioshock.
I recently played Half Life 1 and currently working on beating 2, and so far I just really liked the level's and progression far more in Half Life 1. Slowly watching the lab descend into chaos was a fun ride and finally leaving the facility and walking into essentially a battlefield with armed soldiers and aliens against just one scientist I really felt like everything was trying to kill me lol, but in Half life 2 going from level to level doesn't feel as exciting because nothing feel's connected and you spend large chunks of the game either roaming around endlessly in a boat or in a vehicle, I also missed the alien variety that was present in Half Life 1. Playing 2 just makes me appreciate 1 more.
@@naytny5819 you should think two things. First, at that time there were no open world games. I mean, no fps with such level of reality simulation and physical environments. HL2 was a huge step forward. Doom 3, for example, was an old school corridor game and in that period it was its competitor. Second, people at that time were used to play fps with aliens and HL1 was just like that. Being in a 1984 movie was a total new experience, I felt isolated,disoriented, lost in a new world. HL1 was just another game with aliens and marines guided by a strong movie-like plot.
@@mattonthemoon225 Sure the physics were great for the time but at the end of the day you need more than that to be a a amazing game, the story and gameplay should also be determining factors to measure a games quality. Being the first at doing something doesn't always means its the best at doing it.
Never got the hype even though I played it, but I love your reviews so here we are.
*insert two paragraphs of “umm, actually…” nerd shit here*
Review half-life alyx please
You know the only time I've ever played this game from start to finish was on the original Xbox
Objectively the worst way there is to play this game LOL
But it was still a blast
I prefer the first game though, I just find it's more contained story of the interdimensional outbreak a lot more interesting and atmospheric to go through.
The second one feels like it can take place in any universe, it just happens to have returned characters from the first one
Too many fckin helicopter fights for my liking. HL1 is superior.
Uhh there are like 5... and all of them distinct or different in some way
@@Helperbot-2000 yes, well that's too fuckin many for my tastes.
WHERE THE HELL IS HALF LIFE 3
I don't agree with almost anything you said.
After all these years then i play hl2 again, usually i get to the nova prospect part and stop there. These "back to the city" parts of the game are just not very good.
Dude, the uprising is where the game brings in everything, its a great combination of all the gameplay
well...we have 2022/2023 an we are still seriously deabting about hlf2...thats how good is...pls always think about the standards in its release year 2004
i had more fun playing medal of honor pacific assault than this game,after route kanal,the friendly npc's act like you are god,the game is so boring,i'd probably have more fun watching paint dry.i played half life 1 thru sven coop and it felt more fun to play than hl2,just a short,brutally honest review,i dont wanna make it a wall of text afterall.
in short:
ai:really braindead
gameplay:more boring than watching paint dry
guns:unsatysfying,sounds and animations both suck,to me the animations look worse than in hl1
story:dont care
graphics:also dont care
enviromental storytelling:half life 1 had better enviromental storytelling,even if hl1 didnt have much story,it was still better
physics:cool.but it would have became standard eventually anyway
overall rating 5/10,decent game at best,meh at worst,a lot more flaws than people said it had,praised too much,no real replay value,and i dont need an annoying npc following me around being extremely fragile and making me get a game over if they die.
Go play another thousand hours in valorant.
Ravenholm is probably the only great chapter in the game
Half Life 2 was definitely an amazing with some big flaws. I agree with most of what you said in regards to the atmosphere and gameplay. Although, I think that the beta would have been a much better game because it had more enemy variety (more Synths, Xen creatures like the Bullsquid and Houndeye that are now part of earth’s ecosystems. As well as some other human Combine units like the Combine Assassin who was basically the Black Ops Assassin from the first game and a stealth trooper/sniper). The base game just feels like the Combine are there and are just occupying a city. While in the beta everyone had gas masks because the air was unbreathable due to Combine terraforming, the cities had walls to keep out the Xen infestation that took over earth’s ecosystems, there were children working in factories, and there were plenty of Combine installations all over the planet. The Combine came in force and are here to stay. Plus, it was a lot darker in terms of tone and atmosphere (that’s part of why Ravenholm stands out so much. It’s a left over from that part of development). The buildings were also more like something you’d see in New York with humans densely populated instead of the Eastern Europe look.
I really liked how they expanded on the different zombies/Headcrabs. That added in some cool variety.
Something else Half Life 2 did so much better than the original is the movement. You have way too much forward momentum in the original. I prefer how in 2 you have a reasonable walk speed, and can sprint. That’s much more enjoyable for me than having the base speed be too fast (luckily this is easily fixed by crouching, but still).
Unfortunately the Combine ai acted really dumb. They can actually behave intelligently like in Nova Prospect. But, for most of the game they were put into combat arenas that weren’t designed for their ai behaviors/abilities. They didn’t take cover very often, didn’t flank you, threw grenades less frequently, and their radio filter made them inaudible. If you can hear the enemies communicating with each other it will trick the player into thinking that they’re so much smarter. That’s part of why the soldiers in Fear work so well. They were put into combat arenas specifically designed to facilitate their movements, and they’ll constantly talk about what’s going on. The Combine also go down too fast because they have so little health. The marines in 1 were too spongy, but since they were alive longer you got to see their behaviors.
It would be interesting to see what your thoughts are on the Halos. When you critically analyze the story it’s pretty dumb and the characters are about as deep as a puddle, but the presentation is truly phenomenal. The voice acting is really good, the music is too tier. The gameplay is really fun with unique enemies, great gunplay with a bunch of unique weapons, and lots of really cool set pieces. There’s also a lot of really cool lore (if you want to learn about it without having to read a bunch of books that range in quality watch some lore videos on UA-cam) that really enriches the universe. People say that the ai is really smart, but that’s because of how they’ll interact in a squad together, and how well they telegraph what they’re doing. Grunts will panic and flee if you take out enough of them and/or their commander. Jackals hide behind their shields (they don’t do much besides this and sniping). Hunters will always travel in pairs and one will go berserk when you kill it’s bond brother. The Elites will dodge and weave during combat, jump out of the way of grenades, and take cover when their shields are down. The Flood will just blindly rush you which acts as a good contrast (sadly Flood missions are some of the worst in the games).
Good video.
Replying to my own comment because I can’t edit:
To anyone reading this don’t buy Infinite for a couple years. The core gameplay is really fun, but it’s missing a lot of the features that were staples of the previous games. The multiplayer only has a few game modes and maps, Forge (a map editor) is missing, and the customization is a micro transaction filled nightmare. The campaign is really fun, but the side objectives are really repetitive, the open world map only has one biome and is clearly incompetent, you can’t replay missions, and there is no online/split screen multiplayer. At this current time it simply is not worth the $60 price tag (American Dollars). Especially because the multiplayer is free.
The MCC (Master Chief Collection) is really good though. It has 6 Halos. ODST is $5, and all the others are $10. It has lots of content. They’ve added in a custom games browser and modding support/tools to most of the games. Buy the game when it goes on sale.
Something i dont like about thw sprint however is that it shares the same bar with the flashlight and oxygen.
Half Life 2 is great, but it did not age nearly as well as Half Life 1. The physics engine was groundbreaking at the time and went a long, long ways toward its success, but once that novelty wore off, the original game is still superior.
The gunplay is complete shit
Besides the magnum of course
i recently played through it again for the first time in almost 10 years. I honestly think its bad. the gameplay is mostly extremely tedious and the weapons really lack impact. I did think the episode expansions were significantly better though. The first one has ironically aged a hell of a lot better and is more fun to play
I like this game way more then the much overrated portal games. Still don’t understand why people think those are the greatest valve games. Hl1 Hl2 l4d are way better
portal 1 and 2 is better than half life 2
there i said it
half life 1 is a good game,unlike 2.it has some ACTUAL REPLAY VALUE.
Oh yeah, the best part is you can take a turret with you for a little while because you feel like you are breaking the game and it plays yourself.
For the ending there's a line in a video that sums up my feelings about the ending: Blablabla Mr. Freeman blablabla.
Back in the day Half-Life 2 was universally praised but today you'd likely have a hard time finding any fans of it. It did a full 180 among people's opinions and is now pretty much universally regarded as boring and overrated. It's fascinating how opinions of huge games like this shift over time and no game has had that effect more than HL2, at least that's what I've observed.
Lol you only seem to be speaking for yourself
Uh, there are alot i mean ALOT of fans of HL2 nowadays even to the point of saying it's the best game ever so i'm not sure where you've been reading.
@@hazzmati Well yeah... that's why I said "that's what I observed"
@@smugplush It's my favorite game and every single person I've ever talked to online about it says it's boring. Maybe I am reading in the wrong places, but I genuinely find it difficult to find anyone who actually likes it these days.
@@jikissgamer then you either live in a very tiny world or are unable to find any reviews. A quick glance at the HL2 steam store page complete proves you wrong.
20 years late
If this guy whines this much about a game as nearly perfect (in my mind) as HL2... I can only imagine what he says about other games.
Half life 2 beta still better
Nah bro this game suuucked
Unpopular opinion: Valve is an overrated game company. Bought HL day one. Was bored but still finished it... once. Bought HL2 day one. Had a blast and loved it... well, the first playthrough at least. Tried to replay is a bit later and stopped very quickly.
half life 1 is somewhat ok on all playthroughs half life 2 is one and done,play it once,you'll have fun play it twice,you almost die of boredom,atleast that was the case for me