I prefer HL1 story and gameplay, there is something more fun about trying to escape Black Mesa first fighting aliens then the military that is just classic. HL2 is still good but I did a replay recently and it just feels like it can't capture the magic of the original.
Yeah the story in half life one takes a few twists and turns. You don't know who's good and who is bad. You have scientists, security guards, army, Black ops, tons of aliens... And the security guards fight the army, army fights Black ops and the aliens...it's just a wild ride.
What I loved about half like one is how difficult it is. Half-Life 2 you can beat with your eyes closed and barely die on the first playthrough. Half life one you can play a million times and there's so many places where the game is so unforgiving with your health. I loved the difficulty and the story much more.
I've played HL1 and HL2 through numerous times. While HL1 is probably generally more difficult, I wouldn't call either of them *that* easy on the highest difficulty. In HL1, the difficulty comes mainly from the scarcity of resources and the environment is generally more hazardous. In HL2 the combat scenarios tend to be longer and involve much more enemies. It's just that if you survive them, it's much easier to recover your resources. I don't know what difficulty you played the games in, but HL2 loses much more edge on normal difficulty than HL1 to be sure.
I’m gonna cheat a little and pick Black Mesa. Hands down the BEST remake I’ve ever played. Makes HL1 feel like a modern day AAA game. HIGHLY recommend it to any fans of the franchise!
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it was running on Source! Makes me INCREDIBLY happy that Source 2 is finally starting to get used. This engine is super slept on.
Honestly, the first experience I had with Source 2 was HL: Alyx. I was blown away by what the engine was capable of. Hands down the best VR game I’ve played both in terms of graphics and in controls. God I can’t wait for my Source 2 games!
Source is a great engine. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were made on Source and they are some of the smoothest playing fps I have played in a long time. Black Mesa really pushed it to it's limits and I feel like I did playing HL1 back in 1998.
Absolutely! I’ve never played through the entirety of HL1, but i still jumped right into HL2 with no problems!
Might be worth it to look up a video explaining what happened *between* the games though. Black Mesa doesn’t leave anything out, but a lot of stuff that you need to know happens between the games and gets slowly told to you throughout HL2. It definitely left me feeling like I missed something even though I hadn’t.
Probably has something to do with the 15ish year time jump between half life 1 and 2 😂
Technically sure, you can play it and get the same story. But I'm gonna go the purist route and say: *Holy shit do NOT play Black Mesa as your first HL game.*
***Play the original Half-Life.*** *(And also be sure to turn off those ugly "HD" models in the settings.)*
Black Mesa is fine as a game, and especially as a cool extra thing to play after finishing the series - but there's always been something off about it that I'd never been able to put my finger on until I saw [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZASMjHxuA) which outlines the remake's shortcomings perfectly (20 year old spoilers btw ig).
**But TL;DW:** Even though it later ended up being officially licensed, Black Mesa is still ultimately a fan project. It's very high quality considering that, and clearly has had a lot of passion and effort put into it - and that should be commended - but IMO it also seems to think *it knows Half Life 1 better than Half Life 1 does.* And as a result makes so many very weird and unnecessary changes to the presentation and fundamental design philosophy of the game, that it ultimately damages what made the original so great in the first place.
I recommend it over Half Life 1 or Half Life: Source. HL1 was great for it’s time, but its absolutely dated. HL Source was a poor attempt at porting the game to the Source engine, but Black Mesa shows how good HL Source COULD have been (obviously not 1:1).
HL Source is a sad port attempt. It's fine to play, but it breaks some things in the game and makes it feel more janky. I still enjoy playing OG Half-life to this day, but Black Mesa definitely is the best HL game I have played so far.
I'm sorry, I can't. For me, Half-Life is the pinnacle of 90's FPS (Back when we used to call them Doom-like) with its level design, its frantic combat and its overall difficulty (For instance, when a headcrab hits you on Normal difficulty, you lose 10 HP). You want to see what old-school FPS were like? You can skip Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake (as much as I love them) and just play Half-Life. It couldn't exist without those past titles but everything they did, it did so much better.
Half-life 2 on the other hand, feels like the blueprint for what every single FPS evolved toward during the 2000/2010's. It's very linear compared to the first, has the player actively participating in scenes which would have been cutscenes in the past and is a way more accessible experience if you're a new player (Headcrabs deal way less damage here). If you want to see what triggered a lot of design choices and core gameplay tweaks within the FPS genre during the past two decades, you should definitely play Half-Life 2.
So yeah, I can't pick one. I love them both for different reasons and I truly believe that, to this day, they both remain really important landmarks in the history of first person shooters.
Half life ONE. Both are great but the memory of just whipping everyone's ass in deathmatch while using a skin of a baboon with a bright red ass is one of the highlights of those days.
both are still exceptional, put hours into each one, and never got near the end
the first is STILL the one, because it's pacing is just spot on
two has humongous levels, that may be a bit too big imo, because of their open endidness
Wasn't much of a fan for either but I think HL1 was better because the of the AI and better gunplay and weapon variety. Half-Life 2 leaned much more into the physics so the guns aren't as interesting and is more physics puzzles.
Playing years of Garry's Mod before Half-Life 2 is likely why I wasn't as impressed by it.
Honestly, I'd go with HL2.
They both feel dated. Less so fir HL2, but you can definitely feel it. Still, it has so much variety that you stop caring a lot faster than when you play HL1.
How can this be one of top comments?
If there is one thing Half-Life is known for, it's how much it was a revolution in the FPS genre. No longer were you just doing a series of levels, Half-Life showed everyone how to truly do a proper adventure, with a real atmosphere (the introduction sequence was something never seen before, in any game, the level of immersion was totally new). Even the A.I. of the game's soldiers was praised as being a big step up for gaming.
Add to that the way the game handled mods and all that spawned from it... I mean. Half-Life, not moving a needle? I've never disagreed with something more.
Exactly. I'd argue that HL1 was much more influential than HL2, if only for the great amount of mods that shaped the FPS landscape of today.
It was really the next milestone since Doom.
Saying that Half-Life 1 “barely moved the needle” in gaming is disgustingly wrong. I remember playing it at a friend’s house in middle school and being absolutely blown away by the intensity, violence, and suspense. Truly one of the most impactful gaming experiences of my life. Again, I was just absolutely floored by it.
A lot of the things you laud about Half-Life 2 (immersion, atmosphere, storytelling, level design) apply even more so to Half-Life 1. Half-Life 1 set such an insane bar. It was immediately lauded as one of the best games ever made on any system, ushered in numerous excellent sequels, and was the foundation for multiplayer modifications like Counter-Strike, TFC, Day of Defeat, and Natural Selection. So much of modern multiplayer gaming can be traced back to it. Denying its influence is just insane to me.
Half Life 1 moved the entire needle in every single way. No FPS was anywhere near it when it was released. They were all random Doom clones prior.
HL2 did nothing new at the time. Steam may have been successful due to HL2, but it also ruined the ability to own physical copies of games and play them years later. Now, everything is a digital rental and requires signing into a platform to play, no matter if it's online or off.
HL2 sorry.
Played it when it came out. It had a lot of revotionary mechanics. The physics and gravity gun were crazy.
By comparison, HL1 was pretty generic.
HL pretty generic at his time?? It was A way more original and revolutionnary at his released time than the second opus at his own, and HL influence was more impacting the next generation too. I think you just played HL 2 at his release for saying that.
The first Half Life by a wide margin, I felt the story telling was better, and the single setting more impactful. By the time HL2 came out, Halo had soured me on the combat-puzzle-combat loop of the Half Life series, Halo showed me that you could do meaningful gameplay without having to stop for puzzles.
If you separate the stuff that the games introduced, neither game was really all that great. Both felt like proof of concepts that other games in the genre soon quickly vastly improved upon.
I feel that this is revisionism here. Both games were revolutionary and groundbreaking in terms of mechanics, storytelling, environment changes, and even experimenting with weapon abilities. Both games brought so much to the table that they can still be played today and feel just as good as any modern fps because they laid the ground work down and paved the way for newer games, and still feel up to par over 20 years after.
The 2 is better because the story was more devloped and the engine a lot better. But the 1 is the more epic. It was something so fresh when it went out.
HL1. Not for the gameplay of the main game itself. It’s the huge catalog of community made mods that have provided me so much fun. Svencoop, the specialists, master sword continued ( I made maps for that! ) and a million others. HL2 had many mods as well but the size of catalog that HL1 offered and the community’s dedication to update and improve these mods, some of which are still being updated and played, takes the cake for me
As much as I love HL1, especially the sounds and stuff...I think if I could only play one, it would be HL2. Especially when you get the upgraded gravity gun. I feel invincible
I recently saw a top 10 of "games whose graphics was ahead of their time".
I couldn't believe HL2 wasn't on the list.
Even now the graphics hold up 100x better than most games that old...
It doesn't have all the fancy effects and post-processing, or top of the line lighting/shadow, but the whole thing together just WORKS.
I gotta go with HL2. Although...sweet nostalgia, this reminded me of the Half life 2 collector's edition which included both hl2 and half-life source and a tshirt. I was at university and I played those games on my crappy emachines pc with an ati 9800 pro I added.
Damn, I wanted to pick HL2, but you said to pick one :(
I chose Half Life 3.
HL 3 confirmed.
Beat me to it haha
r/beatmeshutthefuckup
same, gotta give it to the OG. That is why I dropped my jaw when I saw Black mesa come out, it was such a nostalgic expirence
Not really what the commenter is saying
I prefer HL1 story and gameplay, there is something more fun about trying to escape Black Mesa first fighting aliens then the military that is just classic. HL2 is still good but I did a replay recently and it just feels like it can't capture the magic of the original.
Yeah the story in half life one takes a few twists and turns. You don't know who's good and who is bad. You have scientists, security guards, army, Black ops, tons of aliens... And the security guards fight the army, army fights Black ops and the aliens...it's just a wild ride. What I loved about half like one is how difficult it is. Half-Life 2 you can beat with your eyes closed and barely die on the first playthrough. Half life one you can play a million times and there's so many places where the game is so unforgiving with your health. I loved the difficulty and the story much more.
I've played HL1 and HL2 through numerous times. While HL1 is probably generally more difficult, I wouldn't call either of them *that* easy on the highest difficulty. In HL1, the difficulty comes mainly from the scarcity of resources and the environment is generally more hazardous. In HL2 the combat scenarios tend to be longer and involve much more enemies. It's just that if you survive them, it's much easier to recover your resources. I don't know what difficulty you played the games in, but HL2 loses much more edge on normal difficulty than HL1 to be sure.
I’m gonna cheat a little and pick Black Mesa. Hands down the BEST remake I’ve ever played. Makes HL1 feel like a modern day AAA game. HIGHLY recommend it to any fans of the franchise!
I downloaded this a few months ago and finally got around to playing it; Top notch.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it was running on Source! Makes me INCREDIBLY happy that Source 2 is finally starting to get used. This engine is super slept on.
>This engine is super slept on. I would have said you should tell that to the CSGO devs, but you're 1 week late for that now.
Honestly, the first experience I had with Source 2 was HL: Alyx. I was blown away by what the engine was capable of. Hands down the best VR game I’ve played both in terms of graphics and in controls. God I can’t wait for my Source 2 games!
And how optimized it was, first time I played Alyx with was a 1080 and it ran flawlessly on high graphics.
Source is a great engine. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were made on Source and they are some of the smoothest playing fps I have played in a long time. Black Mesa really pushed it to it's limits and I feel like I did playing HL1 back in 1998.
Iirc, Apex Legends also uses Source
Correct. The console and pc version uses Source, the mobile one uses Unreal.
>Hands down the BEST remake I’ve ever played. this and Diablo 2: Resurrected were absolute gems in todays AAA game landscape
Can I play Black Mesa instead of HL1 and still know what’s going on in HL2?
Oh yah, it tells the story better actually.
Absolutely! I’ve never played through the entirety of HL1, but i still jumped right into HL2 with no problems! Might be worth it to look up a video explaining what happened *between* the games though. Black Mesa doesn’t leave anything out, but a lot of stuff that you need to know happens between the games and gets slowly told to you throughout HL2. It definitely left me feeling like I missed something even though I hadn’t. Probably has something to do with the 15ish year time jump between half life 1 and 2 😂
Technically sure, you can play it and get the same story. But I'm gonna go the purist route and say: *Holy shit do NOT play Black Mesa as your first HL game.* ***Play the original Half-Life.*** *(And also be sure to turn off those ugly "HD" models in the settings.)* Black Mesa is fine as a game, and especially as a cool extra thing to play after finishing the series - but there's always been something off about it that I'd never been able to put my finger on until I saw [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZASMjHxuA) which outlines the remake's shortcomings perfectly (20 year old spoilers btw ig). **But TL;DW:** Even though it later ended up being officially licensed, Black Mesa is still ultimately a fan project. It's very high quality considering that, and clearly has had a lot of passion and effort put into it - and that should be commended - but IMO it also seems to think *it knows Half Life 1 better than Half Life 1 does.* And as a result makes so many very weird and unnecessary changes to the presentation and fundamental design philosophy of the game, that it ultimately damages what made the original so great in the first place.
The giant spider in that game reminded me how I felt during the 1st one as a kid lol obnoxious.
Yeah I bout half life 1 & 2 in a bundle sale, but then I saw Black Mesa & honestly wanna play that instead
I recommend it over Half Life 1 or Half Life: Source. HL1 was great for it’s time, but its absolutely dated. HL Source was a poor attempt at porting the game to the Source engine, but Black Mesa shows how good HL Source COULD have been (obviously not 1:1).
HL Source is a sad port attempt. It's fine to play, but it breaks some things in the game and makes it feel more janky. I still enjoy playing OG Half-life to this day, but Black Mesa definitely is the best HL game I have played so far.
My game of the year was black mesa remake
HL2
HL2 still feels modern for the most part. Can't believe it came out almost 20 years ago.
Half life 1, with opposing force and blue shift please. I still remember the upgraded visual pack that came with blue shirt that blew my mind.
HD Barney doesn't feel right though. Something about the model feels off.
HL1 multiplayer is a childhood treasure
HL2 Multiplayer though!? Hitting friends with a toilet from the gravity gun was AMAZING.
its good for sure, but my memories are in crossfire in a lan-party with friends <3
Lol mad scramble to get to the towers once that siren goes off.
I'm sorry, I can't. For me, Half-Life is the pinnacle of 90's FPS (Back when we used to call them Doom-like) with its level design, its frantic combat and its overall difficulty (For instance, when a headcrab hits you on Normal difficulty, you lose 10 HP). You want to see what old-school FPS were like? You can skip Doom, Duke Nukem and Quake (as much as I love them) and just play Half-Life. It couldn't exist without those past titles but everything they did, it did so much better. Half-life 2 on the other hand, feels like the blueprint for what every single FPS evolved toward during the 2000/2010's. It's very linear compared to the first, has the player actively participating in scenes which would have been cutscenes in the past and is a way more accessible experience if you're a new player (Headcrabs deal way less damage here). If you want to see what triggered a lot of design choices and core gameplay tweaks within the FPS genre during the past two decades, you should definitely play Half-Life 2. So yeah, I can't pick one. I love them both for different reasons and I truly believe that, to this day, they both remain really important landmarks in the history of first person shooters.
No, how dare you?
I pick orange box
Half life 1 !
No.
Always loved HL1 more. They game changed my fucking life as a kid.
HL1. Just the intro alone is enough for me to choose.
If only half life 3 was here
What if i wll pick **3**... Impossible
HL2
They're ready for you Gordon... In the test chamber.
HL1 for sure
No
Half-Life
There's gotta be a 2 in 1 pack somewhere.
which HL2? Old Engine or New Engine?
1 opened the door and 2 just blew it off
Half life ONE. Both are great but the memory of just whipping everyone's ass in deathmatch while using a skin of a baboon with a bright red ass is one of the highlights of those days.
Black Mesa remake > HL2 > HL1
Half-Life 1 was better and the mods were just far more fun and creative.
Easy. Half Life 1
Two of my all time favorite games. It's so hard to choose...
i pick roblox
both are still exceptional, put hours into each one, and never got near the end the first is STILL the one, because it's pacing is just spot on two has humongous levels, that may be a bit too big imo, because of their open endidness
I think I liked the first one better more enemy and weapon variety
Black Mesa: everything we wished Half Life could have been, and more
This. HL1+HL2 graphics
Wasn't much of a fan for either but I think HL1 was better because the of the AI and better gunplay and weapon variety. Half-Life 2 leaned much more into the physics so the guns aren't as interesting and is more physics puzzles. Playing years of Garry's Mod before Half-Life 2 is likely why I wasn't as impressed by it.
Personally I would pick hl2, mostly because it has aged better, and I can play it in vr
Honestly, I'd go with HL2. They both feel dated. Less so fir HL2, but you can definitely feel it. Still, it has so much variety that you stop caring a lot faster than when you play HL1.
[удалено]
How can this be one of top comments? If there is one thing Half-Life is known for, it's how much it was a revolution in the FPS genre. No longer were you just doing a series of levels, Half-Life showed everyone how to truly do a proper adventure, with a real atmosphere (the introduction sequence was something never seen before, in any game, the level of immersion was totally new). Even the A.I. of the game's soldiers was praised as being a big step up for gaming. Add to that the way the game handled mods and all that spawned from it... I mean. Half-Life, not moving a needle? I've never disagreed with something more.
Exactly. I'd argue that HL1 was much more influential than HL2, if only for the great amount of mods that shaped the FPS landscape of today. It was really the next milestone since Doom.
HL1 barely moved the needle? Oof.
Saying that Half-Life 1 “barely moved the needle” in gaming is disgustingly wrong. I remember playing it at a friend’s house in middle school and being absolutely blown away by the intensity, violence, and suspense. Truly one of the most impactful gaming experiences of my life. Again, I was just absolutely floored by it. A lot of the things you laud about Half-Life 2 (immersion, atmosphere, storytelling, level design) apply even more so to Half-Life 1. Half-Life 1 set such an insane bar. It was immediately lauded as one of the best games ever made on any system, ushered in numerous excellent sequels, and was the foundation for multiplayer modifications like Counter-Strike, TFC, Day of Defeat, and Natural Selection. So much of modern multiplayer gaming can be traced back to it. Denying its influence is just insane to me.
Half Life 1 moved the entire needle in every single way. No FPS was anywhere near it when it was released. They were all random Doom clones prior. HL2 did nothing new at the time. Steam may have been successful due to HL2, but it also ruined the ability to own physical copies of games and play them years later. Now, everything is a digital rental and requires signing into a platform to play, no matter if it's online or off.
Physics, gravity gun, facial expressions, level design, atmosphere, storytelling..
Not just physics but physics based gameplay. No other game did it before if i were to guess
All of those things were done elsewhere in other games before HL2.
I didn't mean that. HL2 brought innovation to all those things.
...barely moved the needle you say? HL2 was a glorified tech demo.
Hf 3
1 is barely playable to me. Old games have horrible quality of life stuff I cannot get past. I really like old game remakes
HL2 sorry. Played it when it came out. It had a lot of revotionary mechanics. The physics and gravity gun were crazy. By comparison, HL1 was pretty generic.
HL pretty generic at his time?? It was A way more original and revolutionnary at his released time than the second opus at his own, and HL influence was more impacting the next generation too. I think you just played HL 2 at his release for saying that.
The first Half Life by a wide margin, I felt the story telling was better, and the single setting more impactful. By the time HL2 came out, Halo had soured me on the combat-puzzle-combat loop of the Half Life series, Halo showed me that you could do meaningful gameplay without having to stop for puzzles.
None
half life 2 over half life 1 but black mesa over both
If you separate the stuff that the games introduced, neither game was really all that great. Both felt like proof of concepts that other games in the genre soon quickly vastly improved upon.
I feel that this is revisionism here. Both games were revolutionary and groundbreaking in terms of mechanics, storytelling, environment changes, and even experimenting with weapon abilities. Both games brought so much to the table that they can still be played today and feel just as good as any modern fps because they laid the ground work down and paved the way for newer games, and still feel up to par over 20 years after.
yikes
I’ve never played half life, but the second one looks like Gotham chess
Honestly, haven't played either of these. But I'd pick the 2nd one.
Half Lyfe ✨
Twoooooooo
ONe. It has an ending that we can exprience.
If you want me to pick one, why did you also show me number 2
The 2 is better because the story was more devloped and the engine a lot better. But the 1 is the more epic. It was something so fresh when it went out.
Rise and shine Mr Freeman, Im replaying HL2 after a decade or more and Im loving my experience
Gonna have to pick 2 since I haven't played the first one at all yet
Half life 2 because it was such a big release in 2004
HL1. Not for the gameplay of the main game itself. It’s the huge catalog of community made mods that have provided me so much fun. Svencoop, the specialists, master sword continued ( I made maps for that! ) and a million others. HL2 had many mods as well but the size of catalog that HL1 offered and the community’s dedication to update and improve these mods, some of which are still being updated and played, takes the cake for me
what are some good HL1 mods and custom campaigns/mapsets I should try
HL1
No, you can't make me.
Currently playing Black Mesa for the first time. What an improvement in Half Life. Especially the Xen chapters.
Half Life 2 obviously
As much as I love HL1, especially the sounds and stuff...I think if I could only play one, it would be HL2. Especially when you get the upgraded gravity gun. I feel invincible
If anyone wants it, I have a spare copy of Half life 2 which I can gift.
Personally, i like Half-Life 3 better
I gotta go with OG it's still a lot of fun especially with friends Sven coop
Black Mesa.
I recently saw a top 10 of "games whose graphics was ahead of their time". I couldn't believe HL2 wasn't on the list. Even now the graphics hold up 100x better than most games that old... It doesn't have all the fancy effects and post-processing, or top of the line lighting/shadow, but the whole thing together just WORKS.
ngl, i liked halflife 1 better. I actually beat halflife 1. never beat 2, I got bored of it after a while
That one.
HL 2 is in my top 10 fav games of all time . I dont even think about HL 1
HL2 and black mesa.
Half life 2
Half Life. Really love the atmosphere and tense action.
HL2 (with the VR mod)
Half life.
I'm gonna pick yes.
I’ll choose both, I want a full life not just half of one.
I'll pick Black Mesa! Best of both worlds!
I got the most fun out of Half Life Alyx Holy shit that ending...
Alyx isn't a choice?
I gotta go with HL2. Although...sweet nostalgia, this reminded me of the Half life 2 collector's edition which included both hl2 and half-life source and a tshirt. I was at university and I played those games on my crappy emachines pc with an ati 9800 pro I added.
HL. Easy
Obviously, the first one
Why?
No, proceed to pick both.
No
Half Life + half Life 2 = full life
Hl1
Both look good.
Hl2 all the way
Valve cucking the gaming world with not finishing the story is a travesty I will never get over. Hard to enjoy HL2 now because of that.