I finished the first one in March this year, and I was stunned how good Half Life 1 was. It was very immersive, had a perfect length and the gameplay felt well. You could already tell how many ides the team had and how many of them were physics-based.
Half Life 2 is what should be considered a sequel, it improves in every single way compared to the first game. Lots of AAA sequels that I played recently (Spider-Man 2, GoW Ragnarök) were just "more of the same but longer". This is not the case for Half Life 2. Considering how impressed I'm by all the gameplay mechanics and immersion even though I'm playing 20 years later, people must have been blown away when they played it in 2004.
Gun play is great and the first mechanic that surprised was or let's say were the vehicles. They perfectly fit in the more openly levels of this game, and you are never too long in a single vehicle. Then comes the gravity gun, throwing objects and killing enemies with it is such a logical continuation of Half Life 1.
Going through this game, you start to notice how every singe level is filled with great ideas. The riddles are really easy, but I would rather say they are logical. There is no quest marker, no big yellow paint or no annoying character telling you what to do. You have to figure it out by yourself, and the answer is always very logical. The game also doesn't have any menus skill treas etc... everything is implemented in the game, which serves the immersion perfectly and makes Half Life 2 one of the most immersive games I have ever played.
This simplicity creates a flow I have rarely experienced in games. It's probably a combination of great level design and the straight forward shooting sequences mixed with some logical riddles that never last for too long.
The story is also fascinating. Gordan as well as the Gman will probably stay in my head for a long time. Yesterday I started to watch lore and story videos on YouTube, I guess this shows that I'm quite interested.
Half Life 2 might be the perfect single-player campaign for an ego shooter, which was long ahead of its time and influenced a lot of games coming later. This really makes Half Life 2 one of the best and most important games of all time.
Half Life 2 is what should be considered a sequel, it improves in every single way compared to the first game. Lots of AAA sequels that I played recently (Spider-Man 2, GoW Ragnarök) were just "more of the same but longer". This is not the case for Half Life 2. Considering how impressed I'm by all the gameplay mechanics and immersion even though I'm playing 20 years later, people must have been blown away when they played it in 2004.
Gun play is great and the first mechanic that surprised was or let's say were the vehicles. They perfectly fit in the more openly levels of this game, and you are never too long in a single vehicle. Then comes the gravity gun, throwing objects and killing enemies with it is such a logical continuation of Half Life 1.
Going through this game, you start to notice how every singe level is filled with great ideas. The riddles are really easy, but I would rather say they are logical. There is no quest marker, no big yellow paint or no annoying character telling you what to do. You have to figure it out by yourself, and the answer is always very logical. The game also doesn't have any menus skill treas etc... everything is implemented in the game, which serves the immersion perfectly and makes Half Life 2 one of the most immersive games I have ever played.
This simplicity creates a flow I have rarely experienced in games. It's probably a combination of great level design and the straight forward shooting sequences mixed with some logical riddles that never last for too long.
The story is also fascinating. Gordan as well as the Gman will probably stay in my head for a long time. Yesterday I started to watch lore and story videos on YouTube, I guess this shows that I'm quite interested.
Half Life 2 might be the perfect single-player campaign for an ego shooter, which was long ahead of its time and influenced a lot of games coming later. This really makes Half Life 2 one of the best and most important games of all time.