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[SonicVolcano]

I vividly remember this screen from those gaming magazines, only finding out it was cut from the game entirely.

 

[Senua]

Most overrated game of all time.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Me too. I remember running all the Steam benchmarks like 1000 times.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Most overrated game of all time.

This along with Men_in_Boxes thread might be the worst takes I’ve read in a while.

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

It's funny because is true.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Jesus. Twenty years.
I was a young stud back then.

Ravenholm scared the crap out of me.

Same. Now I’m a ruined man with a wife, three kids and a mortgage.

No one goes to Ravenholm!

 

[Senua]

It's funny because is true.

If they ported it to Switch at full price you'd like it

 

[Salmon Snake]

Same. Now I’m a ruined man with a wife, three kids and a mortgage.

No one goes to Ravenholm!

We share the fate brotha!

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

If they ported it to Switch at full price you'd like it

I don't even own a Switch, LMAO.

 

[MDSLKTR]

How hype was this

 

[Senua]

I don't even own a Switch, LMAO.

Now that IS funny!

 

[BigLee74]

I don’t think a game has made a bigger first impression on me than Half Life 2 did back when it released. The game physics and the gravity gun left my jaw on the floor.

 

[Forsete]

I don’t think a game has made a bigger first impression on me than Half Life 2 did back when it released. The game physics and the gravity gun left my jaw on the floor.

HL2 and MGS2 for me.

 

[Salmon Snake]

I first played Half Life on the PS2 and went on to buy Half Life again on PC. one of the best games ever. Love playing it with mods and also some of the fan made campaigns like They Hunger, Military, Half Life Echoes, Half Life ultimate attack, Hunt the Cunt, Field Intensity mod, Half Rat etc etc. Plus great expansions like Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Half Life 2 and it's episodes were great too but I prefer Half Life 1 more.

HL was awesome on PS2! That's also the version that I played the first and I got a decent gaming pc just before HL2 was released.

The wait for the release date was something.

HL2 was/is one the most impressive games ever released. The graphics and physics were top notch at the time.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Half-Life Alyx coming to Quest 3

 

[samoilaaa]

 

[rodrigolfp]

Most overrated game of all time.

In a world with potato 30fps dual stick aim assisted shooters, sure Jan.

 

[Krathoon]

I liked how Half Life 1 was essentially a Quake mod.

 

[bender]

Half-Life 2 was pretty disappointing all-and-all. There are certainly high points like everyone's favorite level, Ravenholm, but the game has some pretty big pacing issues largely due to the vehicle sections. Episode 2 is great though and I'd rank it up there with the original. Episode1 is the low point in the franchise.

 

[adamsapple]

FPS Boost the Xbox version, you cowards! It's already native 4K.

 

[Katatonic]

I remember playing this on the PC I had built at the time connected to my Samsung 46" DLP TV. The moment I entered the horror themed town (Ravenholm?) my friend who was a casual gamer said "this is the game I've been dreaming of my whole life".

 

[Krathoon]

"We don't go to Ravenholm."

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Desperately need an Orange Box 2, with Alyx and Portal 3 VR in the box

"We don't go to Ravenholm."

going back to Ravenholm in full VR last year... simply amazing, like seeing it for the first time

 

[Branded]

Desperately need an Orange Box 2, with Alyx and Portal 3 VR in the box

2025 is going to be the year of Valve. Deadlock 3, Counter-Strike 3, Left 4 Dead 3 and of course Half-Life 3. I Believe!

 

[NeonDelta]

Forgot about the tin and t shirt. I had those

 

[KU_]

HL2 and MGS2 for me.

This right here. These two games undoubtedly left an impression on me like no other game has since.

Half Life 2 is what really compelled me to start getting into PC gaming. It was my most anticipated game ever, I scoured every magazine and website to get as much as info on it as possible. I actually even wrote pieces for a PC gaming site at the time and covered it. I can confidently say I played through HL2 in its entirety over 10 times. I also double dipped on consoles when the Orange Box came out. Not to mention it was the catalyst that introduced me to Counter Strike which I played competitively for years. Such a fantastic title that to this day, in my opinion sits alone at the top of FPS’s, and I can’t believe it’s been 20 years.

 

[MMaRsu]

One of the greatest games ever made.

So innovative at the time, i'll never forget watching the E3 demo:



That strider walking down the street was so epic.

How does this have better lip sync than Dragon Age Veilguard ????

But yeah this demo was so fucking good back in the day

 

[Moses85]

Most overrated game of all time.

 

[mayham2199]

When purely looking on gameplay:

Not much has changed since then for shooters.

That's why I can't even really have fun with shooter anymore. I played them so much when I was a kid and now I play them and it's still the same shit. Amazing how even the enemy AI is still braindead. FEAR really made me think we were going to see a change but doesn't even feel like most FPS games reach even FEARs level of AI.

 

[Cattlyst]

Still have my metal tin from when I bought it new all those years ago! Sadly I don’t have any of the original contents as it is now used as a container for random bits and pieces but damn. 20 years has flown by…!

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Heck I can remember my dad talking about the hack and game being leaked like it was yesterday.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Heck I can remember my dad talking about the hack and game being leaked like it was yesterday.

You son of a bitch. You know what you did posting that!

 

[digital_ghost]

 

[Hugare]

Played it on release date (4 discs, If I'm not mistaken, 'cause I didnt have a DVD reader on my PC) with my old Geforce4 MX 440

Each loading took AGES, like more than 2 minutes. And the game had one loading screen for each room, basically lol

Still loved the game to bits. A masterpice.

Replayed the whole series this year, and it aged like fine wine. Even better than Episodes 1 and 2, imo.

 

[simpatico]

Ah yes. My introduction to Steam. Back when it was simply the HL2 launcher. Never had any idea it would become what it has.

 

[Sentenza]

Ah yes. My introduction to Steam. Back when it was simply the HL2 launcher. Never had any idea it would become what it has.

My (current) Steam account is exactly as old as the release of this game, now that I think of it.

Bit of a sidetrack here, but in theory I already had a circa-1-year-old Steam account at the time (with HL1, CS, etc activated on it).

What happened is that I bought a copy of this game, gave it to my brother asking him to go home before me and activate it for me... And somehow the moron managed to create a new account where user ID and password were swapped instead.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Half-Life 2 was pretty disappointing all-and-all. There are certainly high points like everyone's favorite level, Ravenholm, but the game has some pretty big pacing issues largely due to the vehicle sections. Episode 2 is great though and I'd rank it up there with the original. Episode1 is the low point in the franchise.

I was much more of a fan of the first game personally. But 2 did do a lot of interesting things, the biggest take aways for me were the multiplayer, Ravenholm, and just the engine as a whole. I remember being so in awe of the physics. I REALLY miss that feeling. It's wild how, 20 years ago I thought things would be SO much crazier with engines 20 years later... and they really aren't...

 

[bender]

I was much more of a fan of the first game personally. But 2 did do a lot of interesting things, the biggest take aways for me were the multiplayer, Ravenholm, and just the engine as a whole. I remember being so in awe of the physics. I REALLY miss that feeling. It's wild how, 20 years ago I thought things would be SO much crazier with engines 20 years later... and they really aren't...

I think about that a lot too and I always come back to the push towards higher fidelity and associated production costs has left a lot by the wayside. I do think we'll hit a tipping point sooner rather later, at least for most companies.

 

[ItJustWorks]

One of the greatest E3 reveal demos of all time

 

[ItJustWorks]

I think about that a lot too and I always come back to the push towards higher fidelity and associated production costs has left a lot by the wayside. I do think we'll hit a tipping point sooner rather later, at least for most companies.

Gaming companies took a step back to be honest. Crysis was only 3 years later for example.

I think exclusive content that was natively built for high end rasterized focused graphics cards simply took a nose dive.

Games ended up being console ports that knew how to tackle on a taxing feature that would make a card struggle. Whereas up til the early 2000's, games were natively built for the highest graphics card when it was a PC game.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Half life 2 and Halo 2 in the same month was good times.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I just replayed the whole series recently. Amazing narative still to this day. Btw if you havent you have a free mod on Steam called Entropy 2. You are in a role of a combine soldier and not to spoil anything but its the closest you will get to HL3. Textures and lightning are updated, your protagonist talks which elevates the immersion, feels really brutal against the resistance, you really are a bad guy

 

[bender]

Gaming companies took a step back to be honest. Crysis was only 3 years later for example.

I think exclusive content that was natively built for high end rasterized focused graphics cards simply took a nose dive.

Games ended up being console ports that knew how to tackle on a taxing feature that would make a card struggle. Whereas up til the early 2000's, games were natively built for the highest graphics card when it was a PC game.

There are advantages to developing for a single platform no matter what that platform is, but that just isn't economically viable unless you are Nintendo who zigged when everyone else zagged in the horsepower race. But they are only behind and that doesn't mean they will not get to a point were single platform development isn't viable for them.

 

[Dr.D00p]

20yrs later....and I still fucking hate the Nova Prospekt level.

 

[Gonzito]

So this upcoming update, will it be a graphics update or what will it be exactly?

 

[Kupfer]

​

I still have that shirt (and the CE obviously)

 

[Von Hugh]

And Valve will do fuck all about the sequel because they are already swimming in money due to Steam's success.

GabeN is too busy managing his fleet of yachts to have the motivation to make HL3.

 

[hemo memo]

Why is the game's title written like a math equation?

 

[keefged4]

The VR mod for this is by far the best out of all the VR "mods" ever, it's an amazing experience:

 

[TintoConCasera]

And Valve will do fuck all about the sequel because they are already swimming in money due to Steam's success.

GabeN is too busy managing his fleet of yachts to have the motivation to make HL3.

All that money didn't stop them from making Alyx tho.