Half-Life

[MrPopo]

I still can't believe you didn't like Borderlands. It was supposed to be un-unlikeable.

I heard it's no good if you play single-player.

Borderlands is fine as single player.

[BoringSupreez]

I still can't believe you didn't like Borderlands. It was supposed to be un-unlikeable.

I heard it's no good if you play single-player.

Borderlands is fine as single player.

I've been told both online and IRL that if you play alone, it's real empty and boring.

[MrPopo]

No more so than any of the Diablo games.

[fastbilly1]

I've been told both online and IRL that if you play alone, it's real empty and boring.

Its fine playing it singleplayer, but it is infinitely more fun in coop. Like any ARPG, it only gets better with more people.

[Menegrothx]

I don't know what Amnesia is, but HL2 and Portal are both on consoles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia:_The_Dark_Descent
I was talking in a more general sense, as there are plenty of games like that have never been ported to consoles. Most people anyways have more space between their couch and TV than they have between their keyboard and computer screen. I know I do.
Dark room, headphones, sitting right infront of the screen playing a game like Thief or a (MMO)RPG. You'll feel more immersed in the game world. It's the same reason why I prefer playing JRPGs on handheld consoles over playing them with consoles.

This is a preference though. One of comfort.

Playing Halo on PC vs Xbox on single player, sure. Professional/competetive gaming? Nope.
And although it has nothing to do with mouse vs gamepad, playing FPS games that are available both on PC and 360/PS3 like Left4Dead2 and Team Fortress 2 is better on PC because you can host your own servers, create new mods, make new maps, enemies, weapons etc.

Well for platforming jump is up on DPad and moving forward is one of the face buttons. It's really easy to do this.

Some times you need to carefully "aim" your jumps while platforming. It's been some time since I last played through HL1 so I cant recall how much of those jumps are in it. The DC controller is probably fine in most cases, but it's worth noting that even on PC the game is sort of notorious for how it's easy to die while climbing a ladder/platforming.

Oh and more importantly you need to be able to aim while you're jumping and shooting targets mid air, which is probably quite tricky if you need to press up on the D pad while simultaneously aiming with the analog stick.

[noiseredux]

Most people anyways have more space between their couch and TV than they have between their keyboard and computer screen. I know I do.
Dark room, headphones, sitting right infront of the screen playing a game like Thief or a (MMO)RPG. You'll feel more immersed in the game world.

Yup. And all my consoles are hooked up to my monitor for just that reason.



^I'm plenty immersed.

Playing Halo on PC vs Xbox on single player, sure. Professional/competetive gaming? Nope.
And although it has nothing to do with mouse vs gamepad, playing FPS games that are available both on PC and 360/PS3 like Left4Dead2 and Team Fortress 2 is better on PC because you can host your own servers, create new mods, make new maps, enemies, weapons etc.

I'll give you the whole mod thing as being a definite plus for PC gaming over consoles. But I must confess that I'm not much of a FPS fan anyway, so the choices of FPS games available to me on consoles is more than enough as is anyway. And actually, Dreamcast in general has a small yet lively group that has brought various mods (usually based on the HL engine) to DC.

Some times you need to carefully "aim" your jumps while platforming. It's been some time since I last played through HL1 so I cant recall how much of those jumps are in it. The DC controller is probably fine in most cases, but it's worth noting that even on PC the game is sort of notorious for how it's easy to die while climbing a ladder/platforming.

Oh and more importantly you need to be able to aim while you're jumping and shooting targets mid air, which is probably quite tricky if you need to press up on the D pad while simultaneously aiming with the analog stick.

Yeah, I haven't run into this yet. But I could see that being a problem. I guess we'll find out, haha. I have done some platforming stuff though and been alright. The shooting-moving-targets thing while jumping sounds like it'll be a challenge. But again, I'll let you know when I hit any of that.

[gtmtnbiker]

Yup. And all my consoles are hooked up to my monitor for just that reason.

What do you do for sound? Does the monitor have built-in speakers or do you have a separate sound system?

[noiseredux]

Yup. And all my consoles are hooked up to my monitor for just that reason.

What do you do for sound? Does the monitor have built-in speakers or do you have a separate sound system?

the monitor has built in speakers -- which handles 360 and PS3 via HDMI. My other consoles (Wii, Saturn, PS2, Dreamcast) are component/S-video thru VGA and are output to seperate speakers. Just PC speakers. Nothing crazy. We live in a small-ish apartment and generally I'm playing games while my wife is watching TV in the same room, so I don't usually have my volume turned up all the loud.

[Metal Jesus]

I still can't believe you didn't like Borderlands. It was supposed to be un-unlikeable.

I tried getting into Borderlands...and found it to be a boring grindfest. Maybe if I had some friends on PS3 that would be different. But playing by myself... was incredibly dull.

I did like the dancing robot though!

[GSZX1337]

Our recent Black Mesa Source thread has inspired me to play through Half-Life again to see how it holds up. But before I go raving about Half-Life, I'll just say this about your experience with the Dreamcast version:

I think this is the only post I've read that makes playing the Dreamcast version seem sensible. I guess if having a single stick with face buttons for movement makes sense to you, this version's the one for you. Do you also find FPSes comfortable on the N64 as well?

[TL;DR version on the bottom of my post]

I first played Half-Life in 2003 in anticipation of Half-Life 2. I was really impressed with the game. Unbeknownst to me, Half-Life shaped my opinion on what a First Person Shooter should be. Being a 13 year-old, I loved the fast paced action and variety of locations in the single player campaign. It wasn't until later that I watched videos and read reviews I realized where Half-Life really excels such as the presentation of its story, the interactivity, and most of all its immersion. I was a bit pessimistic when I started Half-Life again as I expected it to fall flat of both the hype and my nostalgia for the game. I'm glad to say, that it doesn't disappoint in the slightest. In some respects it even surpasses my nostalgia-laden expectations.

The first disappointment I was expecting was the platforming. I thought it'd drag the whole experience down for me. However, I didn't mind it at all. It's awkward, but it fits and contributes to the immersion. When you think about it, jumping from ledge-to-ledge and ladder-to-ladder would be awkward for a scientist. It's not like he's an Italian plumber. I played the original Half-Life before I played games like Serious Sam and Doom so I didn't quite have the craving for fast paced shoot-em-up action I have now. Because of this, I thought Half-Life would feel rather stodgy. It's still rather quickly paced but it has more of a survivalist feel. The game is far from realistic, but I felt that I had to be smarter and more methodical. Running and gunning was almost never my best option. Also, I found myself using the surroundings to my advantage (ie. using nearby turrets to dispose of zombies, letting the soldiers and aliens have at it then finishing off the weakened victor, and occasionally having exploding/falling objects kill enemies). This might be because I played the game on Hard, though.

Note: When this game is played in multiplayer, it does feel very fast with a pace similar to Quake. The pace in the campaign has more to do with the layout of the maps and enemy placement than Gordon's movement limitations.

The story's presentation is enjoyable and unique as Gordon Freeman is a silent protagonist and there are no cutscenes. You're left to figure out the story on your own. This allows players wanting the full experience to do so without holding back the players who just want to shoot shit. This might sound like a bad idea but in reality any sort of hand holding would've dragged the game down. Because Gordon is silent, you only have your own reaction to the on screen events to go on. Was Gordon surprised that the military was killing the Black Mesa scientists in a cover-up operation or did he have a sneaking suspicion the whole time? It's all up to you. No matter what you think or how you play, you're thrown into a situation where you have to maneuver past unusual obstacles, take treacherous paths, and witness the deaths of your co-workers. There's a part early in the game where you have to go up an elevator shaft using a series of ladders. You hear a distant grunt coming from a scientist hanging for dear life on a ladder above. As you climb up, the grunts get louder as he struggles to hang on. You close in on him, but you're too late. He falls to his death down the shaft. If moments like these were presented in the form of cutscenes, I feel that the experience would've been cheapened.

This way of story-telling does lead to one flaw. It is very easy to miss out on the story. I think that if I hadn't played this game a few times before and read up on the storyline I probably would've been somewhat lost on the story. However, this flaw can be turned into a positive depending on how much you immerse yourself. It's very possible that Gordon would be in the dark for the most part as he was preoccupied with his survival and because of this he missed vital clues. There really is no wrong way to play the game as far as the story/atmosphere is concerned. You don't feel punished for skipping cutscenes or ignoring events. There are some more modern FPS games such as Halo, SiN Episode 1, and Half-Life's own sequel that have a similar story-telling method, but hold your hand with cutscenes or by nailing your feet to the ground. Perhaps this is the price we have to pay for having games evolve...

TL;DR: Half-Life is a great FPS that lives up to and in some ways even surpasses my nostalgia.