Half life

[ThunderTitan]

Awesomeness with the Source engine, by Valve.

[DaemianLucifer]

Awesomeness with the Source engine, by Valve.

And I thought gravity gun is as far as awesome goes.

[Humakt]

Half-Life was the first shooter that had a good AI, in fact, I'm not sure it has been outdone in any other shooter yet. Nowadays programmers rely too much on scripts and leave little time for standart AI programming. Not that HL didn't have scripts, actually it was the first shooter that featured a heavily scripted campaign, but the scripts were reinforcing the AI, not the other way around.. Most people can't tell the difference between scripted AI and good AI but seasoned FPS players easily can..

HL was great fun, especially when the AI did the unexpected.. The first time I saw soldiers, I just ran towards them thinking to myself 'there, I'm saved' when they shouted something like "Contact, fire at will!".. Sheepishly, I turned back if there were monsters coming behind me and realized only too late that I was the monster there , and got killed before I could say 'what the'..

That wasn't the AI that did unexpected there, it was the plot.

You don't count Descents as shooters? They are supposed to have excellent AI and I think the first one came 1995, 4 years earlier than Half-life 1.

And no way original UT is better than 2004 one with it's Onslaught mode, improved graphics, improved AI and other stuff that had added to the game.

FPS's I've played moderately (not necessarily completed but neither just one-play session):
Wolfenstein 3D
Blake Stone (not sure of the name)
Doom
Doom 2
Doom 3
Heretic
Hexen
Rise of the Triad
Duke Nukem 3D
Quake
Quake 2
Quake 3: Arena
Halflife
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2004
Return to Castle Wolfenstain
No One Lives Forever
No One Lives Forever 2

[Omega_Destroyer]

Portals looks sweet. First it was the Xen gun, then the gravity gun, and now a portal gun. I can only wonder what the next crazy weapon Valve will come up with.

[cornellian]

HL was great fun, especially when the AI did the unexpected.. The first time I saw soldiers, I just ran towards them thinking to myself 'there, I'm saved' when they shouted something like "Contact, fire at will!".. Sheepishly, I turned back if there were monsters coming behind me and realized only too late that I was the monster there , and got killed before I could say 'what the'..

That wasn't the AI that did unexpected there, it was the plot.

I've meant doing the unexpected as in 'I wasn't expecting them to shoot me' kind unexpected...

You don't count Descents as shooters? They are supposed to have excellent AI and I think the first one came 1995, 4 years earlier than Half-life 1.

Descent series don't have excellent AI, I have played every one of them, and they have fair but in no means special AI... It was good for its time though. Half-Life's AI, in some skirmishes of the game, hasn't been surpassed yet. Descent's strong point was its uniqueness, not its AI.

And no way original UT is better than 2004 one with it's Onslaught mode, improved graphics, improved AI and other stuff that had added to the game.

UT 2004's AI is not much better in most maps, the graphics mean absolutely nothing unless you only play single player against bots and even then it is of no importance for me -I'd rather blow my opponent to pieces than admire the intricate carvings on his armor, and Onslaught feels like a mediocre rip up of Battlefield and tends to have stalemates lasting for tens of minutes if played with/against experienced players. One of my Onslaught games (in that big desert map for 16 players, can't recall the name) lasted for three hours before our team simply surrendered, for people finally ate up their prides and caved...

By the way, UT 2004, being the sequel, is supposed to be better than UT, but I'd rather have originality than 6000+ new maps.. I'd hold both games equal if I hadn't worked on the first but I can't, as I'm partial to the original..

[asandir]

admitting bias is always a step in the right direction

cause there's been a long time between ut and ut2004 it makes for a slightly skewed comparison, i actually think they are roughly equal, they both captured a huge amount of my time

[Orfinn]

So will this crazy portal gun be avaiable in any Hlf-Life 2 mod, expansion, episode? Looks awsome thoug, especially the scenes with the guns floating up and down, lol

[DaemianLucifer]

Its not there in episode one,but who knows.Maybe its for TF2.

[Orfinn]

Team Fortress 2? How cool! You do know that Valve are planning to realease TF2 and Episode 2 around late autumn...I think. Since I got a sucky computer but have this nice 360 I gonna buy the fat package including HF2, episode 1. 2 TF2 and CSSource (though I hate CS) this year. Still I heard rumors it will be avaiable early next year. Better getting my sourround system up by then

[berntie]

Hmm, Half-Life!

I finished it once in SP which was great entertainment: superbe plot, excellent AI, nasty tentacle monster, great giant fish (GGF). I have definitely some fond memories of playing it. HL deathmatches were cool, too ...

BUT: In SP. the last episodes on Zen sucked big time. Never seen such a f***ed up world as Zen. As soon as I arrived there, it was just "try to somehow get to and beat the boss"; an annoying piece of work that had to be done (just because you don't quit so close before the end), but by no means entertaining.

Zen is the reason that, for me, HL isn't "one of the greates games ever", but just "excellent".

By the way, here are the quotes I remember :

And what if they find a body?

Body? What body?

*Nasty laughing*

Wait! Don't let it overcharge!

What do you mean "overch" ...

*Big explosion*

Scientist to Gordon Freeman: "You don't look like you've got any trouble killing things."

[DaemianLucifer]

Soo,did any of you play episode one?

[ThunderTitan]

Nope, the mood never struck me. How was it?

[DaemianLucifer]

Nice story,some humor,but nothing new and not worth the money.Luckily,I didnt play it at home And its easy.You need just an hour or so to go trough it.

But a funny thing is that the one of the most difficult parts here involves you standing your ground against a bunch of zombies,just like in the original.

Also,do you think well see the portal gun in the episode 2?

[arturchix]

I've finished Episode 1 and it really didn't impress me much and is nothing to compare with the great and almighty Half-Life 2. Yeah, there are some cool elements and action stuff but overall the game is just too short and most of the action takes places in the ruins of City 17 and underground. However, I really liked the ending scene - totally terrifying.

From what I've seen, Episode 2 will be a lot better but as I have heard, they have pushed back the release to 1st quarter of 2007.

[DaemianLucifer]

I've finished Episode 1 and it really didn't impress me much and is nothing to compare with the great and almighty Half-Life 2. Yeah, there are some cool elements and action stuff but overall the game is just too short and most of the action takes places in the ruins of City 17 and underground. However, I really liked the ending scene - totally terrifying.

From what I've seen, Episode 2 will be a lot better but as I have heard, they have pushed back the release to 1st quarter of 2007.

Well,ep1 was just a prologue.The three episodes couldve been released as a single game,true,but I do find this way very good indeed.And yes,ep2 will came probably in february or march.

[Omega_Destroyer]

I thought Episode 1 was done very well. I am really looking forward to Episode 2 and the Portals game that comes with it.

[DaemianLucifer]

Did any of you see that new game prey?It has some weird portals.And I do mean weird.

[Omega_Destroyer]

I played the demo. The technology was pretty sweet, but I can't really see myself playing through it more than once, so I didn't pick it up.

[chaosgorgon]

HL1 story was pretty cool, was a mistake?, was planned?, wher come all thes strange dudes??, the corporative guy...

HL2 story is plain stupid....i mean tipical "freedom figthers" or "evil kings", the games looks like a mix of war of worlds and yugoslavia war.....stupid

would had better if in the second part you play another character against mstr freeman (that become in a "CIA" mercenarie), and the events would have been inmediatly after HL1 ends

only IMVHO

[Shuyssar]

I love the Half Life: Counterstrike! It requires clever thinking and tactics. It is also a teamplay!