Yea but can it run Half-Life 2? - A look Ten Years Back..

[bystander36]

HL2, DOOM 3, and Far Cry were all unique in their own rights. HL2 had the best artwork (IMO) and nailed down realism. DOOM 3 had by far the most dramatic/moody lighting and the best shadowing system in a game yet. Far Cry piled on the special FX, which really killed graphics cards at the time.

Loved them all. The only bad memory I have of the three were those darn trigens in FC! Ack!

Far Cry had 2 other features which were quite reknowned for the time:
1) Incredibly difficult
2) Wide open combat, you could approach all your targets from all sorts of angles.

Bonus that I loved - the way you could sneak around obstacles was quite awesome. No real stealth button like Crysis. You had to do it the hard way.

 

[lavaheadache]

Far Cry had 2 other features which were quite reknowned for the time:
1) Incredibly difficult
2) Wide open combat, you could approach all your targets from all sorts of angles.

Bonus that I loved - the way you could sneak around obstacles was quite awesome. No real stealth button like Crysis. You had to do it the hard way.

difficulty, ya.... that helicopter battle almost made me stop playing the game.

 

[bystander36]

difficulty, ya.... that helicopter battle almost made me stop playing the game.

The one where you have no weapons at the start? Yeah, that one took a scripted run to have a chance, then very accurate shooting to have enough ammo to last.

The truck ride in the lava just after that was one of the most difficult to me, until I learned what direction to drive and then it got even more difficult in side the next building, where you had to get past a hall with like 10+ enemy all ready for you.

That whole area was just insane.

Edit: oh wait, you probably meant the helicopter battle earlier on. Not the one where you were dropped from one, then fired from a downed helicopter.

 

[Z15CAM]

That whole area was just insane.

How about Direct Draw - One Pixel at a time ;o)

 

[badb0y]

Would be fun to see how my hd4000 and my gtx650 comes in on that game, hd4000 dominates 1024x768 in UT2003 without aa leaving the cpu as a bottleneck but back in the day that title apparently murdered anything outside of a sli config.

Never played Half-Life 2, does it still hold up? Any chance of a active multi-player?Single player perhaps just what makes it good?

I would recommend to play through it at least once. It's definitely holds up quite well today, maybe there is a few pacing issues but overall it was a fun experience. I played it through for the first time last summer and it was pretty fun. When HL2 came out I was like 13 years old playing Diablo 2 - LoD day and night so I completely missed out on it.

 

[tviceman]

I actually played through it and both episodes not too long ago. It hasn't aged well, it's pretty boring. I did like parts of Episode 2.

I disagree. I love the pacing. It's not meant to be a nonstop gib action fest. I enjoy puzzles in my FPS games.

 

[blastingcap]

I'm currently on a 3570K iGPU and it plays HL2 okay with resolution turned down to 720p and low settings. A few more iGPU generations could probably do 1080p on High.

 

[Bateluer]

Ah, the days when 1280x1024 was considered a high resolution.

This was an era I remember pretty fondly. I'd been into gaming years before it, but this was the era where I was finally earning enough money that these toys weren't just pipe dreams in a store window.

Funny how some of these decade old games manage to look better than some Xbox One games too.

 

[Hauk]

I disagree. I love the pacing. It's not meant to be a nonstop gib action fest. I enjoy puzzles in my FPS games.

I like the pace too, plenty of easter eggs and quirks like G-Man appearances.

 

[XiandreX]

uuuugh the 9700pro (nerdgasm)

What a great card!

+1 ...... the 9700 pro walked all over the competition when it launched.
One of my favourite cards period. :biggrin:

 

[Mushkins]

When it released, I was far from impressed with this game. It was to me, just another shooter on rails with scripted AI, mediocre sounds and an unimaginative story from a B flick 80's movie. And to this day I still don't see why anyone thinks its so great. The facial animations were good for it's time and the physics were ok as well as the water effects but that's about it for me.

TBH I never got it either. They hyped up all these advanced physics features, but pushed the release back *so many times* that when it finally did release dozens of other games were already doing the same stuff. Beyond that you're just some silent guy walking around shooting aliens for reasons that they barely explain while the cigarette smoking man from Xfiles causes trouble for you because... reasons?

It had decent multiplayer, but the rest was kind of meh, and nobody's honestly ever been able to explain the rabid fanbase to me.

 

[NIGELG]

TBH I never got it either. They hyped up all these advanced physics features, but pushed the release back *so many times* that when it finally did release dozens of other games were already doing the same stuff. Beyond that you're just some silent guy walking around shooting aliens for reasons that they barely explain while the cigarette smoking man from Xfiles causes trouble for you because... reasons?

It had decent multiplayer, but the rest was kind of meh, and nobody's honestly ever been able to explain the rabid fanbase to me.

Half Life 2 is over rated.I played it on my 8800GTS IN 2007.

Half Life 1 was an excellent game.

 

[TXHokie]

HL/HL2 was ok, but CS/CS:S was my downfall.

 

[showb1z]

TBH I never got it either. They hyped up all these advanced physics features, but pushed the release back *so many times* that when it finally did release dozens of other games were already doing the same stuff.

Care to name a few? I can't seem to recall any. Definitely not Far Cry or Doom 3, the two other major releases that year.
COD 2 didn't even have ragdoll physics a full year later.

 

[KingFatty]

http://cinematicmod.com/

install this so your 780 doesn't get bored.

Does this require the steam version of HL2 to install?

I only have HL2: episode 2 on Steam. When I looked at the requirements for this mod, it suggested that you need to install HL2, HL2 ep1, and HL2 ep2, all of them, all off steam.

Just wondering if there is anything I can do - like can I just install HL2 ep2, and then install the cinematicmod for just ep2, or will it refuse to install altogether?

 

[Deders]

Does this require the steam version of HL2 to install?

I only have HL2: episode 2 on Steam. When I looked at the requirements for this mod, it suggested that you need to install HL2, HL2 ep1, and HL2 ep2, all of them, all off steam.

Just wondering if there is anything I can do - like can I just install HL2 ep2, and then install the cinematicmod for just ep2, or will it refuse to install altogether?

It uses assets from all 3 games so you need HL2 EP1 and 2.

 

[Hauk]

It uses assets from all 3 games so you need HL2 EP1 and 2.

Yea thanks for that, looks good, think I'll install tonight

 

[Dribble]

HDR didn't come in until after Half Life 2 was released, It was first demoed with the Lost Coast tech demo and then integrated into Half Life 2 around the time episode 1 was released.

HL2's HDR was a low quality cheat version. Only Farcry did it properly and that looked amazing, but killed my 6800GT. Easily better looking then HL2 and D3, but HL2 was the better game.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Holy .... talk about a blast from the past.

I managed to track down a forum post I made for a new build on another forum back in 05. X2 4400+ and a 7800 GT SLI watercooled by the reservoir/radiator tower. Half the images are lost forever, I built this with FEAR and HL2 in mind:

 

[CakeMonster]

3 pages and no benchmarks on modern cards? I want to know whether AMD is ahead, or if it makes any difference to upgrade from 780 to 980 here...

 

[Deders]

Yea thanks for that, looks good, think I'll install tonight

You may have to copy some extra files over if you don't have all 3 games and the mod installed in your main steam directory.

HL2's HDR was a low quality cheat version. Only Farcry did it properly and that looked amazing, but killed my 6800GT. Easily better looking then HL2 and D3, but HL2 was the better game.

HDR has been getting better and better, I remember having to choose between 16 or so different HDR options in far cry via the console, none of them quite sat right for every situation.

Do I remember rightly not being able to use AA at the same time until much later down the line?

 

[Hauk]

3 pages and no benchmarks on modern cards? I want to know whether AMD is ahead, or if it makes any difference to upgrade from 780 to 980 here...

the advantage of going retro, both sides excel.

I plan to install the cinematic mod tonight, maybe worth benching from there.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Do I remember rightly not being able to use AA at the same time until much later down the line?

Yeah, only in HL2 was it possible to have HDR+AA at the same time. Most games of that time couldn't do it simultaneously.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I recommend playing Black Mesa instead of the original Half Life if you haven't played the first game. Black Mesa was an AWESOME remake. It's not the whole game, but its the best part.

To this day I still love Half Life 2. I don't understand how anyone could not like that game. Just remember it game out 10 years ago.

 

[Headfoot]

3 pictures in your post about Half Life.

Half-Life 3 confirmed