In your opinion, does the gameplay of the first half life hold up today? - General

Lets say half life came out today with better graphics, and it never came out back in the 90s. Would it still be as revered? If I made a game in a similar style today would it be well received or was it just a game for the time? [B]ORIGINAL GAME ONLY, not hl2[/B]

[QUOTE=Firetornado;51149058]Lets say half life came out today with better graphics, and it never came out back in the 90s. [/QUOTE] So basically Black Mesa Source it already exists so I mean

the first half life has an old school arcade feel to it that imo makes it forgivable for its aging the second game (and episodes) feel very dated due to their close-to-modern design such is the plague of being ahead of its time: when the time comes, it cannot compare however, to answer your question: the Black Mesa source engine remake of Half Life 1 proves to me that the game still holds up great, and I feel that if the second game got similar treatment it would also be well received

if BLS is anything to go by, it'd still hold up easily

[QUOTE=J!NX;51149081]So basically Black Mesa Source it already exists so I mean[/QUOTE] so if black mesa came out today, and half life never existed would it still be regarded as a masterpiece?

[QUOTE=Firetornado;51149087]so if black mesa came out today, and half life never existed would it still be regarded as a masterpiece?[/QUOTE] I think so, or at least if it was even truer to the original game. BL:S has one hell of a start up through the Resonance Cascade; if the resources of Valve were behind it to make all of BL:S that strong (and not cut any segments), it would be a huge release.

[QUOTE=Firetornado;51149087]so if black mesa came out today, and half life never existed would it still be regarded as a masterpiece?[/QUOTE] Masterpiece? depends. HL1 was really the first game of its kind to exist, a shooter with real story and voice acting and all this other shit it had. Gaming might actually be a different thing had it not been for HL1, but I doubt it'd be that different. If it came out today 1. It wouldn't be the gaming giant it was, but it'd still be very well respected 2. Another game would have taken its place as 'revolutionary'. 3. Valve would be too late in the PC industry to have made the success they did with their game, so steam wouldn't exist. This in itself would actually change the industry in a pretty huge way, consoles would likely still be king unless another steam tier market existed. This is an indirect effect, and would make a pretty incredible and huge change to the market we know today. I think what you really want to imagine is a world without Steam. Lets say Gabe Newell instead released Richochet into the market as his first game and it flunked, but some other game took hl1's place. Steam was never created because Gabe died of a heart attack 5 years later due to alcohol abuse and the PC market may have never lifted off because it didn't have an easier method of distributing games. Of course, we could also say GOG becomes the steam of this 'alt universe' and the PC market thrives way better than its thriving now. The PC market would be a mostly DRM free platform. Alternatively, EA's origin instead reigns king, and the PC market would instead be an abused market, full of really aggressive DRM tactics and hyper-priced DLC.

I think it would, and I think people would probably appreciate it's early graphics as an art style and it's AI, although primitive, Isn't bad. Half life 1 is just a good game. Some things could be streamlined in line with what one'd expect from a modern shooter (specifically stuff like getting past 3 tentacles in a blast chamber, which doesn't become apparently obvious immediately. Or more simple things like scientists taking too much time to get to doors. ) Overall, The game is solid. The way Gordon moves around is good. The gunplay is good. The enemy design is good. The level design is mostly great, with some exceptions. (personally, never disliked Xen) Blue shift holds up well. OpFor I didn't like as much but would still be considered a decent game.

while it's still an objectively good game, I think it wouldn't do well in today's market. the only first person shooters doing well today are either established brands like far cry, call of duty, and battlefield, or purely multiplayer games like overwatch or destiny. there haven't been any single player linear first person shooters that have been well received in about 6 years. gaming is moving primarily to open world shooters, driving games, and the kind of casual game you can play for 5 minutes and put down half life would probably be well received today if released by an indie studio, but not enjoy near the success as it has in this timeline. it certainly wouldn't be heralded as the masterpiece it's considered today. if it was a AAA release today, it would be forgotten in just a few years it still holds up today, but it wouldn't sell well if released today.

[QUOTE=butre;51149640]there haven't been any single player linear first person shooters that have been well received in about 6 years.[/QUOTE] Wolfenstein TNO. Doom 2k16. Dishonored. Metro 2033 and Last Light. Bioshock Infinite (even though it was shit, it did well)

thinking about it too, I think hl1 isn't that big on the scale imagine what gaming would be like if Nintendo didn't enter the scene. They aren't as important today, but they came in after the video game crash and resparked gaming. Someone else would have sparked it eventually yeah, but without Nintendo, Sony may have never entered the scene (Nintendo's fuck up led to the Play stay), and Sony's console led to Microsoft entering the scene. Without the FAMICON/NES/SNES, everything would have been radically different.

I think Unreal holds up a bit better, but Half Life holds up pretty well too.

[QUOTE=matt000024;51149711]I think Unreal holds up a bit better, but Half Life holds up pretty well too.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Butthurter;51149717]unreal is definitely top tier, hands down[/QUOTE] ut99/unreal gold holds up way better than ut2004 imho. UT99 is just slick as all fuck. it was built when that tech was pretty much already mastered. But ut2004 experimented with new tech so it was kind of at the start of an era, not at the ending of it [sp]ut3 doesn't exist lets not talk of it[/sp]

I replay half life and half life 2 regularly. The games play fine, half life has great feeling guns (asside from the terrible smg) and feels great. Half life 2 has slightly worse weapons (despite being very similar, the gravity gun is excellent however) but the movement feeling, physics and visuals all stand up in my opinion. I think the counter movement hating on half life is both unfounded and very confusing. Both games are great and still set a par that most single player FPSs I play depressingly fail to reach. I don't think they're the best shooters ever but they do basically everything right so it really confuses me that people hate on them for no reason. It seems to be based purely on being contrarian.

I think there's old school, and then there's just outdated. Where old school definitely doesn't have modern elements, it still plays great, which half life fits perfectly into.

[QUOTE=Samiam22;51149654]Wolfenstein TNO. Doom 2k16. Dishonored. Metro 2033 and Last Light. Bioshock Infinite (even though it was shit, it did well)[/QUOTE] wolfenstein, bioshock, and doom are more of those established brands, metro was the game about 6 years ago I was referring to, and I've never even heard of last light. dishonored I don't really know anything about, I wasn't even aware it was a first person shooter.

[QUOTE=Firetornado;51149087]so if black mesa came out today, and half life never existed would it still be regarded as a masterpiece?[/QUOTE] Depends, now we're talking about alternate timelines where Half-Life [I]didn't[/I] change the the entire course of FPS gaming for years to come. [editline]4th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=butre;51150926]wolfenstein, bioshock, and doom are more of those established brands,[/quote] That doesn't change the fact that they're well-received linear first person shooters. [quote]and I've never even heard of last light. dishonored I don't really know anything about, I wasn't even aware it was a first person shooter.[/QUOTE] And so you admit you're not knowledgeable on the subject anyway. Maybe you should do some research before interjecting your opinion on a subject. Because those are both very well-known FPS games.

[QUOTE=butre;51150926]wolfenstein, bioshock, and doom are more of those established brands, metro was the game about 6 years ago I was referring to, and I've never even heard of last light. dishonored I don't really know anything about, I wasn't even aware it was a first person shooter.[/QUOTE] The last Wolfenstein was 2009, and the last Doom was 2004, and until the new games came out, they kinda fell off the radar, especially since Rage was rather average. Bioshock is not really an established brand, the games do well but there are only 3 of them (5 if you count System Shock which modern gamers haven't played). Last Light was the 2013 sequel to 2033, and Dishonored, granted, is not a straight first person shooter, but its a first person stealth game with guns and crossbows so I counted it.

I was never that big a fan of the first Half-Life. I do absolutely love Opposing Force though. I find myself replaying those games every rare now and then. Yeah it sort of holds up.

[QUOTE=gk99;51151890]Depends, now we're talking about alternate timelines where Half-Life [I]didn't[/I] change the the entire course of FPS gaming for years to come. [editline]4th October 2016[/editline] That doesn't change the fact that they're well-received linear first person shooters. And so you admit you're not knowledgeable on the subject anyway. Maybe you should do some research before interjecting your opinion on a subject. Because those are both very well-known FPS games.[/QUOTE] wow I never played 2 games so I'm an idiot thanks for letting me know im super sorry for not following all the latest gamer newz tm and not blowing $60 on every game to come out when half of them are the same shit as the last one anyway

While I'd like to defend HL to the death and recommend it to anyone. Now that I've played more games, especially ones from that time frame. I see that while HL1 was definitely really good, I see that other games from from that same general time had more. Unreal for instance, had text logs and an inventory system, and came out around the same time. System Shock 1 did this a few years earlier, and included more, such as the notion of keycards and door codes that forced the player to explore the setting. System Shock 2 and Deus Ex which came out not very long after included all that and RPG elements. While HL1 was certainly a good game, in retrospect I see that other games had more developed gameplay than just run and gun which is what HL really amounts to. I think a Half Life game that played more like System Shock would have been even better. Part of the problem is that I've played HL so many times that it's no longer new to me. What I want is to actually feel like I'm in Black Mesa, and fear the monster around the corner and wonder where I'm going to find my next medkit.

I played through Half Life a few months ago. After a few chapters I just asked my friend which chapters are actually fun because there were way too many that were shitty first person platformer sections and/or filled with cheap undeserved deaths. I liked it some years ago when I got through most of it but recently I was this close to just uninstalling it so many times.

I've always, even back when it was fairly new, found Half Life to be just okay. Reasonable, playable, but not fantastic. I think it's the linearity in comparison to other games of the 90s that got to me. If it were released now, I think it would still be pretty well regarded, though.

i still replay half-life and have a blast, it's super fun still

I think even if it were released today it would still have a following from the mere fact alone the game on easy is way harder than most games today. It was also the first PC FPS I played in 2010 and even I could see it held up. The fact I still get [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iXfWWrwrlQ"]Nuclear Mission Jam[/URL] stuck in my head after these years is a testament to how good it is.

I played through Half Life for the first time about a year ago. One moment I remember vividly, was getting the satchel charges. Right as I got them, I came up to an elevator. I thought to myself, "I wonder if there are marines at the top of this elevator.". So I threw a few in and sent it up. Turns out there was a huge explosive box with about 6 marines standing up there. I looked to the top as I detonated it, the box exploded, killing all of the marines, and a bunch of body parts rained down the elevator shaft. This was so fucking satisfying and brilliant, it just made me feel like I had accomplished something. And walking up there afterwards and taking all of their ammo was really cool.

[QUOTE=J!NX;51149081]So basically Black Mesa Source it already exists so I mean[/QUOTE] I don't think black mesa is true enough to the original half life to be considered here.