Halo 2 vs. Half-Life 2 (Contriversy ignites!)

[MomoJak00]

How do you compare these two juggernaughts of gaming goodness!?

A dumb@$$ forum post! Submit your 2 cents!

Mine, you ask for?
Half-life 2 for single player (Kinetic pace, detailed physics, exquisite storytelling and fantastic in-game visuals).
Halo 2 for multiplayer (Great game system, fun maps, dual-weilding, Xbox live, system linbk).

But who cares about me...
Post darnit!

[Full Monty]

I love both games, Half-Life 2 is so sophisticated with a real sense of a story unfolding although you're still not quite sure what it actually is. Halo 2, on the other hand, is very much a 'fun' experience with a great backstory (something Bungie seems quite good at) and very addictive gameplay - although I can't explain why.

What's 'Contriversy' btw :laugh:

[Oliver]

I won "Halo 2" in about a week. I didn't like it as much as the original.

[Patrocles]

I love both games, Half-Life 2 is so sophisticated with a real sense of a story unfolding although you're still not quite sure what it actually is. Halo 2, on the other hand, is very much a 'fun' experience with a great backstory (something Bungie seems quite good at) and very addictive gameplay - although I can't explain why.

What's 'Contriversy' btw :laugh:

yeah, no controversy here! at least I can have my cake and eat it, too! :)

I finished HL^2 in about two weeks. I've had HALO2 since November and haven't finished it, much less touched the game since mid-december. The reason for this is that I like the graphics in HL^2 much more than HALO2 on my old TV (good excuse to upgrade to a large screen HDTV! :) )

I pick HALO2 for story. i pick HL^2 for graphics and the (rudimentary) squad control.

[Oliver]

i pick HL^2 for graphics and the (rudimentary) squad control.

That was a feature I'm surprised they didn't add to Halo 2.

[Overseer]

There's no comparison between a console game and a computer game. HL2 has infinitely more potential thanks to the mod community. Halo/Halo2 might be popular multiplayer games, but guess what, they're little fish compared to the beast that is Counter-Strike in terms of popularity and community size.

[Full Monty]

Gaming wise, what you say is true, but the 'Halo' series has developed an entire mythos around it that HL2 never will. Let me draw another comparison, if they were '50s B-movies, Halo would be pulp Sci-Fi and HL would be Film Noir

[gobeavs]

I don't own an XBOX, and I don't play console games very much, but I have played Halo and Halo 2. I don't see what all the fuss is about. I think everyone likes Halo because of the standards of the XBOX...there isn't any other good FPS, so when a decent game comes along it is praised as the best game of all time (relevant to both Halo's). I could be wrong, but what does Halo have that no PC FPS has? Even if you exclude PC games released in the past year, I don't see any innovation....

And what is so special about the multiplayer? The vehicles are fun...but in my view isn't enough to warrant the kind of praise it has recieved.

I'm not trying to flame anyone, this is just my view as a PC Gamer.

[Full Monty]

I'm not going to rattle off a list of good 'shooters on Xbox, but there are quite a few. Most of them are also available on the PC, or they will be soon (hello 'Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay').

'Halo' on Xbox is flawlessly executed. 'Halo 2' is more of the same with better graphics. If you don't 'get it' then fair enough, my taste in FPS games leans more towards 'fun' shooters such as 'Painkiller' and 'Return to Castle Wolfenstein' rather than the more 'realistic' 'Call of Duty' or the MoH series. As such, who am I to criticise :D

[BarcelonaBlom]

Both but Halo 2's story and immersion factor where next to nill... I like games with immersion factor and HL2 (at least the demo) does a good job of that.

[Overseer]

I'm not going to rattle off a list of good 'shooters on Xbox, but there are quite a few. Most of them are also available on the PC, or they will be soon (hello 'Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay').

'Halo' on Xbox is flawlessly executed. 'Halo 2' is more of the same with better graphics. If you don't 'get it' then fair enough, my taste in FPS games leans more towards 'fun' shooters such as 'Painkiller' and 'Return to Castle Wolfenstein' rather than the more 'realistic' 'Call of Duty' or the MoH series. As such, who am I to criticise :D
Pfft, I've been playing 'fun' shooters multiplayer since they were made (Doom, Doom 2, Duke Nukem, Quake, and on).

What I will say is that Halo was actually one of the first to incorporate vehicles (at least in any effective way, and not counting the more realistic shooters like BF42). When I finally got around to playing Halo it was when it hit PC, and to be honest, it was a lot of fun to me, but only in a gimmick way. I absolutely refused to play any level that didn't have vehicles because the damage modelling and movement were below par for an action-based shooter. In the vehicles it was a blast, but I loathed the game otherwise. I always laughed when this one roommate I had would go about owning his friends in Halo and constantly bragging - put him in a fast paced shooter like the Quake games and he would have been toast. :laugh:

[MomoJak00]

I always laughed when this one roommate I had would go about owning his friends in Halo and constantly bragging - put him in a fast paced shooter like the Quake games and he would have been toast. :laugh:

HAlo's always been about accuracy and steady movement of the right stick rather than 1337 skillz. (btw what EXACTLY does 1337 mean? Something like elite?) So it's a different kind of fun. So if you put an avid Quaker into halo, i wouldnd't expect much.

That's why I play every shooter i can get my hands on. I'd probably own all my friends at Q3 or PK or RTCW or CS. They play far too much halo. Diversify [sic] I say!

One of my friends however would probably whark me at Battlefield 1942 or CoD.

And about halo2 multiplayer, two words:

Vehicle...
...Jacking

Sounds basic, but belive it or not, it makes MPGames a helluvalot of fun!

[_Brill_]

I don't own an XBOX, and I don't play console games very much, but I have played Halo and Halo 2. I don't see what all the fuss is about. I think everyone likes Halo because of the standards of the XBOX...there isn't any other good FPS, so when a decent game comes along it is praised as the best game of all time (relevant to both Halo's). I could be wrong, but what does Halo have that no PC FPS has? Even if you exclude PC games released in the past year, I don't see any innovation....

And what is so special about the multiplayer? The vehicles are fun...but in my view isn't enough to warrant the kind of praise it has recieved.

I'm not trying to flame anyone, this is just my view as a PC Gamer.

I used to play consoles exclusively (until I got my X800), and I bought my xbox just because of Halo. When you look at it from a console gamer's point of view, it is a great experience. Multiplayer is so popular because it is LAN'ing for dummies. You just find a hub, 4 boxes, 4 tvs, 15 other friends and you have a party. I've thrown a couple myself. This is how the Halo series thrives, making LAN'ing simple for people who don't want the "networking" fuss, i.e. console gamers. The console vs pc argument could go on forever, we all know that.

[Full Monty]

What I will say is that Halo was actually one of the first to incorporate vehicles (at least in any effective way, and not counting the more realistic shooters like BF42). When I finally got around to playing Halo it was when it hit PC, and to be honest, it was a lot of fun to me, but only in a gimmick way. I absolutely refused to play any level that didn't have vehicles because the damage modelling and movement were below par for an action-based shooter. In the vehicles it was a blast, but I loathed the game otherwise. I always laughed when this one roommate I had would go about owning his friends in Halo and constantly bragging - put him in a fast paced shooter like the Quake games and he would have been toast. :laugh:


Halo on PC is a nightmare! Apart from the porting issue, movement is like running through treacle. I do hope that IF someone ports Halo 2 to the PC they perform a better job than Gearbox did with the original.

@Barcelona Blom
Both but Halo 2's story and immersion factor where next to nill...

There are thousands who would disagree :) With the books and website communities I think the Halo universe has become one of the richest and deepest of all those spawned by video games. Although I would say that taking Halo 2 in isolation the storyline is weak, since whilst it expands on the original game it doesn't actually go very far. Hopefully Halo 3 will draw on the threads hinted at and bring the series to a fine conclusion.

[BarcelonaBlom]

Well I've read the books and enjoyed them but the fact that they conflict multiple times with the games (even though they are licensed and at least the design team included the ODSTs) I just do not find the story line in Halo 2 that great, at least Master Chief's. It ran too many fragments into one train. Yes they can tie it up in Halo 3 but that doesn't change Halo 2's drab storyline. I love the game I really do but the "atmosphere" you find when playing the game isn't there. Doom 3 aimed to scare you, Call of Duty aimed to make you feel like you are in WWII, The Aliens vs. Predator series made you feel like you were in the movies, but this just doesn't immerse me much, I feel like a 3rd person spectator mindlessly going through the game while with other games I feel I'm in it... Kinda hard to explain really but thats my POV.

[Ivan Rapkinov]

Halo was behind the Tribes series in incorporating vehicles ;)

[Full Monty]

Halo was behind the Tribes series in incorporating vehicles ;)

I don't think Halo was particularly innovative (neither was Half-Life for that matter) but the implementation of the various elements was so seamless.

I'm starting to feel like an apologist for Halo 2 :D

Regarding the storyline, I'd agree it's fragmented. The closing levels where you're switching back and forth between the Arbiter and MC makes the whole thing unnecessarily difficult to follow and so less immersive than it should be. Mind you, H-L2's storyline is quite obtuse and confusing in its own way.

[_Brill_]

Monty, please don't be talking about HalfLife1 not being innovative!! If you meant HL2 I could understand, but not the original. HL had to do something right to last 6+ years, spur off countless mods, and rev up incredible enthusiasm for HL2....

[gobeavs]

Mind you, H-L2's storyline is quite obtuse and confusing in its own way.

Its not really confusing, as much as it leaves you to figure things out. It doesn't tell you what is going on, it shows you.

About HL2 not being innovative...huh? Never before has physics been so much a part of a game (a good game) and the facial animation is revolutionary. There is probably some innovative stuff in the modding/source code department also.

[Full Monty]

Actually I was referring to the original game, since the previous contributer had referred to Halo.

Now I'm sounding tetchy :D

The storyline in HL2 is most definitely unclear. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, hence my earlier comparison to a Film Noir

[Marines]

Actually I was referring to the original game, since the previous contributer had referred to Halo.

Now I'm sounding tetchy :D

The storyline in HL2 is most definitely unclear. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, hence my earlier comparison to a Film Noir

Film Noir - That award goes to the Max Payne series. :nuts:

[Ivan Rapkinov]

I like HL2 cos it gave us Vampire: Bloodlines (I admit it, I'm is hooked :D )

[Marines]

I like HL2 cos it gave us Vampire: Bloodlines (I admit it, I'm is hooked :D )

You and me both!

[EpilepticKitten]

:alien: Mitch, Honestly. have you ever played a game with ninja zombies and monkey pirates with jetpacks? :cheeky:

[MomoJak00]

:alien: Mitch, Honestly. have you ever played a game with ninja zombies and monkey pirates with jetpacks? :cheeky:

No, but can you deny thier funness? :devious:

...I thought not! :)