whatever6352
Member
Wrong thread
I like tons of the games being posted in this thread. Yea, a bunch of them may have more modern gameplay, be more polished or even be straight up better games.
But I don't think any of these have surpassed HL2's impact.
You're wrong. I actually got my wife to start playing HL2 for the first time 3 days ago, and it is still incredible.Doom 1
Doom 2
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark
Time Splitters trilogy
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Doom 2016
Resident Evil 7 (if you can consider it to be in the same genre)
Basically Half Life was never amazing.
It was the start of the new school of extremely linear and mediocre level design with a bit more plot and passable gameplay. It gave birth to the COD-style of campaigns that everybody likes to mock.
It never was an upgrade from the real greatness that Doom was and still is.
Best FPS campaigns (IMO) by year with runner up in parentheses.
1992 - Wolfenstein 3D
1993 - Doom (Blake Stone)
1994 - System Shock (Doom 2)
1995 - Hexen (Dark Forces)
1996 - Duke Nukem 3D (Quake)
1997 - Goldeneye 007 (Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight)
1998 - Half-Life (Unreal)
1999 - System Shock 2 (Kingpin)
2000 - Deus Ex (Perfect Dark)
2001 - Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Halo)
2002 - Jedi Outcast 2 (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault)
2003 - Call of Duty (Jedi Academy)
2004 - Half-Life 2 (Chronicles of Riddick)
2005 - FEAR (Brothers in Arms)
2006 - Prey (Resistance Fall of Man)
2007 - Bioshock (Halo 3)
2008 - Crysis Warhead (Resistance 2)
2009 - Killzone 2 (COD MW2)
2010 - Metro 2033 (COD Black Ops)
2011 - Deus Ex: HR (Portal 2)
2012 - Dishonored or Far Cry 3 maybe? weak year
2013 - Bioshock: Infinite (Crysis 3 or Metro LL)
2014 - Wolfenstein TNO (FC4 maybe)
2015 - can't think of any... haven't played Halo 5 yet
2016 - Doom (Titanfall 2)
I wonder how many of those still hold up today.
I think this is correct. Bear in mind I've never been a big fan of Half Life 2, so my opinion might differ from most people.Uh... too many to name?
Not a bad list, but I would definitely swap 2013. I loved Last Light's single player campaign, and Infinite definitely didn't gel with me like LL did.Best FPS campaigns (IMO) by year with runner up in parentheses.
2013 - Bioshock: Infinite (Crysis 3 or Metro LL)
2014 - Wolfenstein TNO (FC4 maybe)
I wonder how many of those still hold up today.
What am I even reading? This has to be a shitpost right?
HL2 is not the end-all-be-all it used to be but your examples are way off the mark.
What is the best way to play FEAR?
I take it the PS3 version is pretty poor?
Only game that gave me the same feeling as HL2 was TimeShift. It did not surpassed not even close, still was one hell of a game even if the story went down the drain after a while.
Also loved The Darkness 1 that one too had the problem of losing my interest after the level on the ship and forward. Was one hell of a game, few worlds/settings beats it. That part when your in a restaurant and they break down the walls. Good stuff. Many parts that touched greatness, the into chase, sofa with Jenny, the subway in general. Down in the tunnels when you had to use the cover of darkness. The beginning and ending of the Turkish bath- To bad the level design go kind of bad toward the end and the pacing was in many parts way to slow.
I would say Wolfenstein: The New Order does a lot of the same things just as well, if not better. Probably my favorite FOS campaign since then. There have been tons of other good ones, though.
It's always hard with games like HL2 to claim something is objectively "better" if you were part of the release time mania. Games like that and MGS2 were such "events"' at the time of release that it's really hard to separate their content from their legacy and say "X or Y game is demonstrably better."
In terms of gunplay and story there have been quite a few that have been listed here. But I think in terms of pacing and atmosphere very few, if any, have matched it. It feels like a real adventure in a real world, there's such a strong sense of place, and it rarely feels like a connection of levels strung together. The vehicle levels people complain about make the world seem huge and real, especially since they are peppered with spots that feel organic for you to get out and explore.
Best FPS campaigns (IMO) by year with runner up in parentheses.
1992 - Wolfenstein 3D
1993 - Doom (Blake Stone)
1994 - System Shock (Doom 2)
1995 - Hexen (Dark Forces)
1996 - Duke Nukem 3D (Quake)
1997 - Goldeneye 007 (Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight)
1998 - Half-Life (Unreal)
1999 - System Shock 2 (Kingpin)
2000 - Deus Ex (Perfect Dark)
2001 - Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Halo)
2002 - Jedi Outcast 2 (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault)
2003 - Call of Duty (Jedi Academy)
2004 - Half-Life 2 (Chronicles of Riddick)
2005 - FEAR (Brothers in Arms)
2006 - Prey (Resistance Fall of Man)
2007 - Bioshock (Halo 3)
2008 - Crysis Warhead (Resistance 2)
2009 - Killzone 2 (COD MW2)
2010 - Metro 2033 (COD Black Ops)
2011 - Deus Ex: HR (Portal 2)
2012 - Dishonored or Far Cry 3 maybe? weak year
2013 - Bioshock: Infinite (Crysis 3 or Metro LL)
2014 - Wolfenstein TNO (FC4 maybe)
2015 - can't think of any... haven't played Halo 5 yet
2016 - Doom (Titanfall 2)
I wonder how many of those still hold up today.
Many. But it would be weird if they didn't. HL2 came out 13 years ago after all.
Better question would be if Valve could live up to modern standards if they decided to do a shooter campaign.
SorryFirst the Halo thread and now this? You're disappointing me gaf.
Uh... too many to name? Half-Life 2 isn't great from a mechanical or a narrative perspective, which are the two things we play FPSes for.
Halo 3 shits on Half-Life 2. Bulletstorm demolishes it on a narrative front. Titanfall 2 blows it away. Doom outplays it. Call of Duty 4 has dramatically better pacing. Crysis is way more interesting in the combat department. FEAR is the second greatest first person shooter of all time.
Half-Life 2 is a low bar. It would be easier to list worse FPSes. You got Killzone 2, Resistance 2, Darkest of Days, Legendary, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Halo 4, Halo 5, Black Ops 1-3... probably some others?
Best FPS campaigns (IMO) by year with runner up in parentheses.
.All of them
Imagine a COD campaign but you control titans sometimes and there is one excellent level that everyone remembers, everything else is forgettable for me.
I'm replaying this and the episodes at the moment (for the first time since 2011) and they're still blowing me away.
I'm a few chapters into Episode Two right now, but everything HL2 is just fantastic
The atmosphere, the world building, the sense of progression, the pacing, It puts most modern games to shame
It's been 13 years since this game came out, and that got me thinking. How many FPS campaigns have surpassed HL2 in the last 13 years?
If you don't think any have, then do you think any have come close?
Crysis tho.None. Just like Roger Federer, Half Life 2 has been the GOAT since 2004.
It's a bunch of people who played HL2 in 2014 instead of 2004, "because they heard it was a classic" and then will judge it as a game that came out in 2014.
The thing I like about HL2 is that for a good chunk of its running time 'nothing' actually happens compared with newer games. You're just going through empty building and stuff and maybe solving some simple physics puzzle. I'm not sure how receptive newer generations are to this kind of FPS where it's not full of explosions every second. The game let you just set in its world and take it in, it leaves a lasting impression because of it. The only other game that made me feel this way was The Last of Us. I guess it's a risky and difficult way to make a game, people could easily dismiss it as boring. Dishonored is similar too but it's not exactly the same experience to me. I enjoy it very much still.
I agree with OP. Episode 1 and 2 were great but there's just something about Half Life 2 proper that is just classic and unmatched. I replay it every other year and I always love it. That first time I was running around in that one level and that guy was like "hey, come in here" and I followed him and the game opened up... that was a huge moment in gaming for me.
(one hour later)
I just read the first 3 pages and damn, the bullshit here is unmatched on Neogaf. Nearly everyone is dissing Half Life 2. Really guys..