The Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2 arc is still one of if not my favourite shooters. I can go back, play, and enjoy it effortlessly. For me, I do like the gunplay and encounter design, and the linearity does not bother me. Most importantly, and where I think Valve's shooter design has always excelled, to me every room, encounter, and progression through environments feels like one unique area after the other. I feel the game is almost completely devoid of monotonous stretches through truly samey environments and set pieces, and instead always seems to introduce some quirk to the level design (even if it's simply the navigation of a structure or spawn points of enemies) and interesting vista worth investigating and interacting with.
Where other shooters feel like stretch->awesome set piece->stretch->awesome set piece, Half-Life to me is one big long awesome set piece, numerous memorable scenarios, encounters, and levels chained together back-to-back with no slump in between.
I get that people won't share that opinion, but that's honestly why I love the series so much, and why I still think Half-Life 2 + Episodes remains one of the most brilliantly designed and executed single player first person shooters ever made.
*shrug*
HL1, yes.
HL2, no, I don't think so. That swamp run is really dull when you replay it, as are other areas of the game. Highway 17 for instance is dull as fuck, aside from 'that bridge'. And the last level allows scripting to override the gameplay, despite giving an entertaining finale. The episodes have parts where you wonder if they should have been cut, or are more tech demos than really new experiences.
(the decision to cancel episode 3 and move to a fully new game is a wise one in terms of internal consistency, in my opinion)
It is certainly the strongest modern shooter due to its consistency and its use of technology as a tool for new gameplay, not just visuals. Other shooters try to mimick HL2 and fail to copy that last part, making them like the video game equivalent of a silent movie featuring a mime.
City 17 is the real hero though. Together with the characters being able to emote to a significant degree (even though one might consider their emotional faces to be comical, back in 2004 this was sensational). The problem with that last part is that the silent protagonist doesn't belong in it. As does much of the HL1 base gameplay. Why solve a puzzle when you can clearly just go around it? Black Mesa was an underground prison, where these things could be forced onto the player. As was the moral grey of your actions. In HL2 the context doesn't support this type of action on the character / protagonist side very well. As well as character clearly talking to Gordon and him not saying anything. What's wrong with this silent psychopath? Is he planning to murder everyone in silence or something?
All in all, what really becomes a problem with the HL2 experience is that either intentional or not, the player remains a kind of alien invader into this world (if intentional, that would be a good thing, but I never thought it was). While being given ample opportunity to connect with it, the transplant of HL1 gameplay prevents that to some degree, and I do not consider HL2 to be the master class of design that I think HL1 is.
Then again, the fact that I consider these games, much like say, Spec Ops: the line, worth debating in this type of analytical depth shows that it's a classic beyond any doubt.
edit: I realize there is a choice here in terms of what the player is supposed to feel. The HL2 player is being "dragged along" by people who clearly need him, while the same can't be said in reverse. Gordon being mute is a factor in this, as his saying anything about his predicament would instantly give the player a clear direction of what the player is supposed to feel. This "draggin" is also not to be confused with "do whatever this man says!" which current shooters have devolved to. I mean the player has variance in his personal experience: hero, anti-hero, lost soul, prisoner, etcetera, due to the silent protagonist choice and its relation to this world. As I said before about the mime, other shooters don't give this variance, since they just want you to be the hero ("We're oscar mike!") and nothing else. They don't trust people to think, which is why Spec Ops the line is so great for resisting this tendency. I mention that game now because it chooses the opposite of HL2: the protagonist has a voice and personality, but as players we are meant to question our relation to this guy, his actions, and even the (real-life as well) world in which such actions could exist.
It's a choice worth looking into when debating emotional merits of a game / narrative. I think both could work in the context of HL2 though. The question is whether Valve really made a
choice here or whether they didn't want to ask that question to themselves.
