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[Afro]

I remember this version kicking ass and I don't think it's just b/c nostalgia. Could play through the campaign split-screen CO-OP, I believe. 'Twas amazing. I believe it was reviewed very well, too.

edit: actual box art lol

 

[Kamion]

I still own this

And yeah the couch co-op was pretty cool and actually the reason I got it.

 

[TheBowen]

I remember playing the demo for this years back having zero clue what it was, years later I got half life on pc and finally remembered it.

This version had co op ? Damn, half life with modded co op is stellar so couch co op for this must have been great

 

[Elitist1945]

I remember the controls being hot ass, but an otherwise spectacular game. This is how I got into the Half Life series.

 

[Bamboo]

I love that game, played just the coop part with a friend. And I even think it was an all new coop-campaign, or was it?

 

[The Janitor]

Dat menu theme

 

[higemaru]

I remember hearing this was just a quick port of the cancelled Dreamcast port. Can anyone on GAF confirm this? PC to PS2 ports in this time were fascinating; that Deus Ex port is real weird but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

How did this pre-Halo game controlled on the PS2? I remember Half Life having horrible controls on the non-dual-sticked Dreamcast. Perfect Dark on N64 controlled better than the hot garbage that was HL on DC! But how was it on PS2?

 

[TriAceJP]

I played through a good portion of the unreleased Dreamcast port, haha.

Good times.

 

[pswii60]

How was the framerate? Most PC to PS2 ports were beyond abysmal running in the low 20s (Max Payne comes to mind). Not sure I ever remember playing this port though.

 

[Afilador]

it was the way I first experienced HL1. Controls were godawful (hated the game at first because of this) but that coop campaign was so good

 

[Afro]

I actually bought this abomination. Can't really remember the performance being too bad. . . . I was just so desperate to experience it and had no gaming PC. Felt bad.

 

[GreyOcelot]

would absolutely buy and replay this on ps4 if they made it available

 

[Brerlappin]

I didn't have a PC at the time so yeah, HL1 on PS2 was fucking amazing

 

[The Real Napsta]

I actually bought this abomination, too. Can't really remember the performance being too bad. . . . I was just so desperate to experience it and had no gaming PC. Felt bad.

That was a solid port. What are you talking about?

 

[epmode]

Dat menu theme

I miss Half-Life.

 

[Madao]

i chuckled at the "Extraordinary Realism" part in the image the box.

 

[Stuart444]

It was very fun and the co-op was great. Never completed it (the co-op) but me and my best friend played this a lot together.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I actually bought this abomination. Can't really remember the performance being too bad. . . . I was just so desperate to experience it and had no gaming PC. Felt bad.

What was so bad about HL2 on Xbox? I played it on the orange box for PS3 and I can't imagine it being much worse on the OG Xbox.

 

[darkwing-buck]

Hell yes, it was my introduction to half life. I also played half life 2 on the xbox. Even though the performance kinda sucked I enjoyed it (I was in 5th grade)

 

[Wheresmycoffee]

I remember hooking my ps2 up to a small tv, mouse, and keyboard and putting it on my desk to pretend I had a PC that could play half-life.

It was AWESOME!

 

[Afro]

That was a solid port. What are you talking about?

Was it? Bad memory, I guess. My mistake. Guess I was just jelly of PC owners and all those frames.

 

[Jonneh3003]

The extra modes really add a lot to the game and the mouse and keyboard support is great. Fantastic game to play locally whether it be competitively or cooperatively. Dare I say I prefer it to the PC version? Obviously it runs at a lower resolution than most modern PC's but if I'm correct the texture work got an upgrade.

 

[rjc571]

How was the framerate? Most PC to PS2 ports were beyond abysmal running in the low 20s (Max Payne comes to mind). Not sure I ever remember playing this port though.

60 fps with some dips, but they weren't too frequent or too severe IIRC

 

[Crayon]

Unfortunately very hard to aim. But otherwise nice port!

 

[Bamboo]

It was very fun and the co-op was great. Never completed it (the co-op) but me and my best friend played this a lot together.

Now that you mention it, we could never beat that defense mission, fending off hoards of aliens. It must have been near to the end, if not even the last mission?!

 

[dralla]

I own a copy. I haven't played it in a long time but I remember it being pretty solid. But this was before Halo popularized auto-save in FPS so you had to make sure to manually save.

 

[Orayn]

Looking up the supposedly terrible controls... Putting jump and crouch on L1/L2 actually seems like a good idea. It lets you crouch jump while still being able to aim, which is essential for the series.

 

[Jonneh3003]

60 fps with some dips, but they weren't too frequent or too severe IIRC

60? I played it a couple of months ago and I can't say I picked up on that, got quite a few dips when playing the co op missions.

 

[JaseC]

I actually bought this abomination. Can't really remember the performance being too bad. . . . I was just so desperate to experience it and had no gaming PC. Felt bad.

Incidentally, the Xbox having a fraction of the RAM the PC version required necessitated the development of a rudimentary data streaming system specifically for the port, which, for some reason, never made it into the PC branches of Source.

 

[Nuke Soda]

That is the way I got to experience Half-Life. I have fond memories of it.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Looking up the supposedly terrible controls... Putting jump and crouch on L1/L2 actually seems like a good idea. It lets you crouch jump while still being able to aim, which is essential for the series.

Seriously: how did HL1 on PS2 controlled? I never played it and it's interesting to know how an FPS on a standardized twin stick console controlled in that strange time between Goldeneye but before Halo.

 

[Robot Pants]

Dat menu theme

kelly Bailey too stronk

 

[Jonneh3003]

Seriously: how did HL1 on PS2 controlled? I never played it and it's interesting to know how an FPS on a standardized twin stick console controlled in that strange time between Goldeneye but before Halo.

You can plug in any USB mouse and keyboard and play it like the PC version or you have some pretty awkward controller arrangements.

 

[minameissteve]

I'd love to see this version released on PS4 as a PS2 classic. It already supported widescreen, and the framerate was unlocked, meaning it would probably run at a steady 60fps on PS4. Add in keyboard/mouse support, and you basically have a version that plays as good as the original PC release.

 

[CHC]

I actually bought this abomination. Can't really remember the performance being too bad. . . . I was just so desperate to experience it and had no gaming PC. Felt bad.

Hah, yeah I remember that and the Doom 3 Xbox port. Hell they even ported CS Condition Zero! Weird times... those games really didn't work very well on console at the time.

 

[I speel my dreenk]

Dat menu theme

Oh man, yeah. I played both Half-Life and Deus Ex on PS2 before I played their PC counterparts. Totally solid on both counts.

 

[11redder]

I remember the aiming being pretty janky, but it was a great experience overall - not as good as Deus Ex PS2 mind.

 

[Guess Who]

60? I played it a couple of months ago and I can't say I picked up on that, got quite a few dips when playing the co op missions.

Most games will typically run worse in split-screen multiplayer due to having render more.

 

[Afro]

Hah, yeah I remember that and the Doom 3 Xbox port. Hell they even ported CS Condition Zero! Weird times... those games really didn't work very well on console at the time.

Doom 3 PvP on Xbox was pretty cool if I remember correctly. My cousin and I use to silently hide in a dark corner and rev our chainsaws the second someone passed by. Pants were shat.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Hah, yeah I remember that and the Doom 3 Xbox port. Hell they even ported CS Condition Zero! Weird times... those games really didn't work very well on console at the time.

Well they were basically trying to port games designed for $1000+ gaming PCs for the equivalent of a cheap eMachines PC from 2001. It's impressive that they managed to get them running at all.

 

[TGO]

Seriously: how did HL1 on PS2 controlled? I never played it and it's interesting to know how an FPS on a standardized twin stick console controlled in that strange time between Goldeneye but before Halo.

Not sure what you mean
Moment is the same as it would be now, fire and alt fire was R1-R2R2, jump and duck was L1-L2, Square was reload and a X was Use
D-pad cycled through weapons.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

You can plug in any USB mouse and keyboard and play it like the PC version or you have some pretty awkward controller arrangements.

Which are...????

 

[Number_6]

Sadly, it made me nauseous.

 

[Sub_Level]

The aiming was perfect in the PS2 version. Just press Circle to auto aim if you're near a target.

 

[Reedirect]

My first time playing Half Life. I remember the port being pretty damn good.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Not sure what you mean
Moment is the same as it would be now, fire and alt fire was R1-R2R2, jump and duck was L1-L2, Square was reload and a X was Use
D-pad cycled through weapons.

Then why do ppl keep saying it had weird controller arrangements? Did it use its two sticks like modern FPS do now? Left stick for forwards/backwards and strafing while right stick to look?

 

[mave198]

One of my more memorable gaming experiences.

60fps for the most part in sp with customizable controls that played like most modern console FPS.

And of course it was Half Life.....

 

[CertifiedFP]

Seriously: how did HL1 on PS2 controlled? I never played it and it's interesting to know how an FPS on a standardized twin stick console controlled in that strange time between Goldeneye but before Halo.

It was a dual-stick game like Halo (and Alien Resurrection before the both of them), but it also had a lock-on option like Metroid Prime. On other portions of the control, the Long-Jump was remapped to just simply be holding down jump, and otherwise it controlled like a fairly standard 2000's console FPS. IIRC it had controller remapping though as well.

Oh, and you could plug a mouse and keyboard in if you wanted to - As with a lot of PS2 FPS games, such as Dirge of Cerberus (Shut up it's a good game.)

Anyway, I'm fairly certain that Black Mesa actually riffs off of the PS2 version's redesigned levels in quite a few places, so I'd say that's a +1 for HL1 PS2.

 

[old manatee]

Half-Life 1 and 2 should be played with a mouse and keyboard.