This is what I'm talking about, mediocre compared to what though? At the time on the PC there was counter strike (also from Valve so the shooting should be about the same) Doom or Quake? If you say a quantitative statement like mediocre there needs to be a lower and a higher comparison. I never liked the terms "overrated" and "underrated". They are such subjective ideas that depend entirely on who you talk to. You never see a game that is just "rated" or played exactly how you thought it would. They are also almost entirely dictated by marketing and advertising campaigns. For example, Too Human was hyped extremely by Dennis Dyack. So if the game didn't deliver on any of the things he talked about then the game would by definition be "overrated". That isn't quite fair to the game because even if the game was pretty good because it didn't meet expectations of fans who heard over excited developers claims it would be destined to labeled as "overrated". It is also assumed that the people that claim half-life to be the best game ever are most likely Valve fans as I doubt you'd hear that claim from your average gamer. You're free to express your personal feelings about the game all you want but it just bugs me when I hear people talk about things as "overrated" or "underrated" as its such a made up construct for judgement. Not many, I'm sure you can find games that were more shooter than half-life or more puzzle related, and pacing is an important part of story telling in level design. Without pacing you end up with CoD's campaign of all flash but not much substance. Most of the hype is just because half-life 2 was released in 2004 so 8 years is a long development time and they left everyone hanging on an third episode that seemed like it would come quickly after the first two but instead never came. There would be just as much "hype" from PlayStation fans if NaughtyDog announced a Jak and Daxter game after 7 years of not having one (not counting the collection).
It's hard to get console gamers to get excited about Valve games. Really the only reason I love Half-Life is because my friends were all PC gamers and they told me to get the Orange Box when it came out. Note that I've played through HL2 at least 4 times, and I've played through the episodes at least 2-3 times.
The Half-Life series will always hold a special place in my heart, unlike most shooters nowadays. Sure it doesn't have some of the things that modern shooters do, but I stand by the fact that it has a stronger story than most of them do. And that is what Half-life's strong point was; its story and plot development. The gameplay was a little scripted and fairly linear, but it had an engaging setting with believable characters. Like all games, it had some weak points... but 8 years is a long enough time to work out how to fix those.
Probably fictional coordinates in space set in the Half-life universe, seeing as portal and Half-life are in the same one. Thats my guess.
Judging by the events in HL2, I would guess that the events in Portal and Portal 2 happened before the Half Life series... So my guess is... Final Boss: Wheatley.
Where is the evidence for this? Because Aperture is definitely not active while Half Life is going on...
They kind of overlap but Portal 2 is obviously a long time after Portal and HL2. Timeline of the Half-Life universe - Half-Life Wiki
Half-Life: Opposing Force Half-Life Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Half-Life 2: Episode 1 Half-Life 1.5 (5-Mission Secret Addon in GOTY Edition) Half-Life: Blue Shift Half-Life 2
A personal ranking of the games lol. I agree with both of you on Half-Life being overrated. The series, yes, the first game, no.
I would just about **** my pants in excitement if a new Jak and Daxter came out. Hell, I'd even go buy a ps3 just to play the damn thing.
^This is what I'm talking about. The longer the development time the greater the hype. It's like the whole potential energy/kinetic energy thing. The maximum potential energy a game has is just before it comes out.
Half-Life, all it's subsequent add-ons, Half-Life 2 and it's episodes are good games, yes, but current generations of games have spoiled gamers too much. You've got to think, those games were cutting-edge back then, and they've only evolved. The next installment will likely do the same thing to keep up with the games of today, and probably set a new bench mark. People are nay-saying it now, but in the end are likely going to lap it up like a dehydrated desert wanderer. If you've got the hindsight to know exactly what the next game is going to be like, please, share. If not, don't say anything, you'll only embarrass yourself. Hype is a terrible thing, because it builds unobtainable expectations in the eyes of the hungry fans, and when the product finally comes out, they're disappointed that it wasn't what they wanted. The thing is, they're making this game for you, the gamer. You should be appreciative of that, and if you're not satisfied, go and make a game of your own that fulfills what you desire. If you can't do this, then be happy with what you've got. If you're still not happy, then take up crochê, because you're clearly the hardest person to please in the world.