Halo, or Half-Life?


In terms of story (as we all know half life is much better than Halo for that), which game is better. I have only played halo 1 and 2, but I think the half-life series totally trumps it. What does everyone else think?

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i wouldn't say that the story is better, it's just that the Half life single player mode is about 1000x longer.

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I prefer Half Life overall but it loses points for never actually going anywhere with the story. They seem to be making it up as they go along.

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I actually think that the story in HL is going to go somewhere at the end, but it is possible that they are making it up as they go along I suppose...

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[deleted]

Half-Life series > Halo series.
I like Halo, But the Halo series rips off Half-Life badly.

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[deleted]

In terms of playing with other people and cool things to drive having stupid fun:Halo(and the story isnt bad...at all),in terms of a longer more mature plot with better characters:Half-Life

and...PLEASE do tell me how Halo "rips off" Half-Life


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Errr, half life has headcrabs, which are small grey things that turn people into zombies. Halo has "the flood", which are small grey things that turn people into zombies. Which came first? Oh yeah, half life...

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Errr, half life has headcrabs, which are small grey things that turn people into zombies. Halo has "the flood", which are small grey things that turn people into zombies. Which came first? Oh yeah, half life...

That's a real stretch, especially since Half Life didn't invent the idea of parasitic creatures using host bodies. The two games also used the idea in entirely different ways.

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That was just an example, I'm sure other people can think of other ways...

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That was just an example, I'm sure other people can think of other ways...

Well since the only example provided doesn't count we're still waiting for the first real instance of a "rip off".

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ARE YOU *beep* SERIOUS!?!?
Ok,if we're gonna play like that then Half-life riped off the Alien movies WHICH CAME FIRST!!(they dont turn em into zombies but same thing -_-)

By the looks of it thats the only thing you can come up with..and it sucked so......nice try,better luck next time.

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How about the Suits?

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......cause he wears a suit it rips off Gordon's...which looks nothing like MC's

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[deleted]

My main beef with HL is the actual game play.

Graphic are alright.
Physics rock.
Story slowly pulled me in... and now has me by the balls.
Alyx is *beep* hot.

.......


But this game has the most *beep* amin character and the worst... THE WORST... vehicle levels ever. I've played HL2 on my PC, and Ep 1 & 2 on my xBox... And I have never been so frusterated at such sub-par, draaaaaaaaged out vehicle levels. I killed myself ,in real life, about 15 times during each driving level. Impossible I'm still alive, right? Wrong. I am.



Anyways... The sole reason why I do NOT call myself a fan of HALF LIFE 2 is due to *beep* driving controls for the xBox ( Yes, I do know it's a PC game at heart... er, source code, I mean..., But I did play in on the xBox and hated it.) and for the limp-wristed, unbelievable protagonist who, by the way, has NOT tapped Alyx yet. That makes him a qu33r of the worst kind.


Although... the story is so goood!!! And mysterious! like, what the heel ARE the Combine? Aliens using Human hosts? Or humanoid aliens using human fire arms for the most part? And it chaps my ass that there is no visual pre-Half-Life 1 explination for what happened... the 7 Hour War?! c'mon, man!! I wanna know how it happened!!!

Granted, the mystery IS part of it, and, while it bugs the hell outta me, I accept that. I tried playing the origianl again for the first time in years, but the code would validate... so that sucks that I can't be reminded of any forgotten clues to the original invasion,...


Any trivia or historical facts concerning Half-life's story are welcome!
But if their are spoilers,,,, let people know so as not to ruin it for those who haven't play/beaten the game yet.


tl;dr

fcuck the game, bring on the story.




Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to return some video tapes.

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[deleted]

OMG YES!!! PICTURE IT ALL!!
Gordon getting freaky with Alyx in a closet in White Forest,they dont give a damn the Combine are blowing up the rooftop,they aint stoping!
Eli's head just rolled by but Gordon doesnt care hes been quiet faaaar too long and Alyx!..well lets just say a girl has to make up for lost time now that a certain supression field is down.Kleiner and Magnusson are getting dragged off by hunters but they cant hear anything from Alyx's screams!! HELL YEA!
Your righ...thats defenetly how they should have made Gordon..

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[deleted]

lol big time

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Number Two, Show me a video game with a completely believable protagonist that IS a first person shooter. In fact, show me anything with a completely believable protagonist.


Believable or realistic? I choose Rainbow 6.

Three, the vehicle levels aren't dragged out in any case. They only are if it takes you fifteen hours to complete them because of lack of depth perception. Those can easily be beat in an hour or less apiece, even on the 360.


the controls sucked on the 360. shoulda had an option to adjust them. and I did beat them collectivly within an hour, though by the end I had resorted taking breaks from HL to play Superman Returns to calm myself down. TWICE. And Superman Returns is a pretty lowsy game. But more enjoyable than driving the POS with wheels.

And Four, Just 'cause a lead character doesn't 'tap' the lead heroine immediately or at all doesn't make him a qu33r (nice use of numbers as letters, your literary prowess is like a blinding light from God) it just means that maybe, MAYBE he'd rather help save the human race from annihilation than follow the meager, basic human urges that I can only assume you entertain every three hours in your basement apartment under your parent's house


I guess I thought that the fact that I was dwelling on having sex over saving the human race was blatently [sp] obvious and, likewise, comical. Also, an underlieing thought to my original thought was that Alyx's character was the only good thing about HL.

(nice use of numbers as letters, your literary prowess is like a blinding light from God)


I wrote it like that because I thought "queer" was word-filtered. It was to let you know what I was saying.

that's all I have time to write now...
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to return some video tapes.

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Personally, I prefer the Halo series. Sure, I'll probably grow to like the HL series eventually. But right now, I prefer the more immediate, straightforward, non-stop action that Halo offers. Halo is also a tad more fun if you're just planning on just fooling around.

I'm sure there are people here that enjoy the puzzle-solving nature of Half-Life. Honestly, that actually frustrated me. Sure, call me impatient, but it felt like I spent a lot more time idling about trying to find my way out of some dead-end than shooting bad guys. Besides, it never really feels like you're doing anything. The whole time I played the game, it felt like I was spending more time running from the enemy or searching for my friends rather than actually damaging the enemy.

Gravity gun IS great fun, though, and I absolutely adore Valve's sense of humor.

And how on earth does Halo rip off Half-Life? Last I checked, the Flood didn't come from a resonance cascade, and the Covenant didn't enslave Earth. Also, I think I missed the section in Half-Life where there was a giant ring that killed all sentient life.

Cleaning up the gene pool, one jackass at a time.

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The best game I ever played was Half-Life (and the expansion packs). That was until Half-Life 2 came out, it's amazing. I really liked Halo 1 & 2 as well but I think Half-Life has a lot more interaction, better action sequences, and I could 'lose myself' more in the Half-Life universe than I could with Halo.

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Half-Life.

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half life wins hands down. i just got the orange box yesterday. it's amazin!!

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halo all the way half life is ok but halo better way better in graphics gameplay not that good in story but a kickass story at that

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Ill take Half-Life's graphics over Halo's any day
The people in the Halo universe look like cardboard dipped in vaseline

And idk about all of you,but when I played Halo 2 the game was glicthing like hell on the cut scenes

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Do the character's eyes and facial features even move in Halo? I thought they were just textures on a head model, rather than having animated eyes and facial bones etc.

Something like that maybe insignificant on paper, but having fully animated faces really brings up the immersion in games and makes the world almost come to life, basically.

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Half-Life's is much better...idc what your excuse is

Theres no way you can compare Keye's contorted mutant face in H3 to Alyx's realistic face in ALL of the games which go from sad to mad to shocked to scared etc.

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[deleted]

Half life for 1 reason: G-Man.......who the hell is he?

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[deleted]

Half-Life because no offense Halo fans, but the enemies in Halo series look far from intimidating.

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I really enjoyed both

Both have a brilliant story mode but I'd say HL2 is better by being much bigger, however this can be let down a bit by dodgy driving controls on the Xbox360.

The character movement isn't as good in HL2 as it is in Halo and you can find you end up getting stuck on random objects on the floor which really shouldn't get in the way. Also, the ally AI is rubbish in both but just a little more noticeably so in Half Life 2 as they constantly get in your way.

I'd probably say HL2 had me much more glued to the screen throughout the story but I keep returning Halo 3 for online multiplayer matches.

All in all - role on HL2:Ep3 and whatever comes next for Halo. I will be buying and enjoying both.

PS Being a console player, I've never played the original Half Life. I'm hoping they do something like with the Orange Box and including that with the next instalment!

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[deleted]

Damn - got to ebay just as the latest one was sold! Next one in 7 hours!!

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Why can't we have both? I have both and love both.

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anyone remember playing the first half life? thats the only time i've been scared by a video game

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Half Life 2 Vs Halo 2 = Halo 2

^
My opinion.

Half Life 2:
Half Life 2 starts off like the greatest game ever created. As soon as you get a gun and you have to shoot people it goes downhill.
Half Life 2 does have appaulling driving levels. I dont know why they continued them on pt 1 and 2. They seriously overstay their welcome, atleast on the second driving one on Half Life 2 you get out of the vehicle every so often.

However, as soon as that Jail Break scene comes it gets really good again and i do think it's one of the best games ever with a brilliant storyline.

Halo 2:
I can't fault Halo 2, i think it's near perfect. So the storyline isnt as sophistocated as Half Life, and the graphics arent as realistic.
That doesnt matter to me. Halo 2's graphics are so much more stylish, the game is so much more fun and the driving parts are even more fun than the non-driving parts.

They are both fantastic! Half Life is more revolutionary and original, but in terms of game quality. Halo takes the cake.


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HATED IN THE NATION
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I still believe Halo 1's driving parts are way better than Halo 2's. It changes a little in Halo 3, because they really have the warthog at its best.
People call the Mako the worst feature in Mass Effect, but I'd gladly take the moon-buggy over Half Life 2's vehicles. Don't get me wrong, I loved smashing through the wooden bridges while the Combine cops fell to their deaths, but I was wrestling with the controls half the time.

Half Life's story is much more complex (Halo's expanded universe makes up for the lack of story in the games) but I think Halo's fast paced action makes it a more enjoyable experience over all.

--
"You're a racist bastard."
"I'm also a sexist and a pervert."

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Well, lets see here...

I only started on Halo relatively recently, I think I got halo 1 for PC about um... 5 months ago? Which would be well, years after half life 2 and even a pretty dang long time after Episode 1.

And well, I loved Halo 1, particularly the vehicles as have been mentioned, but also the teamwork stuff in it, running about with your squaddies, the battles through the ship at the beginning. All of that stuff rocked. And, of course, the warthog chase at the end. I left the game wanting more... In fact, it was quite possibly a contributing factor of me wanting to get a desktop for Christmas so I could run Halo 2.

Then I get Halo 2, start off great - I absolutely love the Earth level, best part of the game. But then.... I think it's around the 2nd 'arbiter' level... The game sinks down. Ok, I've found out about the 'cliffhanger' from the first game so now I start thinking.

The guys behind Halo have absolutely no interest in their characters, except, perhaps beyond Cortana and Chief. I then realised that in 'Halo' no matter what/how well you do, pretty much everyone your character is going to meet in it well... dies.

And that, sucks...

So, last week, I finished Halo 2, the big 'cliffhanger' ending. My actual thoughts upon finishing it, "so... they couldn't be **sed finishing the game."

So, not being as excited as I was about Halo 2's release, I checked out wikipedias entry on Halo 3, and sure enough, my theory about every character in the game is well, right.

And a few days ago, I down load HL2:Episode 2, and the difference is well, amazing. I get to give a damn about the characters! And, on top of that, the halo-esque type part at the end which could very well have got me annoyed at it... actually worked. It provided an emotional and dramatic response, that was far more than your standard "OMG" response (compare Teri's death in 24 with Miles' in season 6).

And dang, I want Episode 3 released... The story is still gripping me, I still care about the characters, even MORE so now in Alyx's case and I'm seriously to Bob hoping that Valve manage to keep it going at the same quality and keep it strong, even if it means them going to the 'cliche' of the hero getting (and keeping) the girl. Cause, to be entirely honest, with everything else now, (heroic/tragic/sudden death of the girl, hero snatched away from her last moment, hero leaves on mysterious voyage after a few weeks etctera etctera) is becoming the cliche - a crime that RPGs are generally quite guilty of.

So, in summary, Half Life Series -> Halo. However, my favourite of all the shooters around is still Jedi Knight/Outcast. 2 of the best games when it comes to stories ever, in my opinion. And, AND... Jedi Academy does provide a pretty great way to keep the character in them going and 'existing' without 'comprimising' excuses being needed of him.

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Halo 3 tried to make everything so perfect that I think they forgot about the storyline untill like a week before release.
Then they threw darts at a poster with the charaters and whoever got hit died.

While the Halo series might have better driving levels(as if it was a racing game)and..maybe better guns,I admit.Just about EVERYTHING else goes to HL's side...and you know it..
Cause unless they announce a Halo4 tomorrow,thats still gonna go down as one of the crappiest endings in gaming history.

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I have played both Half Life 2 and the two episode sequels(tho not the first- which I really want!)and played on all Halo games. Half Life 2 is miles better than Halo because the story is more engaging and it explains it better, immersing you into the story much better than Halo because you actually care for the characters.
Also, Halo 3's ending was pretty bad (I think, in a way, it would of been better to end Master Chief's story there to make a happy ending not a stupid one- no doubt it will be continued in Peter Jackson's games.)The vehicles in HL2 I actually think, in some ways, are better than Halo. For some reason, maybe the controls, you actually feel like you are driving the car- the best driving controls I have seen- tho I don't play racing games.
The weapons and characters are overall also much better in HL2 than Halo because they don't feel random, as if they have just been put in because they need someone to say a line, which is what it feels like in a way with Halo. Halo 3 is probably just above average in my opinion.- the story mode isn't that special but the online play is pretty good. The story and levels in Hl2 are brilliant- I was pretty freaked trying to do the whole chapter called 'Nobody goes to Ravanholm'with just a gravity gun!
Overall then, HL2 is better than any of the Halo games in any way- except that Halo has multi player...but no doubt in HL2 had multi player it would be better than Halo.
HL2: 10/10
Halo 3: 6/10

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List of things that I beleive makes Halo a better game than Half-Life.

-a truly inspired music score.

-simply beautiful vehicle physics

-a beleiveable protagonist (in reference to an earlier post)

-a highly satisfactory ending.

-great list of original ideas for unique combat (needlers, plasma grenades, all of the equipment in Halo 3; although I have to admit that the gravity gun is innovative, unlike all of the other weapons in the series)

-epic and beautiful settings (just looking at the horizon while on the Ark or one of the Halos is breathtaking, half-life is mostly darkened hallways and streets.

-also, it isn't overly gory or disgusting; the flood isn't as nasty as a guy with a giant bug clinging to its head, blood streaming down his shoulders, screaming incomprehensible words. I play Halo with my little sister, but I wouldn't dream of showing her anything in Half-Life.

-Grunts are simply fun to kill, and some of the things they say are hilarious; how many times do you get moments like that in Half-Life?

PS. Although I have to admit that I am looking forward to Episode 3, i'm desperate to know who the G-Man is and how everything will be resolved. Right now the Half-Life saga has a great sense of intriging mystery to it that most video-games (including Halo) lack.

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O....ok well..yea,forgot about the score from Halo...
..And I give you the the whole..scenery thing...yea..(tho HL2 has its breath taking moments)

Disagree with just about everything else you said though.

About the Grunt killing thing?..Both games are SOPPOSED to be serious..meaning serious foes,if I wanted to kill "fun/hilarious" enemies..I would play Mario.

PS:Gotta love the little flowers the Flood grew from one game to another...I always liked Pikmin ^^

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I respect your opinion but for me it's Half-Life series hands down. I only played Half-Life 1 for the first time last year, beat Half-Life 2 as soon as it came out. Half-Life 1 is more innovative now than even the first Halo was when it came. It's just a much more interesting game with a much more believable story, more believable characters, and much more player immersion. I could sum up Halo in a sentence: "Aliens invade earth and you must save it". Sounds like a half-a$$ed sci-fi action film from the 80's to me. I didn't find Master Chief any more believable than Gordon Freeman. The only difference between the two is that Half-Life plays a lot more on the use of enigmatic aspects whereas Halo spells pretty much everything out for you. Both were equally believable or unbelievable. Settings-wise, I could agree to an extent that Halo generally has more beautiful settings but the graphics are terrible in my opinion. Everything looked so formulaic and there were no details on the weapons or the textures and so on. If you look at the first Half-Life, that has a lot cooler settings towards the latter half of the game, than Half-Life 2 did. But Half-Life 2's graphics (especially with HDR) coupled with the coast settings easily rival Halo's best settings. The gore was more realistic and larger in quantity like you said, resulting in a more frightening experience, but just because the enemies in Halo bleed rainbow colored goo as opposed to red blood, doesn't make it less gory really. I just thought the fact that Halo didn't have realistic blood effects took away from the otherwise quite mature aspects of the games. The enemies were rediculous as well.

Last but not least Halo bored me to death. The co-op and multiplayer was pretty fun but the single player campaign bored me. Half-Life 1 is still exciting, and don't even get me started on Half-Life 2, but Halo is just a game I couldn't stand. This is my personal take, and don't think me a Half-Life fanboy or anything, Halo just never appealed to me.

Here are a list of my favorite games (I only really play action games) so you can tell what kind of taste I have:
1. No One Lives Forever series
2. Half-Life series
3. FEAR
4. STALKER
5. Medal of Honor:Allied Assault and expansions
6. Mafia
7. Bioshock
8. Return to Castle Wolfenstein
9. Unreal Tournament series
10. Crysis

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Half-Life 2 does have multiplayer. Even if you don't consider Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Team Fortress 2, etc. HL2 multiplayer, there's still Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. HL2: Deathmatch is nowhere near as established or developed as Halo's multiplayer, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. Personally I think HL2 beats Halo without multiplayer too.

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