Half-Life 2 vs. Halo 2

[dino]

What I seem to be wondering about is the sheer stupidity of alot of people. Most of the people who I've talked to haven't seen the Half-Life 2 E3 Tech Demo but NOOOO, they've all seen the Halo 2 tech demo. They make the stupid decision of thinking that Halo 2 is going to be better than Half-Life 2.
Firstly I must say that Halo is a good game and, although not eagerly anticipating it, I am waiting for it's release and am expecting it to be good. But if it were to be developed for P.C., Half-Life 2, I believe, would kick the shit out of it.
Sorry if people have already put up threads about this.

[Death_Knight]

Patience is a virtue. Wait and watch.

[ShivaArchon]

Perhaps both will be awesome and we won't have to worry about idiotic fanboy leetspeaking crap.

[Ramrod]

half life 2 will be a nice return to the good old days of half life if they keep the gameplay similar. but seriously, you remember how the plot advanced in the original? neither do i, because it had nothing at all to do with you. i'm afraid that might be the same way it happens in this one. halo 2 will only be good because of riding the hog as opposed to driving it in sp for the first time ever. although, i want to know the end of halo! the end of marathon was a bit of an anti-climax for me.

all that said, my first pc game was doom, so i have a soft spot for doom3

[Retroboy]

but seriously, you remember how the plot advanced in the original? neither do i, because it had nothing at all to do with you.

Speak for yourself, pal. I remember that campaign very clearly.

I thought the story was extremely involving and light-years ahead of its competition at that time. I wish more stories didn't have the main character as uberhero, but rather as a victim of circumstance or one of many grunts in a war that is much bigger than them.

For an incredibly distant and uninvolving shooter storyline, try Quake II.

-- Retro

[Starfisher]

Half-Life 2 might kick the crap out of Halo 2, if it would ever come out.

[No Surrender]

For an incredibly distant and uninvolving shooter storyline, try Quake II.

Holy crap! Quake II had a storyline?

But seriously, I'm looking forward to Halo 2 more

[Chrysophylax]

If Half-Life's 2 story is as involving as the original game was, It will definitely be on my game collection... Although Halo had better graphics and stuff, give me Half-Life anyday of the week...

[Moe]

I got a coupon for a free copy of HL2 with my gfx card. Now if the darn game would come out, I will play it.
Halo2 is for Xbox only, right? I don't own an Xbox. So I won't play it.

[ilia1986]

Most ppl decide which game is better for them according to the setting. Thats why games like C&CG have turned away many ppl (me included) from. Because if thier horrible and unoriginal or unattractive setting.

Now we have HL2 and halo2. Now, tell me what setting is more attractive? A geek scientist walkin in an imaginary city killing bug like aliens and fighting Federal soldiers, or a Cyborg with human senses saving the human race from destruction by humanoid aliens who fight the human civilization because of RELIGIOUS causes.

Yours to decide.

[LoCo]

Chrysophylax: Halo had better graphics becasue it came out how many years later? ... yeah.

I'm in the same boat as Moe ... no Xbox, and I don't intend to buy one just for the one game.

So go go HL2. (Hopefuly with some great co-op)

ilia1986: heh, if I was an alien I would fight the humans for a religious cause.

[No Surrender]

God, everytime two high profile games of the same genre come out there's always the "Game X is better than game Y" debate. Can't we all just play the games without saying which one is better or atleast hold off until you've played the damn thing to decide.

[ceejayoz]

God, everytime two high profile games of the same genre come out there's always the "Game X is better than game Y" debate. Can't we all just play the games without saying which one is better or atleast hold off until you've played the damn thing to decide.

I don't think I could have said that any better.

[Starfisher]

Because then 95% of all data transfer on the internet would cease, investors would realize that it's a sinking ship, ISPs would close up and then where would we be? Face it, uninformed, biased and downright moronic speculatory flame wars ARE the internet.

[Retroboy]

Face it, uninformed, biased and downright moronic speculatory flame wars ARE the internet.

And pr0n. You forgot pr0n.

-- Retro

[The5thElephant]

pr0n is uninformed, biased and downright moronic speculatory flame wars but with penises.

OK to make this thread a bit more intelligent instead of a stupid fanboi war let's get into the details.

The engine of Half-Life 2 (the Source engine as it is called) is far superior in terms of physics. I don't think that Halo 2 has ragdoll physics or the havok engine. Also if you took a look at the latest 9 shaky cam videos of Half Life 2 (released a few days ago, check www.filerush.com) it has very very nice environmental destruction. One of the vids shows objects being lifted with the grav gun and then launced at high speeds through a wood wall making very realistic holes through it. So a ball makes a ripped up round hole and a plate makes a slimmer ellipsoid hole. Very cool.

Graphically Half Life 2 will be able to support higher resolutions (cause its for computer) and has more advanced graphics technology (normal mapping etc). You could say that Halo 2 will ALWAYS run well for everyone cause its for XBOX but so will Half Life 2 cause it is scalable to DirectX 6 graphics (quite amazing for them to do that). Normal mapping is quite impressive to see, but only if it is used well. Normal maps are used in Battlefield: Vietnam and they are hardly noticeable for example unlike Far Cry where they are beautifully used. Halo 2 will have EVERY surface bump-mapped though, which sounds very nice and allows for low poly objects that still look great.

Gameplay wise, while Half Life 2 looks to have more interactive gameplay thanks to the physics engine, Halo 2 seems to have more vast gameplay, with whole cities of marines and aliens fighting and probably much more varied environments than Half Life 2. Half Life 2 AI has supposedly almost no scripts (just when to appear) while the rest is completely AI. I don't know about Halo 2 but I have heard it has excellent squad AI (notice the shield guys in the movie that form a traingle formation before advancing) and the original Halo had amazing AI anyway.

So we can't know right now, but Half Life 2 will be very moddable and will probably have a long life in gaming. I look forward to both and will get both.

[A176]

dolts

they will both own

[Soulblighter]

i will buy both and laugh at people comparing one to the other.

[Langy]

At the moment, Half-Life 2 completely trumps Halo 2 for the simple reason HL2 is for the computer while Halo 2 is for the X-Box.

However, if my roomy (and/or roomies if I get a three-person room:/) at uni this fall has an X-Box, I'll gladly play both.

[Kushan_Pilot]

i will buy both and laugh at people comparing one to the other.

I hear ya!

[SquidDNA]

At the moment, Half-Life 2 completely trumps Halo 2 for the simple reason HL2 is for the computer while Halo 2 is for the X-Box.

Bingo.

[Deviance]

Now Im a big fan of Halo and I must say seeing the double sub machine guns in the E3 vid sent shivers down my spine, Im a real FPS enthusiast and Halo really takes the biscuit.

However, HL2 looks fucking brilliant, those sweet gorgeous, lush, sexy ass graphics that just make your mouth water with the effects on water, SOOO life like and the streets and walls etc. I got the beta-anon version and with a little scripting an tweaking I managed to get a fair bit out of it, the "seafloor" level is the best, it has a buggy in it It ran perfectly on my machine an I have a GeForce FX 5200.......exactly

I know it wasn't complete....in fact it was far from complete, I had about a quarter of the game, but if I got excited from just a few levels of a bug filled beta....then what will I be like when the full game is on general release? *falls over having fits on the floor*

||Deviance||

[No Surrender]

I will get both, I will play both, I will (probably) enjoy both and then make my judgement.

[The5thElephant]

Errr Deviance, I know you probably didn't know, but prepare to be banned by some moderator who reads that and sees you mentioned warez. Sorry. Read the FAQ/Rules next time.

[ShivaArchon]

Halo 2's double SMG didn't really do anything for me, the sound effect was way too weak to inspire awe. I loved that semi-auto rifle with the 2x scope though, that thing looked and sounded badass. Now if only it was for PC....there's no way I'm buying Xbox for one game.

[IgnusDei]

Errr Deviance, I know you probably didn't know, but prepare to be banned by some moderator who reads that and sees you mentioned warez. Sorry. Read the FAQ/Rules next time.

meh, according to his description, he pretty much downloaded a demo.

[The5thElephant]

There isn't a demo for Half Life 2. But I'm gonna leave it at that, I'm not an admin and I don't really care either way.

There are rumors that Team Fortress 2 may be the multiplayer mode of HL2. Do you think this is likely? And will there be a CS2?

[Falcrum]

Team Fortress 2 might be available as a multiplayer mode for HL2, like the original TF, but when it's coming out is beyond me. As for CS2, it's probable, after all its concept is just like the original CS with better graphics, a more realistic physics engine, etc.

[Pyromonger]

Halo 2 will invariably lead to many drunken rowdy nites in front of the TV with friends.

Half-life 2 will be a jewel of a game to enjoy on quiet nites. Probably MANY quiet nites. Very loooooong quiet nites.

Obviously I will have both. Ppl who didn't buy an Xbox have missed out on more than "just one game," but of course the same can be said for anyone who doesn't own every gaming system *shrug*

Doom 3 heh... anyone who played Doom can't not get this :P Forcing my jumpy g/f to play will be a fiendish joy

[Death_Knight]

How many times do I have to repeat :

Patience is a Virtue. Wait for them to come, and THEN proceed to debate which is better.

[Retroboy]

Death_knight - you should be more patient with us. Remember, "patience is a Virtue." :loco:

-- Retro, instigatin'.

[Death_Knight]

Point noted. I should've stuck to my "No Comments" policy. It's better to listen than to babble.

That aside, I really like the HL2 trailer video where the man in black suit makes all sorts of facial expressions. Quite fantastic.

[SpinDizzy]

Gman!!!

Anyway, this may sound bias coming from me, but I'm almost certain Half Life 2 will win hands down and don't see this as any fair contest.

It depends on what you mean by which one is better, or wins.

If you mean number of sales, then Half Life 2 will obliterate Halo.

What has a fair chance is which title sells more copies on the xbox, can't do the same with the PC, since god knows when Halo 2 might come out on PC.

I'm not that interested in it myself, first one was surely better then your average game, not sure I'd rate it a classic though, but then I'm someone speaking who's never played the xbox version, and only seen it.

[littlegreencube]

since god knows when Halo 2 might come out on PC.

If Halo was any indicator, I pray it never does.

[Reignfire]

If Halo was any indicator, I pray it never does.

For as bad as I want Halo 2 to come to PC, I unfortunately have to agree with you.

[Ammon Ra]

PC version of halo was horrible. I was amazed by the xbox version, but the PC version was.... :yech:

HL2 wins, possibly not in all catagories, but when's the last time you say a modification for console games?

[Pyromonger]

Console games sales dwarf computer game sales, that's just how it is. There's only a few PC games that can compare to console game sales... like Myst, The Sims, and of course Half-life.

But for HL that's only if you include all the CS versions out. XBox Halo alone sold almost as many copies as every version of HL out for the last 6 years combined.

There should be 12-14 million XBox out by time Halo 2 is out. Gonna be hard for HL2 to keep up with Halo 2 sales... heh, they've both got 1 from me for sure, but there's just not as many comp nerds as there are console kiddies.

[LoCo]

I think it's more then that Pyromonger ... (Not saying anything that might get me banned.)

[No Surrender]

Well... HL2 is also comming out on Xbox (the only console that can run it, take that Sony and Nintendo!) too. That'll probably give HL2 a sales boost. Although I've yet to see an Xbox owner without a copy of Halo.

[Retroboy]

****Halflife hi-res movies now available via bittorrent (not sure how new this is) at Steam website!!

Checked out "striders" (which I have seen before, but in the 2003 500Mb massive movie, and it just didn't look nearly as good as this one), and my jaw just dropped.

clicky.

Idle comparative speculation or not, I can tell you that Halo 2's got its work cut out for it, based on seeing this film.

-- Retro

[ArrowHawk]

totally OT, but is Deviance really banned, or is that a new avatar I see ?

[Retroboy]

Read his post above, and then the forum rules (if you have to), for the answer.

-- Retro

[ShivaArchon]

For the record, I loved Halo PC. It was the same game, no? Why the backlash?

I can only hope that Halo 2 will come to PC because I would love the chance to play it.

[ArrowHawk]

Read his post above, and then the forum rules (if you have to), for the answer.

-- Retro

Got me going for a while there, lol.

Back on topic.

Saw the vid, same reaction. Doubt my current system can run it that well... damn.

[CobraCommander]

a couple of things.
firstly to the people saying that they wont get an xbox for one game, there are a crapload of good games for xbox, as well as the best versions of any multiplatform games exculding some pc ports and ea games (for now...).
mechassault, skies, shenmue, otogi, halo, kotor, ninja gaiden, gotham, orta, pandora tomorrow... its great.

as for halflife, the casual gamer doesnt know what half life is. and by casual i mean the kind of people who make madden the best selling game. when i was in high school id be talking about counter strike, and people would know what i was discussing. then when i asked how they liked halflife they were like "whats halflife?".

in my opinion halflife was better than halo, so halflife 2 will probably be better than halo 2, and while were on shooters, they will both be better than doom 3. but im buying all of them though so i dont care.

[Age]

Halo 2 will thoroughly Pwn HL2, but it's hard to say since they're both on two entirely different systems.

[Falcrum]

HL2 is coming out on Xbox u'know. And I think it's too early to make judgements, just wait till they're both out and we'll see.

[Dark Assailant]

Hmmm... to me... it seems HL2 and Halo 2... well they are all good...

[ilia1986]

HL2 and Halo 2 advantages (only the completely official ones)

HL2:

MAY (I repat MAY) have slightly better mission and level design. both MP and SP.
MAY have slighly better and more detalied textures
The manipulator (nuff said).
a higher selection of more realistic weapons.
The ability to control ally aliens with the spore nades.
MAY have slightly better AI.
May have more interaction with environment.


Halo 2:
A combination of UT2004's assault and CTF MP combination.
A more epic feel.
Better rocket launcher (Guided this time, so no more Bunshee thog or ghost whores running you over and over again) (on side note: the RL also deals more dMG now).
More vehicles.
Double wield weapons.
completely destructible vehicles.





Ok. Now the improvements over their predecessors:

HL2:
Graphics, Sound, MAYBE level design, MAYBE AI, A cool and Uber original gun, real ally chars fighting alongside you, new aliens, and enmies, vehicles, and a bit more epic feel.


Halo 2:
Graphics, MP level design, more weapons, older weapons become more useful, solving of problems with the prev game (Vehicle and bunshee whores), faster running speed, higher jumping ability, Ability to have dual weapons, more vehicles, completely destructible vehicles, and more epic feel.



Stats based on on the Gspot preview for HL2 and the Halo 2 pre e3 vid.

[The5thElephant]

Thing is while I'm sure Half Life 2 will be very well done, the Halo 2 team releases weekly updates on their progress which are quite funny and really make you look forward to the game. Tells you about all the new tech and graphics tricks while not ruining anything in the game. For example they talk about the different ways of tweaking warthog handling or the one guy obsessed with gun reload animations. Go look for them.