The title says it all. I got this idea from another topic.

I honestly can't choose. They're all so fantastic. Maybe Half Life 2 was a little better than Half Life 1 gameplay wise (half life 1 was a tad confusing at times).

Okay, for lack of an 'all of the above' option, I chose Episode 1, just because I'm a sucker for pure sci fi. The first two chapters in the citadel were amazing IMO. The atmosphere of being in a collapsing, cold, alien, horrifyingly advanced skyscraper was just epic. The dark energy core was probably the most scary, but also beautiful thing I've ever seen. Pulsing with energy, expanding, contracting.

I don't know about any of you, but sometihng about the Half Life 2 atmosphere with city 17, the citadel and its surroundings makes me want to be there. Post apocalyptic, alien controlled, technology combined with crumbling ruins, Eastern Europe cities and forests... words can't describe its beauty.

Half Life 1 had its charm too. Black Mesa > Aperture in terms of looks IMO. Aperture was all plastic, concrete, and metal, depending on the time frame, while black mesa was tape reel computers, rusted metal, random glowing green radioactive goo, and portals on a much more epic scale.

How about this game?

3O42t2AN_Pc

Impressive. I tried HL2 maps but I couldn't pull it off.
Edit: It seems HL2 is in the lead compared to the other games. Interesting. Hopefully other people will cast their votes as well.

Half life 2 taught other developers how a FPS should be made

chimera201 wrote:
Half life 2 taught other developers how a FPS should be made

Amen to that!

My wife got me this book for my birthday many years ago. I love it to death (and I love her too)!

I will pass it to my son when he's ready (when he turns 14).

Oh, that's the book about what they did, left out, etc. Raising the Bar is a good book.

BTW: Has anyone else besides Winston, Killerblonde, and me played HL1 or any of the expansions?

I played the original Half-Life several times to completion. It's a tough game, certainly harder than HL2. Sometimes I would argue that it's too difficult at certain places.

I also played all the "mods" mentioned above.

I mapped for the original Half-Life, back in the days before Hammer even existed. It was called Worldcraft in the good ol' days. I made a lot more maps, since mapping was simpler before the Source engine.

Half-Life 2: Substance.

Ah yes, I've heard about this WorldCraft before. I heard that people started making Mods with that.