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Comment by sebasmurphy | Hacker News Reader

HL2 is probably my favorite game of all time. Also worth noting that HL1 looks dated as hell now and Its probably worth paying for and playing Black-Mesa instead. Only thing you'll miss is Xen which is a just a tiny fraction of the original campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa_(video_game)

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They actually recently finished Xen! It's different from the original, but I think the overall consensus is that it's better than the original. (No more awkward fps platforming)

IMO vanilla Half-Life 1 is still amazing. Every gun, every enemy has a unique idea to them and requires you playing differently. HL2 kinda streamlined that aspect in favor of “cinematic” presentation which was built around a graphical wow-factor that’s hard to replicate today. HL1’s gameplay is still fresh. In fact, because it was in development for (over?!) 10 years, Black Mesa suffers from a similar “1,5-generations behind” vibe, visually.

I loved HL2 as well, though I found the start of the game a bit linear, almost rail-shooter-ish (in fact even with actual narrow enclosed train rails, and vehicles that moved linearly). But that improved drastically mid game and beyond and in the next episodes :)

Just such a shame episode 2 ended with a cliffhanger that never got fulfilled, as almost everyone knows

At this point Half Life 3 became a running joke :)

Xen is already out for Black Mesa

Black Mesa is beautifully done but combat is not as well balanced as the original game; there are odd spikes in difficulty at certain points that will have you cursing.

Players new to the series would be better served by playing the original Half-Life than Black Mesa.

Xen is out and it is fantastic. I was 13 when it was announced and it was worth the wait. Enjoy :)

I play through HL2 and the episodes every couple of years or so. It never gets old. It truly is one of the greatest games ever made.

My handle is a reference to the HL universe :)

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