I've found a very nice site that tries to explain the events in HL and HL2 with great detail, providing background information. This site obviously contains major SPOILERS. Read it all here: http://members.shaw.ca/storage_4/hl2story/ 

thx 

downloaded the cracked HL2 game

Bugger Steam IMO

Works a treat

I wouldnt pay for this game though. Its NOTHING special

Give me a good RPG any day

Cheers 

You're a knoblord.

Don't waste our time posting inane comments on here based on playing a w4r3z version. 

Would be you be so kind as to provide a list of features that the legal version of HL2 has over the warez one? Except for Steam and multiplayer, that is. 

Moral superiority.

Now STFU, n00b. 

another feature I really like is that Valve get paid the money they deserve. 

And all the babies!
And all the cattle!
And all the alien hive queens!
And all the muffins!
And all the russians! 

I mostly agree with you. It took ~6 years to develop the engine. ~1 year to develop the game content. Only 1 year. While I admire the engine and the effort put into it, the content didn't seem all that spectacular to me.

But then again, I agree with Shambler: don't warez. :( 

I am of the complete oposite opinion of Zwiffle here.
I think the source engine is utterly amateurish (perhaps a bad word, but whatever) and awkward compared to Doom 3.
Source supposedly being the ultimate engine for modmakers sounds highly dubious to me, since all game content is kept locked away in secrat files that you need to go through steam to do anything with. Level scripting is done with a complex array of obscure entities linking together in ungodly ways that make adult jesus cry.
Compare this with Doom 3 which is completely open, just about all game assets are easily editable tga files or plain text documents, everything is open to the user, even the maps. Scripting is done with a very user friendly (if you know programming, which you ought to do if you're making a mod anyway) scripting language that is easy to get an overview of.
The one thing I'll give Source some credit for is it's physics system (which isn't even't Valve's own doing, but Havok) which is much more flexible and versatile than Doom 3's.
Source is clearly the last iteration of the quake generation of 3D engines.

On the content side though, HL2 is completely awesome. The environments are realistic, lush, gorgeous. Models have amazing animation and look gorgeous. (PS. Barney I love you!) Sound, although imho not as immersive as Doom 3, is gorgeous. The setting... ...OMG the setting, the atmosphere, the world, the premise... I am socked and awed! Gorgeous!
Doom 3 was pretty, but got a bit monotonous, and formulaeic (sp?).

Anyway, that's just my �2.
And of course HL2 gets a lot of credit for bringing us that gorgeous hunk Barney. <3 <3 

Being socked is almost as good as being shocked, only better! 

Yeah I agree with czg, finished it last night, and this is the nicest game I've played this year despite the steam annoyance.

Was a bit dissapointed there weren't any more funky weapons, I liked the strange alien weapons in Half-Life, but they wouldn't have quite fit in as well in this one I guess. Fortunatly the grav gun was there, oh and Dog rocks. =)

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this game so much. 

so how do i make maps? O_O 

You install the SDK through Steam, then you let it install CS:Source and HL2:DM, then you launch the SDK through Steam and then you launch Hammer from the SDK, then you make your map, then you've got to configure your Hammer setup so all the paths are correct, then you try compiling and see if the paths were correct, then you play the map and murder a kitten. 

Doom3 is a long game, how is HL2, compared to D3? 

I beat both in roughly the same amount of time, HL2 took a little less time for me than Doom 3. I liked Doom3 more, but HL2 had a much better ending. 

HL2 was weird for me in the length department. I thought some parts of the game were too drawn out, i.e. the airboat and bits during the buggy stuff. Beyond that I thought the game was wonderfully paced.

Doom 3 felt longer, but that's probably because I couldn't play that game in long sittings. I'd really get too hyped up, anxious, nervous, upset to play that long. Generally I still think Doom 3 was able to create much more tension and real emotion than HL2. Except when Barney was around, God he's a hottie.

I think they are both quality titles though that really can't be compared that well to one another. I think that you'll see more mods for Half-Life 2 in the end however. Content creation is just so time consuming for D3 I'd assume I'd grow bored with it. If I ever go through with this mod I'm writing a doc for, it'll be for Half-Life 2.

Fun wise, I enjoyed myself more playing Half-Life 2, but at the same time enjoyed being scared during Doom 3. 

i wasn't the only one who thought the vehicle bits were too long. i would have prefered half the length of both with more regular walking maps... 

The airboat took waay too long, and I was motion sick for about half of it.

On the other hand, they could release an expansion pack, Half Life 2: Buggy Exodus and I'd snap it up. It made me wish there was an entire open world of coast to explore, just me and my buggy. And my Ant Lion friends. 

yet.

How does the buggy portion of the game stack up against the FarCry (so far my favorite FPS this year) jeeps? 

Do you play Far Cry multi at all? 

At home I only have dial up. 

my cable package would only be 12 dollars more with an internet connection. Maybe after Christmas. 

between the two... i'd say i liked the handling on the FarCry vehicles more, but the actual gameplay involving the buggy in HL2 *is* pretty fun. there are lots of places to stop in between for some shooting action. it was much better than the water part anyway. 

Just ignore him, you're only encouraging him.