Re: Half-Life 2 three years on.

Yeah, I played and enjoyed Bloodlines, but it's a very different experience.

The Ocean's Hotel level was very immersive, but the game was mostly a
traditional RPG with a somewhat poor application of the Source engine.

System Shock was about being isolated and it kept you on your toes at all
times, and it had an unsurpassed antagonist to boot. But I brought it up in
this Half Life 2 thread, because I'm sort of tired of the praise it's
getting. I know I shouldn't bother, and I know my opinion is totally
irrelevant but it still irks me that some people seem to think that Half
Life (both of them) are responsible for much innovation in the genre. I
admit, it's a terrific "on-rails" shooter, but much of what people find
amazing was done much better, many years before. I'm not talking about the
facial technology or the physics system, but more the way the story is
delivered. System Shock delivered the story so masterfully and so
convincingly, that I find it hard to appreciate the positive critique poured
on Half Life in this regard, especially when it's coupled with words like
"revolutionary" or even "evolutionary".

Have you played Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines? I never played the
original System Shock but if SS2 comes second for you, you should try it.
You even get to talk to _alive_ people instead of only reading logs ;).

--
Werner Spahl (spahl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Half-Life 2 three years on.
    ... context of the game. ... Half Life was a series of scripted events with hardly any story at all. ... Bloodlines is not at all a shooter in the traditional sense, ... I was talking about System Shock 1, so I don't know why you bring SS2 into ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: Half-Life 2 three years on.
    ... The Ocean's Hotel level was very immersive, but the game was mostly a ... System Shock was about being isolated and it kept you on your toes at all ... Life are responsible for much innovation in the genre. ... gameplay and there are nearly 500 fan missions for them (mostly for Thief ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: Half-Life 2 three years on.
    ... However, I found SS2 to be a fairly average game, especially in level ... System Shock 1 had a lot more believable levels. ... design to be far worse than that of the sequel; ... I've never gotten the SVGA mode to run reliably. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Bioshock my thoughts. No plot spoilers.
    ... when I first played the game it took me a moment to notice that it had started because the graphics were so good that I thought I was still in a cut scene. ... via spoken diraies, radio messages and the odd meeting of an NPC, much like System Shock. ... Basic weapons are upgradable with the use of one use upgrades stations scattered through the game. ... Plasmids as basically secondary weapons that add to the depth of gamplay, you can do thing like free enemies, shock them, shock turrets so you can hack them. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg)
  • Bioshock demo - Great game but no shocker
    ... Way too much handholding and hints popping up, ... thus not removing the immersion from the game. ... that encompassed the advancements made in System Shock 1, ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)