Holy shit, so I just finished Half Life two in the last 24 hours, I am already about to jump into Episode One, and Episode 2. And I cannot wait for Half Life 3 already... What a great game.  
Also while diving back into an older game I found the only good thing about Loading breaks.. When you are drinking rum and coke, and want to make a little drinking game for yourself.   
Needless too say, I got quite the buzz on, and am about to delve into Episode One.    
 
And yes, I know I am Crazy to only just have played HL2.

Congrats. Now you can understand the pain of the waiting game like the rest of us.

first time i played Half Life 2 was when the Orange Box was released...so i was fairly late to the party as well.

I still don't understand what makes HL2 so great. There are plenty of cool things about it, and I enjoyed it over all, but things like the basic shooting and pacing never felt right to me.

" I still don't understand what makes HL2 so great. There are plenty of cool things about it, and I enjoyed it over all, but things like the basic shooting and pacing never felt right to me. "

yea, the orange box is a godsend

" I still don't understand what makes HL2 so great. There are plenty of cool things about it, and I enjoyed it over all, but things like the basic shooting and pacing never felt right to me. "

" @BoomSnapClap113: When you finish Episode 2, imagine what a 4 year wait feels like... and we're still waiting. "

Whenever I play Half-Life 2 I end up angry, and I do not know why. Nothing about that game seems great, or even above average. I guess I'm coming into it late, though I did like Half-Life 1. The first half, anyway.

Half-Life 2 a great game interrupted by a long ass boat ride. 

Yeah, he is a silent protagonist which is kinda annoying, but you gotta remember that the game was released in 04. Not many games had voiced protagonists by then, or selective dialog. Its not far to compare HF2 to games like Dragon Age. Even Halo, Cod (up untill blops), and many other first person shooters didn't have voiced lead characters.  The story and Atmostphere is what makes the game, and the relationship with Alyx has many routes to go, and I cant wait to see what way they take it.  
 
Also yeah I can't imagine having the 7 year wait haha, I cant wait for the new Half Life and I JUST played the second and only just dipped into Episode One.

" @Slaker117 said:

" I still don't understand what makes HL2 so great. There are plenty of cool things about it, and I enjoyed it over all, but things like the basic shooting and pacing never felt right to me. "

This. To be honest, I only enjoyed the portions of the game spent in City 17 and the Citadel. "

Overrated, right? Oh... you liked it. Ah well... it's a good game but imo it is far from "best PC game ever made". Also I hated episode 1. It's soooooo bad. Episode 2 is the best half life game imo... still not "best PC game ever made".

the gameplay is fine but half life 2's greatness lies in how it deals with its plot and characters. there aren't many games where i can honestly say i've cared as much for the cast as i have with half life 2 and its episodes, especially dog. what a fucking badass.
 
have fun with episodes 1&2 and have less fun with the wait for the next one.

"Also I hated episode 1. It's soooooo bad. Episode 2 is the best half life game imo"

Thinking about this and reading what other people are saying makes me want to go back in and try to reevaluate my position.
 
EDIT: Ok, I'm just going to say it probably a game best left to it's time, because after playing through the first few areas, I'm having no fun at all.

I love the variety of the half life series. It has a boat section, long driving sequences broken up by discovering places along the road where unique battles or story/atmosphere builders are found, large scale battles against massive striders (one of the best enemies in games), well done corridor crawls, a loose squad element, some minion control gameplay (antlions), scary zombie sections (fast zombies and headcrabs are scary), solid physics made really interesting by the gravity gun, some cool puzzles, up to 3 different factions fighting each other at one time (not including you), fun boss like battles, good escort missions, some awesome "defend this area" parts (setting up turrets in prison/caves), different types of normal humanoid enemies, slow zombies, fast zombies, poison zombies, combine zombies, different types of headcrabs, antlions, turrets, gunships, vortigaunts, and so on. 

Great, another addition to the "Where the hell is HL3, Valve?!" army. Hope you like it; we have cookies.

"I cannot wait for Half Life 3 already..."

Probably still my favorite game, even though Ravenholm took me an entire week playing 5 minute portions to get through.

" @BoomSnapClap113 said:

"I cannot wait for Half Life 3 already..."

Enjoy the wait, it's a doozy. "

" Two words:  
 

FUCK RAVENHOLM

"

" @GetEveryone said:

" @BoomSnapClap113 said:

"I cannot wait for Half Life 3 already..."

Enjoy the wait, it's a doozy. "

They are bound to announce something this year ... Portal 2 is done, there won't be a L4D3 anytime soon and DotA2 is due this year ... they will announce something this year and chances are it's HalfLife related. It won't be EP3 (that would be stupid by now) so it will proabably be HL3. "

Great game but it drags a bit in some places like the air boat. I can see why some might not like parts of it but their is no denying its a great game and easily one of the best if not the best. A really good world thats built by observing and taking in all the elements of it without anyone needed to really explain too much. Episode 1 and 2 are also great and episode 2 especially is filled with great moments and a really strong ending.

" Half-Life 2 a great game interrupted by a long ass boat ride.  "

I only just completed Half-Life 2 back in December and started Episode 1 a few days after. Then I stopped after an hour or two... Maybe I'll get back into it when Episode 3's release date is announced. :/

HL1 was great. However, HL2 was incredibly disappointing to me and I think the constant hype is not deserved at all.

" @Little_Socrates said:

" @Slaker117 said:

" I still don't understand what makes HL2 so great. There are plenty of cool things about it, and I enjoyed it over all, but things like the basic shooting and pacing never felt right to me. "

This. To be honest, I only enjoyed the portions of the game spent in City 17 and the Citadel. "

When did you guys play it? Because when playing it now, you've got to remember that this game came out years ago. When it came out, most of the physics stuff was brand new and ground breaking. Today that stuff doesn't seem as prominent, because every tom, dick and harry puts similar stuff into their game, but Half Life 2 did it first. That's why HL2 is so loved.  "

I played the Orange Box when it came out and really liked it. Everyone once in a while I'll jump back in. Great game.

" Overrated, right? Oh... you liked it. Ah well... it's a good game but imo it is far from "best PC game ever made". Also I hated episode 1. It's soooooo bad. Episode 2 is the best half life game imo... still not "best PC game ever made". "

Just finished Episode One, and I enjoyed it. Wasn't outstanding or anything, but the ending definitely makes me wanna jump right into Episode Two, which I will do... Right now. 
 
Also, Coming into this little weekend marathon I had planned, I didn't expect it to hold up as well as it has, the story really drug me in. Hopefully I''ll actually be able to finish Ep2 tonight. That was the original goal.

One of my favs of all time

Arguably one of the greatest games of all time and the greatest franchise of all time? Hell yes.

" I love the variety of the half life series. It has a boat section, long driving sequences broken up by discovering places along the road where unique battles or story/atmosphere builders are found, large scale battles against massive striders (one of the best enemies in games), well done corridor crawls, a loose squad element, some minion control gameplay (antlions), scary zombie sections (fast zombies and headcrabs are scary), solid physics made really interesting by the gravity gun, some cool puzzles, up to 3 different factions fighting each other at one time (not including you), fun boss like battles, good escort missions, some awesome "defend this area" parts (setting up turrets in prison/caves), different types of normal humanoid enemies, slow zombies, fast zombies, poison zombies, combine zombies, different types of headcrabs, antlions, turrets, gunships, vortigaunts, and so on.  "

I just finished it as well. I had mixed feeling about it. I didn't really start enjoying it until you had to fight the gunship on the bridge. After that point I had as much fun with HL2 as I've had with any other shooter. 

One of my favorite games of all time, i dont think i can put into words how awesome that game is, it really is more than the sum of its parts

I started up another playthrough of this game not too long ago just to get the Steam achievements, but stopped playing, once again, once I reached Ravenholm. I'm actually pretty close to completing it actually but, I don't know, I just don't want to play that part.

In my opinion, Episode 2>Episode 1>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Half-Life 2

So if one likes Half-Life 2 already, episode 2 should feel pretty alright

Worst. Cliffhanger. Ever.

(and not worst because it was a bad ending... SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Half-life 2 is amazing! Portal 2 is amazing! Left 4 Dead is amazing! Valve is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!