Hi Guys, This is a personal feeling. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences. Some people don't even like games, or FPSs. And of course at different times, and for different age groups different things appeal.
With that out of the way I have played all the Halflife series, just finished Episode 2 ago a few days ago. Portal was fabulous, Team Fortress is stress relieving. But I am really impressed with Valve, I remember when I was playing HalfLife 1 years ago I got the feeling this is special, you often get this feeling when you are watching a really good movie, or reading a book and you go slow because you don't want it to end.
HalfLife has been innovative and more importantly story led all along, remember the train ride in, and all the different gameplay elements and a story that really draws you in Halflife 1. And now of course we do have a fantastic series on our hands thats really developing well. The story is compelling, the gameplay is engaging but becoming secondary. The possibilities of where Valve can go with this are endless and seeing how well they have done so far and the amount of talent they clearly have we can expect the best.
But after HalfLife every other game is really a disappointment, underwhelming, either its pure action no story in which case TeamFortress will be my preferences or its some manufactured assembly line production like boy/girl bands that you really cannot waste time on. Of course the hype with special effects and all the graphics is used to promote games that have little else apart from point and shoot. Without a story that's engaging you are just boring yourself. I know COD4 has many fans but it feels like a boy band to me, manufactured and sterile.
Farcry was fun then because we had never seen such large open environments but even that was becoming increasingly irritating by the end. For me Crysis is just another decked up Farcry. I think this is laziness from the game companies, this rehashing and trying to make a quick buck without investing in creative talent or doing the admittedly difficult job of creating a good story.
Valve have raised the bar, the amount of depth, immersion and story progression we have with HalfLife is going to be difficult to replicate unless we have a super creative team. And Valve is run in a unique way away from the pressures of delivery time and other pure commercial considerations. They seem to be really interested in delivering a better experience, a more compelling offering. They have made their money, that is not the driving factor anymore. Income is guaranteed because of the millions of fans waiting for another installment. But this is not a unique business model, this is usually the best way to be successful in any field to deliver a better product than rehashing and marketing the hell out of it.
I tried Crysis and junked it, COD4 is really a waste of my hardrive space. So is it only half life for me or can we expect other game companies to ramp up and deliver on our expectations for less mindless violence and more interesting stories and gameplay. I am sure there are other here who share my feelings but they will probably be in the same age group 25-30. Probably we are becoming old.
With that out of the way I have played all the Halflife series, just finished Episode 2 ago a few days ago. Portal was fabulous, Team Fortress is stress relieving. But I am really impressed with Valve, I remember when I was playing HalfLife 1 years ago I got the feeling this is special, you often get this feeling when you are watching a really good movie, or reading a book and you go slow because you don't want it to end.
HalfLife has been innovative and more importantly story led all along, remember the train ride in, and all the different gameplay elements and a story that really draws you in Halflife 1. And now of course we do have a fantastic series on our hands thats really developing well. The story is compelling, the gameplay is engaging but becoming secondary. The possibilities of where Valve can go with this are endless and seeing how well they have done so far and the amount of talent they clearly have we can expect the best.
But after HalfLife every other game is really a disappointment, underwhelming, either its pure action no story in which case TeamFortress will be my preferences or its some manufactured assembly line production like boy/girl bands that you really cannot waste time on. Of course the hype with special effects and all the graphics is used to promote games that have little else apart from point and shoot. Without a story that's engaging you are just boring yourself. I know COD4 has many fans but it feels like a boy band to me, manufactured and sterile.
Farcry was fun then because we had never seen such large open environments but even that was becoming increasingly irritating by the end. For me Crysis is just another decked up Farcry. I think this is laziness from the game companies, this rehashing and trying to make a quick buck without investing in creative talent or doing the admittedly difficult job of creating a good story.
Valve have raised the bar, the amount of depth, immersion and story progression we have with HalfLife is going to be difficult to replicate unless we have a super creative team. And Valve is run in a unique way away from the pressures of delivery time and other pure commercial considerations. They seem to be really interested in delivering a better experience, a more compelling offering. They have made their money, that is not the driving factor anymore. Income is guaranteed because of the millions of fans waiting for another installment. But this is not a unique business model, this is usually the best way to be successful in any field to deliver a better product than rehashing and marketing the hell out of it.
I tried Crysis and junked it, COD4 is really a waste of my hardrive space. So is it only half life for me or can we expect other game companies to ramp up and deliver on our expectations for less mindless violence and more interesting stories and gameplay. I am sure there are other here who share my feelings but they will probably be in the same age group 25-30. Probably we are becoming old.
