I can't believe I didn't make this video sooner. I did some of these rankings over on my twitch, come follow if you want to hang out! www.twitch.tv/jarek4gamingdragon
Last Nov Half-Life just turn 25 I got the game from day one back in 1998 for the PC on my Win98 when I was 26 years old and even got the PS2 console port. Hell I even got the ISO prototype of Half-Life for the Dreamcast CD burn and played it. Wonder if you going to talk about Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary?
@@nomyzs9928 that has to hurt :( it's really a shame, like someone not watching Twin Peaks because they hate Friends and assume they dislike all 90s tv
Platforming is not enjoyable in Half-Life. Also, the pathing is not as clear as the other chapters. It can be very time consuming if you don't know where to go.
I actually like On A Rail. I don't know why people hated it. I'm more surprised that Jarek rated the Xen chapters higher. I just didn't find the chapters fun at all.
I love on a rail. Call me crazy. I just like the deep underground feeling and the exploration of the random stops along the way. People dog on that chapter way too much.
Yeah and the stops you would make aren't even bad. The only thing I can see as frustrating is that the game never let's you know that you have to shoot at the signs in order to switch directions. Also that ending were you almost rum over the two marines was cool
I respect diverse opinions about the Half-Life chapters; this is an excellent ranking. Personally, I actually like On a Rail; although it does drag on for about an hour and the traps set by the HECU get utterly vicious (showing their desperation to stop Freeman), the gameplay otherwise is very fun throughout and you get to launch a rocket into space. Nice combat setpieces between both vorts and Marines. I would say that Apprehension is far worse than On a Rail; I don't really like Apprehension that much. Other than the Icthyosaur and Black-Ops fights, it's mainly going through a drab underground industrial area just to be ambushed at the end. Apprehension is mostly responsible for the slog that is Residue Processing. The whole getting captured and losing all your weapons trope is not really good. Duke Nukem 3D's Death Row did it much better, but otherwise I don't like it. The second half of Interloper is the only other "bad" part. Other than that, Half-Life is a timeless masterpiece.
11:58 Hah, something told me this would be your favorite chapter as well. Coincidentally I was reminiscing the levels of Half Life since I've been playing Black Mesa recently and I also came to the conclusion that Surface Tension is my favorite chapter, It's really good stuff with combat from start to finish and the same is true for Black Mesa. Seeing this video I also decided to think about what my ranking for these chapters be since I thought "oh come on, how hard can that be", yeah It's way harder than It seems. I guess my ranking would be, for Black Mesa (since It's what I played most recently) with several of them being very close ties since they're so goddamn good, from worst to best: 18. On Rails 17. Residue Processing (I like plataforming in Half Life, God only knows why) 16. Interloper 15. Aprehension 14. Gonarch Lair (you may not like all that much, but I just loved her boss fight on this playthrough, It demands a lot of quick reflexes and spatial awareness) 13. Lambda Core 12. Unforseen Consequences 11. Power Up 10. Blast Pit (like Power Up there's a lot of back and forth and I just really like that) 9. Black Mesa Inbound 8. Anomalous Materials 7. Nihilanth 6. We've Got Hostiles 5. Forget About Freeman 4. Office Complex 3. Questionable Ethics 2. Xen 1. Surface Tension. Yeah, really hard, I've just did this and I'm not fully comfortable with this ranking.
Honestly I agree with Residue Processing being the worst chapter, but my least favorite section to play through is that stupid trip mine section in that one warehouse.
The last time I played Half Life after not playing it for a couple years I got to On a Rail and groaned. By the end I was saying "wait why do people hate this one again? That was a pretty good chapter"
i guess because i know my way around every chapter in this game, no chapter is truly a slog anymore. "residue processing" was a real slog though the first time. same for "on a rail". nice list
People complaining Xen is the worse when I think its just fine, because all the complaints towards Xen being different and Alien, I was very confused as I felt that was the intention and it succeeds in making you the player feel uncomfortable and very out of your element.
I remember enjoying the entire run through of Half Life with remaster mod. Residue processing is actually good with zombies and scientists all around, loved the entire "environmental story telling." But modded or not, Interloper is always been the one I hated the most lmao.
Last Nov Half-Life just turn 25 I got the game from day one back in 1998 for the PC on my Win98 when I was 26 years old and even got the PS2 console port. Hell I even got the ISO prototype of Half-Life for the Dreamcast CD burn and played it. Wonder if you going to talk about Half-Life 25th anniversary documentary?
Someone else recognises that Residue Processing as the worst level! Finally! I was so sick of having to stick up for On a Rail! It's an aimless slog with bad platforming and no easy way to work out where to go.
Between me sucking at platforming on keyboard as well as it being my first playthrough of HL1 ever, 100% agree with Residue Processing being at the bottom, I was stuck for probably 2 hours before I got through that hell lol
I just started watching your channel and you make great content man. Do you have any opinions on the Path traced mods for some FPS games like Quake 2 or Half Life?
While the game feel, particularly the shooting in half life wasnt all that amazinf, the level design was top notch and full of mixups and curve balls. Love the game for this. The level designers really were trying to give us a new type of shooter.
Brilliant list Jarek. I concur for the majority of the ranking especially Residue Processing being at the very last. I dislike that chapter strongly. Platforming in Half-Life is not its strongest feature but that doesn't take away the experience the game as a whole can give you.
7:10 the main reason I’m not a big fan of this boss is because there’s a bug where the spider stays in the tunnel and doesn’t jump at the web trampoline. Thank god you can still progress.
Fun fact: Id Software probably was inspired by Half-Life chapters Xen, Interloper and Lambda Core by creating Doom 2016 (which is a really great game). I mean look at Argent Energy Tower and Kadingir Sanctum, it has similar level design. However in Doom 2016 platforming sections are actually pretty fun unlike in Half-Life.
Man, I remember my buddy talking me into buying a PlayStation one and loving the games but was BLOWN AWAY when he showed me HL on his PC….had to have it, it would take almost 2 years to get there, loved the multiplayer deathmatch and being a newb I couldn’t understand why 32/32 players in multiplayer was lagging on a 56k modem 😂 I freaking LOVE Black Mesa and the musical scores in that masterpiece.
The long jump module was akward feeling for me at first, perhaps in part of this weird custom contro scheme I use for most fps games. Even when mapped to a streamlined key, the timing was a bit hard to perfect. But before long I was leaping around rocks, taking ridculous fall damage and loving it
Imho even chapters which most people consider "bad" kinda cool, I like Xen idea, although Xen levels are better and more nice to look at in addons, On a Rail have gloomy atmosphere, and having a vehicle is cool quirk for chapter, Residue Processing is abit of meh though, still have own quirk, since it's chapter about avoiding various dangerous machinery rather than just combat. Also speaking of Gargantua, I really like that Half-Life allows you to kill them with own arsenal, it's adds variety, so if you don't have enough explosives, or don't want to waste them you have alternative means of killing them, and if you fully armed you can just kill it outright, I killed it with own arsenal on first playthrough, without knowing that I actually supposed to lure it into generator, I didn't noticed what that door leading to generator is opened, and just started to throw explosives at Garg just for fun from switch room with wounded guard guy, since I was not sure what to do next, and it unexpectedly exploded. Also two funny facts about Garg, if you kill it in this chapter at beginning, its "ghost" will continue to wreak havoc on facility, and Snarks actually works against Garg, and can finish it off - once they burst on death, they deal "Blast" damage.
I played on a rail not to long ago and I think still the biggest problem whit that map is the fact there is no map at all and it loops. Office complex is a as you said a extension of the Unforeseen Consequences Horror . because if we had gone from survival horror Unforeseen Consequences to We've Got Hostiles Action it would feel odd.
Honestly, I'd swap Interloper and On a Rail. Despite being somewhat chained to a train car, I'd rather explore the areas in OoR than be stuck in the vomit factory. Plus "Yore dead, Freeman" puts a smile on my face every time.
Played through Black Mesa two times on hard, one with On-A-Rail installed and the other time without it. The Black Mesa portion of the game just felt a little lacking without it. I agree Residue Processing is the worst chapter but it's not bad per se.
Idk, if i have to pick between residue processing and on a Rail, Id rather play residue, on a rail takes away your free movement and is tedious to traverse, i hated it on half life, I hated it on Doom 3
