Half Life 2 on hard - is it?

[Ruggerbugger]

Having finished Half Life 2 again last night, this time on hard, am I the only one to think that Hard isn't much more difficult than Normal. I do admit that there are a couple of caveats though. I'm bound to be better at the game since I know what's coming (although you can do that with save and reload), allowing better planning, ammo use etc. Secondly, I find that Deathmatch-honed tactics ("shock and awe", not being stingy with combine balls, superb accuracy with the crossbow) make me play the game in a different way, with "more" success.

My question is, what do you think should be changed to make the hard mode truly hard? I would say:

1. An extra sophistication to the AI e.g. rushing, flanking, co-ordinated attacks

2. Reduced suit power pickups/ammo, but not health

3. Striders earlier in the game - for the cool factor - or be able to engage the ones you see when you hit the streets

[Applecrusher]

Download HL2 Substance.. Its a sweet mod that makes the game MUCH harder...

[Dooms]

I played the game though on hard resently and as you said its not really that much harder.. there was a couple of times i ended up with stupidly low health and dying once i got to the next section but 1 reload later you get past it and to those nice (but limited on hard) health stations

[directhex]

i like how on Thief 1 & 2, a) there was no easy mode, just normal hard & very hard b) the harder modes gave you many more objectives to complete

[Allen]

i like how on Thief 1 & 2, a) there was no easy mode, just normal hard & very hard b) the harder modes gave you many more objectives to complete

Heh, so "Normal" would be easy mode, "Hard" would be normal mode and "Very Hard" would be hard mode?

[Ruggerbugger]

Download HL2 Substance.. Its a sweet mod that makes the game MUCH harder...

Tis coming down the pipe now, will let you know how I get on.

[Pirate Pete]

hl2 substance is buggy, i think they may be fixing it up though, hope so

i played hl2 the first time through on hard, and was appalled.

i expected to be slaughtered but i could have just ran through completly naked and still survived - who needs a hazardous enviroment suit when it isnt a hazardous enviroment? (scratch the poisonous pond full of cars later in the game)

to make it harder they need to make the ai much much better, also with all that armour on the combine you would have thought they would be a bit tougher, but thinking about it who in real life can take more than one double spas 12 shot to the chest?

mabye making the guns much less powerful or even making them jam every so often or something would be cool but very annoying

hl2 is still a great game there just wasnt enough fear of dying for my liking....play call of duty on hard then im happy

i always play games on hard first time around, it really expands the adventure

Pete

[Ruggerbugger]

Substance is awesome! I'm only on the trainyard so far, but I love the atmosphere. I never thought I'd die on Point Insertion. I also see we have PP9s to play with, although I've not stayed alive long enough to use it yet.

Pete, do you recommend Call of Duty? I've never played it.

[Dooms]

Call of Duty is a great game, much prefered it to MOH

[Lowe]

Remember HL2 is as much a story and an immersive film as it is a game.

If you were dying every 20 seconds it wouldn't be half as much fun as playing it through. Maybe they should of added a "You got no chance son" mode, but it's only unlocked after completing it on normal...

[Bitkari]

i agree with lowe...

half-life isn't really a prove-your-fps-skills type game or anything. it's meant to have a degree of challenge, but it's the cinematic experience that the game is about more than anything else.

personally, i think they got the balance right - let's just hope they tie up the storyline a bit with HL2:Aftermath, eh?

[Dooms]

I agree with the cinematic experiance but they still should of stuck in a mode to make it a hard game to play aswell

Aftermath Should be good and there is HL3 on its way eventualy

[autopilot]

The fact that HL2 was so easy let it down a bit for me. Gutted, and i started on the hardest setting. At least Doom 3 was a challenge.