same with half-life 2, having the first ever physics engine,
and it’s storyline that you experienced as Gordon Freeman, not a camera stuck on his face. There was no narrator, no “quests,” and no level select. I likely enjoyed it because that’s the way I play games. I don’t like to rush through. it’s probably like an ocd thing tbh cuz I always have to find every little detail. But those details were how the story was told in half-life.
Modern FPS (including halo), is so straightforward about everything. The story lacks depth, (although The Flood was neat) but half-life created a believable world filled with memorable events. I still remember Nova Prospect, the Citadel, Dr. Breen, and of course, Ravenholm. The implementation of the mechanics was revolutionary too. You could’ve played through the entire chapter of Ravenholm with this new toy you just got to try it with one of the most believable sidekicks you’ve seen, but now you’ve been separated, and you’ve been sent into a zombie-infested town, with one phrase echoing in your mind: “We don’t go to Ravenholm.”

o fucc my comments are gonna start being as long as Toxic’s at this rate

also half-life had none of those annoying cutscenes that stop gameplay and break the immersion

Well done , brother !

Cutscenes help immerse you in the story, you can’t tell a story and have big events happen well in the memory of someone within gameplay. Half life is bland in lazy on those parts where it’s all gameplay focused. When cutscenes do happen though, it’s a big thing in half life but they overall are just boring.

Halo 1 has better graphics than what half life 2 had to offer years after halo 1s release, and in the same year as half life ne was released, halo 2 was release with some amazing visuals at it’s time. Halos animation in 1 and 2 was ahead of it’s time compared to some really odd animation from other shooters including half life with it’s robotic looking animation. In halo you have a story that takes place in the 2500s, it starts off leaving you with the information that you aren’t the average marine and you were recently just fighting a war. It brings you to a ring which is obviously completely artificial. None of the rings have been known about for the past years of halos storyline. The ship you are on is then attacked by the covenant, an alien species driven by faith in something called the great journey. The covenant are trying to activate the ring but it is later found out the the rings are super weapons created by an ancient alien race called the forerunners. Then the flood is introduced as a parasitic threat to both armies fighting on the ring. They floods deep lore is way more in depth than what’s shown in the games, same with the covenant, UNSC and ONI. Everything in this universe is developed with deep lore that pieces together what’s going on completely in the games. The technology is believable while in half life, a gravity gun isn’t exactly possible. This ties to the idea that in half life, it starts you off being introduced to the HEV suit and that the main character Gordon Freeman has a lab. Overall pretty generic and has been done before a bunch of times. Then a little bit after, a big machine is then setup and ends up sending Gordon to an alien world. So far stuff isn’t even explained the slightest and everything is rather generic from the average time travel movie or more relatably the movies that are about scientists and their inventions. In terms of memorable moments, the deaths that happen and the moments where you take on 2 scarabs at once. Zombies showing up in half life is rather boring and generic.

I have one word for you on why half-life 2 is the best FPS of all time:
Ravenholm.
Also the lack of cutscenes means that half life tells it story through Freeman’s eyes, not some camera taped to his face. It felt like one big adventure. There was no “fade to black” or “levels”
never once in half life did you lose control of Gordon (that one part in episode 1 doesn’t count because you still had that feeling of control)
Also you can’t call the original half life generic, because half life is 2 DECADES OLD. Back then, those weren’t cliches. Those were NEW. The lack of explanation of the events was because of the lack of capabilties of the GoldSrc engine. You should know that half-life came out 3 years before the first halo game came out. Honestly, the half life series is untouchable. It’s up there with Doom, Quake, and such
The original half life got over 50 GOTY awards
Half life 2 has a 96 on metacritic
And I don’t see any “Halo 6 confirmed” memes

One more thing.
In half life, you don’t just suddenly go into a hev suit and start f**king up the aliens
you start on a tram
driving by slowly
seeing everything go by
see people
with dialogue
no weapons or anything
it makes it all feel REAL
But then, there’s a disaster
you push a crystal into a machine, that, you were able to see from before, shouldn’t be doing this
and all the people you saw
the whole place
gets destroyed
you start off with nothing but a crowbar
you can kill the guard to get the gun early, but then you’d lose an ally
later you can save a guard from a zombie, and he will let you into a room filled with supplies
in half life 2, you start on a train
people are there
one guy says something like “no matter how many times I get relocated, i never get used to it”
the only “narration” you will get is G-man, and that hardly counts
then you step off
suddenly there’s a camera thingamabobber that doesn’t really matter much in the story
but then there’s the giant screen
with doctor breen
and there’s the combine
the abusive police force
you learn the story by paying attention
the game makes it feel real
but not with science
with story
I’d tell more but I don’t want to spoil this f**king masterpiece of a game
half life 2 is the best FPS of all time
google it