Customer Reviews

Half-Life 1 Anthology

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Half Life was an amazing game wtih great AI, a story that had you glued to your PC and good graphics. That was 1998. Today it's still a classic that any true gamer should play. But this package "Half Life 1 Anthology" is not the way to get it. This package contains:

Half-Life
Half Life: Blue Shift
Half Life: Opposing Force
Team Fortress Classic

It does not contain Counter-Strike. For a better value, I would get "Half Life Platinum Collection Second Edition". it contains:

Half Life
Half Life: Blue Shift
Half Life: Opposing Force
Half Life: Counter-Strike
Team Fortress Classic

Although only Counter-Strike seems like the only difference, having a real Half Life CD-Key is a big plus. Mods work, you get more extras and generally a better experience/ deal than a crippled package.

To Parents: This is a violent game. It fully deserves a M rating with lots of blood, dismemberment, realistic combat and gore. But there is absolutely nothing past that.

I just bought this game yesterday, and when I got online and looked at some of the reviews I was a little worried about how well it would play, due to the Steam game engine. The fact that it only comes with one cd-rom disc for 4 games also had me a little concerned.

However, once everything was installed, there's been no problems. Despite what some reviews might say, you CAN PLAY THIS GAME OFFLINE.
Once you've installed the game, and set up your Steam account, put in the cd key, etc. you can simply click the game icon and the steam account will try to start up, but once it realises you're not online it'll give you the option of playing in offline mode.
My computer didn't suffer any lags or gameplay problems, so aside from the fact that setting up the Steam account and downloading the updates will take almost 3 hours on a 56k.
For the price, it's a good deal. just don't be surprised when you can't play it right out of the box.

I've seen a few reviews that talk about how outdated the game is and honestly they are right. But what can you expect from a game that's almost 10 years old? The graphics and sound are obviously lacking in comparison to today's standards but I'm one of those guys who judge games based on gameplay and not raw horsepower. And Half Life: Anthology has plenty of gameplay to go around.

I want to address Steam first. I do not like Steam at all. I think it's a poor way to package a sell a product to consumers. Now I do know why Valve is so sensitive about piracy and all. But there's gotta be a better way to prevent it than this. Steam is just a shear annoyance in my opinion. Now with that said though I haven't had any problem running any of my games with Steam. But I do know for a fact that if you have anything less than a DSL connection you should not getting any game that requires Steam. When I bought HL2: EP1 it took me several hours to download the program which is a far cry from just installing directly from a CD. But if I had a choice I'd do away with Steam and find an alternative because Valve is really turning away a chunk of their market by this approach.

Now with that outta the way lets talk about the game. Now as I've already stated, as well as many others here, Half Life is a outdated game in terms of graphics and sound quality. But that definately does not take away from the action and intensity that this provides you. The battles are fierce and challenging and the AI is not too shabby either. And I've jumped several times when a head crab has lunged toward the screen. The storyline is interesting also. I think I'd prefer some cutscences or narration to help flesh it out a bit more but its not bad. But take my advice, talk to the NPCs when you can. They do help direct the story a bit and can give you some insight as well. And the jumping puzzles. Well again, many people hate them. But from an old console gamer as myself they're not as bad as some of the puzzles I've seen. They take some patience, timing, and maybe a little luck as well. But they're no where as difficult as some people make them sound. But I guess that's just my opinion.

I haven't played Opposing Force or Blue Shift yet, but basing how I enjoyed HL I think that they'll be equally as fulfilling. Again, the gameplay is great, the graphics are not. So if you're into hi-def video and sound then you're gonna be sorely disappointed. But if you're like me and enjoy a solid feeling game then you can't go wrong here.

The way I see it, Steam is fine if you have the correct specs. Although, even though I'm all for anti-piracy, Steam does take it a tad far.

Although, it's a good package overall. Some things I might want to point out though... if you have a dial-up connection or no internet connection at all, I do not recommend this package. Steam requires an internet connection, and updates can take a very long time on dial-up. Your best bet is probably an older copy, most likely the Platinum edition. That contains everything in this package, plus Counter-Strike.

Now, about this being a 'downgrade' from the previous Platinum edition... it's not, really. As far as I know, the version included in Platinum is 1.5, and the current version is 1.6. Plus, 1.5 can be downloaded for free legally, I think. But it shouldn't really matter, either version works.

But the game is superb... even after it being released for quite a while. Good for me though, HL2 doesn't even run on my graphics card... heh... but all the expansions are great, very fun.

So, if you haven't already.. get this. If you have bad internet or anything I said above, or don't have Counter-Strike already, or don't like Steam, or etc., get Platinum. But either way, both great buys.

I bought this version of Half-Life simply because I wanted to go back and play it (to the end this time) but had lost my CD key for my older copy. (The older copy was also not Windows XP-friendly). This is a very cheap way to play Half-life, etc. again. You do need a high-speed internet connection, it does take a few steps and some patience to load the games, and the graphics are improved, but still dated. This is my first experience with Steam, and I have no problems to report. My only minor complaint is that the game does not work with a joystick for some reason. You may have to mess with the coding based on what I've seen on the net for this feature. But even playing the game with a hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse, it is still a great experience overall.

I cant exactly make a review of this game mainly because i bought a used copy. and being a used copy its more than likely already been added to someones Steam. and since that's the case i cant play it... Do not buy used!

Ok so first off I would like to talk about steam. Most people complain about how it sucks and they dont like using it. I think it is great because it comes with a messanger and it saves the game to your hard drive so you don't even need a cd.It has never screwed me once, exept when a giant storm hit the steam hq and crashed their severs but then you can just go to offline mode. Also people complaine how bad it works for them because of dial up i used to have it and the only thing was a 45 second log on time.
Ok back to the game. Let me emphasize this, THE GAME WAS MADE IN 1998 what do you expect a perfect game with awsome gears of war graphics. This game has so much replay value and is so fun just buy it the visuals may not be the best but the box includes 4 or 5 games so about 4 or 5 dollars per game. All the games are great.

I bought this because I am a Half Life fan. I played the first one and decay on the PS2. As fun as it was, I didn't really like the controls. So, I was looking up the PC version, and I found this neat little bundle which includes not just Half Life 1, but TFC (Team Fortress Classic), and its two official add ons, Blue Shift and Opposing Force. I got this anthology for $14, everything in great condition. The graphics and controls were better on this version compared to the PS2, and I had a lot of fun finishing the two add ons and learning more about the game's story. I didn't get the chance to play TFC yet, but when the chance comes around, I definitely will. Overall, if you can find this bundle, get it. You'll save a lot of money and get four great games.

Fun, interesting story, I'm enjoying it.
The controls tend to be a little touchy though, and some of the platforming gets extremely irritating, but for the rest of the game, I will definitely tolerate some annoying jumping

Half-Life 1 and its expansion packs are absolutely stunning. Even though the graphics are dated by today's standards, Half-Life stands out among first person shooters with great single player and online gameplay, great replayability and stunning support from the developer, VALVe software, with their Steam system. Half-Life will remain fun even longer if you get involved with mod communities, playing the various mods available for it and make your own mods. There are many tools available online for the aforementioned modding of the game from third party persons and official modding tools from the developer of the game.

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