Best Version of Half-Life

[NayusDante]

I'd go for Half-Life Source. It's Half-Life updated to use the Source engine, though without any enhancements to the actual game content. The original Quake-based engine is pretty rough on the eyes today, unless you're running it on an old 3dfx rig or something.

I've never been able to get into Blue Shift, or Opposing Force for that matter. Even HL1 was a bit of a chore to play through. I did finish it before playing HL2, but you can skip over it if you want. The Half-Life story feels more like a prequel to HL2 than the first game in a series, at this point.

[Leo_A]

I think it's held up well graphically, especially the interior portions (The bulk of the game).

The outside portions in the desert areas and on Xen (I think that's the name) weren't good looking even in 1998.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I'd go for Half-Life Source. It's Half-Life updated to use the Source engine, though without any enhancements to the actual game content. The original Quake-based engine is pretty rough on the eyes today, unless you're running it on an old 3dfx rig or something.

I've never been able to get into Blue Shift, or Opposing Force for that matter. Even HL1 was a bit of a chore to play through. I did finish it before playing HL2, but you can skip over it if you want. The Half-Life story feels more like a prequel to HL2 than the first game in a series, at this point.

Half-Life Source is glitchy. The Source engine doesn't handle physics in the same way as the original game did, so ragdolls and puzzles might not behave the same way.

And it looks the same as Half-Life so there's no point in owning it.

[NayusDante]

But doesn't HL:Source allow you to use a DirectX 9 renderer? I personally don't get FPS sickness on the newer renderers, but Quake 1 and 2 stuff still make me sick.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I wouldn't know. Half-Life 2 and the episodes make me feel ill after a while.

[cityside75]

Even HL1 was a bit of a chore to play through. I did finish it before playing HL2, but you can skip over it if you want. The Half-Life story feels more like a prequel to HL2 than the first game in a series, at this point.

Crazy talk! Don't skip Half Life 1...it's superior to many of todays FPS's - aside from its graphics. If you can take the time to play just about anything else, you owe it to yourself to play the original Half Life.

Regarding the original question - definitely go for PS2 over Dreamcast. The load times just kill the Dreamcast port. I hear they were the last thing left to optimize in that version of the game, but as-is they are very frequent and annoyingly long. Also, I hear that the PS2 version can utilize a USB keyboard and mouse, which is one of the main reasons people keep pointing to the PC version. I haven't tried that myself, but I should one of these days.

[fahlim003]

Crazy talk! Don't skip Half Life 1...it's superior to many of todays FPS's - aside from its graphics...

... and the garbage AI, and the really long sections of essentially nothing happening of simply going from point A to B.

Half-Life was alright 10 years ago but now it's true age is showing. Personally, I find the game extremely monotonous and flat out boring. When there is action there's a bit but there seems to be too many lulls that it really doesn't deliver in this day and age, at least for me anyway. I was glad to have finished it and never go back again.

Having gotten that out of the way, just stick to the PC version. Least hassle and easiest to obtain. I don't know anything about PS2, but for Dreamcast be prepared for lots of loading if that's the route you choose.

[SPAZ-12]

Regarding the original question - definitely go for PS2 over Dreamcast. The load times just kill the Dreamcast port. I hear they were the last thing left to optimize in that version of the game, but as-is they are very frequent and annoyingly long. Also, I hear that the PS2 version can utilize a USB keyboard and mouse, which is one of the main reasons people keep pointing to the PC version. I haven't tried that myself, but I should one of these days.

I have the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, and I honestly don't think the load times are that much worse on the Dreamcast. Also, you can use the keyboard and mouse on the Dreamcast version as well. Since I have a Dreamcast keyboard and mouse, that's the version I play.

[Astrocade]

I have the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, and I honestly don't think the load times are that much worse on the Dreamcast. Also, you can use the keyboard and mouse on the Dreamcast version as well. Since I have a Dreamcast keyboard and mouse, that's the version I play.

100% correct.

The PS2 load times are maybe a few seconds faster, not enough to make me think that it's the superior port.

The DC version is the best in my eyes because

A. It's free
B. It had an exclusive expansion
c. Keyboard and mouse configuration
D. It's the frigging Dreamcast. It's thinking.

[Leo_A]

Sorry, but there's a massive improvement in load times for Half-Life on the PS2 release compared to the Dreamcast build, both in terms of length of save time and how numerous the saves are. The saving also isn't screwed up like on the Dreamcast when sometimes the VMU won't even be large enough for a save. The saving is much more efficient space wise with the PS2 release and was never refined on the Dreamcast build everyone has.

The PS2 version also supports any USB mouse and keyboard and not just Dreamcast accessories. The dual analog stick is far better for the game then the single analog stick of the DC controller. The textures have also been refined further and the character models have a higher polygon count over the Dreamcast version. And the frame rate is smoother and more consistent on the PS2 release. The Dreamcast build going around was supposedly never optimized, which leads to a fairly low fps and more inconsistency due to not being the final build. And Decay is actually an exclusive, unlike Blue Shift that has been ported elsewhere (PC).

Still, it's worth the download and cd-r.

[Cryomancer]

If you go PC don't bother with source. Source = no mods. mods = best part of original HL. Get a regular copy of PC HL, then install Science & Industry.