How is the PS2 Version of Half-Life?

[racketboy]

Thinking about picking it up to play on my BC PS3.
I've played the PC version a bit, but I end up getting motion sickness. (I think it's sitting closer to the screen)

Has anyone played it on a big screen TV? Does it look good?
Are there any drawbacks to this port that I should be aware of?

[irixith]

It's actually a pretty excellent port. It has a great co-operative split screen mode called Decay if you have someone to play along with. (..and as someone that hates multi/co-op/what have you, that's saying something).

You don't lose any of the game in the transition to PS2, and load times are short. It's even better if you have a HDD and a loader hanging around.

[CRTGAMER]

Plays great and is also Mouse and Keyboard compatible! One of only a handful of PS2 games that support the USB Mouse and Keyboard.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 71#p396771

The trick is if the USB Mouse and Keyboard would work and if the Blue CD would boot up in the 60gb PS3. I do know that PS2 Half Life would error on a HDAvance direct install to the Fat PS2. The game is reported not to install from various sites. I had to use the Ethernet crossover cable method to bypass the protected error tracks. Maybe the copy protection tracks might prevent loading in the PS3?

@Racket, maybe look into a Fat PS2 combined with HDAdvance/HDLoader. You can't beat the menu driven fast loading convenience. Install the PS2 games, avoid having to swap discs for every different type of gaming session.

[SplashChick]

To start with, there are 4 canon games involving the Black Mesa incident depicted in Half-Life: Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, and Half-Life: Decay. The original is obviously Gordon Freeman's perspective. Opposing force is the same game from the perspective of one of the Marines who gets separated from his team before finding out what they are actually there for. Blue Shift is the perspective of Barney, one of the security guards of Black Mesa who returns later in Half-Life 2. It should be noted that Blue Shift is only considered "mostly canon", it has some small inconsistencies with the series, but is still mostly accurate. Half-Life: Decay is the most out of place game in the series, as it's the one game in the series that's co-op ONLY, though you can play with a bot should you be desperate enough. Decay follows the story of two of the scientists working closely with the project. All 4 games come together to create a sort of grander picture of the Black Mesa incident, and I have to admit, it works extremely well for the game. The PS2 version is certainly worth buying, if for no other reason than the bizarre decision they made to make it the ONLY available release of HL: Decay.

[racketboy]

Thanks for the info! Very helpful, all of you!
The PS2 + HDD is tempting, but I'm trying to limit the number of machines hooked up in a room. Maybe if I need a Playstation system in my office, I'll go that route.

But for the home theater, I'll stick with the PS3.

[lisalover1]

To start with, there are 4 canon games involving the Black Mesa incident depicted in Half-Life: Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, and Half-Life: Decay. The original is obviously Gordon Freeman's perspective. Opposing force is the same game from the perspective of one of the Marines who gets separated from his team before finding out what they are actually there for. Blue Shift is the perspective of Barney, one of the security guards of Black Mesa who returns later in Half-Life 2. It should be noted that Blue Shift is only considered "mostly canon", it has some small inconsistencies with the series, but is still mostly accurate. Half-Life: Decay is the most out of place game in the series, as it's the one game in the series that's co-op ONLY, though you can play with a bot should you be desperate enough. Decay follows the story of two of the scientists working closely with the project. All 4 games come together to create a sort of grander picture of the Black Mesa incident, and I have to admit, it works extremely well for the game. The PS2 version is certainly worth buying, if for no other reason than the bizarre decision they made to make it the ONLY available release of HL: Decay.

Wow, that was awfully through; great job. But, I can't help but bring up the cancelled Dreamcast version of Half-Life, which was originally meant to be a console exclusive. For those who don't know, the game was essentially finished, and there was even a strategy guide released, but Valve pulled the plug on it at the last minute. Also, the Blue Shift expansion pack was originally coded specifically for the Dreamcast, and the PC version is actually a port of the DC version. I haven't tried Half Life for the PS2, but I assume that it is a DC port, as well, if not a slightly downgraded PC port. I plan to play the Dreamcast version when I am finished with HL2.

[irixith]

The

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Dreamcast

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version

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is

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atrocious.

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In my humble opinion, it's easy to see why it was cancelled. There's no way it would have passed as a proper retail release. The PS2 version on the other hand, is about as excellent as PC ports of FPS games get. (..and of course, Gearbox Software later went on to give us Borderlands, so ) How they managed to cock up the DC version, I don't know. I imagine it must have been a hardware limitation.

[racketboy]

The

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Dreamcast

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version

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is

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atrocious.

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In my humble opinion, it's easy to see why it was cancelled. There's no way it would have passed as a proper retail release. The PS2 version on the other hand, is about as excellent as PC ports of FPS games get. (..and of course, Gearbox Software later went on to give us Borderlands, so ) How they managed to cock up the DC version, I don't know. I imagine it must have been a hardware limitation.

While it's true, I dunno if that's the only reason. IIRC, wasn't there two different builds of the Dreamcast version that they were playing with?

[irixith]

I actually don't know. The one that I tried to play was really, really awful, and it was hard to imagine that the same team produced both the DC and PS2 versions. Did a better build of the DC version leak out, or did someone modify it, or..?

[racketboy]

I actually don't know. The one that I tried to play was really, really awful, and it was hard to imagine that the same team produced both the DC and PS2 versions. Did a better build of the DC version leak out, or did someone modify it, or..?

Well, I think there was only one leaked. But I think I remember hearing they had two in development. But the leaked one might actually be the better of the two