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Good Game, Bad Package

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 36 / 36
Date: November 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

This box isn't that bad.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

Great game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Definately worth it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: February 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

MUST HAVE INTERNET ACCESS !!!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok so i bought this game because i love half life. The only problem is you must first have internet acess to even install it it's some bullshi*!! scheme that valve and steam have come up with. you have to register your product with steam and they will issue you a lisensn. like the other guy said what happens if steam goes out of business and i loose my cd key are how are they going to give me a new one just a thought avoid this product and get the orignials where you don't have to register online.

Perspective from an unbiased and casual gamer.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 19
Date: January 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

OK. I am not a computer gamer who constantly stays online playing games. Not my cup of tea. I get a few here and there to make up for slow time or when the wife is nagging me, or if no football is on.

So I have already played Half Life 2 and Episode 1 and have reviews of both. It was a fun experience minus the quirks that make the game less than 100% in my opinion.

I get this one and I do not understand what all the excitement was about. Granted it was something new and not your typical run and gun shoot em up game, rather you had to think in this one.

The puzzles were some what trying and that made the game interesting, but the HUGE downside was the Mario Brothers type gameplay. I mean, jumping onto spinning blades and then onto another spinning blade? Having to be at a particular spot to make a jump reminds me of all those silly games you had to be at a perfect spot to make the jump or no free life. It made the game frustrating and at times I had to walk away.

The graphics are ok, but were state of the art in 99 and Valve has done a good job at fixing it here and there, but those Mario Brothers parts are tedious and had me saving at jump parts not on the fight sequences. Weird huh?

Now Steam, while I get the whole fact of pirating and copying games, but Steam and Valve need to come up with something better.

I buy a game at the store and enter my key and then have to download something else which then downloads the game I have already purchased again? Call me old fashioned but if Steam goes out of business, are they refunding me my money? Are they sending me a CD? DVD? Coupon?

Take this into account they have no online customer service other than a email system that has transformed buying into something of a russian roulette nightmare. Whatever happened to customer service and supporting products?

If you are a serious gamer and play on a regular basis, this is the game for you, if you are like me and only play on occasion, I would avoid this game, $10 is not worth the aggravation and the insanity that is steam.

WARNING: DO NOT BUY THIS PACKAGE!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 18
Date: December 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I'm not actually a kid, just too lazy to create an account. Now, the important stuff:
Half Life is a fun game, etc, etc. However, DO NOT, under any circumstances, buy it in this package. There are several reasons for this:
a) This isn't the original. It's the Steam version. You MUST install Steam, connect to the Net, and all this other stuff just to play the games. The games are stored in some special "steam" format that has no exe files or anything. YOU CAN ONLY RUN THE GAMES THROUGH STEAM because of this. This means Steam must always be open and connected to the Net to play any of these games, even the single player, offline ones like Half Life's single player missions.
b) Steam is really bad. I bought this package, and I can't even play the games using it. Steam tries to launch any of them and then the whole computer just freezes up- and my computer is WAAAY above the system requirements for Half Life (it is rather old, after all).
Overall, Half Life is fun and enjoyable, but this package is unplayable. Try to get your hands on an older version of Half Life before it was neutered into this hideous Steam version... even if you can't get Half Life anywhere else and you're desperate to play it, don't buy this package. You'll pay for it... I sure did.

An inexpensive way to replay a classic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Steam

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: July 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Why is everyone getting mad at steam. Valve had many pirecy problems with its products..... Steam proves that you will not install the game on evryone computer or make copies... Steam works perfectly on my pc. They bad multiplayer is Gamespy which I saw copying the websites and passwords i types in and sending them to god knows where.

Love it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

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