Well, the only one of the two that I've actually beat is HL2... I hated the end of HL2, so that sucked a bit... so far i think that Doom 3 is equally good but in different ways. All in all, i think it'll depend on the end of Doom 3 for me.
Having played both, Half-Life 2 is better than Doom 3 on a few things: 1.)You don't need a monsterous system to play it well at decent resolutions 2.)The physics engine is amazing. 3.)While the armament is smaller, the game is designed to make use of them. You don't have the gravity gun just as some cool toy in your arsenal. Don't get me wrong, Doom 3 is good for reviewers as it punishes a system. As an actual game, it's alright, but nothing earth shattering. It's a generic shooter, but since it has DOOM on it, and the original was a highly influential game for many of the long-time gamers, it was destine to sell.
Not that I'm entirely disagreeing with you, but HL2 also carries quite a large crowd. Not only that, but that physics engine for HL2 was pretty extreme... yunno... bodies flying all over the place n all.. :-P
I think the question might have been: 'Which is better: apples, or oranges?' Doom3 and HL2 are very different games, that's for sure. I had fun playing both games, but for different reasons. Half Life 2 was a sequel to one of the best games ever made, and it had a lot of cool things (like the physics engine, of course). It was a fast-paced game where you got to do a lot of things many of us have always wanted to do in games. But I thought they overused and oversold the physics to the point where it became redundant and even annoyingly gimmicky. The storyline was interesting, but became predictible very early into gameplay. IMHO HL2 was a great game, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. Doom3 was more like playing a horror movie than a FPS. I actually beat Doom3 on Holloween night, and damn, that was a scary game. I might have worn adult diapers through that one. Many people put down D3 on the grounds of it being "too dark", but the prequels were also very dark, and nobody seemed to complain about them. It really is a key ingredient in the atmosphere the id guys were cooking up, and I think they pulled it off. I've never before played a game where you're completely immersed, and they send you to the most uncomfortable places possible. Pretty messed up, but quite a ride! Overall, I had more fun playing Doom3, but Half-Life was of course an excellent game also. I simply found myself annoyed with its gimmicks quite often, and that stained what would have been an otherwise kick-@$$ experience. -AT
Well D3 really did scare me on more than one occasion. The first being that bloody imp thing, crawling out from the stairs, shortly after all hell breaks lose. That made me knock my keyboard on the floor from the jump. Then all the demonic whispering on the surround sound had me looking behind me repeatedly. Very atmospheric - pity the physics were shite. HL2 physics, and a combination of the graphics, and you'd have a winner.
My two pennies: Half Life 2: Yes, it has graphics, yes it has physics. Sound? Forget it, the sound is terrible, very little in the way of music and when there is some it's not at all appropriate. Some sounds have been taken DIRECTLY from Half Life 1 (the Magnum, for example and the Vortigon's energy sounds like the Gauss Gun powering up) the pistol only has a slight 'click' for a reload sound. So sure, Half life 2 promises a good game but it doesn't really deliver, I played through with some hope of a storyline to make itself known, I was dissapointed though. Realism is virtually non-existent, it suffers from the same problem as Half Life 1, a HEAD SHOT IS INSTANT KILL AND BULLETS ARE NOT BLOCKED BY CLOTH! Seriously, it takes two, yes TWO, pistol bullets to the HEAD to kill a guard wearing nothing but a cloth over their head, realism please? Not to mention the fact that a SCIENTIST shouldn't be able to use military grade weapons with pin-point precision. Physics, alright so it is pretty good that weight is brought into the game, but please, a few more DIFFICULT puzzles would be nice, instead of piling up bricks to get somewhere. Overall, Half Life 2 promised so much but delivered so little. Doom 3: Now this game... this game... scares me. This has awesome graphics, and like someone previously said, the dark is part of the atmos, this is actually the SINGLE game I have seen that comes with a health warning inside. It says that those with a heart condition should NOT play it, to enjoy it at its best, turn off the lights, lock the doors, turn up the sound and enjoy... I would bring this up on the realism factor but for the fact that it never claimed to be realistic in the sense of headshots killing, you're blasting at zombies and hell-spawned demons here, they're not going to go down as simply as a human being. The sound adds to it all, every small sound got me shaking and looking over my shoulder to check nothing was there, a door opens without me being near it, I jump so much that I empty my machine gun clip at nothing. Now, the flashlight slightly annoyed me with the marine not being able to hold it at the same time as his sidearm or attaching it to his gun, but that isn't enough to put the game down, its more a situation of see it but can't shoot it or shoot it but can't see it. Overall, Doom 3 scares me to this very day, and the TC they're making only makes it even better, which will re-do the original DOOM levels with the D3 engine, can't wait.
"Overall, Doom 3 scares me to this very day, and the TC they're making only makes it even better, which will re-do the original DOOM levels with the D3 engine, can't wait." Agreed - that will be quality. I'd still like better physics - personally I'd rather play a game with awesome graphics and physics than story. I like playing around with the bodies, and gibbin em up
Ahh, I can see your point, but I've always seen good graphics and that as more of a bonus really (hence the reason I play very old games.) and it's the story/gameplay are what gets me to play the most.
I feel the same way, but I think we're an endangered species. Many people think I'm crazy for playing games like UQM, but games like that had real imagination and innovation that resulted in amazing gameplay. IMHO, gameplay trumps graphics any day.
AT, I'm the same. That's why I still very much play hl1 mods and such. I even play snes games through emulators.
I like HL2 just because it has a buddle of CS:Source .... i cant say anythin at the moment because i havent really played D3, i just got D3 bundled with my new 6660GT card.
