So, after completing HL2: Episode Two on the PC, I figured I would re-play through all of the Half-Life 2 Orange Box content on the Xbox 360 version. But before I did that, I decided I would read through some storyline recaps on the entire Half-Life saga. And upon doing that, I had the idea of playing through all of the Half-Life games, starting from the first.
The complete Half-Life collection of games:
Half-Life
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Decay (*)
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
The games/expansions in italics are titles that I have never played. Opposing Force and Blue Shift
were expansions to the original game. Decay was an extra expansion that was only included with the PlayStation 2 port of Half-Life (and a mod team is working on porting it as a Half-Life 2 mod, releasing sometime this week on their project page). Lost Coast is an extra HL2 level that was cut from the final game, and later reworked into a tech demo / extra nugget of content.
The completion of the HL: Decay port project makes for fortuitous timing. I’m also using the High Definition Models Pack for the original Half-Life games (I am playing the original version of HL, not the Source-engine remake, although maybe I’ll play through both just to be a total completionist). I also plan to check out the Developer’s Commentary on the titles that have it (Lost Coast, Episode One, and Episode Two). I’ll play the 360 Orange Box versions of Half-Life 2 and the two Episodes as previously planned. The original HL, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift, I picked up through Steam. Lost Coast is a free Steam download for Half-Life 2 owners, and of course Decay I will get in the form of the mod once it’s released.
As someone who rarely replays games, I think this will be fun, and really, it’s an excuse to play through the stuff I’ve missed, in the contexts that they belong.