Half-Life on the PlayStation 2 is an incredible port. Here is why.

Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. In November 2001 Gearbox Software would port Half-Life to the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2). This port was not just a standard port, it featured many enhancements over the original and in today's episode we take a deep dive at the PS2 version and talk about why its an impressive package with many unique and interesting features.
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Thanks to GmanLives for the Decay footage - • Reviewing Half-Life's ...
Some clarification: The minimum PC specs to run HL were taken from Steam which is different from what is on the original box.
Steam : store.steampowered.com/app/70...
Actual Minimum Specs on the original Box :
* Pentium 133 MHz
* 24 MB RAM
* Windows 95/98/NT4
* SVGA video card
* Windows-compatible sound card
* 2x CD-ROM drive
* 400 MB hard-disk space.
TimeStamps:
00:00 - 01:45 - Intro
01:46 - 03:27 - Introducing the PS2 Version
03:28 - 04:45 - PS2 Resolution and Framerate
04:46 - 07:56 - PS2 Controls
07:57 - 10:54 - Visual Enhacements
10:55 - 12:03 - Decay
12:04 - 13:13 - Is the PS2 version worth playing today?
13:14 - 13:52 - Main Menu Music
13:53 - 14:13 - Conclusion/Outtro
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#HalfLife #PS2 #ImpossiblePort

[@ModernVintageGamer]

Some clarification: The minimum PC specs to run HL were taken from Steam which is different from what is on the original box. I've trimmed out the part where I talk about the PC specs. Sorry for any confusion! Steam : store.steampowered.com/app/70/HalfLife/ Minimum Specs on the original Box : * Pentium 133 MHz * 24 MB RAM * Windows 95/98/NT4 * SVGA video card * Windows-compatible sound card * 2x CD-ROM drive * 400 MB hard-disk space.

[@FunFrogFromGomel]

Finished it on 166mhz Pentium with 2mb s3 card and 64 megs of ram

[@AcidRP]

was about to say, I first played this on a p2 with 32mb of ram an no video card in 320x240 lol

[@AcidRP]

it had software rendering

[@MrJamesDiamond]

Yep was gonna say, I ran it on my sisters Celeron 266 with 4MB ATI Rage Pro, and 32MB of RAM. Ran great, albeit on software mode.

[@lmcshera]

Strap in a voodoo accelerator and it was a different game

[@Cold_Media]

The recently discovered mini campaign found via the PlayStation magazine demo disc which can be accessed with a cheat code then the game ejects allowing you to swap discs with the demo disc. It’s all existing game assets rearranged but still super impressive stuff and undiscovered for years! The PS2 port will always have a soft spot in my heart.

[@Teraplexor1]

Is there a video of this somewhere? Sounds interesting af, love when these sorta things are found.

[@cooparchive7857]

It's uplink campaign demo from pc version and they would release alot fan mods to ps2 but plan fail and the only mod released is the playstation magazine one.

[@Cold_Media]

@@cooparchive7857 still super impressive considering the extremely limited resources and I can’t even imagine the QA nightmare of getting disc swapping content to load.

[@Cold_Media]

@@Teraplexor1 Stop Skeletons From Fighting talked about it during their episode about Half Life ports, super fascinating

[@YOBAMUSTDIE]

We must ask Valve to add ps2 assets and animation system and port decay officially to anniversary version of half life 1, which seem incomplete and not superior to this version!

[@supahflykev]

You forgot to mention "Alien Mode" which let's you play the campaign as a vortigaunt until you get to Xen and then the game ends with a unique ending, the gameplay changes since you can't use weapons, you have a melee attack and you can fire beams from your heads, you need to "eat" your enemies to heal, health stations will hurt you. There's 2 ways to unlock alien mode. Either get the best rank with both characters in decay on every level or use a cheat code.

[@OwenEvans]

Older games were so cool, rewarding players with new hidden levels or game modes for completing them, my first experience was with Sonic 3 + knuckles. once you completed it with all super emeralds you got a new final stage. These days they usually reveal all game modes as a marketing strat to sell more games.

[@supahflykev]

@OwenEvans Yeah it's unfortunate stuff like that is rare in games nowadays. Why feature an unlockable secret when they can just have us buy it?

[@dusty_reaper96]

@@supahflykev moders put every thing from ps2 version in the pc version of half life

[@ameliekk]

Don't come to MVG videos expecting more than a basic surface level glance at stuff.

[@ZinhoMegaman]

Never knowed this! Time to take the dust out of my Half-Life PS2, but not from my PS2, I will stick with PCSX2 this time. And thank you for mentioning it here!

[@Leah96xxx]

Worth noting that while Decay is PS2 exclusive, the community have ported it to PC in various forms as mods for Half-Life and Sven Co-op

[@pauldenney6968]

yep good mention. I was so happy when that was first announced.

[@VGl0dXM]

sven co-op was my childhood lol

[@White927]

Yes, but it doesn't offer the same enjoyment, it doesn't feel like an unlock, but a soulless modification on a soulless PC version.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

There are various glitches though that werent in the original. And also there is no splitscreen support...

[@ikagura]

I cannot wait for Decay Solo Mission.

[@OWNER132]

It seriously is. This port introduced me to Half-Life and it’s now my favorite game series!!

[@GillespieGaming]

Likewise was my first intro into Half-Life, used to watch my Dad play it as I was shit scared.

[@9another632]

Same

[@Animated__Freak]

Gearbox worked on the Dreamcast version too, but not on the port of the engine but rather the additional content (Blue-Shift) But with the PS2 they seem to have done most of the work themself and it shows. It runs and looks so much better.

[@CarlosCuello-uj6jf]

Alway thought Blue Shift looked and played a bit better than the original campaing on Dreamcast. I see why.

[@PixelShade]

Yeah, "Captivation Digital Laboratories" were the ones working on the engine conversion, they have no previous merits when it came to conversion projects or the dreamcast hardware.... I think the DC version would've fared much better it had a bespoke 3D engine that better suited the Dreamcast hardware, utilizing it's unique feates to improve assets. (like how it could potentially have had up to ~60MB worth of texture data due to its various aggressive texture compression techniques.) Most of half life have pretty simple polygon counts as well. the DC would have no issue running that at 60fps or at least between 30 and 60fps. What we got was a pretty RAW PC conversion.

[@Animated__Freak]

@@PixelShade Hi I did some digging and found Captivation Digital Laboratories old website and it seems like they did make tech demos for the Dreamcast on behalf of SEGA. Also their CEO was a former employee of Sega Technical Institute. That being said porting a PC game and making tech demos are very different things. The port of Soldier of Fortune for the Dreamcast suffers from many of the same issues that the unreleased HF port does. And both of them are based on the Quake Engine. So it seems like more worked was needed to make that engine work better on the system. On the other hand the port of Quake III on Dreamcast runs much better.

[@GugureSux]

This was literally my very first PS2 game. Coming from PS1 and N64 games, having never played the PC original, it really felt like a massive generational leap. The closest comparison point at the time I had was the N64's Perfect Dark, that clearly had taken some notes from HL1 as well, but in terms of character animations, emergent gameplay, the nonstop flow of the game levels and the overall atmosphere + performance were from a totally different level. That intro screen music alone rekindles the early Y2K gaming vibes.

[@rapurimanka]

I was really impressed how much details they've changed in this port. It's like finalized version of the game.

[@InternetListener]

some people calls it "optimization" (or lack of...) but as you say, once you finished a working software and you spent 3 years maintaining it, you're actually in the position to make it much better from the ground up... without the hurry. 100% new code and assets to play the "same" game is finalized game for me also... the update after release should be used for this, not only patches to problems, glitches and perfromance issues... or wait until is "finished" enough to be sold... as the pre-INternet rom cartridge era...

[@rapurimanka]

@@InternetListener exactly. More refined, polished version of half-life.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

Interestingly enough, maybe for celebration purposes or whatever, Half Life on PS2 not only have a few more dialogs recorded (though i think many are hidden in the disk), but it also has a couple of minor changes that comes from the original launch version, like view bobbing, the unused green 9mm ammo, the multiplayer score appearance and the sound effect from Opposing Force when doing long jump. And according to Gearbox, the characters you choose from in Deathmatch mode are actually Barney Calhoun (which also appears in Decay just for a second), Walter and Adrian Shepard (though they forget to put the names in the game). Oh and what about the mention of Dr Kleiner? It makes imo the transition to HL2 more smoother (and the Super HD models as well) It certainly feels like a celebration of the original game plus the expansions. I NEVER seen a PC to console port that does that. Maybe Plants Vs Zombies on PS3 too, but no more.

[@madmyc6836]

Half life on the ps2 was my first introduction to half life and inspired my love for first person shooters. Imo it’s the best fps on the ps2 hands down. It’s also one of the few ps2 games that came on a cd rom instead of dvd which makes it even more impressive

[@huhabab]

Just wanted to say the minimum requirements were a P1 with 133 MHz, a friend of mine even played it on a P1 120MHz as a slide show in software mode in lowest possible res. The troubles we went through to play this masterpiece are kind of funny. Recently got hold of HL1 on the PS2 and really enjoyed it, too. Love your impossible/incredible ports vids, always a highlight of my days, thank you!

[@juliusapweiler1465]

Yeah, I was a bit confused by that part. I mean, we all had lower standards back then for what's a playable frame rate, so maybe that's what it took to get 60fps. But the game ran fine back in the day on a moderately fast Pentium with a Voodoo 1 or similar. Also, the software renderer was really impressive both for its performance and for how good it looked - no texture filtering, of course, but all of the lighting effects were there in software mode. The whole resonance cascade sequence at the beginning blew my mind back then.

[@teilzeitgenosse]

Thanks, I was confused about this statement too. Distinctly remember it running on our 133mhz Aptiva back home.

[@HNedel]

Had it running on a 300MHz Celeron with a 4MB S3 card, ran like a champ at 800x600 😊

[@kosmosyche]

Yeah, I played it first on a Pentium 200MMX and a 3dfx Voodoo 1 (4MB). Ran quite decently for it's time in 512*384.

[@Anas7ergun]

Didn't had the problems to play half-life 1 (Only first completed it on 2023) but i remember the problems i had to play fallout 3, new vegas and skyrim on 800x600 with 25fps on my dualcore and 8500gt.

[@brian_mayberry]

My best pal and I were just out of high school and desperately wanted to work at Gearbox (or ID lol), they had a spot open for a level editor with Quake/HL experience and we figured that was us! Plus, they were just up the road! We went nuts making connecting demo levels in "Worldcraft" and applied for the job. We didn't hired, we were complete noobs, but they did give us a tour and my buddy got tapped to playtest/qa a top secret PS2 bonus version for a few weeks before it went out for release. I remember how blown away he was by the fact it was co-op HL! It was completely insane even at the time, there's no-way a console version could be made when we needed pc upgrades to play and edit our own maps, it was too advanced... right?! What a great throwback!

[@sp6450]

And so today you do what for your profession?

[@brian_mayberry]

@@sp6450 Had a short run at BioWare and Trion in the 2010's, now I do game dev indie for fun while working fulltime in IT. @Steamburgerstudios here on YT.

[@hi_tech_reptiles]

Its crazy what 3 years used to do to tech. The PC version by 2001/2002 (PS2 version released at the end of 01) was a helluva lot easier to run iirc, even at 60fps. I think thats about the time i first played it, give or take. The PS2 version is definitely an accomplishment tho.

[@michaelwhitacre8499]

I LOVE THIS PORT. I didn't own a powerful PC back then and this is how I first experienced half life

[@Spazbo4]

Even though it was never released, you can find the rom for the Dreamcast version and still play it and it was the first time I ever played Blue Shift was on that version

[@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2]

Wait.. 500 MHz? i remember playing HL on a Pentium 200 MMX. I might be wrong.

[@chrisbodley8958]

Not wrong I had a P2 266 with 48mb of ram

[@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2]

okay, here's what i found: Minimum * Pentium 133 MHz * 24 MB RAM * Windows 95/98/NT4 * SVGA video card * Windows-compatible sound card * 2x CD-ROM drive * 400 MB hard-disk space. Recommended * Pentium 166 MHz * 32 MB RAM * OpenGL- or DirectX-compatible 3D accelerator. Sounds about right.

[@SirSilicon]

​@@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2this looks right. You did in fact not need a 3D card since it can be run in software mode. I played it on a Pentium 233Mhz and 48 MB RAM and a Voodoo 1. It ran only at 15fps but this was common then.

[@petersmits6951]

I ran it on a 100mhz but did have it running on a 486 ​@@chrisbodley8958

[@patodeweloperka]

And lovely 320x240 resolution to have smooth FPS on ATI Rage Pro AGP

[@ChaosGenerator]

Always an instant click with MVG. He is only one of a few out of hundreds that I will do that for.

[@bobafettjr85]

I played the PS2 version originally. Years later I got it on Steam. I had that familiar feeling of, "I remember this looking way better." Seeing them side by side it turns out that this time I did remember it looking better.

[@White927]

Yes because the Steam version is soulless, even the 15th anniversary patch.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

​​​@@White927Im the only one who found the anniversary patch to be very dissappointing? Even in terms of bug fixes is worse than the PS2 version and it would be cool to have that version of the game fully playable similar to what they did with Doom N64 or Quake N64 on their remasters.

[@White927]

@@sebastianaliandkulche Same

[@Malyt538]

Actually insane that the ps2 version is the definitive edition they should just port the textures from ps2 to pc honestly and have it as an option cause the textures look ten times better

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

@@Malyt538 They also had to port the level geometry, as its not the same. For example the hazard course has new sections.

[@The_Badseed]

Man I love everything Half-Life, especially Blue Shift for some reason. This and Deus-Ex blew my mind back in the day. HL on the PS2 was an incredible surprise and I loved every second of it.

[@Jokerwolf666]

I still remember when steam was released and we all went into EB Games and copied down the CD keys and registered them to our steam accounts back in the day. Interestingly enough you used to be able to get Windows keys this way because computer stores would just have the windows keys on the computer cases.

[@override7486]

Now you remind me, almost every PC in the school/office used to have Windows/Office key licence sticked to the case. Kinda stupid but also makes perfect sense. It was just a key, which you could make in seconds using any keygen and that's it. Just most basic piracy measure need to deal with when launching or installing an app.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

According to my investigations, this may be all of the changes made in the PS2 version. I would also add the ones mentioned in the video for convenience: -Plenty of bugs were fixed, especially in the PAL version, making it even to this day the most polished version of the game. -For some reason the PAL version of the game reuses the shotgun sound from the original PC release (but multiplayer still uses the regular HD sound). -AI was improved, in particular marines, which now can return grenades. -New easter eggs added to the game. In particular, cheat codes are unlockable, by searching in different areas in the map. There is one hidden in Decay as well. -Long jump now can be executed by doing a double jump. It also uses the Opposing Force MP sound effect. -In the load/save screen you can see that every chapter has a dedicated picture to it, something it wouldnt appear until HL2. --The main menu is different, with a new theme composed that wasnt on PC. -HL Decay (fun fact, Kleiner is mentioned here) -Split Screen deathmatch -New optional lock on system -Brackets on interactive objects such as buttons. -HUD has a new icon -HD pack looks way more detailed and level geometry was slighty different, and a bit bigger in some few areas. Some textures were also changed to look more realistic. -The HD revolver now has a proper reload sound. In PC there wasnt any sound at all. -A little change from Blue Shift returns in the Training, apart from the new exclusive intro: You lose all of your weapons when meeting the first security guard -Some few differences from the original launch version return, included view bobbing, the multiplayer score, the unused green 9mm ammo item (though is only used in multiplayer and Decay), and the weapons available to pick up in the deathmatch maps. -Half Life Uplink can be played through the extras menu if you had one disc of the playstation magazine -In the multiplayer mode there are a couple of differences as well: Deathmatches are 2 player only, weapons are invisible except the crowbar, there is a bar that shows when the weapon ends to reload and there are six characters to choose from. -The deatmatch maps are a selection of some of the PC version (not all of them) and a couple of new maps exclusively to this version. -There is no autosave, so remember to save manually (or quick save which saves in the ram temporaly). -When the credits finish, the game doesnt softlock in the credits screen but it returns to the main menu. -There is an alternate ending, if you finish the game as a vortigaunt (with the cheat code). I may forget something, lol.

[@blikpils]

The impossible port series is amazing, keep up the good work!

[@Allerka]

A local store to me is actually selling the Dreamcast Prima guide for Half-Life. Which is kind of extra funny to me, since that game didn't actually come out.

[@lolcat]

Dude, definitely pick that up that's a real novelty

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Go back and buy it as fast as you can

[@RealGreyGhost]

Yep, I remember that. A neat little relic of gaming history. I wonder if there are any hobbyist developers that have tried porting the PS2 version to run on dreamcast and add some network functionality. Would be pretty sick

[@imnotshub]

@@RealGreyGhost there's no point in doing that, there's three publicly available prototypes for the DC version, all fully playable from start to finish

[@RealGreyGhost]

@@imnotshub There may not be a point to do so, but there are hobbyist programmers making games to run on PS1/PS2 and some Dreamcast people releasing their own custom games based on existing IP, such as Modded RE1/2 and making their own custom re-releases. They could use those prototypes to make their own custom HL game as well.

[@BillyNix]

What a great video. I liked the part about comparing polygon counts. So cool, thank you!

[@TravisStamper]

Thanks for the video. Always interested in your perspective.

[@ragenfio]

I've often played with a USB mouse and keyboard, and it's also compatible with the PS2's VGA video mode.

[@youtubeaccount7544]

Remember PlayStation underground magazine had a demo disc of Half Life and playing it on my ps2 was terrifying and amazing.

[@juzzadj]

The fact you mentioned the music is the best part made me subscribe and like so hard! This menu loop is my phone ringtone and is sooooo good!! It has the element of horror, mixed with mystery and energy that just blows me away!!! Thank you for mentioning the loop music ive been in love with it for YEARS and no other video seems to cover it!! 100% amazing!

[@MatSpeedle]

I love your deep dives into old ports, it really does make me appreciate some of my older games more knowing the effort some of these software dev's achieved. It's also made me spend money on more games so I can try those I missed out on myself. Great stuff sir!

[@TheHelium999]

Oh man yes the menu music is soo good! Thanks fir the vid! My brother and i loved playing this in coop and it was the perfect way to ease him into the fps controls on consoles with the lock on. Great times! Also the ten levels weren’t so long in this port!

[@shurmurray]

System requirements for OG HL are incorrect. Done it back in days on 166mhz pentium with no GPU. The experience was not the best, but game was totally playable.

[@shurmurray]

Added: and the resolution was 320*200. Most of my friends also played HL like that.

[@martinantelo7086]

Yeah 500mhz CPU were nowhere to be found in 98. I bought my first PC in 2000 and it had a 450mhz Pentium 3 and 64mb of RAM.

[@Lubuntuuser]

How 😮

[@tpjoao]

The specs that MVG stated in the video are actually for the Steam rerelease of Half-Life, they are stated in the game's Steam page and physical copies that have this version, like the Half-Life 1 Anthology.

[@DiggOlive]

@@LubuntuuserCPU mode graphics rendering. I played Half Life on a Pentium 166 as well

[@ochatach2]

Love retrovideos!! Thanks for the video as always MVG

[@FR4M3Sharma]

I didn't knew that the PS2 models were higher in quality than the HD Pack. That's quite amazing.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

At first glance they really show imo. Its a shame that Valve decided to include the regular Blue Shift models instead of the PS2 ones alongside the enviroment changes.

[@Carhill]

I loved playing Decay with friends. Can't tell you the number of times I played through those levels.

[@osmnys]

That menu music at the end just sent shivers down my spine. It's beautiful. As someone who played the PS2 version of HL on PCSX2 and being a Half-life fan, this is something that's definitely worth checking out.

[@ducoteaw]

Best original content on youtube, always backed up with tons of research and real technical knowledge. You're the best, dude

[@bigevilcorporation7050]

I was hoping to see a video on this one day! The first time I sat down to properly complete Half-life was on the PS2, I guess because I couldn't get distracted with the Worldcraft editor. That menu music raises the hairs on my arms.

[@worsel555]

Sure about those PC specs? I had a 200 MHz Pentium with 32 MB RAM and it worked perfectly, and our jaws dropped when we got our Voodoo 2 card shortly after.

[@kyoobqa]

Those were taken from the Steam page of the game, so maybe you do need all that stuff for the newest version. The retail release version only needed a 133Hz Pentium and 24 MB of RAM to run (like garbage). I did an entire playthrough with those specs using 86Box, and it was hell.

[@CaptainKenway]

Define "perfectly" for me. My experience is that people's memories tend to be incredibly unreliable when it comes to how old games actually performed. In fact, I just looked up a video on here of somebody playing Half-Life on a Pentium MMX 200 and the framerate is all over the place even in the initial section of the game in the lab, which is much lighter on the hardware than later, larger levels. Yes, technically it runs and is "playable" I suppose, but I sure wouldn't call it "perfect" or even acceptable, personally. You can almost always run games on less than the minimum specs. It just depends on how much you're willing to sacrifice and how large your tolerance is for bad framerates.

[@neoprint]

Yeah those requirements are way out of whack for the time. As far as I know there were no 500mhz x86 CPUs on the market in 1998, the Pentium 3 didn’t come out until February 1999

[@kabuto3907]

I can confirm - the game ran pretty well on a 200 MHz Pentium MMX at 320x200 software rendering. Tested the hazard course on a 100 MHz Non-MMX Pentium too - it worked reasonably well too but framerate dropped to a crawl in the room with the 3 octagonal tubes to crawl through…

[@Interference22]

Yeah, they're not accurate. I first played it in 2000 at 800x600 with a terrible GPU (an 8MB ATI Rage Pro), 64MB RAM, and a 450mhz Pentium III and it ran exceptionally well even in software mode. About the only thing that caused FPS drop-outs was exploding a whole lot of satchel charges in a scientist-killing custom map.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Considering unlike Xbox the ps2 isn't x86 architecture nor has DirectX I'd say it definitely was an incredible port

[@Manic_Panic]

Personally I couldn't call it an incredible port. The PS2 was not as weak as people think. The PS2's CPU (the Emotion Engine) wasn't an ordinary chip. It had the fastest RAM of the time (much faster than the Original Xbox) and superior bandwidth with insane amounts pixel fill rate. Plus it had 2 vector processing units (VU0 and VU1) that worked side by side with the CPU and GPU. Another cool feature of the PS2 was that it had 16 shader pipelines while the Xbox only had 4. This made it so the PS2 was much more efficient at rendering particle and lighting effects, just look at Silent Hill 2, Devil May Cry 3 or San Andreas on PS2 VS other ports for example. DirectX on Xbox and especially PC couldn't keep up. The reason why people think the PS2 was weaker is because even though the RAM was fast, it was too little which didn't allow you to have progressive scan unlike the Gamecube and Xbox so games always looked more blurry. And in terms of actual raw power, the Graphics Synthesizer couldn't keep up with the Xbox's GPU so if it wasn't for the VUs the GS would have fallen behind the competition midway through the generation. Had Half Life 1 made better use of the VUs this game could have ran butter smooth. This becomes so easy to see when you compare multiplatform games on emulators at 720p or 1080p (PCSX2 vs XEMU) and the PS2 versions often look better except texture quality because of the lack of RAM.

[@ndo166]

@@Manic_Panic Half life on pc , was better with opengl, but did work on d3D and software

[@robarmstrong5404]

@@Manic_Panic The particle examples are pretty cherry picked and not worth mentioning. It's very small differences. The San Andreas port looks far better on Xbox and runs at higher resolution. And there were plenty of people on Beyond3d developers that dispute your other points. One multiplatform dev spoke about time and that they didn't have time to really push each system, especially Xbox and Gamecube. Especially Xbox. But if they did have the time, Xbox just outmuscled the ps2 easily in every way possible. The problem is since it was easier X86 and smaller install base they never put time into it and ps2 got the bulk of the love. They essentially took the ps2 version and upped the resolution. More consoles, more work, more specialization. State of Emergency is an interesting case. They built it from the ground up on Ps2 to take advantage of the cpu, but porting it over to Xbox and actually pushing it, 2x the fps at a higher resolution with higher res textures. This was a rare case when they actually took the time to exploit Xbox. Bandwidth was not much of an issue or else there would never been any room to run games at 720p. Resolution is a bandwidth hog and Xbox absolutely pushing way more pixels. That takes bandwidth and we've seen through modded Xboxs that many 480p will run naive 720p with no CPU modding.

[@pleasedontwatchthese9593]

@@Manic_Panic I think what they are saying is its not an easy port. All of those things describe would require reworking of the game to take advantage of. so they had to do some work to make it work well

[@zk0rned]

@@Manic_Panic It's still weaker than the Gamecube or the Xbox which is the actual argument people make

[@YerNewUncle]

Your capper of the main menu music sent a chill down my spine. It’s legendary. Good taste, MVG.

[@TheOldMachines]

Wow! Thank you for making this. Huge memories...ill never forget the first time my uncle showed me this on his then new PS2. He was an OG half life player on pc and wanted to try it on PS2, so we grabbed it and it was my first experience of the game hed been telling me about for years. I was a young kid, amazing memories with him. RIP Uncle Mike

[@philipcooper8297]

This is my favourite version of the game. Finished it twice on the PS2.

[@thebaker525]

In an era where Goldeneye was the controller standard for console FPS games, for Half-life to release in tandem with Halo and also utilize a double-analog control method was nothing short of revolutionary.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

And it actually came out before Halo.

[@sirMadMushroom]

Your selection of topics is top-notch. Not many people know/remember that PS2 had a port of this game :)

[@erlendht]

This is actually the version of Half-Life I completed first, and I played it with mouse and keyboard too. It's a really great port, especially for the time! Awesome video as always, love these :)

[@kuni2330]

I was unsure about the HD models before but wow I'm impressed how it looks in game. In terms of graphics it looks like the perfect in between step between HL1 and HL2.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

Especially Gina Cross and Colette Green model impress me the most. They look almost as good as Alyx Vance model.

[@xDShot9000]

12:12 there's Blue Shift fan port for PS2 and Opposing Force port with all weapons and mobs implemented currently in development. There's trick recently discovered that allows embedding own code from HL SDK into PS2 executable.

[@TunturiRacing]

The Blue shift port is nice, i gave it a shot a while ago.

[@HuzaBird0.2]

Intersting this will open dors for mods

[@That_Handle]

✏️📌👍

[@Silvergun_Raven]

I had so much fun playing HL back in 2001 and watching your video made me want to replay it!

[@ramakrishnamishra8179]

Awesome! Was waiting for an mvg video

[@EspireMike]

This was the first way I experienced half and I loved it. The main menu music definitely rocked! And the loop was so small - incredible. This video is the first time I learnt that the models on PS2 were of higher resolution than the PC/Dreamcast hi res pack. Very interesting!

[@White927]

Did you call me res on my steam profile?

[@Fr33dan]

I knew this port existed, but I never knew about the higher quality character models. If there isn't already a mod for the PC version to use those models, someone should make that (I would if I had the time...)

[@DevilDogMuNky]

Thanks for all this interesting content!

[@98SE]

OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MVG! I saw the thumbnail and GOT SO EXCITED! :D

[@booradley5043]

I said it once, I'll say it again! We need a new orange box that will bring half life 1 and all expansions and all extras from PS2 to modern gaming.

[@captaincrunch1707]

Grabbed the full half life series as soon as I got a Deck. Still haven’t dug deep into them yet.

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

Good decision, one of the few games I've played more than 5x through.

[@Soniti1324]

God tier video MVG-- As someone who learned of Half-Life somewhat late (the end of 1999), I was absolutely enraptured by it. My best friend (I was in 7th grade, he was in 8th, and his parents didn't mind him playing rated M games) showed me Half-Life and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I felt like I was pretty "plugged in" to the FPS scene at the time, being a GoldenEye / Perfect Dark obsessed 12 year old. And then the Playstation 2. Suddenly, the console world felt like it was moving so fast; the Dreamcast the year before (an unbelievable console to 12 year old me in its own right), and then the rumors of the PS2 (and delay after delay after delay)-- I remember hearing about the ports of HL1 to Dreamcast (and eventually PS2) and I remember looking down my nose at them, having become a junior high school Half Life modder in the era of Counter-Strike Beta 7. At that point, because of getting into CS1, I never would have played these "lesser" console ports, but in the intervening quarter century, it's become deeply sentimental to me to look back at these ports and see just what little treasures they contain within them; way to highlight the things these ports did better than the PC; I never knew them!

[@BladeOpotato]

Growing up, my introduction to the series was through this PS2 port, I feel incredibly blessed to have experienced it. Definitely has a better visual tone going on than the original imo. Fantastic vid as always!

[@colinstu]

I wonder if anyone's ever tried backporting the model and texture improvements back into the PC version... neat.

[@iPruch]

Damn, I already replayed Half-Life on the Steam Deck after they updated it got its 25th anniversary, now I’m playing it again in VR on the Meta Quest 3 (lambda1vr) and now you just made me want to play this PS2 version. I wish they updated the PC version with these improvements from PS2. Health & armour dispensers, NPCs models with eye movements… they look so much better than OGs! Great video, as always. Thanks a lot for your work!

[@TylerMBuller12]

Well they do have the remake on pc Black mesa which runs on the source engine. I'd consider that a superior way to play it.

[@White927]

@@TylerMBuller12 It's not from the creators though and a Half Life 2 modification.

[@dansmoothback9644]

I only played it recently, but pretty blown away!!! I hate aiming with a controller but the lock on system was a breath of fresh air. That music too, I agree, god tier. Thanks for covering the tech details as well!

[@Benjamin8993agape]

I played through the entire single player campaign w/o realizing there even was an auto-lock feature until like a decade later

[@cuzzumbzulzbeanz2335]

I got the PS2 port of Half-Life for my birthday a couple years ago, and this is a great video on it. I am a huge fan of the Half-Life series, admittedly I have not played too much of the main campaign in the PS2 port, but I did have so much fun playing Decay with my dad and it is probably my second favorite expansion of the series next to Opposing Force.

[@RedBeardedGriffUK]

This was my introduction to the full version of Half-Life, and I finished the campaign on PS2 first. It's such an excellent port, along with the unreleased Dreamcast version.

[@ineligible2267]

Had no idea the PS2 version had more animated character models than the PC version, really cool to see a comprehensive look into what this version of the game offered with things like quick saves/loads which are rare for console ports

[@squeeeb]

Great port, I forgot about the KB/M support! Also, those poly count differences are pretty amazing.

[@khaaaaaaaaan4580]

What an awesome trip down memory lane thank you so much for this video! PS2 was the first way I experienced Half Life and I was a huge fan ever since. Gearbox were fantastic with this port and the bonus coop campaign was a blast to play through with my sister. So much fun hours and time spent on this game, definitely need to revisit it for a nostalgic playthrough

[@wally19]

I was able to play Half-Life Blue Shift for the DC and It was amazing.

[@discostu333]

I had this on PC when it was released in 1998 (Pentium II 333mhz, 64mb ram, Voodoo 2 12 mb) and I couldn't tell much of a difference between that version and this version when I bought it some years later. Amazing port.

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

Dang, you had a fun PC.

[@guitarmansg499]

That music IS god tier. That was clear in the first 2-3 seconds you started playing it before even saying so

[@hoffer_moment]

you've convinced me to play and stream this using pcsx2 lol this looks incredible ngl

[@Downhuman74]

Was super bummed when the Dreamcast version was cancelled (despite the fact that I already had this on PC and could run it well). But it's cool to see it turned out so well on the PS2.

[@quarterarcade8825]

It leaked. You can find the ISO out there. It plays well

[@Downhuman74]

@@quarterarcade8825 I'll have to check that out. I remember being especially angry that it was apparently complete or near complete when they cancelled it.

[@Bozebo]

PS2 really is just some lovely reliable hardware when used right. Games ranging from this to Snake Eater to FF12, and plenty more of course, can pull off a hell of a lot on the thing. I've only had a tinker with a load of high level libraries we had in Uni so didn't deal with the hardware properly but there's always time.

[@Kenjitsuka]

Always a great day when a new MVG video arrives! :D

[@PacDan]

Had some cool cheats too including a slow-motion mode and play as one of the alien enemies.

[@MGK195]

Still to this day my favourite game of all time.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

Not needing to find key cards to open new areas was a huge improvement.Many FPS' didn't get that memo for years

[@Roge9]

this port was my first time doing a full playthrough of the game. Pretty good honestly

[@jobo9906]

Great video from my all time favourite KZbinr. Hey MVG did you know that someone ported Blue Shift to the PS2 also. I think there are a few more performance issues but all the content is in, with the option to use Dreamcast, PC and PS2 models.

[@trinitybingham2406]

I just recently picked this up on ps2, and it truly is a massively impressive port. Sure it was a tough system to code for, but the ones that could really knocked it outta the park. Great video as always, man.

[@tdome3000]

I loved it on the PS2. And yes, also HL2 on the PS3 with all DLCs.

[@HUYI1]

yeah i did mention that, PS3 version is called the orange box, i think it did have the expansions that the ps2 port also had

[@tdome3000]

@@HUYI1 You're tripping.

[@jamestonjes8263]

@@HUYI1 Orange box was just HL2, Episode 1, 2, Portal and TF2 no HL1 stuff. PS2 only had HL1

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

I wish we had the second game on PS2 as well. When i was younger i wonder what happend after Gman "captured" Gordon but never had the sequel. I waited, waited.... later i realized it was only on PC and Xbox... Damn.

[@worminator15]

Literally currently playing it on my BC ps3 and loving it Great port, great video, fits perfectly for me right now

[@billyj.causeyvideoguy7361]

Both this and the ps2 version of deus ex were such a dream as a kid without a graphics card in the 2000s.

[@AnthonySmith-bj9mo]

hi ModernVintageGamer

[@Kynos1]

I ran it on a 166 mhz Cyrix CPU and a Voodoo 1 GPU (Guillemot Maxi Gamer 3d) and, if I remember correctly, 64MB Ram at the time. I was even able to play Unreal on that machine.

[@kosmosyche]

I don't know where he got his info about 500Mhz CPU and 16MB video card. Maybe it's from later Steam version. But here's the system requirements directly from the readme file of the OG Half-Life as it came out in 1998: * Pentium 133 MHz * 24 MB RAM * Windows 95/98/NT4 * SVGA video card * Windows-compatible sound card * 2x CD-ROM drive * 400 MB hard-disk space. Recommended * Pentium 166 MHz * 32 MB RAM * OpenGL- or DirectX-compatible 3D accelerator. Notice that even a 3D accelerator is only recommended, not even a requirement. Anyway, PS2 hardware should be absolutely capable of playing Half-Life without ANY problem easily. Idk why he thinks it's impossible port. I think he somehow got it confused with Half-Life 2 maybe?

[@rustynuts89836]

This was how I was able to first experience the game. And I loved it!

[@whyishoudini]

FrameRater has a good video on the PSP port attempts, and Stop Skeletons has a great video on the various ports too. Deff worth a look

[@michealgall1038]

I love these “impossible ports”, it really shows how well a game can run on a system it’s not meant for when the dev team dedicate themselves. It also makes me really sad too because lazy developers will make a modern port on switch that is terrible and cause people to blame the system instead of those who made the hack job. I love the “impossible ports” made to Switch from Wolfenstein II to FNAF Security Breach. Really wish we could see more of these so future generations can make videos like yours.

[@stevethepocket]

_Security Breach_ got a good Switch port? Talk about throwing good money after bad...

[@michealgall1038]

@@stevethepocket compared to Mortal Kombat 1, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (although not ports) Ark, Survival Evoled, Payday 2- Security Breach seems like a master stroke in porting despite its flaws. I didn’t find the experience unplayable and beat it from beginning to end, same with Wolfenstein II on Switch.

[@stevethepocket]

@@michealgall1038 Then they must have not just ported it well but gone in and fixed everything that was appallingly badly made and never fixed in the PC version. Design Frame has a whole video digging into that if you're interested.

[@michealgall1038]

@@stevethepocket I’m not saying SB is a good game or the switch port made the game perfect, I’m saying it’s impressive they got the game to run on Switch with a playable framerate when PC can barely handle it. That’s what makes it an “impossible port”.

[@richardingram2374]

I still don’t understand why they have never bothered to port HL1 to modern consoles? Imagine HL1, 2 and the eps on switch in one package 🤤

[@AndrewDasilvaPLT]

Valve made a billion dollars on loot boxes from CS2 in 2023. Why would they need to?

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

I sttill dream for a modern Orange Box for PS4 and PS5. Damn it.

[@TheSwiftFX]

Really good analysis, especially around the polygons

[@T200026]

I need to play all the half life releases again, fantastic video.

[@ivan55227]

Uh... HL1 looks terrible compared to later games that were developed for same hardware - PS2 (notably Black) I don't really understand why it was such a problem making this port apart from original game simply wasn't made with ps2 hardware in mind. So in this case it's a game, not a console issue.

[@xtr.7662]

It doesnt look that much worse than black and also runs better still looks better than most ps2 games especially because lots of them aimed for 60fps

[@ivan55227]

@@xtr.7662 "It doesnt look that much worse" Uh, OKAY

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

It is an early PS2 game and it looked way better than the PC version plus the extra content. The perfect package. What more can you ask? Other FPS at the time like Quake 3 or Unreal on PS2 in comparison were very dissappointing. They could just ported the original game intact, and nobody would had complained. The game is also running on the original engine, which probably wasnt an easy task. Games like Black werent a port from PC.

[@user-vg8vl3xu8w]

This is how I first got to play HL 👍 great video thanks.

[@hci_yuuzou1696]

this was my first version of half life I ever played in my life and my brother and I loved it playing it slipscreen even in deathmatch this video brought so many memories back

[@dirkkrohn1907]

I remember playing this one. Thanks for bringing back memories.

[@acomingextinction]

I was not prepared for that main menu music. Absolute banger.

[@johnaraya3761]

i have to say MVG you drop banger after banger. thank you for years of teaching us!

[@DIE2dayORelse]

I remember playing this when I was a kid on the ps2, it was so terrifying but cool at the same time. The atmosphere and everything hit so hard back then and that main menu music went such a long way to set the eerie tone of the game

[@fr3surt529]

One small thing you forgot to mention is the fact that during the tram ride sequence at the beginning you can't walk around the tram, only look around

[@Oddsfeline]

I've already seen videos about the PS2 port of Half-Life, but any time I see a new one uploaded by someone I'm compelled to watch

[@AM-og2oi]

Great vid MVG!

[@mememe37]

That's really impressive they upgraded the models and included decay. GJ Gearbox!

[@divinecomedian2]

I remember renting this game with my buddy so we could play co-op. I already had the pc version, but man this was still so much fun.