Wait, Half-Life has nothing to say? Half-Life, with its warnings about science being held in thrall to political ends and its stunning final glimpse of a military-industrial complex which spans entire dimensions and of which the US is a mere pawn, has nothing to say? Half-Life 2, with its opening levels showing a genuinely well-done depiction of a world under the jackboot of the interdimensional equivalent of the Nazis, the warning against a scientific/technological elite mistreating the masses and reshaping the very environment to the point where those who aren't of the elite will die, and its primary villain being a Quisling-like symbol of craven collaboration, has nothing to say?

This is interesting ... I tend to disdain first person shooters because, well, actually it's because I suck at them. But I usually assume they have nothing to say in terms of character or story.

Halo tapped into an audience that was trying to understand how religion could perverted into a tool of hatred and war - um ... perhaps I'm over-simplifying but hasn't religion always been, uh, a tool of war?

And I haven't played Halo (or, for that matter, Half Life) but from what you say about the first game I'm not massively convinced by the "not condemning religion" aspect of it. I mean, the character you're playing is the "good guy" right, just because when you play a game your sympathy tends to naturally attach itself to the main chracter, not the dudes you're attacking. Except in Warcraft III actually, now I think about it, you spend the first act playing the guy who later turns out to be the villain. But that's a digression. Secondly, The Thingamies religion is based on a fallacy (i.e they worship the scientifically created weapon thing) which sort of undermines the whole point of their culture and the war they're waging. And finally they're always the aggressors. I don't know, just a few thoughts from a position of total ignorance ;)

Both those comments hurt my head.

Oh...sorry, I was just genuinely curious as to what you thought.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be aggressive, I just felt that the assertion that the plot of the Halo series is Big and Meaningful whilst the plot of the Half-Life series is Trite and Meaningless needed to be questioned.

I wasn't trying to be aggressive either. Personally I love it when people comment on what I've written - because it shows they've read it and are thinking about it, even if they don't agree or start picking at one of my arguments. I try to do the same for everything that turns up on fb (I mean, comment on it, not pick at it ;) - and I think most of the other writers do too. In a twisted way, it's how we show we care :)

I agree, and I even enjoy it when people pick at my articles, because it normally means I get to expand on the points I made and throw new ones in.

So, um, are any of these worth playing? I mean would the plot/story carry me through not being mad keen on FPS? RPGs are so thin the ground these days I'm actually looking around for new types of games to play...

I don't think any FPS has had a really decent integration of plot with gameplay since Deus Ex or System Shock 2, although Half-Life 2 does make a good stab at it. A lot of FPS games rely on a cut scene/actual gameplay/cut scene structure, and pretty much none of them offer you any meaningful choices aside from Deus Ex. Half-Life 2 makes a stab at eliminating cut scenes, but you do still have stretches where NPCs show up and talk to you for five minutes - the only difference is you have full control of your character whilst doing so.

Really, aside from Deus Ex, there aren't many FPS games out there for people who don't already like FPS games. They're 90% about the adrenaline release and only 10% about anything else.

"I just felt that the assertion that the plot of the Halo series is Big and Meaningful whilst the plot of the Half-Life series is Trite and Meaningless needed to be questioned."
Ok, this is a fair point. If I were to rewrite the piece I think I'd change that. But I honestly feel Half-Life uses its 'message' as more of a backdrop, where has Halo is trying to make a point. Also, your initial post seems to describe Half-Life 2 rather than the original game. Not that this makes a diffence to your point, I just want to be clear on what game you're referring to.

"The Thingamies religion is based on a fallacy (i.e they worship the scientifically created weapon thing) which sort of undermines the whole point of their culture and the war they're waging. And finally they're always the aggressors." This I don't really agree with. Sure, the Covenant's religion is indeed based on a fallacy. But I tried to make the point (unsuccessfully, perhaps) that so is the humans' war effort, and that their battle-mentality is just as dangerous as the Covenant's faith.

I was addressing both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, because your article seemed to be addressing all three Halo games...

And as far as making a point goes, the sort of interdimensional colonialism hinted at in Half-Life and shown in full force in Half-Life 2 has all kinds of parallels with real-world history and politics. To be honest, I feel that if a computer game's message begins to overwhelm the gameplay then that's a serious weakness of the game, in the same way that if decent storytelling and prose takes second place to "making a statement" in a novel; yes, Half-Life 2's message is more of a backdrop, something you pick up on here and there, but to me that's an important strength of Half-Life 2.