Should I play Half Life 2 if I haven't played the first one.

[Supersylox]

Well that guy should pick up his own damn can.

He's trolling you.

[Ad Bot]

[Regulith]

I wouldn't. I bought The Orange Box without playing HL1 and I had no idea what was going on. You could just read the story on the Combine OverWiki but that's not as fun.

HL1 is a pain in the ass. Its just so overly difficult.

no

[Lørd Tøny]

I was just now gifted Half Life by Yndaaa, I'll have fun enjoying some Half Life now.

[stuntman021]

you shouldn't play half life 2 at all

[plad101]

Lord tony! Get Sven Coop for HL1 and play with me!

[Brickman]

I was just now gifted Half Life by Yndaaa, I'll have fun enjoying some Half Life now.

I gifted you hl2 :(

[Jay the Cartoonist]

What ?
Compared to Opposing force it's not overly difficult at all.

Compared to HL2 it is, and Opposing force wasn't even made by valve.

Edit:

you shouldn't play half life 2 at all

It's one of the best games (if not the best game) in the eyes of everyone who's not trying to be a hipster and hate it just because it's opinionated as one of the best games.

Why not?

[Skip]

you shouldn't play half life 2 at all

inorite it's so old and overrated it SUCKS

On-Topic: Only things I remember similar about the two games are G-man, Black Mesa, and Vortigaunts.
Anything else is minor or I forgot.
I dunno if I missed a detail or what but I really don't understand the Combine. lol

[brickybob]

Only reason to play HL1 is for the story...

Ah-hem,
You are a theoretical physicist who specializes in long words was part of an experiment that gone wrong, destroying the base and opening another dimension.  Then, the government steps in and tries to kill everyone and keep things quiet.  Two thousand dead zombies and aliens later, you're at the end.  Where a man in the suit recruits you for another job (Hl2).

Hl2 takes place later in the future, where aliens (combine) rule the world (or at least City 17) and you have to kick sommoar ass.

[Lørd Tøny]

Playing Half Life on hard and I am already up to the green tentacle monster.

[Dimitri Pentrenko]

Play 1
Or you wont know stuff about the story in episode 2 or the creatures

[Dimitri Pentrenko]

I'm being attacked by police men for no reason so no one loves Gordan Freeman. I want to know what's going on.

There not "Humans"
There aliens in suits called Combine

[Lørd Tøny]

There not "Humans"
There aliens in suits called Combine

Why would you spoil that?

[plad101]

no the Civil Protection are humans

[Saber15]

Only reason to play HL1 is for the story...

lol, hl1 had no real story.

you were a dude wearing power armor, you never talk, and then stuff goes wrong and everything tries to kill you. hl2 introduced a proper plot.

Why would you spoil that?

because it's incredibly obvious that they're humans wearing suits, because you see a character take off the mask not even five minutes into the game?