Why Do Players Dislike On a Rail? (Half-Life)

so on a rail the eighth chapter in half-life now here's the thing just like water hazard on a rail is one of the most bipolar or rather tri-polar chapters in terms of how the players view it i asked for your opinion on twitter lambda generation and youtube and here's what i got one part of the community absolutely hates it one part doesn't like it or hate it and one part absolutely loves it the results were inconclusive to say the least and hey that's totally fine to each their own now i personally fall into the second category i don't like it or hate it but in this video i want to see what on a rail did good and what did it do wrong but before we do that let's take a look at the previous two chapters chapter six and seven blast pit and power up respectively let's set the context and see how we end up in on a rail all right blast pit i'll say it right off the bat and trigger a bunch of people i love this chapter one of my favorites from the game how the underground area is depicted here i love it it's a contrast to the clean sector sea labs they've come from there are pools of toxic waste there's a sense of being lost in this huge facility and most importantly this is one of the few chapters that has a certain depth to its design it shows you how big this place really is [Applause] every time i go through this chapter it's always such a great experience i'm always awestruck at these sites now i know why people don't like this chapter it's because of the tentacle monster people are off put by it and how they aren't able to get past it easily here's what you do throw a grenade hold down shift and walk repeat and repeat till you get to the door below you you just need some patience is all anyway in this chapter we need to get rid of the tentacle monster but for that we need to turn on the power oxygen and fuel along the way you fight a lot of aliens and zombies head down even deeper into the facility to find the control panels for the things we need to turn on first is fuel and oxygen to head there we first turn on this absolutely humongous fan that launches us up in the air i have no idea why would they have a fan this big in the facility maybe it's an exhaust fan i don't know anyway once we go into the vents we end up in the fuel and oxygen room we just press the buttons and we're good to go then it's time to activate the power we head back to the tentacle monsters room and head one floor down same strategy hold shift and throw grenades to the other side of the room to distract the monster i liked how they divided up the two things it added some variety to the level design making you go to different places without it looking too boring they could have just added in the electricity button right next to the fuel and oxygen buttons but that would have been too simple and again this chapter definitely has some views that i really like for example when the lights turn on and the elevator comes down here of course it breaks down so you have to jump to the ladder that's conveniently located to the wall right next to you so we go up to the generator press the two buttons and the power turns on killing one innocent scientist in the process unfortunately once all that's done you come back to the control room press the button and that's that after the monster gets burnt and retreats to its lair we go down into its hidey hole and find ourselves a magnum after we go through all the toxic waste that would make osha cry we finally end up at honor rail i mean power up here's the thing i've been playing this game since the year 2000 after 21 years i always forget power up is a chapter it's so short that i managed to complete it in 7 minutes and i'm not even a gamer like you anyway this is a really short chapter it's basically a prelude to on a rail our main goal here is to turn on the power now where have i heard that before but i mean it's not a bad chapter in any sense it looks good it plays good you get a lot of military resistance and of course you also see this guy too once you eliminate the soldiers turn on the power generator then it's time to zap the big guy you lure him into the two electricity poles and turn them on once the big guy is dead then it's time to proceed to the main event of this video once you look at your surroundings you realize it's time to continue the journey on a rail okay now let's take a quick breather why did i show you the previous two chapters first blast pit and power up are both action heavy there's a lot of back and forth in blast pit pushing buttons killing aliens and a scientist power up is good too now after seven chapters i think it's very wise to slow down the pace and give the player something new why did players hate water hazard in half-life 2 it's the fourth chapter third if you don't count point insertion because that's just literally you walking around in the city like an idiot it came up too early in half-life 2. i think players were not satisfied with the fact that they just started to get in the mood for combat and they were handed a vehicle to drive instead on the other hand highway 17 is the seventh chapter almost right in the middle of the game a great change of pace after ravenholm on a rail is a similar concept but it's not as well executed as it could have been it is a great change of pace but i'll be honest it overstays its welcome it's more longer than it should have been now that's a choice between somewhat realism and a good experience now if we go with realism the tunnels would be that long in a science facility of this size so of course it takes a while from getting one place to another the other choice would have been preferring good experience cut the chapter in half so it would get you on the train kill a bunch of soldiers and aliens press a button and end it straightforward no questions asked but that's not realistic now is it it doesn't make sense for it to be that short so while it is a long chapter shortening it would have seemed too strange speaking of realism a few people shared some very interesting takes on this chapter so they said the way the players were confused in this chapter must have been the way gordon freeman must have felt while in here gordon never worked in this area he doesn't know which direction to go so in a very meta way this is the closest we've been to feel what gordon freeman felt in half-life 1. kind of cool if you think about it now let's take a look at some complaints i received something that the people told me was the fact that they didn't know to shoot the signs to turn and given how the player isn't told or shown to do that it's understandable that people need to figure it out themselves the next major complaint is how people got stuck in loops because of that and had no idea where to go that's another fair point in my case i've played this game so much that i've memorized the steps it was definitely confusing for 5 year old me but now i know the directions and to be honest the chapter isn't that confusing as people make it out to be it's somewhere in the middle it's not confusing but it's not that simple either now let's take a look at the combat i feel the combat is very well done in this level the military has set up bunkers turrets rocket launchers trip mines amped up their numbers this shows that you are a priority target now they need to capture you and they won't stop till they do and how it shows the aliens fighting with the military is another good touch it conveys how wild things have gotten at black mesa and how you're caught in the middle of it then the design and visuals i love how this chapter looks it has the same sense of being lost as blast pit head dimly lit tunnels with rails going far as the eye can see stuck in isolation not knowing what will jump out from the corner the tunnels or sector e as the writing on the wall shows is the opposite to the sector c labs rather than clean well-organized offices and labs it's more dark and gritty filled with electrical hazards and dirty tunnels after two thirds of the chapter is done you end up outside and it's such a calm moment it mirrors what's going on inside you can't hear the gunfire and screams rather it's oddly silent anyway the ending of this chapter is where we have to launch the rocket the purpose of the rocket i have no idea we just launch it now this is a good way to end the chapter a somewhat satisfying ending to what we went through then we go back down to start the next chapter apprehension now before i end this video i need to share something when on a rail starts you can hear something very faintly in the background screaming and i don't have an explanation for it some people have pointed it out online but nowhere does it say where the screens are coming from and they sound horrifying to say the least take a listen [Applause] so [Music] so yeah that was on the rail not the best chapter in the game but it isn't as bad as you might think hope you enjoyed the video thank you for watching

Channel: Radiation Hazard

Views: 32,100

Rating: 4.8880157 out of 5

Keywords: half life, on a rail, chapter, level design, game design

Id: 2LTSMSeHEg4

Length: 10min 36sec (636 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021