Half-Life is a classic game in every sense of the word, and it really doesn't feel dated at all if you pick it up and play it right now. Storyline wise it isn't essential to play the original since the story really isn't all that deep and you get brought back up to speed in the sequel anyway. I see the original game as a Prologue chapter to Half-Life 2, and you don't need to play H-L to fully appreciate H-L2.

It's not essential to play HL1 before HL2, in the same way it's not essential to cook meat products before eating them. You'll simply have a better experience and less diarrhea if you do.

I'd recommend bypassing the HL series altogether and just getting Portal. That one game is worth the price tag of the whole box.

I started with HL2, while playing it it felt like I was missing a large amount of the story. I had no idea who anyone was or why they worshiped me. Had no idea what was going on, what the deal was the the aliens helping me, or why alex wanted me so bad.

Then I played HL1 and was left even more confused. Almost none of the characters in HL2 are in HL1, the scientists (i.e. all the main characters in HL1) are nameless drones. "Barney" is not even part of the original game (was in an expantion) the security guards are as much nameless drones as anyone else. The aliens are your enemy, with no connection to how they became your best friends in hl2 (I guess they like people who singlehandly butchered 100s of their race )

The only connection that ive been able to make between the 2 games is the guy in the suit at the end of hl1 and start/end of hl2. In short the storyline in half-life is a complete mess that leaves it up to you to guess on what is going on. they are both great games to play, but the story isn't cohesive

CartoonHead:
Can you still see a huge fanbase built around that?

Yes, I think they should actually bring the Blood serise back.

ANTI-SANTA, Ok, to be more specific: Do you see a huge fanbase akin to HL in the Blood series at the present time? No. It was a bog-standard shooter, one that I bought and enjoyed at the time, but a bog standard shooter nonetheless.

I think is doubtful they would to reinvent it any time soon seeing as Monolith are quite happy with Project Origin and hinting at maybe a new Shogun (Mech) game.
IF they were to reinvent Blood however, they would have to be really careful in how they do it, otherwise Blood would just end up like Postal (which, coincidentally, doesn't have the fanbase HL has either) a simple blam-blam game with no real allure aside from the (motiveless) deaths of anything in your path.

Vigormortis:
As a vast majority have said, it's not essential to have played Half-Life to enjoy Half-Life 2 as a game. However, to understand certain aspects of the story, characters actions, and the "inside" jokes you'd have to play the original. It would give you a sense of continuity as well besides being one of the greatest games ever designed.

Also, gabemorr, I honestly doubt it'll look better than Episode 1. In fact, I doubt Black Mesa: Source will look much better than Half-Life 2. It's been in development for quite a while now and does not use any of the update SDK components as far as the Source Engine goes.

And, to CTU_Agent 24, Half-Life did have a lot of story to it, it just wasn't spoon fed to you mindlessly in cut-scenes as many games do now adays.

Lol, i like the mindless Cut-scenes, rather watch a short clip then have to hunt for a story. lol

shatnershaman:
If you can stand the dated look its okay.

It is from like... what 1998?

Ten years is a long time in the video game industry.

No, you don't need to play 1, 1 & 2 are actually pretty unrelated

i've played since half-life 1 and all i know is that there's this evil guy in a suit and tie that pops up everywhere and that the aliens that i used to kill now know english and are our friends and that we are both fighting the same opressive forces.