Half Life is an iconic and universally praised FPS from Valve, which had a few sequels and modded versions, yet no official Half Life 3. I think the hype at the time was due to a larger focus on narrative and a bit more depth to the gameplay than simply running and gunning.
It actually gets off to a very slow start, since you are standing on a train for a while whilst taking in the sights as an automated voice explains information about the lab. Then you are left to wander through corridors and eventually stumble across your hazard suit, and the lab that you are supposed to go into.
Fundamentally, the plot is a typical sci-fi/horror plot - so I didn't really understand the praise for the plot when playing it for the first time in 2023. You play as Gordon Freeman, Research Associate at the Black Mesa Research Facility. He is a silent protagonist so doesn't seem like an interesting character. You are instructed to activate a machine and push a crystal into a machine. This triggers a "Resonance Cascade" which basically opens a portal between this world and an alien world of Xen. Gordon seems to have some kind of vision of this alien world, but when it becomes conscious again, he finds that not only the research facility is overrun by aliens, but there's also soldiers storming the facility to wipe out any survivors to cover up the accident. Periodically, you see a man walking casually through the facility who stays a mystery until the very end, although not much is revealed about him.
The first hostile creature you meet is the iconic Head Crab. I see this as taking inspiration from the Face-huggers from Alien, and maybe a raw chicken! They seem to turn people into zombies, so that's another variant you face. Then there's an alien that seems to spawn in and shoot electricity at you. One alien is like an immobile sac found on the ceiling with a dangling tentacle that will grab careless people and pull them up. Later on there's more animalistic creatures, and some large brutes which have a strange gun that seems to fire some kind of wasp which homes in on you.
As you venture through the facility, there are some scripted horror sequences where you will see guards or scientists being killed by the aliens or even the soldiers. Some of these sequences allow you to save them if you are quick. There are some sections where you need a survivor to open locked doors with their higher level access rights.
Music is only used in some sections, so the game mainly relies on the spooky ambience. I found that some of the spatial sounds were bad - so you could hear an enemy as if he was close but maybe they were actually far away.
The first weapon you get is the iconic crowbar which is used for smashing crates and grates which often allow you to venture forth, often crawling through vents and jumping between pipes. As you go through the game, you find more weapons. They start off typical - like a couple of types of pistol, machine guns, shotguns, a crossbow, bazooka, then some sci-fi weapons like Gauss Gun, and the Gluon Gun, and that one that fires wasps. There's grenades, mines and satchel charges. You are extremely well kitted out by the end of the game.
Gordon's movement is extremely fast and slippery which is the game's major flaw. It doesn't feel right and makes platforming difficult which is quite a prominent gameplay element. It often feels like you are on ice, but then there's pools of water which acts even more like ice. At the end of the game, the game is intentionally more floaty and it's quite hard to adapt to the final challenges when you have spent so long getting used to the existing loose physics.
Smashing crates often reward you with extra pickups, although they can be used to hide aliens on occasion. You can find medpaks and energy items to partially top up your health and armour. There are also devices positioned on walls which recharge your health and your suit. Your suit gives you extra protection in hazardous areas like radioactive waste.
There's a few elements like water, fire, electricity and radioactive waste. Often these pose environmental puzzles. Sometimes it’s a case of finding a switch, repositioning boxes to make new platforms, or finding alternate routes. Pushing blocks can be very awkward since you just bumble into them and often hope for the best.
Other hazards are explosive barrels, and trip wires. Explosions can be used to your advantage in combat, but there are times you need to be aware that you can trigger a chain reaction.
I think the game does well to keep the locales feeling varied, you do get to venture outside, and later to the alien world. Compared to today's FPS games, the 11.5 hours playtime is quite long, but I felt it was about the right length. The Steam version comes with a HD upgrade pack so I thought the graphics held up well. I was impressed that it was often clear where to go due to the design. Playing some old games (like the Jedi Knight series) had some very questionable game design and some obscure paths, but it was a rare occurrence here.