Does Half Life still warrant a purchase even though it came out in 1998? In 1998 Valve released Half Life taking the computer gaming world by storm. After winning Game of the Year from over 50 publications and spawning several expansion packs, Half Life is still considered to be one of the best first person shooters ever made on the PC. The game opens with you the innocent scientist Gordon Freeman on your way to work at the Black Mesa research institute. Upon arriving you are instructed to put on your hazard suit (more on that later) and get down to some test lab where a group of scientists are waiting for you. What happens next is utter terror and confusion, one moment you’re performing your daily work activities, the next moment an explosion occurs and terrifying monsters begin to appear from a portal to what seems like an alternate dimension. Once you regain consciousness the game is on and its up to you to find out what happened to the black mesa research complex. The story in Half Life is remarkable, offering up new and interesting twists around every corner which is suprising since a majority of first person shooters today feature the bland “save the world” scenario. Half Life controls like your typical first person shooter, you use the w,s,a,d keys for movement and you also get a nifty flashlight attachment for those dark corridors. The weaponry is Half Life is suprisingly varied, you’ll start off with a crowbar which you can use to bludgeon both the enemies and the environment. By the end of the game you’ll be using rocket launchers, crossbows, and even some assorted alien weapons. An important gameplay element in Half Life is the hazard suit which protects you from both physical and chemical damage. As you take injury from the bizarre aliens of Half Life your hazard suit’s power levels will drop forcing you to find recharge stations positioned strategically throughout the games many environments. There are however some drawbacks to Half Life’s gameplay, for one you’ll often have to solve some tricky jumping puzzles which become frustrating since you’ll be playing Half Life entirely in the first person. Another small shortcoming is the fact that Half Life requires you to navigate through some tricky swimming puzzles which can become disorienting. Enemy intelligence plays a large role in Half Life, since the game came out in 1998 you would probably expect to find the enemy AI to be sub-par but surprisingly the many different foes you encounter are highly intelligent. Marines run around the environment trying to flank you while crouching for cover behind rocks as they reload their weapons. Alien swarms offer up a relenting assault of different attacks never allowing you any breathing room in the confines of the Black Mesa. It’s all entertaining and fun at the same time. An interesting aspect of Half Life is the fact that there are no levels in the game, everytime you reach a new part of the Black Mesa research institute the game will pause and the words “loading” will appear for a few short seconds and the game will continue. Another detail to point out is the absence of cut scenes in the game. Its told entirely through the eyes of you Gordon Freeman which adds to the already immerse feel of the game. As you can tell Half Life isn’t your typical first person shooter, it contains a lot of scary moments in the game. One minute you can be walking down a corridor minding your own business and unexpectedly a security guard will be flung through the wall by an alien grunt. These hair raising moments would be worthless without having the superb audio to back it up. As climatic as Half Life’s sound is it does have some minor flaws which keep it from perfection. For one you’ll often meet up with numerous security guards in Half Life which all contain the exact same look, voice, and appearance. Also, some of the scientist voice acting is repetitive but in the end these are only minor quibbles once you finally play this game. The only real drawback of Half Life is the heavily scripted gameplay, once you finish the game you’ll have little incentive to beat it a second time since you’ll be able to effectively remember what happened at certain moments of the game. Half Life is a reasonably long game as far first person shooters go. I clocked in at fourteen hours on the default difficulty setting. Half Life also contains numerous mods, such as the wildly popular Counter Strike and Team Fortress Classic add-ons which are still played even today. When it comes down to it Half Life is still a very impressive game. The graphics, gameplay, and sound all add up to a very unique and fun experience that shouldn’t be missed. Pros: + Excellent visuals and sound + A non stop action ride from start to finish + Crowbar! + Man is it scary Cons: - What’s up with jumping puzzles? - Man is it scary - A little too scripted Perplexing: ? Unless you’ve got a super computer you probably won’t be playing Half Life 2
Gameplay: 10 Graphics: 9 Storyline: 10 Sounds: 10 Multiplayer: - Impression: 10 Score: 9.8 GS Score: 10 *Because I played only a bit of its multiplayer, I won't be bothering giving a score for the multiplayer... Read Full Review
These days, first person shooters clutter the gaming world with unoriginal gameplay and very thin storylines. The announcement or release of a FPS is generally met with the words "Ugh... Not again!" by the gaming commun... Read Full Review
