There was once a time when we thought Wolfenstein 3D was the greatest game ever to be made. Then that was all changed when Doom made its dark and glorious way to stardom. The endless clones that followed thereafter, would soon flood, and drown the first-person market. Here very recently, we began to see some light at the end of the tunnel, with games like Quake 2, Unreal, Delta Force, SiN, and so on. The graphics got better, the action more intense, the story lines, well, that was where first-player shooters did not capture the player. The market needed something fresh, it needed the magic that Wolfenstein once had over the player. Even with ideas of what the perfect first-person shooter should be, nothing could have prepared us for what was about to hit the first-person market. A game so original, it would redefine what a first-person shooter should be. This shockwave would rock the industry, rattling the foundations, coming from a then, unknown company, named Valve.
Story:
Half-Life, the perfect mix of action, strategy, graphics, sound, and story. Right from the beginning, Half-Life grabs you and doesn’t let go. You are Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist from M.I.T., who works for the Black Mesa Compound, a top-secret military complex. The game starts as you are riding in a tram car into the complex, which is one of the most overwhelming intros ever made. Half-Life doesn’t have cut scenes; the entire storyline is shown through the eyes of the player. The animations are so versatile, that there are “in-game cut scenes” throughout the entire game. You might turn a corner, and find a helpless scientist being pulled into an air duct, by some terrible alien. The sounds of bones cracking and flesh being torn apart is enough to make your hairs stand on end. As you begin to explore your new surroundings, it will suddenly hit you, that you have no weapon! The first several minutes are spent just walking around and trying to find out where your supposed to go. After you find your H.E.V. suit (Hazardous Environment Suit), you head down to the test lab, and begin your everyday job. In a failed attempt to make a “resonance cascade” (better known as the big green ball), Gordon is held responsible for opening a dimensional gate to an alien world. After another unique in-game cut scene, you find yourself in the rumble of what was, the test lab. You find your coworkers, throughout the complex, killed by some strange alien force. As you search for an unknown solution, you try to find your way out of the complex. You are 1 mile (1.61 km) down, everything is nearly destroyed, things couldn’t get any worse. You must reach the surface to alert someone that there are people trapped down inside. As you progress, you hear the scientists talking about a rescue mission coming. Delighted as you might be, you soon find yourself running from the so-called rescuers. These Special-Ops, known as the “cleaners,” are given the orders to kill everyone in the complex, especially Gordon.
Gameplay:
Scientists and Security Guards that are left, come up to you and strike up conversations, like in real life. You use these scientists and security guards, to open doors, and if your hurt, the scientist might be kind and give you a shot of health. Scientists and guards help as best they can, the weapons you find are rare, to say the least. You’re always finding yourself, about to run out of ammo, and having to fall back on your trusty crowbar. The weapons that abound throughout Half-Life are quite original, ranging from a 357 magnum, to a alien claw that fires heat seeking “bees.” Also, Half-Life is the first, first-person shooter, to incorporate the reload system, now when you run out of ammo for you MP5, you must wait to reload another clip. You even have you reload, your rocket launcher (*loses breath*), that now holds only six rockets! You find yourself, more often in air ducts, trying to find an exit, while also trying to avoid head crabs (a basketball with legs and a big mouth), and other the alien menaces. Stealth is the key in Half-Life, whenever you use crouch, your HEV suit goes into stealth mode, which also becomes religion in multiplayer. There are about 10 episodes, the levels are divided into small chucks, which load quite quickly.
Graphics and sound:
Half-Life regularly as the feeling of being alive, it seems so real at times it’s scary. Even though it uses the Quake 2 engine, Valve has put so many little things into game, it seems to have no faults. It has so many things that make it great, that couldn’t be covered. The animations are so fluid, even without a video card, the graphics are breathtaking. And with a video card, it’s just about to the point to put you in cardiac arrest. Half-Life just about supports every card on the market. The sounds are just as good as the graphics, your always hearing whispers down the halls. Listening to the aliens chatter, or the garbled communications of the “cleaners,” as they hunt you down (and I mean hunt!). The weapons sound almost true to life, the loud blast of the 357, just rattles your bones. The graphics and gameplay standards are so high, there is nothing on the market today that even, touches it with a ten-foot pole. Multiplayer: The multiplayer area of the game has been so greatly worked on, it breathes new life into first-person multiplayer. Now when you play “team” the models are the teammates, all the grunts are on one team, then all the scientists, and so on. The stats are kept much better, showing both kills and deaths. The setup for multiplayer, mirrors the simplicity of battle.net. You have the options to quick-start a Multiplayer game, which the game searches for the fastest server in the area and logs you on to it. And if you create a game, people will actually come to it, because of the simplicity of the multiplayer system. The weapons of destruction are very adequate, but you will find yourself very dead, if you think you can run and gun like in Quake. Because the name of the game is stealth, and without it your dead meat.
Overall:
There are a “few” things that could have been different or better, but that always the case. The scientist seemed to have the same faces, and the friendly characters just didn’t do as much as they should. Also, you need a pretty beefy piece of hardware to run this monster, even on a 233 it wasn’t as smooth as it should be. Yet, this is still a very good and solid game, and if you’re one of those people (like myself), that are totally sick of the first-person shooters. Give it a good try, it may renew your faith in the market. Half-Life always has you guessing what will happen next, and probably has its fellow competitors what to do next as well. This is truly “The Quake Killer”
The Review
Half-Life
Half-Life is a landmark in gaming history. Its influence on the genre is undeniable, offering a refreshing take on first-person shooters and setting a high bar for future games. For anyone tired of the usual first-person shooter offerings, Half-Life is a must-try game that might just reignite your passion for the genre. Its innovative approach and execution make it a true "Quake Killer."
PROS
- Innovative Storytelling
- Realistic Character Interactions
- Pioneering Gameplay Mechanics
- Engaging Multiplayer Mode
CONS
- Repetitive NPC Models