Half-Life

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1998
• Genre: Shooter
• Style: First-Person Shooter
• Similar Games: Doom (IBM PC Compatible), Quake (IBM PC Compatible), Quake II (IBM PC Compatible), SiN (IBM PC Compatible), Aliens Versus Predator: Gold Edition (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

The revolutionary Half-Life set the standard for subsequent first-person shooters. As each new section or level is reached, the game pauses to load it, making for massive, seamless environments. Nearly all levels are located in or around the Black Mesa Research Facility, including subterranean railroads, laboratories, ventilation shafts, cafeterias, missile silos, and eventually the aliens' home world. The diverse range of enemies includes tank-like warrior spore plants, headcrabs, and possessed scientists, just to name a few. Horror novelist Marc Laidlaw's storyline tells a chilling tale of government scandal and experiments gone wrong.

As if the protagonist of the story, Gordon Freeman, doesn't have enough on his hands with the varying cadre of foes, he's being hunted by marines and government assassins as well. As Freeman, you need to find weapons to survive. The arsenal includes a melee wrench, pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, rocket and grenade launcher, and various alien armaments scavenged off dead soldiers. Unlike many first-person shooters, health and ammunition packs are located in sensible locations. First aid kits are attached to walls in medical laboratories, while ammunition is logically found in weapon depots or on dead marines. Your protective suit acts as armor and can be replenished in certain locales.

Half-Life uses a modified version of id Software's Quake engine (combined with about 50 lines of code from the Quake 2 engine), resulting in realistic levels and locations with fearsome aliens waiting to end your struggle at every turn. While the game is flawless, the online deathmatch aspect suffered initially from high server latency, later fixed through a series of patches. Winning over 50 Game of the Year awards and named best game of all time by PC Gamer magazine, Half-Life is an extraordinary achievement that established the benchmark for future games in the genre.

Roots & Influences

Half-Life takes the first person shooter genre a step into the future. Though it is only running on an advanced version of the Quake II engine, it does away with the traditional flow of level to level gameplay. Instead, it vows for one big, long level from start to end. It's also more realistic than it's predecessors in that weapons and items are laid out more scarcely and logically. The game itself was definitely inspired by lots of horror and science fiction books and movies because of the organic monsters and laboratory and alien settings.

Review: Overall

Valve obviously spent a lot of time researching to see what the other first person shooter games have done in the past. They apparently took note that almost every single game in this genre is set up the exact same way -- go from level to level, pick up the weapons and power-ups strewn about and kill lots of mindless enemies. They decided to break this trend and in Half-Life, this fact is evident.

Instead of traversing from level to level, the game itself consists of one large, interactive setting. You start in the research laboratory and continue to progress through and out of the facility, reach the outside and even visit alien worlds. It is all done seamlessly and without any level progression at all (each portion is broken into segments that flow into one another). Because of this, Half-Life feels immense (in a good way) and you'll become immersed in the world from start to finish.

To protect a sense of realistic integrity, the weapons aren't just "laying around" like in other games. Instead, you'll have to be observant as the weapons are in more realistic places. For instance, you'll get a pistol from a dead security guard and you'll find an experimental weapon in a research laboratory or a dead critter. You can find ammo hidden within closets or lockers or even on dead soldiers. And instead of picking up health packets, you can head over to a bathroom or a construction area to find a health and armor recharger.

Another thing that is very predominant is a sense of story and overall gameplay and flow. The storyline seems simple and cliched (you're a guy trying to escape with his life intact) but the way it is told can only be described as impressive. Everything in Half-Life happens for a reason and that reason will be presented to you once you progress through the game (via scripted sequences).

As you proceed, you begin to uncover more of what really caused the sheer chaos that ensued after you ran tests on the specimen -- the result is bone chilling. Throughout the game, you'll have to interact with other scientists, which brings me to another point: the AI.

The AI in this game is amazing. Scientists act like real people and will help you if you help them. They respond to danger by running away and finding a safe place to hide. The enemies are the same way. If you hurt them, they'll run and find help or they'll set up traps and ambushes for you. This is very impressive if not only for the immersion factor. The monsters themselves are exceptionally terrifying and they'll make you jump out of your seat often. Does the word face-hugger mean anything to you? There are also marines, possessed soldiers and scientists as well as bug-like creatures.

It isn't everyday that you come across a game that totally revolutionizes an entire genre, but Half-Life has done just that. With its impressive and intricate world and texture design, downright scary monsters, settings and music, unsurpassed artificial intelligence and realism, this is a game that every PC owner should have. Half-Life is the real deal and the structure and design will be copied for years to come.

Review: Enjoyment

Half-Life is easily the best first-person shooter to date (circa 1998). The environment is fantastic, it's scary, it's creepy and you really become immersed in its world. The game is also incredibly fun because of the excellent AI, fantastic weapons and monsters and a fabulous storyline.

Review: Graphics

Outstanding is the only word to describe the visuals. The textures are beautiful and capture the whole environment successfully. The ambient lighting effects really add to the scare factor and look great. Equally impressive are the character and monster designs. The humans are very realistic looking and the critters are downright ugly (in a good way) and freaky.

Review: Sound

This game has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a game. It's really ambient and dark and uses lots of creepy transform effects that really fit the mood of the game. The sound effects are equally great except for some of the speech. For some reason, dialog is a bit scratchy but in no way does it detract from the setting.

Review: Replay Value

Playing through the single-player game again is just as fun and challenging as the first time through. There's also some pretty good online support for {*Half-Life} and with the right mods and a few patches, this game will be a dominating multi-player game for years to come.

Review: Documentation

The only real drawback lies within the documentation. The owner's manual is pretty weak in design but does tell you how to play the game. Some of the menus are a bit clunky but they're not too bad.

Production Credits

half life	half life 2
Half Life Mac	half life pc game