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Half-Life
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Impressions: Half Life was the game that redefined the First-person shooter genre. It was and still is a FPS at its core and its Sci-fi storyline was really nothing new to fans when it was released. But it was the game play and innovation in Half Life that set the bar for First-person Shooter’s to a whole new level. Instead of stages, Half Life followed one deep flowing story (with load screens between different areas), which really drew the player in like never before. Between strategic runs, gun shootouts and well thought out puzzles; Half Life has taken the crown from Doom as the king of the FPS genre. You play Gordon Freeman, the anti-hero. A mild mannered physicist, who has come to be known as the last “free man” in later games. Gordon starts off his journey with a typical day on his way to work at the black Mesa research facility located miles below ground level. Experimenting with top secret extra dimensional physics is no easy task, and when an experiment goes horribly wrong on that fateful day; Gordon’s life will never be the same. A dimensional portal is opened and horrible alien creatures pour through the tear in space time. Black Mesa is over run with these creatures and the research facility is left in ruins. This is where the first Half Life game starts off. Gordon must try to find a way to escape from the Black Mesa death trap. The power throughout the facility is minimal, so you must navigate through service tunnels and elevator shafts to get out of the degrading research facility. The entire facility is becoming over run by ghastly alien beasts. The Government is quick to respond to the black Mesa incident by deploying an elite military unit. This unit is ordered to cover up the whole incident. They do this by killing off any of the alien creatures they encounter and even any human survivors.
There is also a strange man in a finely tailored suit running around the compound that you can never quite reach. He has become known as the “G-man” and he doesn’t seem really human at all. No one really knows what his purpose or what his intentions are. He shows up at the beginning and end of the game and he seems to know about everything surrounding the incident at the research facility. In the final scene of the game the G-man confronts Gordon. He is very impressed that Gordon survived the course of events leading up to that point. Gordon is given the option to work for the G-man and his associates. And if he Gordon refuses, he will be killed. If you decide to work for him, you step through a portal; this is where the first Half Life game comes to an end. The real charm of the first Half Life game was its AI and level design. The AI was praised by both fans and critics. Before Half Life, enemies would only come after the player. Half Life added three new factors into the mix: the aliens, the Black Mesa staff and the Military. Military personal would battle it out independently with the horde of oncoming aliens. If you were spotted however, they would rethink their priorities and come after you. Sitting back, hidden behind a box and watching the aliens and military finish each other off was a good strategy if you were low on ammo. The majority of the game took place inside the confines of Black Mesa. This really suited the claustrophobic atmosphere of trying to escape the crumbling facility. Most of the time the player will find rooms empty and sealed off exits blocking there path until some sort of alternative means was discovered to escape. These sorts of puzzles paced the action sequences in the game nicely, forcing players to put their brains to work instead of their brawn.
Parting Words: Adding a much more cinematic and involving experience than your typical FPS, Half Life truly changed the genre for the better. And in turn Valve had an immense impact on the video game industry. Valve’s new user interface STEAM has generated quite an online community this year. Steam allows members to have automatic updates and patches added and download, free demos and games before release dates. This all happened years before Xbox Live 360 even started! Although in today’s standards Half Life may look dated, it still holds a dear place in my heart, and is one of my top 100 games of all time. - December 30, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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But one of the best aspects of the game was that Valve (HL’s creator) encouraged mods of the original Half Life engine. What this meant was that anyone could customize the levels, characters and physics of the game. Many classics were created this way including Team fortress and the beloved (and quite possibly the most famous online game of all time) Counter Strike.
