Half-Life is an engaging and very impressive shooter, and is arguably one of the greatest PC games of all time.
Many people may ask: What makes Half-Life so amazingly different to that of its cousins? Well for one thing, previous FPS games tend to take one or several gameplay aspects and expand upon them, making the parts of the game that revolve around these apsects considerably better than the other parts that seemed to have had significantly less attention from the developers. This small flaw can alter the illusion of reality so that the game seems more unrealistic than it could've been. However, Half-Life, takes dozens of gameplay aspects and expands upon them in almost every way so that every part, not a few, seem just as immersive and realistic as the last. What's also nothing short of revolutionary is how these aspects are implemented in the game: ranging from complicated puzzles that prevent you from progressing through the game to realistic fire-fights against the game's incredible AI. Valve have managed to mix and match every possible aspect to make a game truly outrageous, its unheard of.
Half-Life introduces players to, Gordon Freeman a 27 year old theoretical physicist working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. Unlike other FPS shooter games, Gordon Freeman does not speak, which overall helps add to the illusion that you are the protagonist and indeed Gordon Freeman. The plot in itself should'nt be that different to other FPS fans, albiet a little more elaborate. Gordon Freeman is caled upon to conduct a top-secret experment in the Sector C Anomalous Materials Test Labs and sufficent to say, all hell breaks loose when the experiment goes horribly wrong. Using an Anti-Mass Spectrometer the strange crystalline substance that is being studied mysteriously creates a dimensional breach allowing extra-terrestrial creatures to fall through the spatial instability and invade Earth. The story is played out magnificently leaving you on the edge of your seats as the situation progressively worsens: A special operations force known as the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit is called in to contain the situation - to silence the aliens but also the science personnel. As the game continues it becomes clear that all-out-war has commenced between the conflicting races.
The story is written so well, that it dosen't just mean travelling across the Facility's campus and killing aliens alike. Dr. Freeman is given the order to launch a sattellite into geo-stationary orbit to close the dimensional breach, travel to a strange new world to take out the brains behind the invasion etc, etc. The story plays out in almost flawless fashion, at times giving you a look at just how bad things are in the Facility. Throughout the course of the game the player never leaves the perspective of Gordon Freeman: by which I mean there are no cut-scenes or jumps through time...you are always looking through the eyes of Gordon and you never leave it. The game also has its own closing and opening sequences, but these are so well done and immersive that they will never take you away from the action and never gets repetitive.
Something else that Valve has managed to change forever is the concept of Weapon Placement. Previous FPS games had the tendancy to place spinning 'power-up's in almost every room you would come across as if God himself had sent them to you. Instead of having Health pickups, Gordon Freeman will have to regain his health and renew his Hazard Suit's energy by using specialised Health and HEV Recharge Stations that are located in logical areas such as places where dangerous work is usually conducted. Instead of power-ups, Gordon will have to retrieve additional ammo by collecting it from the corpses of dead security guards and HECU soldiers. The more experimental weapons such as the Gluon Gun can even be found in the place where its most logically kept - the Weapon Development Center of the Facility. And believe it or not, once you've left the chaotic research facility behind, ammo becomes frighteningly scarce. Whislt this may be only a minor improvement for some, the logical placement of these 'power-up's adds much to the realism of the world.
Valve have seperated the game into more or less than 18 chapters that are further divided into levels that are seperated via a load time. Whislt the load time does momentairily take you away from the immersion of the game, they are fortunately very brief. Overall players should be able to spend approxiamtely 20 hours or more in completing the game's single player campaign.
Whilst the graphics certainly isn't up to today's standards, you can still tell what sets it apart from other FPS games. For example textures in the game aren't always reused to make it seem as if each level is essentially the same albiet with a different structure. Each time the player progresses through the facility the textures change along with the atmosphere of the game, making it seem different all the time but not always making it seem as if you've left the world. The game is also very puzzle-orientated. Whether your trying to get pass locked doors, destroying a lagre tentacle with an experimental Propulsion engine, or jumping over saftely to floating rocks, the puzzles have been placed extremely well by Valve.
The game's enemies are extremely well done as well ranging from seeimngly harmless dogs to lumbering beasts of fury. From the lowly headcrab to the Gargantua, the enemies in Half-Life truly look like organic creatures. There are also the HECU human soliders that are enemies for the most part of the game. The AI is done so well its remarkable. Instead of the soldiers or monsters following you through a tunnel, they'll lob a couple of grenades to finish the job, or use biolgoically implanted flame-throwers to fish you out.
The weapons are incredibly well designed and sound great. There are quite a few that you will recognise from real-life such as the Pistol or Sub-Machine Gun. But then, later in the game you'll come across some of the alien's weapons and Science Fiction type weapons including a Particle Accelerator that destroys anything remotely big within a matter of seconds.
The Voice-Acting is, almost, of hollywood style. When they're not talking to you they'll speak to their science or security counterparts with incredibly realistic replies depending on the situation: at the beginning of the game you'll hear them discuss things about the day or complain, but then after the Incident you'll hear them speak about the situation you and every other human is now in. The one problem, which can take you away from the immersion rather quickly, is the lack of diversity in the human models. You'll tend to think that most scientists are clones after a few hours of playing and every Security Guard looks exactly the same. Sufficent to say however, the game does pretty good in making the models come to life.
These and other complaints are generally just a reaction to the fact that the game is simply just so good. At times you might think the diversity of the levels could've made some previous parts of the game better than others, but overall anyone should be magnificently happy with the outcome of the game. Half-Life is an incredible FPS gaming experiance and a solid multiplayer game (with Half-Life Deathmatch and Team Fortress). Simply, Half-Life is an engaging and very impressive shooter and is arguably one of the greatest PC games of all time.