Only in Half Life that among the chaos your fellow scientists still have time to say 'Hi' before running away.
Graphics 9
Sounds 8
Value 10
Tilt 9
(Actual Score 9.1)
Valve; an unknown developer company entering an ever choking FPS world particularly in the 'golden year' of 1998 PC gaming is definitely a daunting feat. The world is talking about 'ackin' for Quakin' and of course the next Quake killer. Unreal showed its face literally with blinding colours and a vast world to explore; Baldur's Gate illustrated what RPG stands for; Grim Fandango barked 'adventure gaming is not dead'; Starcraft redefining the meaning of RTS and I remember the cover art of an Australian PC magazine 'PC PowerPlay' showed the remarkable European Air Wars as being the game gamers played and a little blurb tucked in a corner 'Half Life reviewed here' with a whopping 9.8 scored.
Of course anyone who's heard of Half Life now probably is thinking 'So what's all the fuss?' Well read on.
Half Life broke the 'rules' of FPS gaming. Anyone not following that successful formula (especially a newly founded company) of kill kill and more killing is really asking for trouble; actually begging for trouble. Well Value had a very ambitious idea of letting the player run its course and not being told via cut-scenes (and really there's nothing wrong with that - it's just another way of telling a story). However after numerous battles trying to get a publisher, Sierra decided to give this game a try.
It's starts of with the protagonist 'Gordon Freeman' (even the name is not that heroic - I don't see a 'Max', 'Striker' or 'Master Blaster' at all - Gordon?) taking a site-seeing tour in a tram to be involved in some testing that resulted crashing the whole complex. Sounds pretty typical however as stated above, no cut-scenes therefore you will cause this catastrophic affect by ‘playing’ it. Of course creatures from some unknown dimension pops up and off you go to the surface by doing that ‘run Forrest run’!
Yet Valve didn't stop there with their genius thinking. Typical FPS is pretty much shoot-first-ask-questions-later type of game play. However in Half Life the game will make you think twice before shooting as talking to fellow scientists (or not getting them killed) could lead you into some cache of goodies. Also assistance from security guards will go a fair way however that's not really the considerable change. (As a side note, when the scientist has used up its ‘usefulness’ I normally dispose him in some macabre way. Why you may ask? He knows too much. Guards on the other hand will eventually get killed.)
Environments are something that many FPS lacks. In Half Life the environments can kill you as much as the enemies themselves. Expect wobbly grates, exploding barrels, trip mines (those things are evil as they normally attached to a container for double the pleasure), electric shocks and falling debris…basically anything that you expect when it comes to a collapsed facility. This will force you to think twice about shooting first as it’s really not a good idea when the floor below you gives way and you ending up in a pile of biohazard waste. Look before you leap.
If that’s not enough, the military will offer their support by putting you out of your misery (it is after all a resolution but not an ideal one). Expect tanks, grenades, apache helicopters, manned turrets and rocketed missiles. Now add those pesky aliens (head crabs, zombies, grunts and barnacles to name a few) I suggest reconsidering shoot-first-ask-questions-later.
The most memorable ‘enemy’ in the game however will be the G-Man. Clad in an expensive business suit and carrying a briefcase (I can never make out the marking on his briefcase) he will manifest where you least expected. Take a careful look literally from the beginning until the end of the game for his special guest appearance. Also this makes the game play raise two notches as it brings in a sense of mystery.
All is not lost here though. Gordon will collect an immense range of arsenal to dispose your foes; ranging from pistols to rifles to heavy weaponry to experimental. And the good news is that your enemies will not able to handle those experimental ones (however take note of the word ‘experimental’). Still the most iconic weapon in my opinion will be the crowbar. This weapon not only breaks crates, it looks cool as well.
Graphically the game is a gem. It’s not ultimately the best looking game however it’s pretty detailed. Using the heavily modified Quake II Engine (ironic though as Half Life was aiming to topple Quake II) you can see the elements of the Quake II façade. The backdrops are very Quakish as the environments as well. So what you expect from Quake II is also here in Half Life.
However the major improvement for this engine has to be the uncanny AI. Only Unreal can match the ‘human-like’ ability of the AI. In other FPS once an enemy spots you, they hunt you down like a rabbit. I was initially expecting the same in Half Life how something strange happened. The AI will hunt you by flanking! Yes, there’s actually thought in their movement. Some enemies are quite predictable however those military men are not shy when it comes to using grenades. You have been warned.
Yet again, the buck doesn’t stop here when it comes to innovation. Usually the common enemy will attack you unless accidentally hit by their fellow man only then they attack each other. In Half Life it’s not the case. The aliens and the military will never team up therefore you will witness battles between these two groups and of course you. Again this throws away this ‘blast all’ approach as it’s wise to sit and wait and see who’s left standing to pick off the scraps.
If there is a weakness it has to be the sounds. Please don’t get me wrong here as the sounds are top notch however you are comparing the cream of the creams here. The voices from the scientists, even though quite well lip-synced however it’s limited in the number of voices used. It’s like they shared voice boxes with each other. The musical scores are great to listen to and do get you in the mood however it’s few and far between. Everything else is what you expect from the Quake II Engine; loud, aggressive and earth shattering. Expect no ambience sounds here (and rightfully so). So I’m glad that the shotgun will sound like a shotgun and the blast from the tank’s main gun will hurt your ears!
The length of play in Half Life is longer than your ‘average’ shooter. Expect to play 20+ hours of mayhem and the good thing about this it’s not repetitive game play. You will require hiding, searching and blasting your way through and also provides that typical easy, medium and hard settings. I have played it on medium and considering I’m no dummy when it comes to FPS (well I think I’m not) it’s quite challenging as mentioned above it’s not just the enemies you need to worry about.
I really cannot comment too much about the multiplayer aspects however it seems it's got that typical death match scenarios which is pretty much the staple diet of any multiplayer option. However it went one step further of packaging tools to develop your own maps hence bringing in that huge modding community. Just look around and you can easily pick up a great mod for additional Half Life pleasures!
I hope this review gives justification of how terrific and innovative Half Life really is. I have read many forums stating ‘What’s the big deal of Half Life?’ and by reading my blurb will again hopefully answer this age-old question. I actually remembered Half Life at the time of release and took into account that you do need a beefy PC to run this monster of a game however the reality was that it was over-shadowed by Quake II, Diablo, Duke 3D and believe-it-or-not Doom until the critics put their two-cent worth. Like Unreal it was a pretty slow of the starting block however once leapt and looking at it today who doesn’t know that non-macho name of Gordon Freeman and his iconic crowbar?