When I walked into my science lesson the other day, they were talking about how radioactive decay can affect and make an unstable atomic nucleus. When they mentioned that half-life was involved, I eagerly put my hand up. The teacher, quite surprised I actually cared about the subject, let me ask the question.
“Surely half-life can only happen twice?”
Well before we got the great game that was, half-life 2, and then nothing after it except for 2 episodes. We got half-life, the original fps adventure all the way on pc. It was developed by valve, a company formed from ex-Microsoft workers. They thought: ‘well why don’t we just make a game company and make some of the most critically acclaimed games of all time’. And that’s exactly what they did. Unfortunately, due to a freak accident, they lost that ability to count over 2. So that was a mini history lesson about half-life and its creators. But the real question is, 25 years later, does it still hold up?
You play as Gordon freeman. Just an average scientist going to his day work. That is until he does an experiment and it goes terribly wrong. He accidentally ends up creating a portal to another dimension known as xen, which then unleashes its creatures. Gordon is forced to try and find a way to close the portal and get out unharmed. However things get more dangerous once the HECU get involved. They are forced to kill every single black mesa employee and any xen creatures they find, in an attempt to cover up the incident. The story is pretty simple for what it is but I also quite like how simple it is. With Gordon eventually finding that the portal is being forced open by a creature from the other side. But before we tackle what happens near the ending, let’s talk about the gameplay.
The gameplay is pretty similar to most standard fps games. You cover and shoot, picking up health upgrades and armour upgrades on your way. You also have quite the arsenal. For a simple day to day scientist he sure knows his way around a gun or two. The weapon selection includes: the classic crowbar, pistol, shotgun, submachine gun, hornet gun, and others. There are quite a wide range of weapons and they each function in different ways. The weapons also get more powerful as you go along. The weapons feel pretty weak once you get to later parts of the game but are still very usable. There are also parkour sections and puzzle sections. These puzzles aren’t too mind blowing, mainly just being using boxing to build a staircase up to an area, navigating conveyor belts, and things such as that. Later on you even get a little extra manoeuvrability with the fact you can long jump. The gameplay is pretty simple but also has that slight level of complexity which makes it so interesting.
After everything, Gordon finally goes into xen. The world where all of the creatures have been coming out of. It’s almost a miserable world yet it’s also quite interesting at the same time. It has hev suits from previous researchers. It kind of adds to that cold atmosphere that it’s trying to set up. After that though, Gordon finally tackles his final xen monster and then, it’s over, it’s finally over…or so we thought. A mysterious man who has been following you through out finally reveals himself. His name is G-Man. He gives him a choice: to come work with him or be teleported to a bunch of alien soldiers where he dies. If it was me I would’ve let Gordon die because I’m silly like that but…everyone knows the canon ending is that Gordon accepts G-Man’s offer.
And that’s half-life! It still holds up pretty well today and it still has the same level of respect it did all those years ago. Sure there are some parts that make me question the design but it’s still excellently put together and you can tell. If you ask me, it’s a shame that half-life 3 may never happen. This is clearly a series with lots and lots of love put into it and it’s almost a shame that they won’t continue it any further. But I still find it respectable that even today, they clearly care about half-life, and so does the community. I’m so happy to have finally tried one of the most respected fps games of all time.
Great story, good gameplay, wonderful level design…most of the time, excellent weapon selection, great 90’s vibe, I’m sorry to all the scientists and security that died due to my silly ass
“Surely half-life can only happen twice?”
Well before we got the great game that was, half-life 2, and then nothing after it except for 2 episodes. We got half-life, the original fps adventure all the way on pc. It was developed by valve, a company formed from ex-Microsoft workers. They thought: ‘well why don’t we just make a game company and make some of the most critically acclaimed games of all time’. And that’s exactly what they did. Unfortunately, due to a freak accident, they lost that ability to count over 2. So that was a mini history lesson about half-life and its creators. But the real question is, 25 years later, does it still hold up?
You play as Gordon freeman. Just an average scientist going to his day work. That is until he does an experiment and it goes terribly wrong. He accidentally ends up creating a portal to another dimension known as xen, which then unleashes its creatures. Gordon is forced to try and find a way to close the portal and get out unharmed. However things get more dangerous once the HECU get involved. They are forced to kill every single black mesa employee and any xen creatures they find, in an attempt to cover up the incident. The story is pretty simple for what it is but I also quite like how simple it is. With Gordon eventually finding that the portal is being forced open by a creature from the other side. But before we tackle what happens near the ending, let’s talk about the gameplay.
The gameplay is pretty similar to most standard fps games. You cover and shoot, picking up health upgrades and armour upgrades on your way. You also have quite the arsenal. For a simple day to day scientist he sure knows his way around a gun or two. The weapon selection includes: the classic crowbar, pistol, shotgun, submachine gun, hornet gun, and others. There are quite a wide range of weapons and they each function in different ways. The weapons also get more powerful as you go along. The weapons feel pretty weak once you get to later parts of the game but are still very usable. There are also parkour sections and puzzle sections. These puzzles aren’t too mind blowing, mainly just being using boxing to build a staircase up to an area, navigating conveyor belts, and things such as that. Later on you even get a little extra manoeuvrability with the fact you can long jump. The gameplay is pretty simple but also has that slight level of complexity which makes it so interesting.
After everything, Gordon finally goes into xen. The world where all of the creatures have been coming out of. It’s almost a miserable world yet it’s also quite interesting at the same time. It has hev suits from previous researchers. It kind of adds to that cold atmosphere that it’s trying to set up. After that though, Gordon finally tackles his final xen monster and then, it’s over, it’s finally over…or so we thought. A mysterious man who has been following you through out finally reveals himself. His name is G-Man. He gives him a choice: to come work with him or be teleported to a bunch of alien soldiers where he dies. If it was me I would’ve let Gordon die because I’m silly like that but…everyone knows the canon ending is that Gordon accepts G-Man’s offer.
And that’s half-life! It still holds up pretty well today and it still has the same level of respect it did all those years ago. Sure there are some parts that make me question the design but it’s still excellently put together and you can tell. If you ask me, it’s a shame that half-life 3 may never happen. This is clearly a series with lots and lots of love put into it and it’s almost a shame that they won’t continue it any further. But I still find it respectable that even today, they clearly care about half-life, and so does the community. I’m so happy to have finally tried one of the most respected fps games of all time.
Great story, good gameplay, wonderful level design…most of the time, excellent weapon selection, great 90’s vibe, I’m sorry to all the scientists and security that died due to my silly ass