PC Game: Half-Life.
Genre: Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter.
Developer: Valve Software.
Publisher: Sierra Studios.
Release Date: 19.11.98.
Engine: GoldSrc (modified Quake engine).
Protagonist: Dr. Gordon Freeman.
Settings: Black Mesa Research Facility, New Mexico, USA; Xen.
Gordon rides a tram from his dormitory deep into the heart of the Black Mesa Facility, on his way to the Anomalous Materials Lab to begin his work. Upon arriving at the lab, front desk security guard Barney informs him that a system crash has complicated communications between the Black Mesa scientists, and that Freeman must acquire his Hazardous Environment suit (or H.E.V suit) before proceeding to the test chamber. He spots Dr. Isaac Kleiner confronting G-Man in a room along the way. Freeman reports to the Anomalous Materials Lab, where he meets up with Dr. Arne Magnusson and where he is tasked with pushing a "specimen" into the scanning beam for analysis. Following that, he inadvertently causes a fictional time-space catastrophe called a "resonance cascade," opening a portal between Earth and a bizarre world called Xen. Freeman is sporadically teleported there and catches glimpses of various alien lifeforms, shortly before blacking out. Freeman awakens in Black Mesa, exits the test chamber and sees that many scientists and security personnel are dead. After discovering survivors, Freeman learns there are no means to communicate with the world beyond Black Mesa. Freeman gradually makes his way to the surface to get help, sidestepping Black Mesa's structural damage and defending himself against hostile aliens randomly teleporting in from Xen. A survivor Eli Vance was then seen helping another scientist and then tries to aid Gordon through a closed door. The other surviving scientists claim that human soldiers are en route as part of a rescue mission, only to discover that the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, which has taken control of Black Mesa, is killing both the aliens and everyone at Black Mesa as part of a government cover-up… Half-Life requires the player to perform two kinds of tasks: combat and puzzle solving. Unlike its peers at the time, HL utilized scripted sequences, which range from small events, such as an alien ramming down a door, to major plot points. While most contemporary first-person shooters relied on cut scene intermissions to detail their plot lines, Half-Life's story is put forth entirely through scripted sequences, keeping the player in the game at all times. In line with this, the player rarely loses the ability to control Gordon, who never speaks and is never actually seen in the game. However, player "sees" through his eyes for the entire length of the game. Half-Life has no "levels"; it instead divides the game by chapters, whose titles flash on the screen. Progress through the world is continuous save for short breaks for loading.
The game regularly integrates puzzles, such as navigating a maze of conveyor belts. Some puzzles involve using the environment to kill an enemy. There are few "bosses" in the conventional sense, where the player defeats a superior opponent by direct confrontation. Instead, such monsters occasionally define chapters, and the player is generally expected to use the terrain, rather than firepower, to kill the "boss". Late in the game, the player receives a "long jump module" for the HEV suit, which allows the player to increase the horizontal distance and speed of jumps by crouching before jumping. This is used for platformer-style jumping puzzles in the later portion of the game.
For the most part the player battles through the game alone, but is occasionally assisted by non-player characters, specifically security guards and scientists who fight alongside the player, assist in reaching new areas and impart relevant plot information. A wide array of enemies populate the game including alien lifeforms such as headcrabs, bullsquids, headcrab zombies and Vortigaunts. The player also faces human opponents, in particular HECU Marines and black ops assassins who are dispatched to contain the alien threat and silence all witnesses.
Half-Life has a large array of weapons the player can use, including the trademark crowbar for melee fighting, the conventional firearms of Glock 17 pistol, SPAS-12 shotgun, MP5 SMG with grenade launcher, .357 Magnum revolver, and rocket launcher as well as unconventional weapons ranging from a crossbow to alien weapons such as Snarks. There are also two experimental weapons which are the Gluon gun and Gauss gun.
With the installation of the High Definition Pack, the weapons' appearances are substantially updated, mainly due to a larger number of polygons in the models. Glock 17 and MP5 are replaced by Beretta 92FS and M4 Carbine.
Sharp original score by Kelly Bailey consists of 27 tracks in .mp3 format.
Half-Life Deathmatch is superb.
Half-Life's public reception was overwhelmingly positive in terms of reviews, acclaim and sales. As of 2007, over 8 million copies of the game have been sold, making it the best-selling PC first-person shooter of all time.
Its second demo uniquely released after the game contains level that isn't the part of initial Half-Life and can be considered as its expansion pack.
Half-Life was critically acclaimed, earning an overall score of 96% on review collection website Metacritic. IGN gave HL 95% and described it as "a tour de force in game design, the definitive single player game in a first person shooter". Gamespot (94%) inducted Half-Life into their "Greatest Game of All Time" list in May 2007. All Game Guide gave it a score of 100%. PC Gamer – 96-97%. Absolute Games – 95%. MobyGames – 93%. My rates (compared to 1998’s level, of course):
Gameplay: 9.5/10 (a slight minus for linear straightforwardness).
Graphics: 10/10.
Sound: 10/10.
Score (OST): 9.5/10.
Story: 9/10.
Controls & Interface: 9.5/10.
Multiplayer: 10/10.
OVERALL: 10/10.
If you like this game I also recommend: Half-Life Uplink, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1,2,3, F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, Doom 3.
Genre: Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter.
Developer: Valve Software.
Publisher: Sierra Studios.
Release Date: 19.11.98.
Engine: GoldSrc (modified Quake engine).
Protagonist: Dr. Gordon Freeman.
Settings: Black Mesa Research Facility, New Mexico, USA; Xen.
Gordon rides a tram from his dormitory deep into the heart of the Black Mesa Facility, on his way to the Anomalous Materials Lab to begin his work. Upon arriving at the lab, front desk security guard Barney informs him that a system crash has complicated communications between the Black Mesa scientists, and that Freeman must acquire his Hazardous Environment suit (or H.E.V suit) before proceeding to the test chamber. He spots Dr. Isaac Kleiner confronting G-Man in a room along the way. Freeman reports to the Anomalous Materials Lab, where he meets up with Dr. Arne Magnusson and where he is tasked with pushing a "specimen" into the scanning beam for analysis. Following that, he inadvertently causes a fictional time-space catastrophe called a "resonance cascade," opening a portal between Earth and a bizarre world called Xen. Freeman is sporadically teleported there and catches glimpses of various alien lifeforms, shortly before blacking out. Freeman awakens in Black Mesa, exits the test chamber and sees that many scientists and security personnel are dead. After discovering survivors, Freeman learns there are no means to communicate with the world beyond Black Mesa. Freeman gradually makes his way to the surface to get help, sidestepping Black Mesa's structural damage and defending himself against hostile aliens randomly teleporting in from Xen. A survivor Eli Vance was then seen helping another scientist and then tries to aid Gordon through a closed door. The other surviving scientists claim that human soldiers are en route as part of a rescue mission, only to discover that the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, which has taken control of Black Mesa, is killing both the aliens and everyone at Black Mesa as part of a government cover-up… Half-Life requires the player to perform two kinds of tasks: combat and puzzle solving. Unlike its peers at the time, HL utilized scripted sequences, which range from small events, such as an alien ramming down a door, to major plot points. While most contemporary first-person shooters relied on cut scene intermissions to detail their plot lines, Half-Life's story is put forth entirely through scripted sequences, keeping the player in the game at all times. In line with this, the player rarely loses the ability to control Gordon, who never speaks and is never actually seen in the game. However, player "sees" through his eyes for the entire length of the game. Half-Life has no "levels"; it instead divides the game by chapters, whose titles flash on the screen. Progress through the world is continuous save for short breaks for loading.
The game regularly integrates puzzles, such as navigating a maze of conveyor belts. Some puzzles involve using the environment to kill an enemy. There are few "bosses" in the conventional sense, where the player defeats a superior opponent by direct confrontation. Instead, such monsters occasionally define chapters, and the player is generally expected to use the terrain, rather than firepower, to kill the "boss". Late in the game, the player receives a "long jump module" for the HEV suit, which allows the player to increase the horizontal distance and speed of jumps by crouching before jumping. This is used for platformer-style jumping puzzles in the later portion of the game.
For the most part the player battles through the game alone, but is occasionally assisted by non-player characters, specifically security guards and scientists who fight alongside the player, assist in reaching new areas and impart relevant plot information. A wide array of enemies populate the game including alien lifeforms such as headcrabs, bullsquids, headcrab zombies and Vortigaunts. The player also faces human opponents, in particular HECU Marines and black ops assassins who are dispatched to contain the alien threat and silence all witnesses.
Half-Life has a large array of weapons the player can use, including the trademark crowbar for melee fighting, the conventional firearms of Glock 17 pistol, SPAS-12 shotgun, MP5 SMG with grenade launcher, .357 Magnum revolver, and rocket launcher as well as unconventional weapons ranging from a crossbow to alien weapons such as Snarks. There are also two experimental weapons which are the Gluon gun and Gauss gun.
With the installation of the High Definition Pack, the weapons' appearances are substantially updated, mainly due to a larger number of polygons in the models. Glock 17 and MP5 are replaced by Beretta 92FS and M4 Carbine.
Sharp original score by Kelly Bailey consists of 27 tracks in .mp3 format.
Half-Life Deathmatch is superb.
Half-Life's public reception was overwhelmingly positive in terms of reviews, acclaim and sales. As of 2007, over 8 million copies of the game have been sold, making it the best-selling PC first-person shooter of all time.
Its second demo uniquely released after the game contains level that isn't the part of initial Half-Life and can be considered as its expansion pack.
Half-Life was critically acclaimed, earning an overall score of 96% on review collection website Metacritic. IGN gave HL 95% and described it as "a tour de force in game design, the definitive single player game in a first person shooter". Gamespot (94%) inducted Half-Life into their "Greatest Game of All Time" list in May 2007. All Game Guide gave it a score of 100%. PC Gamer – 96-97%. Absolute Games – 95%. MobyGames – 93%. My rates (compared to 1998’s level, of course):
Gameplay: 9.5/10 (a slight minus for linear straightforwardness).
Graphics: 10/10.
Sound: 10/10.
Score (OST): 9.5/10.
Story: 9/10.
Controls & Interface: 9.5/10.
Multiplayer: 10/10.
OVERALL: 10/10.
If you like this game I also recommend: Half-Life Uplink, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1,2,3, F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, Doom 3.