Skip to HL2?

[the dark side]

There is No Such Thing as Nostalgia, in my opinion it is just an excuse made by "Modern Shooter Excusers" to cover up for the fact their precious Call Of Duty games absolutely suck in terms of lifespan, challenge, gameplay, good old entertainment and imagination, compared to games over 15 years old.

I still play half life one, despite all its faults, such as its rather dodgy ragdoll physics (but, wasnt that still rather experimental technology at the time?) and occasional texture issues. but then GLDSRC was never the best engine, being based on the Quake 1 tech, it was kind of outdated even when new. but Half Life isn't a graphics game, if all you are going to look at is graphics, then stick to boring, over easy, modern day US army propoganda games like battlefeild 3, games that dont even feature any actuall, "gameplay", well, gameplay as i know it anyway.

Half Life is a Gameplay and storyline game, and it is SUPERB on both accounts, in fact, i will say, of the incalculable number of games i own, on a multitude of Machines, Half Life is the one I rank as the very top of the pile, and when you consider it has to fend of both the First Deus EX, and the original No One Lives Forever, some very Elite competition may i add, to get that vaunted spot, that is seriously saying something.

to me, Half life feels, "Special". if we take it on purely objective reasoning, it was, for its time, meerly a "darn good" game, what makes it great, for me, is a subjective matter, it feels "special" its got CHARISMA.

also, you have got to remember, a lot of the things Half Life did, although common in later "Silver Age" Shooters, (post half life-pre cod era, the post cod era is the Dark age of shooters) such as ragdoll physics, and reactive dynamic AI, and Physics Puzzles, had NEVER been attempted before all in the same game. and Half Life, unlike so many ambitious games that fall far from there promise, actually Pulled it off, it pioneered new technologies and attributes despite using a graphics and physics package that was outdated even in 1998, you compare that to many modern shooters, wich dont have any form of AI or physics, and just use a script, despite having infinetly more advanced engines, and you can see right there and then the EFFORT and day i say LOVE that has gone into Half Life. and thats what makes Half Life Feel Special, you can feel the sheer Love and care that went into crafting the game. its not just some cynical check list set by a marketing board experience like Modern Shooters.

Half Life is an innovator. its also a great game on its basics, the Guns feel Thumpy, you can tell you are doing damage, when you shoot a headcrab zombie with the shotgun, he blows into gibs, you land a few beretta rounds on a soldier, hell double up in pain, you feel powerfull. its got great combat, as the enemies are smart, the humans will work in packs and try to isolate you, flank you, out think you, aliens fight on instinct, they are wild, FERAL, you need to adapt your tactics to each enemy, what works on a brainless zombie or mind controlled vauntigaunt, isnt going to work on a FERAL headcrab, same as what works on a basic soldier, will just get you your backside handed to you by a special forces agent,. it forces you to think.

Above all, it makes you PLAY! there isnt any hiding behind a wall like a coward sucking his thumb until the jelly goes away, while everyone else kills for you, you get hurt, you stay Hurt, you need to find a medpack or a medstation, that means you need to explore the level, and youll frequently need to find a HEV recharge unit, or your health is going to fall twice as quick. and as Gordon is on his own, that means pushing on into the alien hoardes and letting them have it with the SPAS on Full Rattle, you try hanging back like a coward, like in a modern game, and your going to either get splashed by a grenade or eaten by ET's uglier Sister. you have to PLAY. thus, it presents a Challenge to the player, as the player has to Survive what the world is throwing at him, and throw twice as much pain back.

then youve got the puzzles, in the golden age of the shooter, all you had to worry about was how big your guns were, how much health you had in the tank, and how much ammo you had to mow down the gribblies with. Half Life Kept all that, and added in brains, no more did you have to just slaughter your way to a keycard to turn off a steam pipe, you had move valves around to reroute the steam (wich would boil Gordon to a lobster even with a HEV suit at full), like you would have to in real life, it made you feel more involved in the story, it also made you feel CLEVER, some of the puzzles were real brain benders, it helped you feel more like Gordon, a man with the shooting skills of an SAS operative, and the brain of an Einstein. its a pretty cool feeling. Today, you just hold the button shown on the screen next to a flashing object until a bar fills up (i'd sooner have keycard finding back than this hand holding "press X at the flashing light" crap, if games get any more dumbed down im going to expect to see "ACHEIVEMENT UNLOCKED: YOU CAN PRESS THE A BUTTON!", at elast you had to PLAY the game with keycard hunt), thats not only boring, i can actually feel my braincells dieing as i do so, with half life, you genuinely had to use your brain to advance past the puzzles.

then there is the story (totally different to ploltine remember) many modern shooters also use FP perspective and mute charachters, and it stinks, mainly because they root you to the SPOT to many times, it breaks the gameplay, i dont want to watch the Console or PC move my camara out of the way of a falling towerblock, i want to spam the straffe key and get out the way myself! with Half Life, you had to do that, from the moment you step out of the tram to the moment the G-Man gives you his offer, you are in full controll, the story doesnt happen to a camara you can controll only in shooting moments, it happens to YOU, because you are always in command. the mute charachter is annoying though,. i like my charachters to meet the word with a sarky comment, not dead silence. i can understand the need to have mute charachters in the early golden age, as the tech was not there for VO, but since Duke, Caleb (the ultimate gaming badA$$?) and Lo Wang, a mute charachter felt like a bad throwback, as if they were too lazy to hire a VO for the main charachter. its more than made up for by the people around Gordon though, G-man especially, his oddly pitched, strangley inflected, clearly ALIEN voice STILL gives me the creeps, doubled with Half life 2 as the improved Source engine, wich can still hold its own today may i add, gave him a suitably Alien appearance to back it up, and the other charachters all help, the Security quards could have just been "pass on through" "GRRR DIE ALIEN SCUM!" "pass on through". 3 lines for all cardboard cut outs, but no, valve gave each one a persona, some are brave and want to take the fight to ET, some are cowardly and just want to go home to momma far from monsters, some are slow witted, others give the scientists a run for there money.

Each scientist is different as well, some cold and detatched and emotionless, interested only in the workings of there own brain. others, bizarre and colourfull oddballs, with a warped sense of humour, as a result, they feel like you know them, so you actually feel a sense of LOSS when they die, putting your more into gordons HEV boots, with todays cardboard effbombing marines, you feel nothing but Releif (thank god, i dont have to listen to him swearing all the time now, why couldnt he have died in the ruddy tutorial!) when they get eighty sixed.

Half Life, is to me, the perfect example of HOW to do an FPS, by giving it a great story (despite a weak plotline lifted pretty much straight from doom, experiment goes wrong, monsters come through portal, one man goes to shut the portal down, yadda, its charachters and art style bring it to life as a great and involving, story) its immersive, you feel like you are Gordon Freeman, its got a LOT of challenge, it wont hold you by the hand, youve got to take the pain to the game, or its just going to steamroller you, you dont fight a few script powered pixels, you fight the game itself! its world, its rules. youve got to think with it, with clever puzzles, maze like and inspired level design, and constantly changing your tactics for the enemy and the environment (wich is often more of a threat than the AI) giving it a genuinely tense atmosphere, while keeping all the BRUTAL shooting, exploration, and challenge that made the Golden Era of FPS so great.all mixed up with a massive lifespan of north of 20 hours.

its that wich makes Half Life, not only better than pretty much any game of its time, but also better than 99% of todays games in this Dark age of Shooters, and although some, such as Serious Sam III manage to beat down there insipid call of duty rip off competition and can be genuinely great games by throwing back to the golden or silver Eras of the FPS, they lack the brains to compete with Half Life on its own rules, very few games, even in the post Half Life silver era, actually do, i can think of only 4 NOLF, NOLF 2, Deus EX, and Half Life 2 and its episodes, that actually can play on Half Lifes Rules.

its those things, that mix of Golden era gunplay and challenge, great level desing, superb immersion in the game world, genuine intelligence and a massive lifespan with wich to fully savour the Genious, and i offer that word with no stipulations, of its Loving Creators, wich make, Half Life, in My Opinion, the GREATEST VIDEOGAME, let alone the Greatest First Person Shooter, i have EVER had the pleasure to play and own.