This is awesome, go play it!
Now *THIS* is a video game! This is the kind of video game that makes you wanna make electronic games AND video games! Valve's debut product from their beginning in the late 90s and the first installment in the series, this is the meaning of Full Life. It has been one of the first FPS to feature alien invasion themes (and I'm a great fan of such things as you can probably tell), as well as the first truly linear FPS game that featured set pieces. While that may not sound interesting, there is good reason for it as it's revealed that most actions are guided by the ominous figure: The G-Man. It has also become one of my favorites that seems like you make it to easy first...but it's not as easy as you thought originally. Not to mention it also made me REALLY love Valve's games!
The year is 2010, and Gordon Freeman is a scientist and inventor who must escape the Black Mesa Research Facility of New Mexico after an alien invasion during an experiment gone wrong, with the military later intervening to wipe off all evidence of aliens and the facility staff involved in the incident. This decent story has some depth to it for the time.
Instead of simply telling the story via text on screen like most FPS games, the game tells its story through the events of the game itself and the interaction with NPCs. It also features no cutscenes; you've almost complete uninterrupted control of my man Freeman, and the story is told through scripted sequences seen through his eyes meaning everything happens in real-time, which was unlike anything at the time.
This game introduces one of the most mysterious badass characters in gaming: The G-Man. Not much is known about him other than he's a man with a briefcase and extraordinary powers, who works for an unknown organization. One thing is for certain, he has a fascination with Gordon my man. Throughout the game, the player can catch glimpses of the G-Man stalking Gordon to observe his progress.
Many awesome weapons exist unlike anything else, ranging from normal weapons like an MP5 to more advanced weapons like the Tau Cannon and even an alien itself. All of them have fun uses that are perfect for the situation the player is in, some memorable ones include:
- Snark - A tiny alien that can be thrown to harass enemies, they are weak alone but are hard to hit and can be annoyingly hostile to the player if no other targets are found.
- Hive Hand - Organic alien gun wielded by the Xen grunts, it can shoot weak hornets that follow targets and has no ammo. Well, it does have ammo, albeit returning ammo for unlimited capacities.
- Gluon Gun - A heavy experimental gun with a hose emits a laser that annihilates all matter with no reloading. One of my favs.
- Tau Cannon - Another weapon with experimental origins, it is a weapon with the ability to charge for a stronger shot. Overcharging it will cause it to explode but this can be used to your advantage to reach heights. This is another of my favorite weapons.
- Crowbar - A simple utility/weapon with quick swing and moderate attack speed, intended to be more used to break objects than as a tool for fighting. It is the most famous weapon out of all of Gordon's arsenal, perhaps being the most iconic videogame weapon. It may seem silly, but it has had some recognition of importance. So remember, the most iconic weapon in interactive media is NOT the sword, but the crowbar.
Fight against some of the most dangerous aliens, such as the iconic Headcrabs and Vortigaunts. Not only will you fight against aliens, but corrupt Marine soldiers who seek to eliminate the protagonist and scientists, as a means to contain and erase all traces of the alien invasion. The enemy design is mostly creative to fight against with each faction having its memorable enemies to fight against such as the Gargantua, Houndeyes, the HECU turrets, and even Apache Helicopters!
The A.I. was also innovative specifically for its human Marine enemies, who were the first FPS enemies to work in squads and use complex tactical behaviors and movement patterns instead of simply charging in a straight line at the player. Valve made a selling point out of their ability to flush the player out with grenades.
You can get security guards and scientists to aid you. Security guards can open doors and kill enemies with their pistols, while scientists do the same thing but instead of helping in fights, they can heal you if necessary. Oh, and in addition, there's very good voice acting especially Michael Shapiro who does a really good job at giving The G-Man a calm but sinister voice with a stutter.
What's even better is that both expansion packs, Blue Shift (where you play as a Black Mesa security officer) and Opposing Force (where you play as a HECU soldier), have improved gameplay compared to the main game and expanded the lore. There is also the PlayStation 2 exclusive co-op mode titled "Half-Life: Decay" which now can be played solo on PC as a mod titled "Half-Life Decay: Solo Mission which can be found on Steam and Moddb. It was, by the way, later ported to the PlayStation 2 (2001) with updated graphics and more polygons were added to the characters' models. Unfortunately, the framerate on the PlayStation 2 port is inconsistent, and it drops even lower on the unreleased Dreamcast port.
And even the multiplayer mode is fun:
- The Tau Cannon's alternative fire pierces walls, which allows taking campers down. To add even more "pepper" and reasons to move faster, some maps have a shelter with a button that calls for an air strike which kills everyone outside the shelter.
- Even though the online play service World Opponent Network was discontinued, you still can play the old version of Half-Life and its mods using WON2.
Now, about the Opposing Force:
This expansion released on Half Life's 1-year anniversary features a new perspective on the events of Half-life in which you are Adrian Shepherd, a HECU marine deployed into Black Mesa which happens around the same time in the main game. In addition, introduces more new features and edits such as the ability to climb ropes and swing on them, Night Vision, a completely new tutorial, and more new character models.
HECU is given another perspective that slightly humanizes them more and expands on their lore as well. Their vests are powered by energy and are compatible with the HEV batteries which makes sense on why these batteries are scattered in the first game. The Black ops are also given more elaboration as their involvement is a failsafe if the HECU is not able to contain the invasion which they are deployed to detonate a nuclear warhead in the facility and terminate all others (including HECU) on sight.
Even lots of new weapons the player has competing against the arsenal of the main game are available:
- The Wrench - A more powerful version of the Crowbar, it has two attack functions, one is a lighter blow while the other is a slower but powerful attack.
- Combat Knife - Faster swinging melee weapon. Very good against weak enemies.
- Desert Eagle - It's essentially the Magnum but with a laser sight and better fire rate.
- M249 SAW - A heavy weapon that is very effective against bulkier enemies but has high recoil.
- Displacer Cannon - Experimental gun that can shoot big energy blasts that cut through entities. It also has a secondary ability to teleport to certain dimensions depending on the map you are in.
- Spore Launcher - Alien weapon that shoots spores in an arc and has great damage.
- Shock Roach - Similar to the Hive hand, it's an alien that fires weak electrical bolts with no ammunition requirement.
- Barnacle Gun - Utility tool intended to latch onto certain spores to reach new places, it has another function of being able to eat head crabs instantly or latch onto larger enemies.
- Sniper Rifle - Function similar to the crossbow with the difference being the projectile travels instantly.
Like how Gordon can recruit security guards, Adrian can recruit his fellow marines who are more combat-capable than the guards who only wield pistols. There are also different classes of them such as the Medic who heals more than Scientists and can treat wounded soldiers back up, or the Engineer who can break open locked doors.
Two new factions appear in this game, another alien race known as 'Race X' and the Black ops troops (only one type of black ops appears in the main game and they are rarely encountered). Race X is another faction that joins during the Cascade attempting to infiltrate Earth, while the Black ops are the backup used to wipe off Black Mesa after Gordon interfered with HECU's operation. In addition to new factions, a new zombie type appears in this game which are the Gonomes, stronger zombies that can shoot globs.
The story and levels are good with a soldier getting mixed into an alien invasion while inadvertently tasked with disarming a nuclear bomb in the facility, levels make good use of the new weapon's utilities as well and with more entertaining puzzles. The story is also integrated well with the main game in which events from the main gameplay out within the expansion's story without causing problems with the original's continuity.
While this video game is still a milestone of Full Life, it unfortunately has its fair share of bad qualities that aren't even Full Life.
The "elevator glitch," can cause the player to spawn inside the floor of an elevator at the start of a new level, instantly killing them. Worse still, the game tends to autosave right as this happens, meaning that if this is the only save file you bother keeping, you have to start the entire game again.
While not necessarily a negative in and of itself, lots of things have been retconned because of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life: Alyx. Some notable examples are Gordon going from just starting his job at Black Mesa to working there for a long time and one of the top scientists there, NPCs becoming actual people in the game like Issac and Eli, retconning part of Barney's story, et cetera.
The 25th Anniversary version, despite being a great update that fixed and added a lot, unfortunately shares some flaws with the earlier Steam release: no chapter selection and subtitles, and most map bugs and glitches were also persisted.
Don't be fooled into thinking this video game is easy cuz it's not. Even though I'm sure first-timers on Steam who are teens might love it, it is mainly rated Mature. I played it among an audience of all ages as my first Steam game and not one person in the joint seemed to give up disappointed. I doubt anyone could play this and not like something about it. I really struggled to find anything wrong with it, but I won't give it a perfect score because there's still at least more Borderlands on the way. You'll love it. It reminded me of Doom? But far superior. Forget freaking Stupid Invaders and Tom Clancy, play this. Now.