Dr. Gordon Freeman doesn’t speak, but he’s got a helluva story to tell. This first-person roller-coaster initiated a new era in the history of action games by combining engrossing gameplay, upgraded graphics, ingenious level design and a revolutionary story that may not be all that it seems, told not through cutscenes, but through the visual environment.
Dr. Gordon Freeman arrives late for work at 8:47 am in the Black Mesa Research Facility, using the advanced Black Mesa tram system that leads through the facility. He arrives at the Anomalous Materials Lab, his work place, and he is informed by the security officer that the scientists have a special experiment today, so he goes to the locker room and puts on the hazard suit. He goes to the lab's lower levels, and arrives at the Anti-Mass Chamber, where he is instructed that the specimen to be used that day is the rarest and also the most unstable specimen. He is tasked with pushing the specimen into the scanning beam of the Anti-Mass Spectrometer for analysis. However as soon as he pushes it, it explodes, and creates a sudden catastrophe called a "resonance cascade", opening a portal between Earth and a dimension called Xen. Freeman is apparently teleported to an alien planet and catches glimpses of various alien lifeforms, including a circle of Vortigaunts, shortly before blacking out.
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| CPU | 500 MHz | Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz / AMD Athlon MP |
| CPU SPEED | 500 MHz | 800 MHz |
| VRAM | 16 MB | 32 MB |
| RAM | 96 MB | 256 MB |
| OS | Windows XP | Win Xp 32 |
| Graphics Card | 16 MB video card | nVidia GeForce 9100 / AMD Radeon HD 2350 Pro |
| Direct X | 9.0c | DX 9 |
| SOUND CARD | DirectX Compatible | DirectX Compatible |
| HDD Space | Unknown | 2 GB |
| Game Analysis | Half-Life is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Software, the company's debut product and the first in the Half-Life series. First released by Sierra Studios on November 19, 1998, the game was also released for the PlayStation 2 on November 14, 2001. In Half-Life, players assume the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist who must fight his way out of a secret underground research facility, whose research and experiments into teleportation technology have gone disastrously wrong. | |
| High FPS | 200+ FPS ( GTX 1060 ) | |
| Note | Mouse, Keyboard | |
| Optimization Score | 10 | |
Atmosphere, action, story, setting, varied objectives...
It's old news now?
When this first came out, I built a PC just to play it. It’s one of very few games that I found myself thinking about when not playing it. It may not have held up as well as newer shooters, but after the thematically empty Doom & Quake games… it was a revelation. I might get a lambda tattoo.
Classic. About twenty years after release the game still remains exciting while you’re playing. I recommend it to all, who missed this game.
- Gameplay is solid
- Fun Weapons
- Front-based story makes the story light on the brain but engaging
- Best must in valve's gameography
- A pioneer of the time
- Awkward Momentum in controls can lead to frustrating platforming
- Ran into a lot of potentially game-breaking bugs
- Multiple Situations where you have to save/load until you perfect an area which breaks gameflow
Does it live up to the hype? No, not in my opinion. I find that controls to be very awkward, I ran into quite a few game-breaking bugs where I would either be stuck room with no way out, stuck in the ground, and even loaded into what must have been a debug room. The game difficulty isn’t great. Multiple points I would be loaded into an area with 3-5 enemies, at 13 health and would have to exploit the not-so-good AI in order to progress at all.
What I really like about half-life is that even though I know it is quite linear, it never felt like it, I felt like I was progressing instead of being guided in the right direction, heck one of the reasons I put this off was because the brief gameplay I did see lead me to believe my geographically-incapable head could not handle it.
Although I seem to be a bit unfair, this is just a warning not to think of this as the greatest of all time that it is paraded as, but a good FPS, and maybe my feelings on it are biased since I have already played the sequels, but that is a situation I’m sure a large sum of people will be in.
Also this game is always in the sales and is well worth the small amount you can get it for
Half-life took exactly that from me, no regrets… Crowbar FTW!
A fantastic game that doesn’t hold your hand, you must find your own way through Black Mesa. While the game is fairly linear in its design it doesn’t give you a marker or objectives. All you know is that you must escape, all the game gives you is when you enter a new area there might be some info lain on the ground or a few words put on the screen. The most the game does in leading you is where, in the few times that it does happen, you have to escort an NPC to a location to help you advance in the game.
- Engaging/Cinematic Action
- Visual Expression of Story
- Good AI
- Story lacks depth
Half-Life though being a bit different to those who came from a different era of gaming (Post-1990’s), will show many of the things that a familiar to modern FPS games. Half-Life is literally a game changer from the get-go of the game. Valve were careful in their crafting their storytelling (not their detail or depth but expression), filled with visual cues and actions, that express what’s going on the game’s universe. In fact, Half-Life’s protagonist Gordon Freeman, is merely a pawn in a large game of chess. His character is somewhat of a odd choice. Freeman is neither the action hero nor the soldier in which previous FPS titles have been using. Freeman’s role as a scientist, contradicts and breaks the stereotype of action protagonists in FPS’.
The action in the game is much different to previous FPS’ in the genre. Half-Life pushes a more cinematic style and form similar to that of films. The experience engaged in the game are: Military gun fights, disaster like events, fighting aliens and even up against special ops forces. The game make you feel like you’re in an action film, similar to that of John Woo films. The action though sometimes comes to a halt as the game lets you use some brain power (puzzles segements) to pass certain areas. Half-Life perfectly accomplishes this with action. Other things like AI is brilliant for the time as well, especially with military soldiers will try to flank your position by talking to each other. Most of the human AI are never walking targets, they all want to stay alive and desperately do so.
The game is a marvel in its gameplay, though some may consider to be a bit outdated. The main flaw in the game has nothing to do with the experience provided, instead but the story. Though the story expresses itself in many ways, the game doesn’t pack as much punch to be compared to any point and click adventure of the time. Though nor should it be, but with such innovations in other aspects of the game, the story seems minor and limited in detail and depth.
Conclusion: Half-Life was the beginning of a different age of FPS gaming, it provided new features and ideas that weren’t done as well or before. Valve accomplished the standard the modern FPS’ today and its lasting impact can be seen through nearly every action game.
Graphics (For It's time)
Mod ability
Story
Ambience
I think it's hard to find some.
Well, when I first played it in 1999 It was the game that changes even my taste of genre. I played it for many hours and also really enjoyed multiplayer. For it’s year the GoldSRC engine was bit of revolution and gave modding community freedom to mod the game. Story setting is really great. And scientific ambience is making it even better.
Conclusion: I think that it’s still worth buying it.