I’ve played Half Life
2 and its episodes, and now I know where it all comes from. Half
Life, in short, was quite engaging and a blast to play. The fun, however, was all too familiar;
familiar to even a fault. That aside, I
guess if a formula works, use it!
The game begins with a tour of Black Mesa, the research
facility you, the fresh lab tech Gordon Freeman, works at. This is a brilliant move on Valve’s part (the
successful creators of Half Life). Why?
It’s brilliant because the game lays out the premise of the entire story
without so much as a word. The tour is
also great for setting-up familiar places that (surprise surprise) will become
strangely perverse in short order. This
stellar level design leads the player along for the entirety of the game’s
progression; needless to say, you won’t get bored.
When delving into the confines of Half Life’s world, the player is faced with both aspects of combat
and puzzle solving. The puzzles are all
environmentally based, and provide a stark reminder that the facility you are
in is one: falling apart; and two: Black Mesa is being invaded by freakish
trans-dimensional aliens! The thought
challenges in levels are usually very straight-forward and easy to navigate by
any individual, mixing up the “go here, do this” formula so apparent in modern
games. But, when issues are presented
without much info to go on, some puzzles can be shear frustration, be it a
timing issue, a previous action having to have been done, or falling to your
death.
One thing that any player of Half Life will first notice is the uniqueness of every weapon. Crowbars, rail guns, and nasty little
critters all make an appearance, each having a specific capability unseen among
other equipment. These tools are given
in a drip-bag fashion, allowing for the player to get to know each weapon well
for whatever situation comes up. The
final cool thing is the way that the weapons are grouped together; pistols are
together, heavy cannons stay next to each other, deployable equipment is packed nicely away,
etc.
Speaking of weapons, the things they’re used on share an
amount of uniqueness. Zombies are slow, the
iconic headcrabs provide nasty ambushes, spec ops baddies are persistent, and
the rest of the cast has a familiar silhouette for easy recognition of their mentality
and capabilities. That distinctive
nature keeps encounters refreshing, also enabling a quick-reaction to finding
the correct solution to any given engagement.
The journey to get out of Black Mesa is a grand journey,
taking the player to the depths of dank tunnels, through secret labs, and past
the guarded surface of the facility.
This voyage is enjoyable, don’t read me wrong, but it has been taken
before. Nearly all of the level design
was carried over into Half Life 2,
with barely a hair of change delivered to the player. This lack of originality cannot be attributed
to the first Half Life, but this
rehash, fun as it is, cannot be forgiven of Valve.
All in all, Half Life
is a fantastic experience for any lover of games. Valve’s attention to illustrating a living,
unique world with minute details and overall execution is like no other. Puzzles and combat lend themselves to an
experience you will never forget (and will see again if you care to pick-up Half Life 2, undeniably one of the best
games ever made). I can safely say that
I had a great time with this title, and that if you decide to pick it up on
Steam or elsewhere, it isn’t a bad decision!
Take care with your gaming until next time.
- + Brilliant level design.
- + Good introduction of a wide range of varied weapons.
- + Iconic enemies that give the player excellent company.
- + Decent puzzle application for the most part.
- - Level design that is to be rehashed later in Half Life 2.
- A fix: Um… not really much to fix here; if it works, don’t fix it!
- - Some puzzles lack the hints needed for an ease of being figured out, developing them into unneeded hassle.
- A fix: Add simple graphic text hints within the context of the area.
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