The end of the brain-dead FPS

Genre: 3D Shoot-Em-Up

Developed by: Valve

Published by: Sierra

From Gordon Freeman’s log:

Great. I knew there were some strings attached to that very tempting and seemingly easy job. I knew that the wage they gave me to do the things I needed to do was too high. I knew I was working with the most secret governement underground organisation in the world. I knew that someday everything would blow up in my face. So why the hell did I take the job? I always had a boyhood dream of being a superhero killing hordes of aliens. But this is really ridiculous. “Welcome aboard Freeman! It’s good to have such a skilled gentleman in our team.” Jeez.

The story behind Half-Life is rather simple: You are Gordon Freeman, scientist of the top-secret Black Mesa Compound. Here, people study various anomolies, alien structures, in other words, stuff the regular Joe isn’t meant to know. In a test, everything goes wrong. The testing core breaks, the compound is almost blown away and aliens are being transported on Earth. Basicly your average everyday chaos scenario. On top of that, the government sends marines whose orders are to wipe the Black Mesa Compound of the maps, including you.

The game itself however, is far more sophisticated. Half-Life has numerous features other games of the genre don’t have.

First of all, the AI of the marines is astounding. Where in Unreal, in my opinion the first shoot-em-up with decent AI, the monsters had two routines (close and far), Half-Life marines have a third: the throw routine. They are capable of throwing grenades at you, so hiding out in a safe corner won’t help you much when you walk into these boys. Most aliens are cannon fodder, but some big ones aren’t: they will require special “treatment” but also have destictive weaknesses. In one level, I came up against this huge four-armed monster. Two slashes and you’re kebab. The creature, which resides in a silo, won’t die by firing at him. Instead, you must do something else (what I won’t tell). Plus he’s blind. He reacts on sounds. So to distract him, throw a grenade or something away from you, and he’ll think you’re there.

Second, the atmosphere is simply brilliant. Although the story is pretty thin, you’ll be scared to hell when a mutant attacks you in the back while you’re walking down a dark corridor. Really, I’m talking Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil situations here. This is something other games like Unreal and especially Quake II lack.

Half-Life uses a modified Quake II engine, which makes it graphically look decent, but not out of this world. The modelling and animation of the monsters, guards, scientists and marines are however brilliant, and thus Half-Life manages to compensate this against the pure visual strenght of others like Unreal and its engine.

Music and sound effects are great in Half-Life, especially when you have a SoundBlaster Live! card (EAX). This is by the way a trend that is expanding rapidly: games supporting and thus getting better by EAX. The music jumps in just when it’s right and creates an atmosphere that is truly awesome. The sound effects are gruesomely realistic, and will sometimes make you shiver.

Next to being great in every known fields of gameplay, Half-Life also brings innovation. In all other previous 3D Shoot-Em-Ups you could die by either being shot, you going bungee-jumping without rope or suffocating under water. Half-Life now adds the danger other environments: Getting close to radioactive waste will damage you (next to setting of a geigercounter), toxic waste and intense heat (not only from fire but also from steam) will also harm you. Laser-beam sensors will trigger bombs or teleguided machineguns, which may determine of you being dead or alive. You can even set your own traps. These will sure be responsible for some fun, or agony, on multiplayer. There are many other similar things I can tell you about, but I think the stated items above will prove enough as an example. These things, although being techincally details, give Half-Life a big plus.

Next to being a great single-player experience with the WorldCraft level editor as a bonus, Half-Life is, as I mentioned before, also great in multi-player. Modem, LAN, IPX and internet play through the stable WON.NET server or other independent servers (similar to the Quake servers) are all available. The (free) multiplayer add-on Team Fortress Classic adds to that super multiplayer experience.

EP sez:

What can I say? Good graphics, incredible AI, atmosphere, music, subtle details and multiplayer capabilities make Half-Life a true milestone in the 3D Shoot-Em-Up genre. I’m telling you, Half-Life is (destined to be) a classic.

(c) 1999 Erwin's Pages
Erwin "Reaper" Husin

Score

Gameplay: 9,5

Graphics: 8,5

Sound and Music: 9,5

Addictiviness: 8,5

Overall: 91,5%

Links

> Valve
> Planet Half-Life