Half-Life
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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Half-Life is a masterpiece of epic proportions, the Saving Private Ryan of first-person shooters. You know you're in for something special right from the beginning, when the opening tram ride through the Black Mesa Research Facility immediately immerses you in a convincing world, and an accident triggers visions that perfectly create an air of menace and foreboding.
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Never has a game's opening captured me so completely, and fortunately it isn't an isolated incident. Half-Life is full of those Great Gaming Moments, scenes and scenarios that, when first experienced, make you leap back from the screen, or scream, or sweat, or laugh. The Moments make Half-Life eminently replayable-not only am I ready to start the game over again from the beginning, but I found myself replaying certain scenarios dozens of times to try different approaches, watch the interactions to see what I'd missed or how they'd change, or just soak in the game's masterful scripting.
There is so much that's good and right about Half-Life, it's difficult to know where to begin. The entire game reeks of polish and professionalism-it feels like it really wasn't released til it was ready. The interface is a work of art. The plot is first-rate and unfolds at a magnificent pace. The vast, gorgeous levels are linear enough that you won't get lost, yet they still offer plenty of side areas to explore. The models and animations are beautiful. Your interactions with the environment and the people in it are believable.
And that's crucial because it helps create an unprecedented level of immersion. Rather than be pulled out of the game's world to get an update on your universal translator or what have you, others in that world give you information and instructions. You overhear things. You witness some incredible and horrifying atrocities. You, as Gordon Freeman, are asked to think, to solve, and, of course, to slay.
You won't have an easy time of it. Half-Life is challenging at its hardest level, yet it doesn't accomplish that by just throwing an inordinate amount of enemies at you. The monster AI is passable, and the marine AI is excellent-those squads behave more realistically and with more efficiency than those in Rainbow Six and Delta Force.
Even multiplay works well out of the box. I'm sure there will be patches to optimize it, but I had very playable games on my 56K modem, and I loved playing. You always have a chance to wax someone even when you have just your pistol-a couple head shots, and he's down. The multiplay levels are also well designed, and I loved the way they'd get more and more scarred by blood splotches, bullet holes, and explosions' charring effects.
If there's one failing, it's the disappointing space levels. While there are many minor "jump here, jump there" puzzles, they never felt so gratuitous as in those levels-I felt like I was playing Half-Life when a game of Mario 64 broke out.
But really, that's a minor criticism made just because I felt I had to temper my gushing somewhat. The game's superb ending more than makes up for a couple levels of hopping around, and overall, Half-Life is an incredibly original masterpiece in a sea of FPS clones.
