Half-Life: Game of the Year Edition

The Good
Half-Life turned out to be one of the best games if not best game in 1998. Surprisingly it came from Sierra, a company known for it’s Adventure and RPG games, proving how diverse Sierra’s line-up can be. It was devolved by newcomer Valve, and by taking FPS from action based to a horror/action hybrid they redefined what a FPS could do. Half-Life was also one of the first shooters to have a story, who knows without Half-Life, Halo might not exist.

One of Half-Life’s best features is it’s plot. Which is not just used to give you an excuse to kill things, as in early shooters. You are Gordon Freeman, who has a PHD in Physics, Gordon works at Black Mesa, a super secret research facility somewhere in the New Mexico desert. To start off Gordon is having a bad day. He is late for work. Things are about to get much worse. When an experiment goes horribly wrong, a dimensional portal opens and aliens pour out turning Black Mesa in to a hell on Earth. The plot thickens when Marines are sent in, not to save the Black Mesa staff, but to eliminate them. Furthermore a mysterious man in black is watching Gordon’s progress.

The Sound and Music in Half-Life is amazing. Particularly if you have a bitching sound system on your PC like I do. The sounds are loud, as if a war it being fought behind you. The voiceovers are good, and give the NPC’S more personality. The hero himself never speaks. The soundtrack ranges from eerie undertones, to rocking tunes heard during some of the games most intense fire-fights.

The Graphics were never all that good. The developers choose to make the game less hardware heavy. However with Blue-Shift you can upgrade the game’s visuals.

The gameplay is outstanding. The game is very immersive. And you will neglect sleep, food, and just about everything else while you participate in the Black Mesa incident. The game packs in thrills all the way to it’s end. Did I mention that Half-Life has one of the best endings in any game, where you get to choose your fate.

The Bad
The Graphics are not all that good. However the low quality aesthetics allow even crap PC’s to run this game. Another downside is you may lose your friends as this game will occupy much of your time.

The Bottom Line
If you have not played this game why?