Half-Life

STOP MESSING WITH THE MICROWAVE

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Finally got around to playing through the first after loving Half-Life 2 all these years. Solid time overall and has some brilliant creativity and artistry behind it, but it is dated in some ways and I ran into some problems. Firstly, I love everything aesthetically about this game. Memorable environments and encounters with a great pacing and variety in lighting, color schemes, stylings and layouts. Models, animations and textures are clearly dated, but in a charming way that I'm nostalgic for. Sound design is still spectacular. What was the most ahead of its time was the lack of "cutscenes" or "levels." Everything is told from a first-person perspective and through environmental details in one long chain of rooms and events connected by chapters and save points. Outside of some long expository dialogues, it's mostly presented pretty effectively. Gameplay is solid enough in the combat, great in the exploration, and clunky in the platforming. Combat established a uniquely vulnerable "scavenger" feel that was different from shooters at the time. What helps is having a massive arsenal to experiment with and large hidden pockets of ammo that rewarded exploration. Though (on normal, at least) I felt that most things dealt way too much damage. Very often a small drop off a ledge or a singular attack from an unseen enemy around a corner would cut my health and suit in half. And plenty of things just one-shot you. If it weren't for the quicksave feature, the game would've taken me forever to beat. Platforming physics are inconsistent. Jumping is floaty with very little air control. Would've been fine except there's quite a few long platforming sections and the alien launch pad things were frustrating to use, especially during the final boss. The two most grueling parts for me were easily On A Rail (the whole chapter) and guiding security guards around Surface Tension. On A Rail sucked because you were mostly limited to your cart, most encounters are prepared ambushes against you, and the whole section was far too long and slow. Surface Tension had slow-moving guards that you had to escort to open a door for you. That's their whole job. It could've easily been a key or access code that you find, but instead you run the high risk of them dying and having to reload previous saves. The AI isn't amazing, so they often wander off or get stuck in the environment if they aren't just getting themselves killed. 8/10 I know I had a lot of gripes, but I can still see that it is a landmark title in video game history and quite a lot of it still really holds up, mostly in the overall ideas and designs, and the frantic escalating energy in combat. Far from perfect, but still an impressive release for the time.