The FPS genre has many benchmarks. There were many
early first-person experiments, then there was Doom, then there was Duke
Nukem, then there was Quake...and then, on the seventh day, there
was Half Life.
Whilst
all those previous games very much defined FPS action itself, Half Life evolved gaming in a way that
moved the FPS genre from its frothy-mouthed gunplay to a storytelling
medium…with shotguns. There is certainly an artistry in creating a satisfying
shooting mechanics, but before Half Life
games had yet to push beyond that. What if, rather than an opening text scroll
or skippable cut scenes, the storytelling was merged with gameplay? What if
there was never a moment where the controller gets yanked from your hands by
million-dollar companies desperate to show off the ridiculous amount of money
they spent in creating their mediocre game?
You play
as hapless scientist Gordon Freeman. Despite being a mute, he’s managed to earn
his PHD and is assigned to partake in a dodgy-looking science experiment that
inevitably goes horribly wrong. Horrors from another dimension are spawning in,
and it’s up to you to reach the surface and get help. Of course, this is one of
those games where the starting objective seems simple, but things develop over
time. Doors get blown away. The military come along, and in general all hell
breaks loose.
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| "OK Gordon. This experiment is perfectly safe. See: the safety alarm's going off" |
The
gameplay escalates at the plot does. You start off with just a crowbar, and
then you get a little pistol with limited ammo. The first few chapters are very
survival-horror in tone as you fend off horrors whilst trying to conserve your
resources lest you be left vulnerable. Then the military shows up and you're forced to be more tactical. Then the aliens start sending in more advanced troops and it's clear the war for humanity has begun as things devolve into utter carnage.
The
shooting mechanics are open enough to allow these changes in gameplay. My
favourite chapter is ‘Surface Tension,’ as it’s basically a combat sandbox
where you’re thrown into areas filled with marines and it’s up to you how you
deal with the situation. Do you stand back with a crossbow and snipe everyone
from behind cover, do you run in there with a shotgun, or do you use explosives
to force enemies into a group so you can blast them into giblets? Well, it all
boils down to which method works best for you…and how much ammo you’ve got. And
the best thing is that unlike Bioshock,
you’re not bogged down with multiple upgrades and ammo types – so you can alter
your tactics at any point, and you will because the enemies you face are
diverse and unique.
The A.I
is still better than many modern shooters. Marines will always flank you, using
grenades to flush you out and dividing into groups. They don’t just duck behind
cover and wait for you to come to them, nor do they charge heroically into your
awaiting gun. Occasionally you can make them line up behind a corner and shoot
them one-by-one, but for the most part it’s very difficult to exploit the A.I.
The best example of this are the ninjas (yes, there are ninjas in this game)
who are extremely tough opponents and sadly only show up twice, which is a pity
but I’d rather be left wanting more than less.
The
weapons themselves are solid and satisfying. The iconic crowbar is useful right
up to the very end of the game, as are the rest of the weapons. Your little
pistol is still a valuable asset to your arsenal, and whilst the heavier
weapons are extremely effective, their ammo is scarce so you’ll never find
yourself with a game breaking weapon. Again, it’s not like Bioshock which in the later stages of the game throws weapons at
you despite the fact you’ve already fully upgraded one weapon and don’t really
need anything else now.
The story
itself isn’t spectacular, but the way it’s told is what makes the game so
unique. I use the term ‘levels,’ but really the game is a seamless journey
through the largest science facility in the world. You don’t finish the map
then teleport somewhere else (well, not until the last chapter), you travel
from science labs to an office complex to a storage area to a waste disposal
department to a rocket launch site. You take every step of this journey
yourself, and progress naturally through various interlinking sections. Along
the way, you’ll run into a stray scientist or security guard who gives a bit of
exposition and it’s through this the plots told. To top it all, you
occasionally spot a mysterious man with a briefcase watching you – which gives
you the impression that a larger force is at work here.
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| "We cannot comment on Half Life 3 yet. Carry on, gamer." |
This all
being said, Half Life is not perfect.
Nothing is, but despite my dramatic introduction to this review I don’t think
Half Life is sacred. It’s certainly innovative and enjoyable – which is perhaps
the best compliment anyone can give to a work of art – but it’s old. Old games
do things new games don’t…for better or worse.
Let’s get
the biggest problem out of the way: the platforming.
The
problem with first-person platforming is that it’s simply dodgy. Even games
like Mirror’s Edge where you can see
your feet are hampered by the restricted viewpoint FPS’s provide. The whole
point of the first-person viewpoint is immersion, as you see the digital world
from the same viewpoint which you perceive the real world from. But it’s easier
to jump across platforms in real life because you control your body through a
complex array of muscles that hurl your body through the air rather than pressing
the space bar and praying.
These
sections almost kill the game’s flow. You’ve just navigated your way through an
intense combat arena filled with ambushes and a balanced array of enemies when
suddenly the game asks you to hop across a series of platforms. You’ll fail
several times and will probably hurl enough insults at your computer to make a
GTA protagonist blush.
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| "HELLO! WHY CAN'T NO-ONE HEAR ME?!" |
It
doesn’t help that because Half Life
is based on a modified Quake engine, you move like an old-school shooter. In
many ways it’s a refreshing change from modern gaming’s ‘sprint’ system, when
you press a button and your character dashes whilst the camera bobs so much you
get motion-sickness. Sure, it’s unrealistic, but it’s fun to strafe around
enemies firing high-powered weaponry like a god of carnage. But the movement
system makes platforming even more of a nightmare than it already is.
Speaking
of a god of carnage, whilst I really wish modern games would take more
inspiration from Half Life’s combat
instead of the ‘two weapons only’ model – the mechanics are a bit off. As with
almost every FPS, your hitbox is bigger than it looks. Often you’ll take cover
only to find that you’re actually in cover and you’re swiftly killed by a fatal
shot to the elbow. Conversely, enemies have relatively small hitboxes, making
it much harder to hit enemies that it seems. I praised the open-ended combat,
but when fighting the marines it’s best to just keep firing the SMG until they
all eventually fall down. Also, in the medium and hard difficulties, enemies
are bullet-sponges who can ruin your day if they catch you by surprise…and they
will because whenever you complete a puzzle or see a massive empty room –
expect an ambush.
Whilst
none of these problems ruin the game, they all come to a head in the final few
levels. Going into space sounds awesome, but space as it turns out is filled
with platforming puzzles and really crap boss-fights. A boss shouldn’t be a
bullet-sponge; it should be the ultimate test of your abilities. I know several
people who’ve given up on the last chapter not because it’s hard but just
because it’s so out of place.
In 2004,
following the release of Half Life 2
(which we’ll get to one day) Half Life:
Source was released. When it came out, fans were actually really
disappointed. People were so blown away by the Source engine that they expected
a complete remake of Half Life in the
style of its sequel. What they got was just Half
Life but copy-pasted into a more stable engine that also enabled
higher-resolution textures. In fact, people were so disappointed that in 2012 a
fan-made remake of Half Life was made
called Black Mesa (which, again,
we’ll get to one day).
OK, so
it’s just the same game again but smoother. But this means that if you’ve never
played Half Life and you want to
experience it warts and all, then this is by far the best way to jump in.
Although, you can’t play the expansion packs…which I’ll get to another time.
Half Life has its warts, but it’s the ying
to the yang. The game possesses both some of the best and some of the worst
elements of first-person shooters. It’s immersive and fluid, but it’s clunky
and unrefined. And that in many ways just adds to its charm. Portal 2 was so rigorously playtested
that there’s nothing to be learnt from it, whilst Half Life is a game you absolutely must play before you die. Even
if you hate it, play it as far as you can and think what needs to be learnt
from it…because the Triple A industry is still so far behind.
