This was pretty good. I had some issues here and there with gameplay, but the story, characters, and world are interesting. I had been wanting to get into the Half-Life games for a long time and never thought I would get to them due to their being on PC. The wait was pretty much worth it.
Even though Gordon doesn't have any dialogue or character, I enjoy him. I like how he is thrown into the role of savior. He isn't a soldier and has no combat training, but he fights on because it must be done or else people will die. G-Man is probably the most intriguing part of the game. I want to know what he is, his goals, who he is working for, and what he has in store for Freeman next. G-Man, in my opinion, is a mystery worth solving. The assorted scientists and guards are silly, but I enjoyed them too. I like the differing opinions everyone has on Freeman despite him being just a scientist in an unfortunate situation. People hate him, revere him, help him, or just try to kill him.
The combat is good. A shooter, but a good shooter. The variety of weapons is satisfying, and I like how it makes you think about what options should be used for what enemies. I only really didn't like one enemy: the floating guys. Those things fucking suck to fight.
The boss fights were all fun. I had some issues with Gonarch due to the small size of the arena and the movement being annoying, which I will get into more later. I liked the final boss. It was intense and made me feel pretty cool.
My main issues with the game are its pacing and movement. I'll start with the pacing, which I have less of a problem with. Some endgame missions are long and should have been a little less padded. My more pressing issue was with the movement. I would say 95% of the time I was having an issue with the game it was because I would get stuck on the geometry of the level or the game decided to eat my jump input. It was so unbelievably frustrating. I also had a lot of issues with stuttering, glitches, and a bug that forced me to restart one of the lengthiest missions in the game.
To end positively, I was very fond of the music and level design. The music was very techno and sounded like it was from the 90s. It felt nostalgic and was well orchestrated. The lab levels were pretty fun and had a lot of hidden nooks and crannies to explore. The exterior levels were alright. I am not a big fan of desert levels most of the time. However, the gems of the game come from Xen. The world is staggeringly beautiful, and its visuals hold up well even today.
Even though Gordon doesn't have any dialogue or character, I enjoy him. I like how he is thrown into the role of savior. He isn't a soldier and has no combat training, but he fights on because it must be done or else people will die. G-Man is probably the most intriguing part of the game. I want to know what he is, his goals, who he is working for, and what he has in store for Freeman next. G-Man, in my opinion, is a mystery worth solving. The assorted scientists and guards are silly, but I enjoyed them too. I like the differing opinions everyone has on Freeman despite him being just a scientist in an unfortunate situation. People hate him, revere him, help him, or just try to kill him.
The combat is good. A shooter, but a good shooter. The variety of weapons is satisfying, and I like how it makes you think about what options should be used for what enemies. I only really didn't like one enemy: the floating guys. Those things fucking suck to fight.
The boss fights were all fun. I had some issues with Gonarch due to the small size of the arena and the movement being annoying, which I will get into more later. I liked the final boss. It was intense and made me feel pretty cool.
My main issues with the game are its pacing and movement. I'll start with the pacing, which I have less of a problem with. Some endgame missions are long and should have been a little less padded. My more pressing issue was with the movement. I would say 95% of the time I was having an issue with the game it was because I would get stuck on the geometry of the level or the game decided to eat my jump input. It was so unbelievably frustrating. I also had a lot of issues with stuttering, glitches, and a bug that forced me to restart one of the lengthiest missions in the game.
To end positively, I was very fond of the music and level design. The music was very techno and sounded like it was from the 90s. It felt nostalgic and was well orchestrated. The lab levels were pretty fun and had a lot of hidden nooks and crannies to explore. The exterior levels were alright. I am not a big fan of desert levels most of the time. However, the gems of the game come from Xen. The world is staggeringly beautiful, and its visuals hold up well even today.