There are few games where I can say and actually mean I've beaten dozens of times - ones that were watershed moments for me in the medium. For one reason or another I was never able to articulate just why I was obsessed or played Half-life 1 so much as well as its expansion packs and sequels.
Some 18 years later after getting the Half-Life 1 Anthology right after beating Half-Life 2 as a kid, It fell to the wayside of memory as the years passed. Recently, however, after watching the incredibly well-made 3d Half-Life 1 shorts of Animux on Youtube on a whim (which, if you're a fan of the series, totally should), decided to revisit and see whether it rekindled anything from when I was playing 'old' games as a teen while everyone else around me got Xbox 360s or PS3s.
I was surprised how shockingly different I remembered Half-Life as a whole from my teenage brain. The Half-Life 1 from what I remembered wasn't a distressing, depressing, and dark game as I remembered its premise being for some reason - behind its cartoonish scientists laughably yelling and screaming in agony or in its bright aesthetic or meathead marines yelling commands, there was a grim undercurrent with palpable despair, and above all, immense hopelessness. A situation so beyond saving that a group of scientists throw Hail Marys any chance they get at creating a semblance of hope, and that alone is an interesting set-up from interacting in-game with Gordon Freeman's colleagues: a science team that carry themselves as beyond the terms 'blind faith' and 'chance', and never accept anything that cannot be quantifiable. Gordon Freeman himself is the silent protagonist perfected with hints of his personality sprinkled from interactions with people and even from how the player navigates him through impossible scenarios, its always from the perspective of deducing 'okay what is the LEAST risky thing to do' to weighing options on how to tackle impossible odds with logic.
Its storytelling was and still holds firm these nearly 26 years later, and honestly better told than a ton of overly-expository AAA titles of today - the player unraveling a mystery of the complex from the perspective of Gordon Freeman's own limited access/knowledge to the facility is genius, and its grounded approach to logical puzzles, reaction to containment, and overall the character's response to their plight and situation runs circles around a lot of modern day titles.
As for gameplay, it too also approached its gunfights with a care as you're constantly over-numbered, ambushed, left on the edge of death. Gordon is a regular person with no combat experience, and this is emphasized with great balance without compromising engagement or leaving Gordon completely vulnerable; the game reminding you this as well as Gordon being at least in a better chance of survival because of his HEV suit, and without it would've been less likely to have had a more balanced playing field compared to the Xen creatures, marines, and black ops; even how he reloads slowly to firing weapons with recoil are nice touches to reinforce how average Gordon is in the literal sense with no combat experience.
Each turn you make or item you pick up can easily expose you within a moment's notice, and its not for 'antiquated' design, either. The constant flux of enemies teleporting left and right from out of nowhere adds to the element of anxiety, tension, and enhances the chaos along with making Gordon along with every else's chances of survival even more bleak. I was left wondering how did I make it through this game as a teen using a goddamn touch-mouse since that's the only computer my family had to use through so many encounters as a kid with high health on the highest difficulty? Almost every gunfight felt like a choice or problem to solve rather than Quake or DOOM being simply horde after horde encounter; and how could I traverse around just as a normal person would: why risk everything when you can let the military and Xen species duke it out?
Half-Life managed to not just be a trip down memory lane and live forever with rose-tinted glass, and thankfully its so much more than nostalgia. It completely reminded me how unique this franchise is from its incredibly dense and rich lore to its approach in hard science fiction writing and immersive gameplay. Half-Life shows the player how the quandaries of the limitations and arrogance of man be placated by failed systems of balance and check, and the intent of discovery remaining unfettered will lead humanity down a slippery slope of exploitation and catastrophe at the expense of not only its workers, but inevitably bring unforeseen consequences to all.
Some 18 years later after getting the Half-Life 1 Anthology right after beating Half-Life 2 as a kid, It fell to the wayside of memory as the years passed. Recently, however, after watching the incredibly well-made 3d Half-Life 1 shorts of Animux on Youtube on a whim (which, if you're a fan of the series, totally should), decided to revisit and see whether it rekindled anything from when I was playing 'old' games as a teen while everyone else around me got Xbox 360s or PS3s.
I was surprised how shockingly different I remembered Half-Life as a whole from my teenage brain. The Half-Life 1 from what I remembered wasn't a distressing, depressing, and dark game as I remembered its premise being for some reason - behind its cartoonish scientists laughably yelling and screaming in agony or in its bright aesthetic or meathead marines yelling commands, there was a grim undercurrent with palpable despair, and above all, immense hopelessness. A situation so beyond saving that a group of scientists throw Hail Marys any chance they get at creating a semblance of hope, and that alone is an interesting set-up from interacting in-game with Gordon Freeman's colleagues: a science team that carry themselves as beyond the terms 'blind faith' and 'chance', and never accept anything that cannot be quantifiable. Gordon Freeman himself is the silent protagonist perfected with hints of his personality sprinkled from interactions with people and even from how the player navigates him through impossible scenarios, its always from the perspective of deducing 'okay what is the LEAST risky thing to do' to weighing options on how to tackle impossible odds with logic.
Its storytelling was and still holds firm these nearly 26 years later, and honestly better told than a ton of overly-expository AAA titles of today - the player unraveling a mystery of the complex from the perspective of Gordon Freeman's own limited access/knowledge to the facility is genius, and its grounded approach to logical puzzles, reaction to containment, and overall the character's response to their plight and situation runs circles around a lot of modern day titles.
As for gameplay, it too also approached its gunfights with a care as you're constantly over-numbered, ambushed, left on the edge of death. Gordon is a regular person with no combat experience, and this is emphasized with great balance without compromising engagement or leaving Gordon completely vulnerable; the game reminding you this as well as Gordon being at least in a better chance of survival because of his HEV suit, and without it would've been less likely to have had a more balanced playing field compared to the Xen creatures, marines, and black ops; even how he reloads slowly to firing weapons with recoil are nice touches to reinforce how average Gordon is in the literal sense with no combat experience.
Each turn you make or item you pick up can easily expose you within a moment's notice, and its not for 'antiquated' design, either. The constant flux of enemies teleporting left and right from out of nowhere adds to the element of anxiety, tension, and enhances the chaos along with making Gordon along with every else's chances of survival even more bleak. I was left wondering how did I make it through this game as a teen using a goddamn touch-mouse since that's the only computer my family had to use through so many encounters as a kid with high health on the highest difficulty? Almost every gunfight felt like a choice or problem to solve rather than Quake or DOOM being simply horde after horde encounter; and how could I traverse around just as a normal person would: why risk everything when you can let the military and Xen species duke it out?
Half-Life managed to not just be a trip down memory lane and live forever with rose-tinted glass, and thankfully its so much more than nostalgia. It completely reminded me how unique this franchise is from its incredibly dense and rich lore to its approach in hard science fiction writing and immersive gameplay. Half-Life shows the player how the quandaries of the limitations and arrogance of man be placated by failed systems of balance and check, and the intent of discovery remaining unfettered will lead humanity down a slippery slope of exploitation and catastrophe at the expense of not only its workers, but inevitably bring unforeseen consequences to all.