I’ve been meaning to cover this on LGR for nearly a decade but I’ve continually put
it off with it being such an established classic.
Well no more excuses, this is Half-Life!
One of the golden standards in first-person shooters
and an all-time classic among games in general.
More specifically, this is the original release for Windows PCs, developed by Valve Software
and published by Sierra Studios on November 19th, 1998.
And you can tell it’s an early release, not only due to its sizable gatefold box,
but the fact that protagonist Gordon Freeman doesn’t even have glasses here.
That changed by the time the 1999 Game of the Year Edition came around, with Mister
Freeman donning a respectable set of spectacles from here onwards.
We’ll get back to some of the later releases in a bit, but for now let’s stick to the original release.
Inside the box you get a jewel case containing the game CD-ROM sprinkled with rusty patterns
and mathematical equations, a registration card that was found bundled with both Sierra
and Knowledge Adventure titles, an ad for the official Half-Life strategy guide, the
Fall 1998 Sierra software catalog featuring full-color ads for both Half-Life and a standalone
version of the Half-Life editor, Worldcraft Pro: a product that was canceled in March of ‘99.
And finally there’s the owner’s manual, a 40-page document featuring vivid orange
highlights and piles of detailed gameplay information and concept art, as well as an
ad for the Falcon Northwest Mach V. Man that company was all over the place, seems like
there were Falcon ads for every major PC game release back then.
Half-Life begins with some logo videos, including that iconic one from Valve.
[ominous Valve theme plays]
Ahh "Hazardous Environments," still one of the best intro themes around.
And at this point you get the original Half-Life main menu, something I hadn’t seen in ages.
Subsequent versions of the game changed this menu around quite a bit, before ditching it
entirely once Steam came along.
One thing that didn’t change is the default control scheme, and for good reason: it’s
still pretty standard, even decades later.
This was back when default FPS controls could still vary wildly from game to game, but Half-Life
was one of the very first PC games I remember seeing WASD for movement, control and shift
for ducking and walking, E for interactions, etc.
And to this effect, Valve included a training room for players unfamiliar with this kind
of first-person shooter.
It’s more or less just a [“practice mooooode”]
where you can mess around with the controls, mechanics, and weaponry.
But you’re also accompanied by a helpful holographic training guide.
-"Hello and welcome to the Black Mesa Hazard Course, where you'll be trained”
-”in the use of a hazardous environment suit. I am your holographic assistant."
And even though the default controls are going to be second nature to anyone familiar with
more modern FPS games, I still recommend going through this hazard course due to a couple
of the moves you need to master in Half-Life.
Namely, the crouch jumping and long jumping, two moves that are vital to navigating a significant
chunk of Half-Life but are pretty much non-existent in newer shooters.
Once that’s over, it’s time to clock in for a day of work at the Black Mesa research facility.
And that begins with a leisurely tram ride, making for a deliberately slow introduction
to the vast Half-Life universe.
-”The time is 8:47 AM. Current topside temperature is 93 degrees”
“with an estimated high of one hundred and five.”
And man, seeing this for the first time was mind-boggling stuff to teenage me.
This was an FPS game that began without the ‘s.’
Nothing to shoot, no guns or weapons, no one to talk to.
Just a bit of exposition in the form of the computerized tram voice and the text letting
you know you’re 27 year old Gordon Freeman, an MIT graduate with a PhD in theoretical
physics, and a level 3 Black Mesa research assistant
assigned to the anomalous materials laboratory.
Who also happens to be running late to work.
-”Morning Mister Freeman, looks like you’re running late!”
[keypad beeping, door opening]
Oh and it’s worth noting that the gameplay you’re seeing here is being captured using
original retro hardware with Creative’s Environmental Audio Extensions enabled.
Makes quite a difference compared to sound cards without it.
-”Hey, Mr. Freeman. I had a bunch of messages for you,"
"but we had a system crash about twenty minutes ago and I'm still trying to find my files.”
-”Hey, Mr. Freeman. I had a bunch of messages for you,"
"but we had a system crash about twenty minutes ago and I'm still trying to find my files.”
Some players may understandably prefer it turned off, or using Aureal’s A3D mode instead.
But either way Half-Life was one of the premiere titles to make use of audio hardware enhancements
back then and personally it just feels right having EAX enabled.
Echoey audio or not though, this starting section in Black Mesa is still crazy to me.
In a good way, I love when games go out of their way to provide extraneous interactivity,
and Half-Life delivered here with its locker rooms, hand dryers,
soda machines, and microwave casseroles.
[beep beep boop, BLAM]
-”My god, what are you doing?!”
And of course, this is where you get the Hazardous EnVironment suit.
The HEV practically turns you into a superhero, so that’s convenient considering what’s to come.
And that is, well, you’re throwing science at the wall here to see what sticks.
Imagine if CERN went the way of Stephen King’s The Mist, the latter of which has been cited
by Half-Life’s developers as an inspiration.
Turns out that shimmering alien crystals and anti-mass spectrometers don’t mix, resulting
in a massive quantum event known as The Resonance Cascade.
[scientists scream, resonances cascade, bad things happen]
Yeah so an interdimensional rift has opened up
and lots of murderous aliens are flooding into the facility.
It’s up to you to... survive, mostly.
Though unlike the rest of the poor souls in Black Mesa, you’re equipped with a suit
that largely protects you from all manner of attacks and hazards.
And thankfully it’s not long before you find Half-Life’s most recognizable weapon,
the crowbar, uniquely clad in red paint and perfectly suited for bashing alien flesh and
fragile objects alike.
But even with these advantages, for the most part you’re running scared like everyone
else, enduring attacks from face-hugging headcrabs, zombified former scientists,
and the sonically obnoxious Houndeyes.
Luckily you’re not stuck with the crowbar for too long, with increasing enemy threat
matched with increasing firepower.
Two different pistols, a combat shotgun, and an SMG show up, as do explosives like grenades,
trip mines, satchel charges, and a laser-guided RPG.
There’s a powerful crossbow that acts as your sniping option, along with the Tau Cannon
and Gluon Gun: energy weapons that dole out incredible damage while constantly running
low on ammo.
Two organic alien weapons fill out the arsenal, with the Hornet Gun and the throwable Snarks,
each of which are a little odd, but effective.
And despite the fact Gordon can’t actually speak, there’s no shortage of talking in Half-Life.
When you run across friendly survivors, mostly scientists and security guards, Freeman can
interact with them and have a one-sided conversation.
There are no objective markers or anything, so this is the game’s primary method of
letting you know what’s going on and what to do next.
-”Gordon. If I’d known it was you I’d have let you in.”
“Everyone is heading to the surface. But I think they’re crazy not to stay put."
"Someone is bound to come by and rescue us.”
This also provides ways to unlock hidden areas and alternate paths since each NPC can be
asked to follow you around.
If you can keep them alive, they’ll do things like open locked doors, provide health resources
when you’re hurt, and even engage enemies in combat.
Typically not very useful combat, but y’know, the gesture is appreciated.
And considering the escalation in difficulty once the military shows up, I’ll take all
the gestures I can get.
Yeah, it rapidly becomes clear that Black Mesa is considered a lost cause by the authorities,
who’ve dispatched legions of grunts to clean up the mess.
Seems that you and your colleagues are considered part of that mess, so you’re soon fighting
both otherworldly creatures and combat-trained assassins wielding military-grade hardware.
These guys do not mess around either, with both aliens and the military displaying some
impressive AI, for 1998.
Ambush attacks, suppressive fire, flanking maneuvers, flushing out with explosives, even
tracking you using sound as well as scent.
Yeah as printed on the back of the box, enemies have a sense of smell,
so one misjudged fart and you’re dead.
[shoots, dies]
"Emergency: user death imminent."
That’s not to say Half-Life is a non-stop flatulent shooting gallery though.
More often than not, it’s just you alone navigating Black Mesa with a flashlight, looking
feverishly for the next health and suit charging stations.
And progressing in a notably linear fashion, more than many other shooters I was playing
in the late ‘90s.
Make no mistake, it’s still a substantial 10 to 15 hour story with plenty of detours
off the beaten path.
But unlike Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, or even Unreal, which all often relied on a string of large
maps with straightforward entrances and exits, Half-Life is a distinctly linear campaign.
You can’t really go off the rails too much, instead being funneled through each area with
clear intentions.
Rarely are you left wondering what to do next, as typically there’s a clear obstacle to
overcome in each map segment.
Often it’s a puzzle with a logical yet slightly elusive solution, giving Half-Life an appropriately
scientific quality when making progress.
Maps also weave together in a way that was fresh at the time, where one area loads directly
into the next as you encounter it.
No key cards, exit switches, or level ending stat screens here.
You can even go back and forth between maps as well in many cases, making Half-Life feel
more like a large cohesive world rather than an assortment of loosely-connected maps.
And just the overall atmosphere, it’s pretty fantastic.
With rather minimal amounts of admittedly awesome music and a good mix of industrial
atmosphere and creepy alien sound effects.
And each area feels distinct in both theme and mechanics, always tossing out new puzzles,
hazards, and environments in order to test your skills.
Keeping in mind this was using the GoldSrc Engine, based on the Quake code base, this
was quite impressive stuff.
Graphically it was no powerhouse, but Half-Life still more than impressed with its network
of claustrophobic passages, ample storage facilities, and ethically questionable laboratories.
Not to mention features like in-engine cutscenes that were quite novel at the time, and the
numerous scripted horror sequences that do a stellar job of putting you on edge, morbid
curiosity piqued by what further atrocities lie ahead.
The Black Mesa Research Facility and its surrounding environs constantly keeps you on the defense
while unraveling the mystery of how to overcome the latest roadblock.
Fixing power problems, manipulating water pumps, troubleshooting rocket engines, shooting
a giant alien using remote missile launchers, even taking down attack choppers!
And then there’s navigating tunnels using cumbersome rail cars, slippery first-person
platforming, exhaustingly repetitious combat encounters... ah I’m remembering why I got
so annoyed at Half-Life once upon a time.
For every enjoyable challenge there is to solve, you’re presented with another that’s
either tedious or straight up frustrating.
Sometimes AI misses its cue and you’re left reloading save games until it works, sometimes
AI does its job too well and you die cheaply from hitscan weapons with little to no chance
to react, other times you just fall off a ladder to your doom because the ladder climbing
mechanic sucks, or the game will just freak out because physics aren’t always what they seem.
For all of its groundbreaking awesomeness, Half-Life is occasionally waist-deep in wonkiness
which can turn into a pile of aggravation if you’re not adequately prepared for it.
This is especially true of the final chapters that take place on the alien borderworld of Xen.
Kind of a shame too, because I dig the overall design of the place with its crazy gravity,
funky landscapes, and giant crabby sac monsters.
But by this point, without fail I am entirely ready for the story to be over with.
All the jumping puzzles, annoying enemies, spiky difficulty, and unclear objectives on
Xen didn’t do it for me on my first playthrough and I have even less patience for it now.
Ah well at least the ending is enjoyably strange,
with you finally coming face to face with the G-Man.
Up to this point you only see him show up in silence with no explanation.
And you still don’t quite get an explanation at the end either, but at least it’s something.
-”That’s why I’m here, Mr. Freeman. I have recommended your services”
“to my employers and they have authorized me to offer you a job.”
“They agree with me that you have limitless potential.”
At this point you can either accept the G-Man’s vague offer and you’re teleported to who
knows where, preparing for the inevitable sequel.
Or you can turn him down, being teleported to who knows where, preparing to die at the
hands of an army of alien grunts.
Either way, the credits roll and that’s the end of Half-Life!
Still an excellent single player FPS experience after all these years, though one that’s
also showing its age.
Still, considering this was the developer’s first game in 1998?
This truly was nothing short of unprecedented, revolutionary, and all the related marketing
blurbs, deservedly becoming the highest-rated PC game of the year.
Leading to the previously mentioned Game of the Year Edition released in 1999, having
won over 40 such awards from various press outlets.
It also came with some new content, most notably Team Fortress Classic.
Half-Life already had 32-player deathmatch modes, but Team Fortress’s class-based multiplayer
was much more nuanced, and more enjoyable in my opinion.
Before this it was a popular mod for id Software’s Quake, but in what would become a go-to business
move for Valve, they hired the independent developers and turned it into an official product.
The next Half-Life release came in the form of an expansion pack: Opposing Force.
But with Valve moving onto other projects,
newcomer Gearbox Software was hired to develop this one.
Opposing Force is fascinating idea for an expansion, forgoing a continuation of the
main story and instead going back to revisit the same events from the perspective of the
enemy soldiers you were so callously slaughtering.
You play Corporal Adrian Shephard, accompanied on occasion by teammates which you can order
around to complete objectives.
New weapons, new enemies, new locations around the universe to explore, it’s darn good stuff.
The next major Half-Life release was Half-Life Platinum, hitting the market in the year 2000.
This is one beefy package, containing everything released for the series up to that point in time.
That included the Half-Life Game of the Year Edition with Team Fortress, the Opposing Force
pack, and Half-Life: Counter-Strike.
This also got a standalone release of course, and much like Team Fortress it began as a
mod and became an official Valve thing once they hired the developer.
Nowadays, the Half-Life prefix has been dropped and the series is simply known as Counter-Strike,
with this one being updated several times and referred to as Counter-Strike 1.6.
Then a year later in 2001 came Blue Shift, once again from Gearbox Software.
This standalone Half-Life expansion pack puts you in the blue collar boots of Barney Calhoun,
Black Mesa security guard extraordinaire.
Again you’re revisiting the events of the original Half-Life, but this time you’re
exploring the Black Mesa facilities that are far less-traveled and well-kept as a guy with
no special credentials at all.
You also end up dealing with your own set of emergencies with Dr. Rosenberg and teleportation
tech amidst all the other expected chaos.
Somewhat short and maybe not as good as Opposing Force, but still worth a playthrough for its
unique take on the base game’s story.
Though personally I’m not a fan of the HD Pack that it came with.
Sure it was a welcome upgrade at the time, but nowadays I prefer to use the 1998 assets
and keep the original look intact.
I understand wanting to update the polygon count and texture quality, but why change
the weapon models and overall aesthetic so much on top of that, you know?
There’s a ton more worth talking about when it comes to Half-Life of course, like the
numerous high-profile mods, spin-offs, and console ports, to the impact it’s had on
game design, to the awesome and highly recommended remake known as Black Mesa, to freakin’ Ricochet.
Just, Ricochet, man.
But yeah, Half-Life: if you were around to experience it when it was new, there’s no
doubt it had a lasting impact.
And even if you’ve never played it, you’ve probably experienced its unspoken influence
on more modern games.
Half-Life definitely wasn’t flawless, and it wasn’t the only game-changing FPS in ‘98 either.
I’d say Unreal and Thief had a greater effect on me personally at the time.
But in retrospect, Half-Life signaled a clear shift in first-person game design, moving
away from “Doom and Quake clones” and defining many of the mechanics still used today.
Where scripted set pieces and logically connected levels are the norm, while still providing
just enough puzzle-solving and storytelling to keep things mentally captivating.
Half-Life may be over twenty years old, but its lasting influence is timeless.
If you enjoyed this classic PC game retrospective then you’re in the right place.
Retro computer software and hardware is what LGR is all about, I’ve got plenty more on
the channel with new stuff going up every week.
And as always, thank you very much for watching!