Half-Life
19 Nov 1998
All releases
14 Feb 2013 - Mac
11 Nov 2001 - PlayStation 2
30 Nov 2001 - PlayStation 2
14 Feb 2013 - Linux
19 Nov 1998 - PC (Microsoft Windows)
27 Nov 1998 - PC (Microsoft Windows)
Tags
Time to beat
Main story
Main story + extras
100% completion
Dr. Gordon Freeman doesn't speak, but he's got a helluva story to tell. This first-person roller-coaster initiated a new era in the history of action games by combining engrossing gameplay, upgraded graphics, ingenious level design and a revolutionary story that may not be all that it seems, told not through cutscenes, but through the visual environment.
Dr. Gordon Freeman arrives late for work at 8:47 am in the Black Mesa Research Facility, using the advanced Black Mesa tram system that leads through the facility. He arrives at the Anomalous Materials Lab, his work place, and he is informed by the security officer that the scientists have a special experiment today, so he goes to the locker room and puts on the hazard suit. He goes to the lab's lower levels, and arrives at the Anti-Mass Chamber, where he is instructed that the specimen to be used that day is the rarest and also the most unstable specimen. He is tasked with pushing the specimen into the scanning beam of the Anti-Mass Spectrometer for analysis. However as soon as he pushes it, it explodes, and creates a sudden catastrophe called a "resonance cascade", opening a portal between Earth and a dimension called Xen. Freeman is apparently teleported to an alien planet and catches glimpses of various alien lifeforms, including a circle of Vortigaunts, shortly before blacking out.
| Audio | Subtitles | Interface | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korean | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Chinese (Simplified) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| English | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Spanish (Spain) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| German | ✓ | ✓ | |
| French | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Italian | ✓ | ✓ |
Addons
Updated versions
If you play Half-life today, nothing about it will wow or shock you, it is a fairly standard singleplayer FPS where you're gunning down aliens and military. There are some sections where you have to solve a puzzle here and there, but it's not too abundant.
Some of the mechanics are a bit outdated such as the gunplay. Shooting things on the GoldSrc engine isn't as fun as it used to be as you don't get much feedback from shooting something, making things feel very stiff. The game design itself isn't the best and relies on you savescumming, unless you know this game inside out. On your first playthrough you will be savescumming though and there are a lot of sections with trial and error.
The visuals of the game are very charming and nostalgic to me. Having played CS 1.6 a lot as a kid, a lot of the sound effects from this game bring a feeling that I can't describe. This era of PC graphics are some of my favourite.
I still had fun with Half-life for what it was. A solid single player FPS that does hold up today, but with all the advancements made with the genre, it doesn't hold the same high regard that it used to have.
Shade123
3
EnEyeSee
2
Max Mtz
2
It has an interestingstory, lots of freedom to play as you please; large amounts of weapons to destroy your enemies with, and tons of enemies to destroy.
Only problem might be the yanky controls expected from a 1998 game. But otherwise it's incredible
The storytelling is seamless, no cutscenes, no exposition dumps. The storytelling through gameplay was ahead of its era.
But just know, the last few chapters will test your patience. Bad platforming, frustrating design, pacing thrown out the window. If that’s enough to kill the thrill for you, walk away.