refers to the time it takes for half of its mass to decay…or something. Anyways, I promise

this is a clever joke, because Half-Life definitely hasn’t decayed at all in the fifteen years

since its release. Developed by Valve and initially published by Sierra Entertainment,

Half-Life represents both the incredible Valve track record to come and, perhaps most importantly,

a landmark achievement for the first-person shooter genre, and the video game industry

as a whole. Half-Life did, and still does, amazing things,

made no less impressive by the fact that this was, in fact, a developer’s first game.

One of the most noticeable aspects of the game, still from a modern viewpoint, is its

approach to storytelling. Loss of control over protagonist Gordon Freeman almost never

happens. Information is certainly told to the player, but never through cutscenes. Sure,

certain scientists and guards are necessary in order to open certain doors, but you never

have to sit and listen to the information they give, even if it is helpful and possibly

interesting. Luckily, the game’s plot is interesting. Playing as one of the most beloved

protagonists in video game history, Gordon Freeman the theoretical physicist, you try

to escape the desert Black Mesa base after an experiment goes horribly wrong and opens

up a hole through the dimensions, allowing a hostile alien race to pour into the facility.

Add in some government corruption with hostile marines, and a strange man in a suit, and

you’ve got yourself an intriguing reason to continue playing.

Obviously, that plot and storytelling is only a complement to the gameplay, however extraordinary.

But fittingly, the gameplay is fantastic. Valve shooters’ still-characteristic and

now-unique inability to aim down sights is present, barring special snipers and the like.

But a slight auto-aim system certainly lessens any form of difficulty the missing mechanic

may have caused. However, the enemies and sparse ammo refills see to it that the game

isn’t just a walk in the extremely dangerous military base. On normal difficulty, Half-Life

can be quite the challenge, but it’s never unfair. Manual save states and forgiving autosave

checkpoints make sure the difficulty is confined to actual skill and game design, not due to

overall game structure. And, of course, there’s no self-regenerating health here. Fortitude

reinforcement can instead be found in health dispensers along many walls, and the HEV suit,

powered by batteries and energy dispensers similar to base health pick-ups, acts as a

second layer of protection against the alien and lead-filled attacks. And, unique among

many first-person shooters, Half-Life’s gameplay sometimes takes on the air of a platformer,

a welcome addition for anyone tired of the modern, and even other classic, shooters.

Of course, there’s much more that makes Half-Life great. Numerous enemy types, weapons

including the iconic crowbar, a typical assault rifle, organic alien weapons, and crazy sci-fi

energy guns, somehow unique environments in the same military base, and just the shooting

feel add even more appeal to the game’s design. There’s a reason Half-Life is not

only considered one of the best games of its genre, but of the industry as a whole. Find

the original game, the PS2 version, Half-Life: Source, the Black Mesa mod, whatever, but

play this game. I always feel uneasy before playing a game so widely beloved, but this

is one that lives up to the high expectations. This is Half-Life for PC.