Half life
Format : PC (Soon Dreamcast)
Review by : The Ragin Cajun
Players : 1 - 32
Type : First person shooter
Quake 2 wasn't much on plot was it? It ran something like this " kill the bad guys". Half-life is completely different to ID's game in this respect. It features a plot that is driven in part by you actions. All around you chaos reigns. The military have been sent it to retake the Black mesa facility ( where you work) after you accidentally open a portal to an alien world. With typical heavy handedness the army are laying siege the base and set about killing everything, human or not ( which lends credence to the theory that the army uses Quake to train its soldiers) as the lone scientist Gordon Freedman ( try not to snigger) you must battle you way across the gargantuan black mesa complex, solving puzzles and uncovering what actually happened to cause the gateway to the alien world to open in the first place.
Half-life is a completely different game to ID's quake series. Half-life focuses on character interaction between you and the other black mesa staff, and bosses that require a bit of thinking rather than a BFG10K to defeat. A particular favourite is the large creature in a rocket test firing chamber. This creature is invulnerable to your weapons so you must burn it to death using the rocket. The rocket needs its supply's of fuel oxygen and power turned back on and the way to them is guarded by said creature . the creature is blind, but has excellent hearing. So you must use grenades as distractions while you attempt to sneak past it. And if you thought this was good wait till you have to face helicopters and 3 story tall monsters that have to be killed using airstrikes.
The sound is also excellent even with my rubbish sound card the atmosphere is so thick you can cut it with a knife. From hearing the noise which accompanies the thunderbolt spitting aliens to soldiers shouting orders " there's freedman! Get him!" or when you've hurt them bad "medic!".
Graphics can't be faulted , ( although they have now been superseded but unreal tournament and quake 3) . despite being based on the quake 2 engine Valve have basically tweaked it to bits in places as it is almost unrecognisable from quake 2. The models and things such as weapon fire and water effects are as good as any I seen in any first person shooter. On a good p.c. ( around 300mhz) the characters come into their own as you can see how much time and energy has gone into them.
As for on-line playing half-life is second only to quake. The only reason it is not better than quake is the weaponry. The games last weapon( the gluon gun) is too powerful for a deathmatch situation. This is counteracted by have rocket launchers with post steer so you can send it into whoever has the biggest gun and take him out with out much hassle, but in a one on one whoever has the Gluon gun will win hands down. And it is too easy to camp on some maps. Other than that it is excellent on-line and has spawned the team fortress classic mod which now ranks as my favourite on-line game. I've known people who have bought half-life just do they can play team fortress.
To wrap up half-life Is the best first person shooter money can by. It has great graphic, sound and most importantly gameplay. Some people have written it off because the game starts slowly with you heading to work on a train. Slow as this game is to start with just persevere and you will soon be immersed in the world of Half-life.
Sound : Excellent all around and the reaload of the shootgun has to be heard
9/10
Gameplay : A slow starter but stick with it and you will be rewarded
9/10
Difficulty : Perfecly balanced with an excellent learning curve
10/10
Graphics : Showing their age now but still very good
8/10
Overall : A calssic, and it will run on a 200 mgz PC making it accessibel for all
9/10
Review by : The Ragin Cajun
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