Customer Reviews

Half Life 1 (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Half Life is a great game, completely revolutionized the shooter-on-rails style game. I generally don't like those types of games, because the game play is limited... it's just repetition really... then the enemies get stronger.

So, personally, i get bored with these games if the terrain and environments don't change much, or if there isn't alot of strategizing needed. Shoot-outs are boring to me, because eventually you know you'll get good enough to beat it, it's not really mentally taxing.

Beyond that, it's great. the monsters are great, the story is compelling, the levels are well constructed, the pace is super fast and intense and heart-pounding. I opften had to put it down because it was just too intense, i needed a break.

Way better than HL2 despite the graphical differences.
get it.

Even though this game is almost 15 years old and uses a modified Quake engine, it is still one of the most FUN and best shooters ever to be made. In fact all other first person shooters and games in general can learn from Half Life 1. The game world is extremely immersive. There are no level ends, there is no text to read, there are no scores and everyone talks to you without freezing you into a cut scene. All of this makes you feel less like you are a player playing a game, but you are indeed the hero Gordon Freeman. Characters recognize you, talk to you, and you can have them come with you or stay put. Security guards that come with you will shoot enemies (slowly).

The story is that you are silent protagonist Gordon Freeman (you'll feel like him by the end) and you work for Black Mesa, your standard super secret facility. Something goes horribly wrong and uh. The formula is very simple, but they execute it so well that other games have copied it and failed (Doom 3). Needless to say you need to fight your way out through the facility, on the desert (being chased by a helicopter), and everything else would just be a spoiler. There are no levels, no loading screens. Loading is seamless and happens during downtime.

Half Life 1 has simple controls and an optional tutorial level. There are buttons for jumping, crouching (sneaking), using your flashlight (that needs to be off to charge it), shooting, secondary shooting (for machine guns) and "using" things. The game is always in run mode and character speed seems to be fast. Too fast sometimes, but there is that sneak button that will slow you down.

But how is the first person shooting? There is a wide variety of guns and each has a certain joy and usefulness to them. Even the simple pistol is useful for lesser enemies 8 hours into the game. There is a shotgun, a machine gun with grenade launcher, grenades, explosives you detonate, wall sensors with explosives, a harpoon, a laser guided rocket launcher that once it launches you point your cursor and it will turn accordingly, lasers, homing missiles, head crabs and more. An amazing array that you continue to get even up to the final levels areas. To swap weapons you push 6 number keys and press some keys twice to access some weapons like the shotgun / machine gun / harpoon.

You start with a crowbar good for breaking grates, and destroying boxes. Destroying boxes is how you will find most items and ammo. Instead of just finding things scattered on the floor, on shelves or on a desk you need to bash open boxes to find the good stuff. You can also push or pull the boxes too which is nice for puzzle solving and platforming.

The enemies are just as diverse and each one requires you to think and act differently. Since I don't know the name of any enemy I'll fumble through this. The start enemies are lesser creatures that will start on the floor and jump at you. 2 shots from a pistol take them out. There are zombie-ish aliens that take a shotgun or two, but they are easy enough to avoid. Aliens that teleport in and beam electricity at you will cause you to hide, pudgy little alien crawler / hoppers will make you shoot from a distance because they will send out a small shockwave. Standard soldiers that will shoot machine guns, throw grenades and coordinate attacks against you like flanking. Ceiling huggers that are yucky red globs on the ceiling with long rope like tongues that when they catch you, you'll be pulled up and eaten... if you don't shoot them. Giant aliens with homing missiles too. There is a wide variety of enemies and bosses. I can't list them all.

The game also shines with its tricks and traps and will throw a puzzle or challenge at you to keep you thinking. But in this game it doesn't feel like a puzzle or a challenge. It seems natural. There can be a hidden turret where the fun is making your choice how to take it out... Grenade, explosive, shooting it and getting shot in the process, running by it or just not hitting the trip wire to start it in general. Wall sensor explosives, push and pull box puzzles, pushing buttons, hopping hanging boxes over a pit, conveyer belts, using a sky cannon to destroy walls, using turrets, on rails vehicles that you have a lot of control over, water puzzles, high jump pads and so on. There is a lot of variety and it's never the same thing twice.

To sum it up, this is a diverse and VERY FUN game. It has a sense of humor to it and you'll feel like you are Gordon Freeman through the game's well crafted immersion. Puzzles, shooting and challenges all melded together into one fantastic game and I can't say that too often.

I had this game a few years ago, played it alot, and it just got lost in the shuffle. It is the type of game
I prefer cuz I just play the single player mode. Loved UnReal, Quake (all of em) Doom etc. So, after buying
Quake 4, which came w/QII & it's mission packs, I wanted to play Half-Life again which led to this purchase.
Only problem, buying it anywhere else than through steam is a waste of money. You HAVE to a have a STEAM acct.
to install the game and play it, which means you have to buy it AGAIN from STEAM. Amazon should warn their
customers about this. However, I liked it so much, I bought HL 2, and episode one and two. It was through
STEAM, bucause I learned my lesson. Am playing HL 2 right now, along with HL 1, and am looking forward to playin
the two episodes. AMAZON...wake up and warn your customers about buying any games controlled by STEAM.

That's about it...too bad, looks like a good game...but I don't have broadband--and didn't know I needed it.

So that's that.

Half-Life is fun. When I started, I didn't have a gun. Then I walked around and all this stuff exploded and I got a metal stick. I killed some monsters. Then a guard helped me kill monsters, but they killed him. Then I killed more monsters and I jumped. But then I didn't jump right and I died. Then i killed more monsters. I found more guns and weapons and I killed more monsters. Then I took a break and ate some cookies.