Linkus
09-25-2008, 09:05 PM
Ever play a sequel to a game that was awesome, then end up buying the first game just to see what you missed out on?
My recent interest with the Half-Life series just happens to be the case here. Half-Life 2 left me to expect the same in the original Half-Life.
But, despite the game is, in fact, ten years old, it unfortunately didn't. None of the cast really pops up in Half-Life, but instead you get representations of who they could be. You could tell who was who - Dr. Kliner, Eli, Barney, and even Breen if you pay attention, but if they actually were them, well, you were left to decide. Also, some of the most notable lines are just corny in the way they were spoken, especially this one:
"They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber..rrr.."
It made me want to laugh. Like I said I can understand, it's an old game, but the fact is, it's been dubbed pretty badly, and spoken in the worst way.
Gman, of course, sounds like a lazy talking snake, but that's rather expected.
Doing things in HL does in fact seem to be the revolutinary point it made in FPSes; No longer are you resticted to push buttons or shoot enemies, but instead you can break that table over there or mess with things that have no real value in the actual game (for example, using the hand dryer in the locker room). It is one of the first games that led to near fully destructable environements that are becoming commonplace in recent games.
And now the fiends that you face. Headcrabs are more problematic, but the worst enemy I have faced is the recon unit. Right now, I can tell how I'd rate them:
Metro-Police < Secutity Gaurd < Combine Soldier < Elite Combine < Recon
They come right out and shoot you at sight. They rarely flinch, aim extemely well, and never seem to have to reload. They can use grenades efficently, but case in point I had so many deaths because of them. The assassins are annoying, but the recon units are worse than the Vortigon warriors (or whatever they're called). However, you do get this feeling of accomplishment after killing several of them, or smiling when you see a confrontation between them and the alien forces, and they are underpowered.
Last few things I want to cover is maps and weapons. Right now, I can tell you that I want the Gluon Gun and trip mines to make a comeback, and mounted cannons to have a more substantial use rather than to blow apart doors, but otherwise the other stuff is fine. Half-Life as a game is actually quite large in scale; I felt like I traveled a very long distance on foot because of how varied and diverse the locales are, even though you are in a research facility. From the test chamber to Xen, you'll find yourself playing several hours over an actually small expanse whose path twists and turns to no end. But, there is a few problems; autosaves are too far apart most of the time, and you would end up redoing something that had taken a long time, and therefore really slows down the game.
In retrospect, Half-Life is still quite a shooter after ten years. I've got to say, it's well-played out, but Valve should remake the game (Not the Source one!) to match with the canon and characters that HL2 introduced.
My recent interest with the Half-Life series just happens to be the case here. Half-Life 2 left me to expect the same in the original Half-Life.
But, despite the game is, in fact, ten years old, it unfortunately didn't. None of the cast really pops up in Half-Life, but instead you get representations of who they could be. You could tell who was who - Dr. Kliner, Eli, Barney, and even Breen if you pay attention, but if they actually were them, well, you were left to decide. Also, some of the most notable lines are just corny in the way they were spoken, especially this one:
"They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber..rrr.."
It made me want to laugh. Like I said I can understand, it's an old game, but the fact is, it's been dubbed pretty badly, and spoken in the worst way.
Gman, of course, sounds like a lazy talking snake, but that's rather expected.
Doing things in HL does in fact seem to be the revolutinary point it made in FPSes; No longer are you resticted to push buttons or shoot enemies, but instead you can break that table over there or mess with things that have no real value in the actual game (for example, using the hand dryer in the locker room). It is one of the first games that led to near fully destructable environements that are becoming commonplace in recent games.
And now the fiends that you face. Headcrabs are more problematic, but the worst enemy I have faced is the recon unit. Right now, I can tell how I'd rate them:
Metro-Police < Secutity Gaurd < Combine Soldier < Elite Combine < Recon
They come right out and shoot you at sight. They rarely flinch, aim extemely well, and never seem to have to reload. They can use grenades efficently, but case in point I had so many deaths because of them. The assassins are annoying, but the recon units are worse than the Vortigon warriors (or whatever they're called). However, you do get this feeling of accomplishment after killing several of them, or smiling when you see a confrontation between them and the alien forces, and they are underpowered.
Last few things I want to cover is maps and weapons. Right now, I can tell you that I want the Gluon Gun and trip mines to make a comeback, and mounted cannons to have a more substantial use rather than to blow apart doors, but otherwise the other stuff is fine. Half-Life as a game is actually quite large in scale; I felt like I traveled a very long distance on foot because of how varied and diverse the locales are, even though you are in a research facility. From the test chamber to Xen, you'll find yourself playing several hours over an actually small expanse whose path twists and turns to no end. But, there is a few problems; autosaves are too far apart most of the time, and you would end up redoing something that had taken a long time, and therefore really slows down the game.
In retrospect, Half-Life is still quite a shooter after ten years. I've got to say, it's well-played out, but Valve should remake the game (Not the Source one!) to match with the canon and characters that HL2 introduced.