Half-Life

If there is one major difference between old games and new games it's their presentation of gameplay. Ever noticed how many words and graphics appear on today's games? Well, I returned to the classic Half-Life and realized more than ever this contrast. Strangely, this game is considered to redefine the shooting genre. Well, it did, but it may actually be more subtler than that (and, as I will explain at the end, the notion was not exclusive to the game). What I noticed more potently in this game was its fluidity in gameplay; a gameplay that conflated the puzzler, shooter, and platformer, all while not explicitly telling you what to do. Moment to moment, set-piece to set-piece, Valve strings together each part of the whole, all offering their uniqueness in approach as well as style. Such is the brilliance of Half-Life.

Having recently just played it, many moments remain stark and intact. I recall several moments that were all intense but offered alterations to the game's overall tone. One is the introduction, one of the best paced and contemplative introductions in video game history; a dissection, if you will, of Black Mesa, becoming a sort of foreshadowing of your excursion. Another is the first time you encounter the soldiers, who are ruthless and hard-edged, only speaking in voice chatter (much in the same vein as the Combine in the sequel). And then another being your first time in the border world, which inverts or subverts many commonalities you may have absorbed during most of the game. Of course, this never does the game any justice by just listing these moments, but I would still like to elaborate on the differences in the gameplay through these moments. Realize that Half-Life  only becomes a traditional FPS when the soldiers arrive. Realize the the most common element to this game is an underlying implementation of the platformer. I was impressed with the stark diversity in gameplay styles in this game that by the end of it I was wondering if I had actually played a true FPS.

Half-Life came out around thirteen years ago now, since then Halo has come out, Half-Life 2 has astonished, and the plethora of war shooters have littered the market. Going back to Half-Life was, in some respects, a breath of fresh air. It was a redefining game, with its genre conflation as well as its well constructed story, but it shared characteristics that connect it with the FPS games before it. I realize the similarities between Quake and Valve's opus with its emphasis on platforming elements. FPS shooters, for the most part, try to just be shooters and nothing more, emphasizing the banality and much admonishment many gamers have for the staple franchises. Even Half-Life 2, though retaining its puzzler aspects brilliantly, identifies itself far more as a shooter than anything else. Granted, I won't say Half-Life and Quake are something else other than shooters, but Half-Life is such an interesting game, even after thirteen years and hundreds of shooters, because it deliberately keeps the gamer curious as to how to approach the next challenge. It may identify itself as a shooter, but it's not like it abides but the conventions we see today, at all.

Yes, the setting is somewhat dated; the heavily geometric layout of some of the environments are dull, but you never spend enough time in one place to experience a hindering of the moment. I feel the game adds challenge after challenge as you progress through that, conclusively,  prohibits any familiarity of approach. Granted, the game is hard, and slightly brutal, but, as before, that is in essence of classic games that also treated their gamers as intelligent beings...but that's another story. Anyways, I just thoroughly enjoyed how Half-Life seamlessly weaved together many different gameplay styles in such a way that any notion of recycled construction is forgotten and immersion becomes inevitable.

So, Half-Life  is always considered to be the turning point of FPS games. I disagree to a large extent; it was one of the games that helped the change. I would put Goldeneye 007, Team Fortress Classic, Counter-Strike, and then Halo into that dominion, each contributing their fair share of influence. Nonetheless, disregarding that perspective, Half-Life  lives on as a testament to brilliant function of a multivariate gameplay schematic that endures today, maybe even more pronounce today, considering the conventions FPS games have taken now. I would talk about the brilliance of its minimalist story line and thematic expression, but I'll save that for another post.