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Half-Life spawned two expansion packs named Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift. Half-Life was originally released for PC but was later ported to the PS2 and included a co-op mode known as Half-Life Decay. A Dreamcast version was being worked on but was cancelled before it could be released. Additionally, Valve released an updated version of the original game, Half-Life: Source, which makes use of the Source Engine to provide new water and physics effects, but did not feature a complete revamp of the game's assets.
This lead to an incredibly immersible experience that players at the time had never seen before. Another important advancement in the genre was the lack of specified stages.
In a sense the whole game was just one big world, not split up into levels. Load times were short and were placed between certain doors or passage ways. This little detail allowed the player to feel immersed in the story and the universe because since the game took place in essentially one location, it made sense that each area was connected to the next.
Freeman reawakens, partially clueless as to what has just happened. Backtracking through the facility, he meets a couple of scientists who brief him on what is happening. Contact with the surface is fragmented, although a rescue team will arrive shortly. This later turns out to be the HECU, or the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, who infilitrate Black Mesa with an purpose other than the scientists had in mind - to kill everyone involved, hoping the catastrophe would be shortly forgotten and unheard of. Freeman then begins his long journey through the facility, in hopes to reach the surface. Along the way, it turns out that the facility has become a warzone between the military and the Xen aliens. Freeman eventually learns about the Lambda Team - who they believe have what it takes to reverse all this terror.
Along the way, Gordon must launch a rocket satellite, with the intent of reversing the resonance cascade. Gordon makes his way through the underground, along a rail complex, to the satellite launch. Gordon then redirects his path back to the Lambda Complex. At this time, the HECU begins to evacuate the facility, and commence airstrikes. After that, Gordon no longer encounters military.
Finally, Gordon reaches the Lambda Complex. He has never been to this part of the facility, but learns a lot about the complex. This is where the technology to teleport to Xen was invented, and hopefully where the effects can be reversed. Though, Gordon learns from the few surviving scientists that the rocket satellite he has launched failed, and the only way left in order to reverse the effects is to go to Xen itself and kill the mysterious figurehead alien, Nihilanth. Gordon manage to get to Xen, and after a brief exploration through the planet, Gordon encounter the Nilhilanth. After destroying the Nihilanth, Gordon is confronted by the mysterious G-Man.
G-Man can be spotted throughout the game, only briefly, to disappear around a corner and not be seen again. G-Man explains the situation through his fragmented English, stating his employers are interested in him, and that he believes Gordon has limitless potentional. He then offers Gordon a job, which he may either reject or accept. If the player accepts, the G-Man is content with his descision, and makes it clear that this will not be the last time he will see him. If the player rejects, he is teleported to an area represented a place from Xen, surrounded by several Xen Grunts, unarmed.
Glock 9mm / Beretta 92F (HD)
A basic pistol that can be found in many first-person shooters. The weapon isn’t too powerful, although headshots will quickly down your enemies. If, however, the player uses the alternative fire method, then the 9mm fires a quick burst of rounds at the expense of range and accuracy.
Shotgun / SPAS 12 (HD)
A weapon familiar to all first person shooter fans, the shotgun is easily one of the most powerful close range weapons in the game. Using its alternate fire discharges two shells instead of one, doubling the damage potential but increasing the time between shots.
MP5/ M4 Carbine (HD)
A submachine gun with an attached grenade launcher, what more do you need? The MP5 is a rapid fire submachine gun which is great at short to medium ranges. Its alternate fire, a built in grenade launcher, can be devastating, though ammo is limited and the player will be injured by it if too close to the explosion.
Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher
A rocket launcher that always hits its mark. The RPG in Half-life isn’t radically different from other shooters, but the special thing about this weapon is that its laser guided. This means wherever the player points the laser the missile will hit, making it a great weapon that’s also quite accurate. It does not feature an alternate fire.
(accessed by pressing the alternative fire key again) and by doing this the crossbow virtually becomes a sniper rifle.
These little critters are tossed at the enemy much like a grenade. If there are no enemies nearby, the Snarks will turn on the player, often resulting in a gruesome death. After a period of time the Snarks explode, and while this is a weakness, they are a great weapon partially because they are so much fun.
High-Definition Pack and Weapons
The High-Definition Pack changed several of the weapons in Half-Life, but the changes are mostly aesthetic improvements. However, a few weapons were actually changed into different guns, despite maintaining the same statistics; The Mp5 was replaced with an M4 Carbine with an attached M203, the Glock 9mm Pistol was replaced with a Beretta 92F, and modeled the shotgun more closely after a SPAS-12.
Take on the role of Gordon Freeman as he escapes the disastrous aftermath of an experiment gone wrong in the Black Mesa Research Facility.
Overview
In Half-Life, a 1998 first-person shooter and the first release from Valve Software, the player is Dr. Gordon Freeman, a brilliant theoretical physicist and MIT graduate forced to escape the devastated Black Mesa Research Facility after a multi-dimensional experiment generates a resonance-cascade, simultaneously allowing creatures from a dimensional border world, Xen, into our universe and causing catastrophic damage to the facility. Throughout the course of the game the player must battle the Xen invaders, soldiers and an elite Black Ops detachment in an effort to thwart the invasion. Freeman is a silent protagonist, who has never had a single line of dialogue in the course of the franchise, but he remains a deep source of intrigue and discussion due to information learned throughout the course of the series.Half-Life spawned two expansion packs named Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift. Half-Life was originally released for PC but was later ported to the PS2 and included a co-op mode known as Half-Life Decay. A Dreamcast version was being worked on but was cancelled before it could be released. Additionally, Valve released an updated version of the original game, Half-Life: Source, which makes use of the Source Engine to provide new water and physics effects, but did not feature a complete revamp of the game's assets.
Gameplay
Half-Life did little new in terms of control improvements at the time, but there were still many aspects of the genre that it revolutionized at the time of its release. The largest of these advancements was the lack of cut scenes, the story was told through scripted sequences that took place in real-time, in the same environment as the player.This lead to an incredibly immersible experience that players at the time had never seen before. Another important advancement in the genre was the lack of specified stages.
In a sense the whole game was just one big world, not split up into levels. Load times were short and were placed between certain doors or passage ways. This little detail allowed the player to feel immersed in the story and the universe because since the game took place in essentially one location, it made sense that each area was connected to the next.
Plot
In Half-Life, you play as Gordon Freeman, the protagonist. Gordon is on his way to work at the Black Mesa Research Facility, presumably late, which is apparently commonplace for him. That day he is required for a special assignment, at the Anomalous Materials Lab, where he is to test a crystal by pushing it into a beam for research. Instantly, this causes a resonance cascade, where a portal erupts between Earth and an alien planet known as Xen.Freeman reawakens, partially clueless as to what has just happened. Backtracking through the facility, he meets a couple of scientists who brief him on what is happening. Contact with the surface is fragmented, although a rescue team will arrive shortly. This later turns out to be the HECU, or the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, who infilitrate Black Mesa with an purpose other than the scientists had in mind - to kill everyone involved, hoping the catastrophe would be shortly forgotten and unheard of. Freeman then begins his long journey through the facility, in hopes to reach the surface. Along the way, it turns out that the facility has become a warzone between the military and the Xen aliens. Freeman eventually learns about the Lambda Team - who they believe have what it takes to reverse all this terror.
Along the way, Gordon must launch a rocket satellite, with the intent of reversing the resonance cascade. Gordon makes his way through the underground, along a rail complex, to the satellite launch. Gordon then redirects his path back to the Lambda Complex. At this time, the HECU begins to evacuate the facility, and commence airstrikes. After that, Gordon no longer encounters military.
Finally, Gordon reaches the Lambda Complex. He has never been to this part of the facility, but learns a lot about the complex. This is where the technology to teleport to Xen was invented, and hopefully where the effects can be reversed. Though, Gordon learns from the few surviving scientists that the rocket satellite he has launched failed, and the only way left in order to reverse the effects is to go to Xen itself and kill the mysterious figurehead alien, Nihilanth. Gordon manage to get to Xen, and after a brief exploration through the planet, Gordon encounter the Nilhilanth. After destroying the Nihilanth, Gordon is confronted by the mysterious G-Man.
G-Man can be spotted throughout the game, only briefly, to disappear around a corner and not be seen again. G-Man explains the situation through his fragmented English, stating his employers are interested in him, and that he believes Gordon has limitless potentional. He then offers Gordon a job, which he may either reject or accept. If the player accepts, the G-Man is content with his descision, and makes it clear that this will not be the last time he will see him. If the player rejects, he is teleported to an area represented a place from Xen, surrounded by several Xen Grunts, unarmed.
Weapons
Half-Life features a host of both traditional and non-traditional weapons. The primary weapons that can be found throughout the game are as follows:Crowbar
This weapon has become synonymous with the Half-Life franchise . Naturally it is a melee weapon, so it has limited range, but is still quite powerful. Apart from killing creatures, it could also be used to crack open crates and item boxes.
The famous crowbar
Glock 9mm / Beretta 92F (HD)
A basic pistol that can be found in many first-person shooters. The weapon isn’t too powerful, although headshots will quickly down your enemies. If, however, the player uses the alternative fire method, then the 9mm fires a quick burst of rounds at the expense of range and accuracy..357 Colt Python
A revolver that packs quite a punch. While it can only fire single shots, the magnum has a zoom feature that can be accessed by pressing the alternative fire key. Using this zoom feature, the magnum becomes a medium to long range weapon and is far more effective then the 9mm at range.Shotgun / SPAS 12 (HD)
A weapon familiar to all first person shooter fans, the shotgun is easily one of the most powerful close range weapons in the game. Using its alternate fire discharges two shells instead of one, doubling the damage potential but increasing the time between shots.MP5/ M4 Carbine (HD)
A submachine gun with an attached grenade launcher, what more do you need? The MP5 is a rapid fire submachine gun which is great at short to medium ranges. Its alternate fire, a built in grenade launcher, can be devastating, though ammo is limited and the player will be injured by it if too close to the explosion.
Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher
A rocket launcher that always hits its mark. The RPG in Half-life isn’t radically different from other shooters, but the special thing about this weapon is that its laser guided. This means wherever the player points the laser the missile will hit, making it a great weapon that’s also quite accurate. It does not feature an alternate fire.Crossbow
One of the most accurate weapons in the game. The crossbow, in its primary fire mode, fires explosive tipper bolts. The player can greatly increase the range of the crossbow by using its scope
Half-Life's crossbow in all its glory.
Gauss Gun/Tau Cannon
The Gauss Gun is an experimental and highly unstable weapon. One of the weapons most important abilities is that it can shoot through walls, meaning no one is safe from its sights. The player can charge the gun up by using the alternative fire key and by doing this the gun will fire a more powerful shot, rather then several weaker shots.Gluon Gun
Also known as the "Egon", this weapon is a product of Black Mesa’s Weapons Research Facility. The gun fires a constant stream of energy which destroys most things in its path. The weapons negative point is that shares its ammo with the Gauss Gun, and uses its ammunition very quickly if fired for too long.Hive-Hand
An alien weapon that basically unleashes swarms of hornets on the enemy. A good medium range weapon but weak in both long and close range. It's ammo regenerates after a few seconds, so you virtually have unlimited ammo when possessing it.Snark
Snarks aren't all that gifted in the looks department.
Fragmentation Grenades
Basic frag grenades are included in Half-Life as well, and tend to be fairly run-of-the-mill. They have a five second fuse and possess no alternate fire, but can be "cooked" by holding down primary fire for a length of time before releasing. Be careful not to hold it for too long.Satchel Charges
Satchels are essentially remote-activate explosives, which are set by using the primary or alternate fire initially. The player can either choose to detonate the placed satchel, or place additional satchels. Detonating after placing multiple satchels will destory them all at once.Laser Trip-Mine
These mines are attached to walls and, after three seconds, project a laser beam that causes the mine to detonate when the beam is broken, either by the player or an enemy. These mines can also destroyed if shot at directly, and are frequently used both online and off to block off paths and restrict player movement.High-Definition Pack and Weapons
The High-Definition Pack changed several of the weapons in Half-Life, but the changes are mostly aesthetic improvements. However, a few weapons were actually changed into different guns, despite maintaining the same statistics; The Mp5 was replaced with an M4 Carbine with an attached M203, the Glock 9mm Pistol was replaced with a Beretta 92F, and modeled the shotgun more closely after a SPAS-12.Multiplayer
Half-Life shipped with a multiplayer component that offered standard modes of play, including deathmatch. But its multplayer-and its popularity-got an enormous boost via the release of a free mod known as Counter-Strike. This terrorists vs. counter-terrorists mod was, at one point, one of the most-played online games on the planet. Its popularity carries on to this day.System Requirements
Minimum Requirements- Windows 95/98/2000/ME/NT 4.0
- Pentium 233
- 32MB RAM
- 400MB Hard Drive Space
- SVGA, high colour 16-bit display
| Game Name | Half-Life |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes | |
| Original US Release |
Nov. 19, 1998
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release |
know the real date? |
| Aliases |
HL1 HL |
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