I came to the PC late in life, and many of the greatest games to be found out there have passed me by, or have been ported over with usually less than ideal results. For many games, if I can't play them, I've got no problems with watching them - and that's still the case today. I've seen Half-Life many times before, in many forms. I know of the kind of game it is, the kind of world it's set in, and the kind of things it did to warrant its place in seemingly all the top ten lists. But I don't really know how it plays.
To my knowledge, this past week was my first time playing the original Half-Life, despite having salvaged a copy from the rubbish a few years ago, and probably having been given a copy by Steam at some point too. I also got the fan-made remake, Black Mesa from somewhere, I think the Humble Monthly Bundle, and so I decided I'd compare the three while I'm at it.
It is the future (or maybe the past by now, I can't remember), and the young, quiet theoretical physicist called Gordon Freeman is about to have a rather unusual day at work...
Fun Times
In order of their release, I fired up Half-Life, Half-Life: Source and finally Black Mesa and played until the story kicks in - I'm sure you all know which point that is. We begin on an empty train, taking a rather improbable route through the Black Mesa Research Facility, where all kinds of hush-hush sciencey stuff is taking place.
The train ride is there to introduce you to not only this world but the style of game that Half-Life is - methodical. One might say slow, even. This is not the kind of punchy, hit-the-ground-running introduction you might expect from a first-person shooter. This is, however, one giant explorable cutscene, if you will. You can't move very far, granted, but it is you, Gordon Freeman, in the train, looking at what you want to look at, moving where you want to move.
Even though it's slow as all hell in some places, I am at least in awe at the ultrawide resolution support from all three versions of the game. I imagine it was patched into a few after release, but whatever. If you've got it, flaunt it, and if it works, enjoy it.
Eventually, the train stopped, and I was on my way to work. The differences between versions are quite something, even ignoring the much later Black Mesa release. The Source release, which brought Half-Life from its Quake-derived engine into Valve's own Source engine, was seen as a bit of a barebones re-release back in the day. Models and lighting are changed, some for the better, but the one main thing I noticed (other than a hideous security guard) was the increased loading. It's hard not to see it when it happens so often during the train ride, and it really sapped my view of the Source release.
Black Mesa, too, had some noticeable loading, but just look at it. I'll let those loads slide.
As I'm already late for work, it seems appropriate for me to get into my gear as soon as possible, and start navigating this place in the safety of an HEV suit. For you and I, it gives us the HUD that we've been missing up until this point, but for Gordon Freeman, it is the barrier between his flesh and his science! It has a flashlight too, which is handy. In Black Mesa, it even has its own startup sequence.
The fans really like Half-Life, don't they? Meanwhile, the Source release has floating scientists.
We are finally ready to start experimenting for the day, as we head into one rather unsafe looking chamber in a research facility that I'm losing faith in, frankly, but I've no choice regardless of what my fellow scientists say. I'm going to interact with the trolley and push it into the... thing.
It sounds like whatever I did worked too well, and we soon find ourselves face to face with a highly improbable and completely made up 'resonance cascade', which basically means that reality done messed up for a little bit there, giving us one hell of a light show (in certain releases), and one hell of a vision.
And that's where I called it for my side-by-side comparison, meaning it was time for me to decide which version to continue playing.
In truth, it was an easy choice. Source had ghoulish characters and long load times. Black Mesa looked remarkable, but I had a completely playable original version, and I couldn't ignore that for the prettier looking one - not right now, at least. Black Mesa is for later. Half-Life is for now.
I don't know how much time has passed, both in-game and out, but the workplace is looking a bit worse for wear and I'm playing a shooter that has so far been a walking and elevator button simulator.
I can crouch and jump and whatnot, but have absolutely no reason to - or didn't have before the shit hit the fan. Those headcrabs weren't there before. How do I know they're called headcrabs? Why don't I have a weapon yet?
Huh. Suspiciously placed crowbar...
It is perhaps the most iconic piece of metal in video game history, and I know that its intended use in Half-Life is not to pry stuff open. Smash stuff open, yes. Especially crates. And heads.
Frustrations
I'm going to say it. Brace yourselves... I don't like the crowbar. It sounds pretty damn good, I'll admit that, but hitting things with it... you almost need to be a physicist.
I was playing on easy difficulty - of course I was - but trying to thwack a leaping headcrab out of the sky before it became a problem was tricky, as was finding the little bastard after I missed, and it was around my feet somewhere.
By the time I found a pistol, and then a shotgun, my problems eased up a little, and the first-person shooter became more of a first-person shooter.
Further Fun Times
But it was also more than a first-person shooter. It was immersive. It was puzzling. It was troubling. It was well plotted out, yet also still botheringly bizarre. Jumping puzzles over death pits made way for elements of horror and science.
The headcrabs and their zombified victims are disgusting, and your crowbar, as well as their attacks, splatter the screen with blood and guts. Then you turn a corner, glance through a window and see what appears to be electrified water, and think 'Aha! Physics problem'.
Perhaps more of a feature in the sequel, Half-Life still has you working out the physics in your head before you enact your great plan. Crates can be pushed and pulled to open up new routes through levels that feel well connected and interesting. You're not pulled out of one area in order to watch a cutscene and find yourself in the next - you just find the route from the industrial looking bit to the office looking bit.
Further Frustrations
I did get stumped a little, in places, and unexpected deaths were found around the odd corner, but for the most part, it was fine. I found a survivor in the shape of a security guard who would fend off the enemy threat alongside me, but I soon succumbed to that as well. The damage I was taking was almost unreal, despite making sure to top up my health at every available opportunity.
Final Words
After a few deaths, I called it time for the session. I think I would need to tweak my settings before continuing, and then up my game, but eventually, I'd make it further and further into Half-Life and out of the trouble I'm in.
Maybe after these little irks I should try more Black Mesa, and see if the more modern look changes how I play, or there are different settings that suit my style. I don't know - that's an experiment for another day.
I've not got far through the game, but I've seen where it goes. There's a lot of things you notice when playing that I didn't really catch when watching, with the main takeaway being that Half-Life just isn't what you were expecting.
In a world of Quake, GoldenEye 007 and the soon to appear Medal of Honor, Half-Life stands out as an almost quirky take on the genre. There's action, sure, and the story keeps moving forward, but the fact that it doesn't just stop and start every 15 minutes is equal parts unimaginable and unsettling.
Half-Life is a mish-mash of ideas, and they work. If you've not played it, you probably should get around to playing it. It rises above quite a few other titles in the best of the best lists. Is it my favourite first-person shooter? Probably not. Is it well worth playing? Unquestionably. Do it.
Fun Facts
With the game not being fun to play, development returned to basics and the team created one master level, complete with everything they wanted players to be able to do. This was refined and developed until everyone not only enjoyed but understood what their game was all about, allowing the game to get going once more.
Half-Life, developed by Valve, first released in 1998.
Versions played: Half-Life, PC, 1998.
Half-Life: Source, PC, 2004.
Black Mesa, PC, 2015.