Half-Life

As far as immersion goes, you simply couldn't have done any better than Half-Life. Half-Life pioneered many firsts in the genre when it was released in 1998. The biggest innovation is that the game NEVER shifts away from your perspective of the action. This means that there are no cutscenes, no early explanations of the backstory, and that your character cannot talk (giving you room to talk during the game, if you need to). Half-Life does NOT disappoint when it comes to fooling you into thinking that you're experiencing all of this in real life. Other innovations include seamless level transitions, having to reload your weapon occasionally, and a passable excuse for a heads-up display (since your character is a scientist, he must wear a hazard suit that comes equipped with HUD readers for health, shields, weapons, and ammo). The only thing I can think of that isn't realistic about Half-Life is the fact that you simply walk over objects to pick them up. However, since the game is pretty fast-paced, having to pick up items manually would have been quite frustrating in the heat of battle.

Of course, the gameplay isn't the only thing that Half-Life has to offer. The disturbingly realistic graphics and sound (for the time) also combine with the gameplay to further immerse you into the experience. Half-Life uses a heavily modified version of the already stunning Quake engine, which broke new ground in 1996 for creating realistic environments and characters with polygon-based true 3-D graphics. Half-Life has higher polygon counts, better lighting, and more detailed textures than in Quake, making the graphics that much more believable. To top that all off, a skeletal animation system makes for extremely realistic character animations. Overall, the graphics and animations are just so good, they even make Unreal's graphics look lame. I'm not joking around! This is as good as video games could look and sound at the time!

You've also got an excellent variety of weapons. In fact, there's probably more weapons than any other shooter at the time. You've got a crowbar (for melee combat), pistol, revolver, machinegun, shotgun, crossbow, rocket launcher, particle gun, flamethrower, alien arm (which shoots out lethal "bugs" and has an infinite ammo supply), grenades, pipebombs, laser trip mines, and a cute alien bug that runs up to enemies to bite the crap out of them. What more could you want?

But the most surprising aspect of all is that Half-Life didn't come from a high-profile developer at the time (like 3D Realms, id Software, or Raven Software). This amazing piece of work came from a newcoming developer that we didn't even know about at the time -- Kirkland, Washington-based Valve Software. But even if Valve wasn't a high-profile developer at the time, you could tell from this game that their goal was clearly to create the best game ever. You simply aren't a gamer if you don't at least try Half-Life. A definite 10 / 10 to this one!

This is, quite simply, the best PC game ever. Period. It doesn't short-change you in length, like most games do these days. At the same time, it isn't overly long. There isn't a single point in the game where you wish you could skip ahead to the next area. Difficulty level is not a concern; you can make it as hard or as easy as you like. Quick save and quick load are done better than any game to date. Most important is the atmosphere this game creates. When you finish Half Life, you will look back on your adventure and truly feel like you have taken a journey. The game is MASSIVE. And the many places you visit along the way are extremely convincing. When stuck on the alien planet Xen or trying to find signs of life after the initial disaster, you will feel isolated and alone. When in a firefight with Marines, you will feel a rush of adrenaline. This game does it all and is beautiful-looking to boot. In addition, it will run smoothly on nearly any PC setup. I highly recommend this game to all audiences.

This game requires patience, quick wits, quick fingers, and good problem solving skills. So do games like Mortal Pongbat. What makes Half-Life exceptional is the senses-shattering realism which laces the entire in-game environment. The textures are realistic, the colours appropriate, the sounds rich and flawlessly integrated for stereo separation (as in a monster on your left will always be heard from your left speaker), the level of interaction possible with the environment and the human characters is above and beyond what one might expect (FYI: punch the red button under the security guard's desk to set off an alarm and make everyone mad!), and the monsters are just as scary, slimy, and vicious as they come, and backed by a good AI to boot. The level design is incredible, with a perfect balance of problem solving and creature-killing, and the environment and enemies never seem repetitive, so you always have a sense of progress and a need to trudge on in the hopes that your goal might be just around the bend. All this makes this came perhaps the most addictive and awe-inspiring game of all time. And if you pass it and get bored, try the new alternate-take-on-the-same-story game, Opposing Force. And then if you get bored, join the even MORE addictive world of Half-Life online gaming (Team Fortress Classic or Counterstrike)!

In 1998, A software company names Valve Software released a game that would forever change the way we look at Action Games. That game was called Half-Life. Hailed by PC-Gamer as "The Best 3D action game ever made", and I couldn't agree more.

The game itself won about 45 game of the year awards from many different publications.

Play it

Before 1998 typical FPS games consisted of the player simply blasting their way through endless numbers of monsters in hellish and alien landscapes with an extremely vague plot that seemed like a 5 year old's daydream. Half-Life revolutionised FPS gaming by providing not only a story, but an excellent story that was highly immersive.

On the gameplay and graphics side of things, Half-Life uses a heavily modified version of the Quake 2 engine. However, the monsters are not Quake 2's mindless zombies, they are soldiers that work in teams to flush you out of hiding spots. This means you have to think about how you play the game. Blindly running into a room shooting will get you killed very fast! :-)

Until Deus Ex came along, I called Half-Life the best game ever, so it is only fair to give it 10/10.