[ad_1]
The only thing that's crazier than the fact that Half-Life was released exactly 20 years ago is that I wrote its 10th birthday on this very site … well, 10 years ago. We both have aged well, I like to think. But Half-Life has already left a legacy.
Half-Life was the first Valve game, when they were a young gaming studio and not the giant gaming conglomerate we know today. The game was also a big risk – its very narrative gameplay, including the now-famous work introduction sequence, was a break with the generally simple shooters of the late '90s.
At a time when most games were still based on levels, Half-Life set up a continuous (although largely episodic) course punctuated by decisive encounters and more than a few terrifying moments. This broad-based, story-centric approach would have a significant influence on the game's design, as well as Half-Life's highly intelligent (for the time) artificial intelligence (for the time), especially the soldiers sent to close the site of Black Mesa and all its occupants.
The tantalizing tastes of a larger story in which you were only one part – orchestrated by the ever-mysterious G-Man – kept the players on the alert thanks to its extensions and the finally to its masterful and unfortunately unfinished suite.
The multiplayer mode was also a joy. I remember in particular long robot matches against scientists at Gasworks and brutal close-quarters fighting to escape Crossfire's air raid. Then, of course, Team Fortress Classic and all that followed.
But it's not just Half-Life that has had an influence. Valve's success in this experiment led him to make new forays into the game infrastructure, which led to the creation of Steam, which is now of course the first PC gaming platform. in the world. While some arguments are now advanced that Steam has been stuck in the past in many ways, it is hard to overestimate its effects on the video game industry over the years.
I replayed the game a few years ago and it holds most of the time. The initial chapters are always convincing and scary, and the action is always fun and frantic. The pace is not so hot and of course, the graphics are not so, and of course, Xen is always painful – but overall, it's easy to get back into his shoes of 90's and remember how amazing it was at the time. .
However, if you plan to replay it, you could do a favor and play Black Mesa instead, a complete remake of the game with more modern graphics and many changes in quality of life. It's still the same game, but not quite like in 1998.
Source link
