Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Half-Life

So I finally installed Half-Life this weekend (it came out circa 1998). I bought the "platinum collection" a few months ago which includes:

- Half-Life
- Opposing Force (the first expansion)
- Team Fortress Classic (multi-player only)
- Counter-Strike (multi-player only)
- Blue Shift (2nd expansion)

Blue Shift also included a "high def" update for the original Half-Life and Opposing Fortress games. More detail in the models or something, not really enough to make much of a difference.

My biggest complaint about it? The way that Gordon Freeman moves when he's in the HEV suit. It feels like I'm standing on roller skates rather then a pair of boots. Move in one direction and there's a 1/10th of a second before you stop moving in that direction. That makes a lot of the "jumping" puzzles sprinkled throughout the game really annoying. Because you'll land on something after a jump and find yourself sliding right over the edge. Not to mention that everything feels lagged due to the movement style. This seems to be an issue with the original Quake 1 / Quake 2 codebase (according to hints at shugashack). There are quite a few jumping puzzles where I said "heck with it" and used the dev console "/noclip" command to fly past that part.

The artwork is, of course, dated. Very few of the signs are legible (pixelated to death usually), which is a pity because you lose the chance at some more in-jokes. Case-in-point: Prior to entering the test chamber on your first day of work, there is a circular hallway that you walk around. One side has a pair of the rotating triangular panel signs that change messages every few seconds. The other side has 2 more. They're done up in the early 90s gung-ho corporate morale style but only half of the signs are legible.

The wall textures and the background textures are very pixelated. And there are very few places where models look curved enough. The curve issue is also due to the era in which it was made (low polygon counts).

Sound is okay, but I found a lot of the sounds to be harsh, which is probably a side-effect of the era in which Half-Life was made. The CD music plays at appropriate times, subtly raising tension levels now and then. There are a few audio clips that are barely clear and you really have to listen close to hear what the speaker is saying.

Interacting with the scientists and guards is interesting. They're especially useful in later sections as they are the only way to get through locked doors. Retinal scan controlled doors typically require scientists, while keypad locked doors typically require guards. All you have to do is to keep their scrawny necks alive long enough for them to do it. When you walk up to a scientist/guard, you press the USE key and they'll either talk to you or tell you that they're going to follow you. Then you lead them down the primrose path (waiting for their pathfinding algorithm to keep up, although sometimes they'll run if you run) to the locked door. My general tactic is to leave scientists/guards in a safe place when I find them (but quicksave) while I move forward and clear a path to the locked door.

The last complaint that I have about it is combat related. There don't seem to be any way to get headshots on the soldiers. That means I have to spend a dozen or two rounds of machinegun ammo on each one of them (or dig out the .357 and plug them twice). It doesn't feel like the weapons have enough stopping power. I'll have to experiment with that a bit more.

All in all, it's a "B" experience in today's world. Marginally less fun then DukeNukem 3D because Gordon never says *anything*. At least the "Duke" would cheer you up with a well placed witty comment.

Counter-strike console commands (most of these apply to the original Half-Life game.

Witchboy review of Half-Life - Definitely one of the more intelligent reviews that I've read about Half-Life. It's especially interesting where he points out similarities in game-play between Half-Life and some old classics (like Space Invaders).

Labels: 2005

posted by Wuphon's at 2:19 PM