Half Life - Jump or Get off the Platform

Half Live is a critically acclaimed game that took the 90s by storm. The thinking man's shooter from Valve is regarded as the next step in fps games, an evolution of design. Where other games circle-strafed in fps norms, Half Life leaped to new heights and pried it's own identity out of fully 3D crates. Through both design and execution, Half Life found it's way into fps stardom, at least that's what I'd heard. I for one couldn't speak from experience as I had yet to finish the game. In the early 2000's I progressed only a little before letting more conventional titles steal my attention. Fast forward to the plague-ridden present and I've finally gotten around to finishing Valve's masterpiece. Where some outliers regard Half Life as an overrated game that fails to live up to it's Gargantua sized reputation, my own opinion goes a step further: I didn't like Half Life. A shocking revelation that would have turned the interned upside down, had I written this 20 years ago, nevertheless, let's strap into that fancy HEV suit and start jumping, jumping to conclusions.

The hard, angular engine that powered Quake 2 lives on in Half Life. It may be hard to discern just where the little gears and sprockets share similarities, especially considering the fact that the code was heavily edited to fit Valve's vision. What the two games do have in common is their lack of a map: mini, auto or otherwise, not even a compass. A few times I found myself un-findable, while other gamers found the levels perfectly navigable, so call it my super power, I really can get lost on command. Either way, playing the game for the first time means not having a clue where to go or what vent covers were breakable. You'd think that the lead designer would have hinted at which vent was the right one, though maybe checking them all was supposed to be the game's appeal. I had plenty of time to wonder while wandering around the chaotic Black Mesa complex. It'd be a little easier if the fancy HEV suit had a compass, or maybe voiced "hot" or "cold" to guide me to the exit. No matter what environment I found myself in, I always found an issue with the HEV suit. 

Half Life's trademark Hazardous Environment is as much the star as Gordon Freeman. The HEV co-star even has more dialogue lines than the game's silent protagonist, it should, after all it's the futuristic armor that's meant to keep our theoretical physicist safe during his duties. If the aim was to break away from traditional fps body armor, the bells and whistles didn't make the HEV suit anything more than a talking Flak Jacket. All manners of damage still affect Freeman, ironically it's from environmental hazards. Water, heat, cold and even falling from heights damages the player, not great when platforming is such a big element of Half Life's gameplay. The HEV suit even adds insult to injury when the digital voice informs players that both their legs have shattered while navigating those hazardous environments. In the later stages of the game, making a jump often meant trading health for progress, I didn't feel any safer than someone wearing a t-shirt and crocs. The fall damage and need for platforming didn't compliment each other, rather they clashed like aliens and mercenaries.  

Half Life adds non-combat elements to the violent fps genre, yet still has a decent amount of gunplay. Once again, Half Life adds the window dressing while building the same house as before. The typical bloated roster of fps guns would be forgivable in a more conventional fps game, not here. The Hive-Hand and Snark grenades are like an allegory for the game itself, the Hive-hand being a novel and ineffective, while Snarks have all the usefulness and loyalty as deranged gerbils, they don't discern between friend or foe, after being loosed. Conventional weapons like the railgun, gluon, and crossbow are just the kind of direct-fire weapons typical to fps games, though a little redundant. None of Half Life's weapons allow as much as a rocket-jump or climbing ability. The only freshness added to the genre are the exotic ammo required to feed these otherwise typical guns, Fine for a typical fps game, but not when you're evolving the genre with an entire platforming section on an alien landscape. 

The final example of Half Life's lukewarm attempt at novelty ends with the game's final bossfight. Aside from featuring some platforming, it's surprisingly typical, no final puzzle platforming chase through an impromptu obstacle course. The final boss felt more suited to Serious Sam, though that game came after Half Life, I'll chalk that up to the time travel element in Croteam's series. At every turn it seems like Half Life tried to be an old-school shooter and a groundbreaking evolution at the same time. The old adage goes, you can't have your cake and eat it, Half Life's problem is that it attempts just that. The HEV suit should either do it's job or be replaced with body armor, the gunplay should be toned down or take center stage. It makes me wonder if platforming and fps games should just stay separate. Games like Doom Eternal and Shadow Warrior 2 mix the two elements, but exclude the fall damage and keep gunplay at the forefront, an example of design choice actually being made, though possibly due to new ground treaded by Valve's flawed game. 

There's a lot more games to come so stay tuned, Comrades.