Half-Life 2

FBT half-returns to half-life with a half-baked conspiracy theory and gets so annoyed he has a psychotic episode or two. But not three.

The Past

If I’m honest, I always had a nagging doubt that HL2 was the Avatar of gaming. Greeted orgasmicly by critics -Maximum PC gave it ‘11 out of 10’- us gamers were whipped into a rabid fury; we auto-loved it and it was gamer-suicide to say otherwise. Even now, nearly 15 years later HL2 is the God of gaming. But was it really all that?

Part of the appeal was Valve and its emperor, Gabe Newell. He put himself about as a geek like us, claiming Valve is a loose collective of developers; it wasn’t some evil mega-corp like EA or Ubisoft, it was by gamers for gamers. Never mind Valve insisted we install Steam, a more intrusive and invasive DRM platform than anything previously to play HL2; they’re geeks like us. Meanwhile we screamed the place down any time a competitor tried a similar platform. GFWL? Spam! Origin? Malware! Uplay? Ransomware! GOG-Galaxy? … okay, they’re cool. You either accepted Steam or didn’t play HL2. It was emotional blackmail but such was our desperation we sucked it up and Steam has been on our machines ever since.

I was caught up too. Overwhelmed, I contemplated a Crowbar tattoo. But after a few replays, HL2 started to feel contrived. At the time it wasn’t the insidious Steam install that made me suspect Valve’s intentions; HL2 felt like a demo for the Source engine, like playing through a showroom. It was a façade and like the emperor’s new clothes, HL2 hasn’t got anything on.

You just don’t dislike Half-Life 2 though. I kept my doubts quiet and ensured no one suspected me by constantly replaying it, buying the Episodes and looking forward to HL3 like all the other sheeple. Then, the magic bullet; the more successful Steam got, the less HL3 was mentioned, until Valve stopped acknowledging Half-Life at all. It had served its purpose. But Gamers aren’t stupid – and they’re not forgiving either; one wrong sidekick and you’re into Daikatana territory. HL2 must be doing something right. It is more than just hot air?

Still a Blast?

While Xen’s invasion was contained to Black Mesa, the world is now under the control of interplanetary strip-miners the Combine. Turns out Nihilanth, the big baby baddie from HL1 was holding open the portal so the Xen lot could escape them. Instead, killing it drew their attention and the Combine rocked up and took over. Thanks, Gordon.

The world does have a grim Orwellian feel to it, with masked cops, screens displaying reassuring messages from earth’s ‘administrator’ (Breen, our unseen boss from HL1), processing areas and propaganda on the walls. This is an occupation, an oppressive hellhole that brings to mind real-world ‘internment’ camps; or at least a glimpse of post-Brexit Passport lines. I’m taken away by a guard – who offers to buy me a beer. Barney! You look a lot more detailed. Although the graphics are over a decade old, HL2 holds up insanely well, although that might be the constant updates and refreshes Source goes through. Can’t complain about that. It’s detailed, rich and real. I like HL2 so far. A solid looking game set in a compelling, tyrannical world. Time to Free it, man. I don’t last long. Trying to quietly pass through a depressed town, I seem to have become Harry Styles; we constantly hear ‘It’s Freeman!’ – that’s not helping. I get tasered, then I come around and fall in love.

Alyx Vance, daughter of a scientist we saved, has returned the favour. Alyx is both in awe of Freeman and way cooler than him. To be fair to HL2, Alex did change sidekicks and female characters in games. She’s not wearing an armoured bikini for starters and isn’t a Vasquez-clone either. She’s just a capable character and half the time we’re her sidekick. Having grown up during the occupation she’s excited to have found the man everyone expects to save the day. Freeman however, doesn’t even say thanks.

In the original, it made sense to have a silent hero; not a lot to talk about, or talk to other than the headcrabs, but HL1 did occasionally imply he spoke or at least gestured; NCPs would respond with ‘yes lets go’. But in HL2 it seems odd Freeman isn’t talking; it’s cleverly done, people chat in a way that his silence can be taken as an answer but why doesn’t he tell them where he’s been, about the G-Man? Instead, characterisation is filled in by the support cast. Besides Alyx and Barney, who has a nice line in cynical backchat, there’s absent-minded professor Kiener, who keeps Lamar, a ‘debeaked’ headcrab as a pet (“she’ll try to copulate with your head, fruitlessly”), Alyx’s dad Eli and Dr Mossman, who Alyx dislikes so we do too. They’re kind of a rebellion Gordon joins – well, he never agrees to it. But first, I’ll need a HEV suit. Wait a second, am I naked? Why did G-Man strip Gordon before placing him in status? That explains why Alyx keeps making small talk and glancing down.

Now suited up and set free, I’m off to reach Eli and help take down the Combine using a mix of shooter and adventure experiences. We make our way through decrepit buildings and sewers which give way to a barren countryside and receding seas, all of it layered with Combine machinery and industry as they tear apart earth for resources. It all looks very real. Between us and Eli are dozens of Headcrabs, now a Combine bio-weapon. There’s a more skittish version that grows into the Xenomorph-like Fast-Zombie, or as Alyx might say, a Fambie. Those spindly things go. Spotting them leaping across buildings headed for you is exhilarating stuff. Then there’s their poisonous siblings – the rattle-hiss signifying one’s about is so terrifying; a bite reduces your health to 1, which is a brilliant/evil trick. We also meet poor, horrible, groaning victims who are covered in them. Those things really get under my skin with their pitiful, pained calls as they’re eaten alive and I waste valuable grenades making sure they’re out of their misery as soon as possible.

The Combine are out in force looking for Freeman – they are scripted and samey but as far as human-type villains go, they do the job. They also have machinery-infused creatures, including a gunship that can shoot your missiles out of the sky – being tactical with an RPG is a nice touch – and Striders, War of the Worlds Tripods. We also deal with ‘Antlions’, the bugs from Starship Troopers which are swarming pains. So HL2 looks good and fights well; what was I bitching about? After we escape the slums, Freeman gets an airboat to cut across country. This is what I was bitching about.

The boat sequence is all fine and dandy, but it fast becomes filler. It goes on for ages, and we only have Source’s rendering for company. It just feels like it’s showing off, demonstrating different abilities; I have to dive into a pond and place a load of floating barrels to make a ramp so I can jump a wall. It’s just a Source buoyancy showcase. Later I have to swing a girder to knock open a floodgate. During the similar go-kart level, I stop to use a magnet crane to move the kart. It works, but it just feels like I’m playing a demo. And it’s incredibly linear, so those moments feel like I’m at some tech-convention moving between booths; pause to get harassed by magnetic beach-balls that don’t do anything, try to balance cinder-blocks to reach higher levels, look at this magnifying glass; the puzzles, the physics, the locations – those are key to any game but in HL2 it just somehow feels like we’re pausing for a word from our sponsors.

There are standouts to be sure –Ravenholm is still a creepy, horrible, brilliant place while Nova Prospekt, the prison we try to recover Eli from and a suspension bridge we need to clear are great set-pieces, as is the final push to the Citadel, guarded by the huge Striders. There are more subtle elements worth applauding too; Alyx, who is a work of art in every way possible isn’t the only notable character; Ravenholm’s last (human) resident, Father Gregori is an insane change from the usual support acts and his presumed fate is horrible and brings home what’s happening to earth. We get to turn the Antlions into manic soldiers we can order about too, they’re great fun and like Gregori, should have been around for a lot longer. The lolloping Vortigaunts are our pals now, having been oppressed by the giant baby it turns out, while the Human resistance is very believable. But the real stand-out is D0g.

D0g is a great side-kick’s side-kick. Scripted to be adorable and heroic, it’s a huge Gorilla-like mech bodyguard for Alyx and even better than I remembered. The scene where we get the gravity gun and ‘play’ with D0g is the best hidden tutorial of all time. His scripted sequences, leaping onto Combine vehicles and knocking the shit out of the troops are great, but it’s his undying love for Alyx and somehow emotive face that stays with you. Good boy.

But as always, every time HL2 convinces me it’s all that, I see through the lies. For every drainpipe ominously rattling in Ravenholm there’s a moment that feels forced. The gravity gun; critics wet themselves over it, like it was gamer sliced bread. It’s shit. I barely used it first time and this time I’m determined to unlock its secrets. Still shit. The amount of times I try to attract a Buzzsaw blade to eviscerate a zombie only to grab a coffee mug instead. It’s great, if you’re looking to showcase your physics engine; lots of smugly-clever physics puzzles pop up once you get it. Man, Source is cool yeah?

Eventually, we’re inside the Citadel gunning for Breen. Except we had all our guns taken off us. But the G-Gun can now grab and fling Combine soldiers about like ragdolls – all right I get it, Source can ace physics. And to ensure we don’t Skip the Ad, the Citadel vaporises the Combines weapons too. What happens if a soldier puts theirs down? It’s just too convenient. When we finally reach Breen, we stop him escaping by … playing Pong. What the hell is this? This is heroic, flinging balls at a tower? I miss the giant floating baby of HL1. But it’s not over, Freeman’s about to have an episode or two.

Episode One picks up as the Citadel explodes – and it’s about to explode more. So Freeman caused an invasion that decimated humankind and then triggered a blast large enough to finish the rest? Why is this guy our hero?

Hang on, the Combine’s guns are still dissolving, why doesn’t Alyx’s gun? While escaping the Citadel and the G-Gun shenanigans, Alyx uncovers a message about Combine reinforcements leading them into a running firefight with Combine as well as a Ravenholm-style sequence with Zombies, Xen critters and Antlions as we try to escape the city. Ep1 is a quick and clean race once we’re out of the Citadel and a nice little set up Episode Two, where we rejoin Alyx and Freeman freed of the city and lost the countryside. And it does look beautiful. But then Alyx is maimed by new villain, the imaginatively titled ‘hunter’. It’s basically an evil D0g. Thankfully a Vortigaunt is on hand to react more emotionally than Freeman does. We’re then sent into an Antlion nest to evade a marauding Antlion solider until we can reach their ambrosia, which the Vortigaunts need to resuscitate Alyx. It is a beautiful underground labyrinth and a refreshing change in both look and play-style, playing hide and seek with the solider, but it’s followed by a wave battle against now pissed off Antlion drones that feels really dated (there was a similar one at the end of E1). Never fear though, G-Man appears to imply some greater galaxy-wide conspiracy without explaining anything. It’s like one of those middle-management meetings where you realise nothing’s getting done and everyone’s just saying stuff to justify the meeting.

After using the gravity gun to rebalance a swaying bridge (‘Sponsored by Source, for all your gaming needs’) we’re in what looks like the car from Driver. Alyx and I go on a lovely tour of Source’s environmental rendering and blunder into Combine traps before a fantastic scripted moment when D0g puts in a surprise appearance just as we’re about to get stomped on. Finally we reach Eli and the resistance and it all gets really annoying. Hot on our heels are the Hunters and they brought their dads; Striders. Now this should be exhilarating but … it’s an irritating chore.

In order to take down the Striders we have to use a ‘Magnusson Device’ which requires you to drive to Device points, get out, grab it with the G-Gun, load it in the boot, drive to the Strider, get out, pick it up with the G-Gun, fire, swap to weapon, hit and explode the Strider. Now, repeat. If you miss or a Hunter hits the device you start again, while keeping up with the Striders before they reach the base. It’s not a race against time it’s a race against the save button, incrementally improving your odds as you watch in awe at all the physics going on. And why has Alex decided to stay behind? Now she chooses to catch up with Dad?

So we discover Episode 3 (slated for a December 2007 release date, can’t wait!) is going to take place in the Artic, but a Combine Advisor (another steal from Starship Troopers) rocks up and leaves us on a heart-breaking cliff-hanger. I may have been largely unimpressed with the game, but I loved the characters and that is affecting. I want to see it through. I want Episode Three. Goddamn Valve. Good guys my ass.

I’m conflicted. HL2 does have some genuinely great moments. D0g, the headcrab victims, the decaying world and misery of those surviving in it but Freeman’s silent act dates it and it all feels at arms-length because he’s not involved. I feel like an observer and it’s frustrating, because it’s a believable world you want to save from the Combine. It’s like having Star Wars toys you don’t take out of the packaging. Alyx is a quantum leap in companions; she’s not a follower – we’re a team. And she’s such a fangirl. Anything remotely heroic triggers a coo’ing comment and you often catch her glancing at you, smiling. But why? Who is Freeman really? He’s not much of a hero in HL2 – In HL1 he was a regular guy but why did G-Man defrost Freeman for this? He doesn’t do anything in HL2 that required a theoretical scientist and he has no personal part to play. G-Man should have unleashed Shepard. Plus there’s the confusion between HL1 and 2, the neatness of it all, that feeling that HL2 just kinda sails along. Nothing actually happens, nothing is resolved, the Combine aren’t exposed and we don’t get anywhere. It’s a really vague game that at best is setting up for a finale we didn’t get. Arguably it doesn’t even really get going until the end of Episode 2, where we prepare to take the fight to the Combine. Let’s do this! Oh.

I’m not conflicted. HL2 is style over substance and all about Source. It’s as epic as it is empty and it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. But I’m still desperate to know how it ends and it’s insanely frustrating that Valve couldn’t see their way to ending it. It’s a huge betrayal of the fans that made Valve what it is. HL2 certainly made enough money to justify HL3 or at least Ep3 (or both, given Gabe occasionally claims the Episodes are HL3; he just wants shot of it). Come on Gabe -the G-Man- give us back our Freeman. Just one more moment with Alyx.

But it won’t happen. The lack of Ep3/HL3 despite HL2’s success proves Valve just didn’t care – if ever. It might have been all about Source, but in the end it’s all about Steam. I’ll never get over the way Steam was forced on us but now I live on it, and until I and the millions of other gamers log off, until we stop Steam accounting for 75% of all digital gaming, Valve will have no reason to resurrect Freeman. But we won’t. I can begrudgingly live without Freeman but I can’t live without Steam. It keeps prices low(ish), there’s support and links and forums; it’s a gamer community. I have over 250 games knocking about in there; I don’t have that kind of shelf space. The best thing about Half-Life 2 was Steam.

Half-Life 2 – 2004 | Episode One – 2006 | Episode Two – 2007

Developer/Publisher Valve Corporation
Win/Steam, PS3, X360

Half-Life

A Blast from the Past review

A teary-eyed FBT returns to one of his favourite games. Crowbars at the ready.

The Past

Half-Life re-established my game love after years of samey gaming caused me to turn away from my faith and venture outside. I remember the world of HL1 being perfect; isolated and pressurised, facing creatures that were nightmarish without falling into cheap shlock-horror, you were escaping a disaster not causing one. And it was all wrapped up in a story you could dig into or ignore because there were no cut-scenes, it all just happened around you. I remember it petering out once we reached Xen, and final bosses betrayed HL’s Doom roots but otherwise it was brilliant, and it turned FPS into an adventure, an experience. I’ve not been outside since.

It even had good value Add-Ons, back when they weren’t money-grubbing wastes of time like hour-long b-side distractions, Horse Armour or weapons you instantly outgrew – and they weren’t already built into the game, just waiting for a code to unlock. They were real. The first, Opposing Force with its hero Shephard was almost as good as HL, and Blue Shift, where we played Barney the security guard was a welcome if short return. There was also Half-Life Decay, a co-op for the PSOne; I loved Half-Life so much I bought it and forced a PS-owning pal to play it with me, even though he had no idea what was going on and got shushed every time he asked. It wasn’t great, but it was Half-Life, it was home.

It’s incredible that Half-Life sprung from a nothing company founded by Gabe Newell, an ex-Microsoft employee who cut his developer teeth making Doom Windows-friendly. At the time, shooters were owned by id. But Valve pulled it off; while id kept remaking Doom with better graphics, Valve evolved FPS, set a new (crow)bar for shooters to reach for. In the same way Die Hard and Lethal Weapon made Cobra and Commando pompous and unrealistic, Half-Life blew away the Doom Clones that had squandered what id invented and paved the way for immersive, relatable shooters. We weren’t Doomguy or Duke in HL, we were a science geek, an everyman which led to damaged heroes like Max Payne and complex experiences like FEAR. A new era began with Half-Life; FPS was now an art-form, not a shooting gallery.

Could Valve do no wrong? Yes, yes they could. Just look at Half Life 3. Valve can pretend Half-Life never happened but I’ve been waiting patiently. Until now; it’s been so long I’ve started wondering; is Half-Life really as influential as I’ve always argued? Has it aged into insignificance, maybe even its impact overstated? 2018 is the 20th anniversary of Half-Life, time for a reunion at Black Mesa.

Still a Blast?

I’d forgotten how long the opening scene is. I loved the fact that HL had no cutscenes, but this commute through Black Mesa, the Area51-a-like base our hero, theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman works at is a drag. But at the same time I kinda like it. I’m impatient to get me a crowbar but it sets the scene, lets you realise how big this place is, how isolated I am, what we have to escape once everything goes south.

It doesn’t look too bad either. I originally loaded up Half Life:Source, a rebuild on the HL2 engine but while the water looks a bit better, the edges a bit more refined, it’s a pointless do-over that just makes Black Mesa more Murky Mesa. I reload the original. This is more like it. Weird that I’d prefer the blockier version, but this is the HL I remember, and you can see that under the hood is id’s Quake engine. The irony. This feels classic.

So, after wandering the base and getting told off for being late, I’m off to go trigger the “resonance cascade” that opens portals everywhere and collapses the base; time to get busy with the crowbar. Of course, that’s after I get the infamous HEV suit. Although we never see Freeman in-game, the suit looks like an Orange wetsuit/spacesuit and provides him with shields, and an audio monitoring system that scolds you for taking hits. It’s a nice little logic nod, telling Freeman he’s being injected with morphine after falling off a ledge and losing half-his-life. The music also kicks in when Freeman puts the suit on. Guess it comes with an MP3 player too.

I find two of four scientists that populate the base. There’s only a couple of NCP designs but it’s not distracting and they have nice little personalities and reactions to what’s going on, ranging from terror to over-analysing. One has a nice line in shrieking. They can provide health boosts and open doors and distract the bloody headcrabs. You also encounter Security guards who will shoot alongside you – since there’s no moral choices or XP to be had, Freeman may have on occasion clobbered security guards for their bullets once we’ve reached a spot they can’t follow. Who’s gonna know? One person who might witness my severe survival instinct is the G-Man. You spot him at various times, and he even helps on occasion, but usually he just watches what you’re up then adjusts his tie and walks into a portal. He has an X-Files’ Smoking Man meets Men in Black vibe to him and I’d forgotten how often he pops up, if you spot him.

Anyways, we have more to worry about than distant stalkers; making our way through the crumbling Black Mesa lab is a lot more subtle and ingenious than I remembered. Tasked with reaching the surface and getting help for the hundreds of four scientists trapped inside, Freeman doesn’t spend all his time shooting. Maybe a quarter of HL is exploring and figuring out puzzles. Yet it’s not boring, it doesn’t feel like padding. It feels realistic, like Gordon’s finding his way not just clearing a path with a rocket-launcher. Had it been a Doom-style shoot-a-thon I don’t think HL would have had half the impact; it’s more a disaster-movie struggle to reach the surface and the obstructions don’t feel contrived or deliberate. Of course, this wouldn’t be a shooter without some shootable obstructions.

The Headcrabs, which became something of a mascot for the series, are even more annoying that I remember. Their scratchy cry as they launch at you, hoping to eat your brain and control your body is more of an annoyance than a scare, while the crabbed scientists stumble toward you like classic era zombies – their muffled screams stay with you as their bodies change and alter, turning into something horrible. HL isn’t a horror game though; the soldiers of Xen, later known as Vortigaunts are fast and nasty, but their lolloping run looks like a silent movie star sneaking up on someone – scares isn’t HL’s gig, it’s more about the sheer scale of the event and escaping it. Something can kill you at any moment, but it’s always logical, fair; if Freeman dies, it’s because you weren’t smart enough, didn’t consider that a radioactive spot is favoured by the Bullsquids with their sniper-accurate acid-spitting, or water is where the Barnacles hang out to grab you as you pass by. Later creatures such as the Alien Grunt do feel more Quake-like, but the game’s AI holds up quite well alongside some great scripting to create movie-like moments of them jumping through windows and breaking down doors. It really is a thinking-man’s shooter rather than a reactionary one.

The weapons are also something to think about. While there’s Doom-based pistol, shotgun, machinegun standards, we also get a cross-bow which is as slow as it is incredibly powerful, a revolver and a couple of Black Mesa prototypes to muck about with, as well as some Alien tech and some explosives. While we have a lot of choice, it takes some working out to figure what kills what quickest, and many of them are also used by enemies; Gordon never has the upper hand, there’s no BFG in sight.

As we get closer to the surface, away from the portals, the aliens give way to a Marines unit, sent down to contain the outbreak. And, it turns out, us. They add a more typical shooter element, but they are a refreshing change from the stumbling zombies and galloping Vortigaunts and as the invaders catch up, they and the marines take each other out too and Gordon gets caught in their skirmishes, choosing whether to skirt around or get stuck in. It still all makes sense though (How many times in a shooter do you stop to wonder how the hell an enemy NCP got there or knew you were coming?) Outmatched, the Marines start to pull out, and those stranded get picked off not just by the Xen creatures, but Black Ops who have infiltrated to ensure what happens in Black Mesa stays in Black Mesa. Best get out of Black Mesa then.

Next stop Xen – after passing through Mesa’s dirty little secret; test subjects of Xen creatures, confirming this isn’t our first encounter. Making sure this is our last encounter, something on the other side is holding the portals open and guess who’s the only guy in a HEV suit capable of surviving Xen? I kinda wish I wasn’t. Not out of fear about what I’ll find but wondering if the memory of finding Xen a let-down is still accurate. It kinda is. There’s just something a little more generic about the Xen world and it’s bare look shows the engine’s age and basic rendering. It’s imaginitive but vacant. Most of the same Xen creatures are knocking about, along with new annoyances like trees that spike you, and the infuriating mini-boss Gonarch, a huge headcrab. After all the careful narrative, reducing HL to a Quake-like alien world and boss battles just stumbles HL a little, while the platforming puzzles seem contrived. I’d forgotten all about the final boss, Nihilanth, a weird giant baby and a bullet-sucking annoyance. Although Xen is still a stumble, its fun and G-Man’s final scene is straight out of The Outer Limits. I’m proud to have saved the world. Geeks rule!

Half-Life is still one of the best shooters of all time – even more so those days, given how samey and CoD-clone FPS has got. I’d also not appreciated just how ‘normal’ Freeman was. He’s late at the beginning, implying he’s just a regular joe, dragging his heels to work. He’s dismissed by most of the scientists and given grunt work. In fact, he seems pallier with the security guards than his peers. But as he progresses, Gordon becomes respected and admired by the scientists. He did nothing sciencey to deserve their adulation, but still, it’s nice that Gordon gains their respect by the time he jumps into Xen, and it’s one of many, many ways that Half-Life is pure class.

After this, the series could have gone off in any direction, but instead Valve had then-new developers Gearbox cook up the same experience but from different perspectives. I remember liking that in the first Add-On, Opposing Force we were the bad guy. Corporal Adrian Shephard, reporting for duty. Sent as part of the force tasked with putting down the invasion, Shep’s air carrier is shot down by a passing Xen bomber thingie. This means Shep never gets the order to kill Freeman. Hey, I’m a good guy again. Playing now, it would have been more fun for the focus to be kill all the scientists and not forget about Freeman, make all about stopping him but instead it quickly falls into Half-Life lite territory, finding a way to escape the base but there’s a few things keep your attention. Four, to be exact.

Although scientists will (rather naively) help Shep, the real MVP NCPs of HL:OP are the other marines lost or cut off from their units. None of them seem concerned about Freeman either, so they merrily follow Shep looking for a way out. They have a great way about them, kinda like the Colonial Marines of Aliens (maybe not mention Colonial Marines and Gearbox together), switching between Hooah machismo and ‘its game over man!’ panic attacks. There’s standard grunts, a medic, and an engineer who lights his Oxy-cutter with his cigarette. They can die, and do often, but rather than get replaced by magically dropping from the sky, new troopers must be found or freed so Shep does still spend time on his own. It’s fun to try to get through with all the soldiers intact, and disheartening to see one of the vets down or hobbling after a firefight. Noooo he was one day away from retirement.

Whittling down my dirty quarter-dozen is stalwarts the Vorts, Headcrabs and Zombies, but also the Black Ops we saw briefly in HL. Whereas in HL they were backflipping female ninjas, most of OP’s opposing force is male, who aren’t as agile as the females, but are still sneaky little so-and-so’s and tougher than the marines. They intend to explode a nuclear device to seal Mesa and its secrets, so that becomes Shep’s priority, since it’ll explode before he can reach topside.

It’s not just the Black-ops and Xens we have to contend with though. There’s also ‘Race X’, random aliens that used the portals to invade. Those creatures are more aggressive than the Xen lot; large electric-bolt firing grunts, small scrappy little drones that fire darts and rip you to pieces, and the ‘Voltigore’, an elephant-sized pain that inhabits a dark tunnel system Shep has to navigate, and appears in a mini anti-petting zoo he works his way through.

OP does little to expand the HL story, although Shep’s diary implies the whole event was planned by the G-Man; it’s much more of a pure shooter and does suffer for it. When I first played it, I was happy to be back in the HL world, but now it feels like filler, especially with the no-mark Race X creatures. Least there’s no Xen to speak of though, only a brief detour. But, it is true to HL, there’s some nice locations and set-pieces, and we get a brief glimpse of Gordon as he departs for Xen. I tried to stop him but just created a temporal paradox. I’d rather that than be in Xen to be honest.

Despite being a Half-Life lite, OP is a solid little game. The grunts are fun to kick around with, the Black-Ops a worthy foe and the progress through the base is never boring. Shep has even more weaponry to play with, including a sort-of Portal gun that’ll transport him about, occasionally with unforeseen consequences and we get a sniper rifle; Shep also decides to carry around a Barnacle to reach areas and objects, lets a shock-firing parasite attach itself to him and adopts a tadpole creature, which purrs at him when he strokes it and fires explosive oranges. Shep is weird. G-Man takes a liking to him though and he’s been a fan fave ever since, despite never actually accomplishing anything – he saves no one and Black Mesa still explodes at the end.

The second Add-On, Blue Shift was slated on release, offering nothing new and being too short to enjoy what it did have. That is true, it’s practically a demo-sized game centred around Barney, a security guard and drinking buddy of Freeman. Barney does fight his way through the same Xen creatures and marines in Black Mesa yet again and it is all starting to feel a bit repetitive.

I enjoyed it at the time, and having replayed, still have a guilty love for it. Barney’s mission feels more personal – let’s get the hell out of here. It’s his job to do the grunt work for a couple of scientists trying to reactivate a prototype transporter that’ll get them to the surface. It just works for a bunch of nerds and a bloke on minimum wage with a clip-on tie.

There’s not much to say about Blue Shift’s FPS experience that’s not already covered by HL and OP. It’s the same but with a blue arm instead. Oddly though, I enjoyed Barney’s brief trip to Xen, where he does something science-related to activate the transporter – it’s a surprisingly enjoyable, tense run-through instead of Freeman’s overstay. The rest of it is familiar and there’s not much in the way of standouts, but I liked Blue Shift; most of the time we’re just running errands for the scientists and I’m okay with that. It’s an alternative take on the event, shows that the scientists and security guards weren’t all helpless or hopeless, and given Barney is a key player in Half-Life 2, it’s nice to see where his heroics and closeness to the scientists comes from. In some ways I preferred it to OP; it’s less typical of FPS to be playing the support act rather than the hero.

And then there was Decay. But without a friend to co-play it with (I mean a friend with a PS, I have lots of friends obviously) I’m going off faded memories and Decay has been equally forgotten; which is a shame as it’s the only HL game with female leads. The plot followed them attempting to call for army support, explaining the marine’s appearance (even though according to OP, it was pre-planned) and from memory, it’s another run through Black Mesa, but this time puzzles and enemies are more suited to coop rather than solo play. Enterprising Modders have found ways to convert it to PC, but I have no PC friends either…

HL does look a little creaky now, but as with any great game, that aged feel disappears when you disappear into a game this good. Half-Life it turns out, is ageless and still relevant; yes, it was an important game, a shooter that lead to story-driven, immersive experiences but under all that adulation and influence, the battles, environments, puzzles, subtle scripting, events and story boils down to one element modern games forget; the player. HL was a game that respected the player; I really felt like the game wanted me to have a good time, get lost in its world. And now we’re lost without Half-Life 3; Valve are a very different company now, but back in 1998 they created something truly amazing. And it still is. Apart from Xen.

Half-Life 1998 | Developer Valve | Publisher Sierra Studios/Valve

Opposing Force 1999 / Blue Shift 2001 / Decay 2001 | Developer Gearbox | Publisher Valve

genres; shooter, FPS, Horror, Adventure

platforms; Win/Steam, PS2