Half-Life turns 16 this year. It’s likely older than some of you. Yet, aged graphics aside, it’s still one of the best games — or, rather, one of the best experiences — the PC has to offer. There’s a couple of reasons why.
As YouTuber XboxAhoy argues in his video, the first Half-Life was influential not just because it played well but because it immersed you into its world with great skill, gripping you with its atmosphere and actually putting you in the shoes of a (sort of) Average Joe, who’s unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. From his perspective, at least.
Of course, you can’t look at Half-Life without considering its legacy, and the video has you covered there, too — from the expansions to the original game and iconic mods like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic to the various small ways Half-Life influenced today’s first-person shooters.
If you have 20 minutes to spare, make sure to give it a watch. If you’re a fan, perhaps just to nod along and reminisce (and maybe find out a new thing or two), and if you’re not, then to learn how one of the greatest series in all of gaming began all those years ago.
RetroAhoy: Half-Life [XboxAhoy@YouTube]
Comments
34 responses to “Let This Man Explain What Makes Half-Life So Great”
It’s likely older than some of you
…no? Are there any kids on this website? I’ve never recalled seeing anyone under 20.
exactly what i was thinking.
I’m in my mid 40s, don’t know how the rest of you guys and girls stack up.
Me too! AND AH DIGGIT!!
Im 19
But Ive played through half-life multiple times most recently 1 month ago still as good as it used to be.
The best thing about revisiting it once every 4-5 years is it’s not fresh in your mind, so all those lovely surprises are still there to scare the crap out of you.
Well I’m 19, so there’s one to add to your list 😉
You’re still older then Half-Life.
I wonder why that is.. do they just not comment or something? I’m close to 27 now and was ten when I first played through Half-Life with my dad, didn’t realise exactly how amazing it was at the time, I just knew that it was better than Doom and Duke 3D. Last I played it (and both expansions) was 2010/2011 and enjoyed it just as much, perhaps even more so in some instances.
I’ve never seen these before.. so good! Thanks for sharing!
I think the young’uns spend more time on IGN and the like with the flashy colors and such….dagnammit
Back when we had to *walk* to the game store, in the snow, UPHILL both ways! And we liked it!
I still do.
Yeah me too. I don’t want to reveal my age here but I’ll just say it rhymes with ‘dirty ape’ Hahaha!
with an onion on our belt….
was it a brown onion?
You were lucky! We had to crawl over gravel, up a mountain, to get to our game store.
and we were THANKFUL!
Also, back when we had to have a separate add-on video card for the main video card for half lifes’3d’ graphics, (think of it as early SLI I guess lol)
Ahhh Voodoo 😉
Scan-Line Interleave! Each card handled the drawing of alternate lines to the monitor.
The very first implementation of what is now SLI [though, it now stands for Scalable Link Interface]. The new SLI renders alternate *frames*, rather than scan-lines, as one of it’s multi-gpu modes.
But maybe you were referring to having a separate ‘3D accelerator’ graphics card, separate from the main system’s graphics? When graphics rendering moved off of the CPU, they first had separate cards for 2D acceleration and display output, and if you wanted 3D acceleration at all, you would by an extra 3D accelerator card.
yep thats a one, where you had to have a cable going from the main video card to the 3d accellerator and from there to the monitor. First game I remember that really needed that extra card for it to look and play it’s best
and my sli reference was merely a joke related to linking two video cards together, that was all 🙂
This game made me sick when playing it.
Did you make the mistake of doing a oculus rift play through for 3 hours straight like me?
Holy shit that sounds wonderful.
We want HL3!
Nah skip that. i think the ship has sailed on that one. I want Half Life 4 dammit!
Back when i was 16 they made more than 1 sequel to games.
I only started half life last year, I grew up with doom wolfenstein and quake, and I have to say I was blown away by the game even today I enjoyed half life 1 way more than 2 and it really took me by surprise I could not believe what they accomplished way back then!
I’ve been watching Stu’s stuff for a while now. Most of it is top notch, and this is no exception.
I have to say, I have a bad habit of not saving a game when it has an autosave feature. Half-Life taught me the value of a save when I was stuck in the scene where you have just fallen into the venting. Needing to make my way through the ducts and I had no ammo, no flashlight power and 5hp. Needless to say crowbarring the life out of Headcrabs that appeared from nowhere was a nightmare in itself, one that I will never forget, that clanking sound they made as they stalked their prey, and with no light to see anything, EEEKKK.
I play all of the Half life and portal games once a year. My absolute top favorite game.
Watching this video reminds me that I still have to play Black Mesa…