Product Description

The critics agree. Half-Life is easily the most gripping, frightening and intense game experience ever. Awarded Game of the Year by more than 40 publications, Half-Life has been called a "Masterpiece of epic proportions."" The Half-Life Game of the Year Edition includes new multiplayer models and maps as well as Team Fortress Classic, the hugely popular team-based multiplayer game that runs on top of the Half-Life engine. Featuring an integrated storyline with stunning visual effects and a hug

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7131 in Video Games
• Brand: Vivendi Universal
• Model: 70863
• Released on: 1999-06-28
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: CD-ROM

Features

• Enemy AI: Half-Life's monsters are also remarkably--even terrifyingly--intelligent. Our proprietary
• Rendering Technologies: So you don't want to have to buy a special hardware accelerator just to get
• Skeletal Animation System: Our new animation system lets us create monsters that are more spectacula
• Multiplayer: Joining a multiplayer game is now fast and easy, thanksto Half-Life's powerful interfac
• Hazard Course training area for practicing movements, special maneuvers, and weapons use

Amazon.com Review
Your gun had better be loaded if you're playing Half-Life: Game of the Year Edition, the smartest, shootingest, bloodiest game ever to hit the PC. Take control of a scientist charged with destroying the alien invasion force that arrived, courtesy of government experiments gone wrong. Of course, in the post-X-Files world, there's additional bad guys in the form of federal "cleaners" who want you just as dead as the monsters.

Power up your environmental suit and plunge through level after level of increasingly difficult and creepy challenges, rescuing your fellow scientists and ultimately clearing out the whole complex--if you're lucky. Game play is smooth and simple, after the obligatory false starts and botched maneuvers common to learning every new game. Persistence pays off, though: Half-Life rewards tenacity with increasing power and understanding of the virtual world.

Play on a network and cooperate or compete with folks across the world or in the next cubicle. For those who've mastered the intricacies of Half-Life , the Game of the Year Edition includes Worldcraft 2.0, which the designers used to build every detail of the base. Make your own levels and snicker at other players' pathetic attempts to evade your deathtraps. It's easy to see why Half-Life won Game of the Year from dozens of publications; try it and see for yourself--if you're not too squeamish. --Rob Lightner

Amazon.com Product Description
Half-Life: Game of the Year Edition features the award-winning dynamic and plot-driven action game filled with intelligent aliens on the hunt. This package also includes new maps and models for the game as well as a team-based multiplayer add-on component. This game's superior artificial intelligence, seamless graphics, and advanced multiplay features make it popular.

GameSpot Review
A major goal in any game is to create the illusion of reality, a fact that is especially true for first-person shooters. The whole point of the genre is to put you, literally, in the role of the protagonist. In light of this, it's surprising that so many games have stuck to a blueprint that breaks the illusion at every possible opportunity, with text-based mission briefings, jarring level transitions, and weapons and power-ups scattered around like decorative furniture. But Valve Software has obviously spent a lot of time studying the mistakes of the past. The result is Half-Life, the closest thing to a revolutionary step the genre has ever taken. Through a series of subtle and artistic design decisions, Half-Life creates a reality that is self-contained, believable, and thoroughly engaging. And while it may be surprising that no game has utilized any of these ideas in the past, it's clear that any future shooter will be remiss to overlook them.

The plot of the game is typical (in fact, it's little more than an elaborate version of Doom). You are Gordon Freeman, scientist at the Black Mesa Research Facility, involved in some mysterious experiments. These experiments go awry, and foul creatures begin taking over the complex. It gets more complicated, but there's no need to ruin the surprises that await. Suffice it to say that Half-Life isn't a great game because of its story; it's a great game because of how it presents that story. From the opening moments of the game to the final showdown (and even beyond) all hell is continually breaking loose, and there is never a moment where you are not seeing things through Freeman's eyes. There are scripted events in the game. There are opening and closing scenes. But they all occur naturally within the game environment. It may sound simple, but it goes a long way toward helping create a believable world.

Weapon, ammunition, and health placement follows the same philosophy. You'll hardly ever come across an item that is just bobbing and spinning in place like some gift from the heavens. Valve has done a good job of justifying the typical health and armor meters. Freeman is wearing a hazard suit, used by researchers involved in dangerous experiments. To regain health and armor energy, you must fill up at power stations. These are almost always located in logical places, usually near areas where dangerous work would be performed. There are no power-ups to be found. Weapons and ammo are taken from supply closets or the corpses of fallen security guards and soldiers. Even the more experimental weapons have their proper place - in the weapons research department of the facility. And late in the game, once you've left the research facility, the supply of ammo and first aid kits is believably scarce.

There are no levels in Half-Life, or, more specifically, it lacks the concept of levels and episodes we've come to expect. The game is a continual stream of locations from beginning to end. You can move back and forth at will (with only a few exceptions), as can those who are pursuing you. And though the brief loading time between zones is the one artifact that breaks the flow of the game, the transitions are thankfully brief.

The attention to detail doesn't just stop with the basic structure. The game is full of surprises, continually throwing new obstacles and challenges in your path. There is a wide variety of textures, lending a distinct look to every area. The numerous scripted events bolster the illusion of reality, and you'll come across detailed scenes that are continually suspenseful. The gameplay is very puzzle-oriented, but the puzzles hardly seem to be superficial obstacles. Whether you're repairing a reactor or finding some way to dispose of a massive locked door, the puzzles always seem plausible in the world Valve has created.

The alien enemies are well designed and occasionally border on the terrifying. From the basic headcrab (which resembles a cross between Alien's facehugger and X-COM Apocalypse's brainsucker) to monstrosities a hundred times its size, the enemies truly look like organic beings. There are human enemies in the game, and these display a level of artificial intelligence that is remarkable. While many a game's idea of excellent AI is simply monsters that can make it through a doorway to follow you, Half-Life's antagonists act in a manner that is frighteningly realistic. They won't follow you through a doorway - they'll just lob a few grenades to where you're hiding and be done with it.

The weapons look and sound great, ranging from the realistic combat shotguns and grenade launchers, to the science-fictional, high-powered particle accelerators. The level design is diverse (owing a nod of thanks to Jedi Knight), including the expansive research facility, some great outdoor areas, and foreign locales that are best left to be discovered on your own. Suffice to say, it never gets repetitive.

The only problems with Half-Life are the results of it being so ambitious. The fact that all of the humans in the game look like clones takes from the otherwise realistic atmosphere. The diversity of the levels and puzzles will undoubtedly leave you thinking some areas were better than others. But complaints that arise are simply a reaction to the fact that the game is so close to ideal. Half-Life is an exceptional single-player game and a solid multiplayer game (though the upcoming Team Fortress add-on may make it even better). It takes the tried-and-true one step further but ends up leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. --Ron Dulin
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

You would be a fool NOT to buy this!
Let me cut right to the point: as far as action games go, this is THE game to own. It wouldn't matter if you bought another action game, because they will never compare to this. Unlike most games where they throw you right into the action, Half-Life lets you adjust to a normal, every-day setting for a while, just before bringing it crashing down over your head via a dimensional portal to an alien world. See, you play a normal, bland scientist guy named Gordon Freeman who works at a secret research base miles underground. This place makes the fabeled Area 51 seem like a little shack. Anyway, you show up and work, only your experiment is interrupted when it explodes and opens a gateway to an alien world. Now these aliens aren't really friendly, and start crossing over to our world to tear up some stuff. You race to the surface, where you know help will be and you can get them to help save your friends, right? Big mistake, pal. The help comes in the form of military commandos, on a mission to wipe out this little disaster, and this involves silencing you and your co-workers permenately. So, now what? The artwork is amazing, the story is compelling. Words simply can't deescribe this masterpiece worthy of the title Game of the Year. Plus, for those of you new to action and first-person shooter games, there's even a short but handy training area where you learn how to do the stuff you need to know for this game. Overall, this is the best bet for any computer game fan.

Quite simply one of the best action games ever made
I'll tell you right now that I love action games. I began playing Wolfenstein 3D when I was eight. Ever since, action games has always been my form of entertainment. I discovered Half-Life exactly one year ago when I purchased PC Gamer magazine. At that time, Half-Life was already a few months old. After reading about all the wonderful things about it, I finally purchased it. I installed it immediately, and the second I started playing, I was hooked in its immersiveness. From beginning to end, you will have a gaming experience you never had before. You take the role of a scientist named Gordon Freeman, who is involoved in an experiment that has gone horribly wrong and has opened a portal to an alien dimension. Armed with only a crowbar, you begin your journey out of the Black Mesa Research Facility and to the surface while battling aliens. The story unfolds with numerous plot twists and surprises. The story is so immersive that there will be times when you forget its just a game.

The sound is excellent. With a sound card that supports 3D audio(EAX, A3D 2.0, Direct Sound 3D), the game will become frightengly realistic. The graphics are also very good, using a modifed version of the Quake II engine. The gameplay is superb. The puzzles are smart, the level design is diverse, and the artificial intelligence is nothing short of outstanding. The single player portion is worth the whole price. In fact that's why I got it in the first place. But multiplayer is excellent also, thanks to the Team Fortress Classic mod. If you don't have Half-Life there is no reason to wait any longer. It is about time to find out why Half-Life was awarded Game of the Year by so many publications.

Much better than Unreal or Quake 2
Half Life is a very stunning game. Everything about it is just awesome. Remember the part in Unreal when you could hear screaming behind a door and you don't know what's going on? Remember how that frightened you? Well, up that one, because this game is more frightening because it's more realistic (because of the wonderful A.I.), and because you don't know what's going on behind the scenes most of the time. All you'll notice is the screaming sounds, or the gore coming out of the vents, or some mysterious guy walking around. Every minute of this game is pure bliss.

One of the most wonderful parts that truly stuck out for me was watching the team of commandos outside trying to flush me out. Some would hide behind boxes, while others would throw gernades into my hiding spot. What's so spectacular about that is the fact that 'their' backup would just bomb the whole place, just to make sure I was dead! That was a truly fightening experience, not knowing where the bombs would land, or where an enemy would hide.

Buy this game, please..