Sound: 5
Gameplay: 8
Replay Value: 10
Reviewer's Tilt: 9
Overall: 9.0
I can't think of too many problems for this game, yet it's not quite a game capable of receiving our perfect 10 out of 10 rating. The framerate is swift, and 60 FPS and above. If you have a high-quality graphics card, you can smooth out all the pixels and make the resolution higher. At the regular 400 x 600, this game runs about 100 FPS. That's unbelievable!
So what does this do for you? Well, it makes things move really smooth and really fast. But the more the resolution rises, the slower the game goes. (Yet even at the highest setting, the game still runs at about 70 FPS.) It also makes the graphics look really, really pretty.
For 1998, these graphics were good, but not the best. With high resolution, the game doesn't look that bad, but there are a lot of ugly, pixelated background paintings and only average textures. Thankfully, the game features some excellent alien models, and the alien landscapes are some of the most well-done level designs in video games.
But let's not just fiddle with the graphics category. Let's think about the fun factor. Well, it's through the roof! I've beat this game several times and it's funner each and every time! You start to learn different tricks to beat certain stages of the levels, and you learn little plot twists here and there. You can also get two different possible endings, and they're both excellent! The end of the game is so unforgettable, it's not even funny.
This game's weakest point is the sounds.. Now, the sounds are a little, well, on the terrible side, and even back then they weren't anything special. The voice acting is still good, even though it sounds like the voice acting was recorded underwater because it's so muffled. The gun sounds are still superb, and the alien creatures sound cool too.
This game's controls are fluent and perfect. You can use your mouse scroller to cycle through your weapons, which is an added bonus! Jumps are performed with ease, and it's easy to crouch and crawl. You can customize every action to your liking too, so every single action performed is responsive.
So, a 9.0. Isn't that a little low for Half-Life? Well, yes, but let me explain why. My biggest problem with Half-Life is that there's some sections of certain levels, as well as whole levels, that you really don't want to do. Actually, most of the game consists of parts of levels that are mediocre. The complaint is, this game is so superb in many places, that the good parts of the game are just not as good. A good example of this is the alien world levels. All these levels suck! They mostly consist of jumping from platform to another moving platform, while trying to avoid certain enemies. Then you have to face Gonarch in Gonarch's Lair, a stupid, stupid level. The worst alien level is where you are shot out of holes in the ground to really high in the air, trying to find a place to land, trying to time the jump right so that you land on top of an alien's back. It's nearly impossible, and you die almost every time! There's also many annoyances throughout the human levels too, and I hate them!
But those are the only significant problems, and they really diced out a chunk from the overall score. Oh well, it's still a must-own, no matter who you are! Half-Life is one fine title.
