I can’t recall when I picked up Half-Life 2, but it was sometime after college. Perhaps when I went to pre-order BioShock. It is perhaps useful to understand that during late high school and all of college, the FPS was the genre I ignored completely. Therefore, it took me some time to get back into them. I recall trying Half-Life 2 (which I’m currently playing again), and just being utterly confused as to what I was doing—the conventions they were tweaking and making more accessible still required I have a basic understanding of the rules in play.
Therefore, it’s hard to gauge how I would’ve reacted to Half-Life. There were things that threw me off, particularly as I have now played within this genre for the last four years. First, the movement was very odd. I am now accustomed to feeling I have footsteps, and this felt like I was sliding everywhere (doubly so when on wet floor). Second, the opening was very effective in hooking me. What I do recall of Half-Life 2 are Ravenholm and the opening sequence, when you’re just running. The opening for the first is an equal blend of both, and it worked. Third, the game progresses in an interesting curve, from horror/survival, to various other modes. The difficulty never became what I would call overly annoying, but it constantly threw new things at me.
What is curious to me is that while I surmised a lot of what was going on, it wasn’t until the end that a lot of it was confirmed to me. I certainly had my suspicions, and the game does well to feed you small bits of information throughout the entire game. Seeing the scientist gunned down by the very government agents I’ve been searching for in order to be saved from the alien beings after me? It was a curious mix of feelings, and the progress from there was a lot of figuring out who wanted what from me, and why.
Replaying Half-Life 2 now, it’s curious that my one complaint has been addressed: namely, we know nothing about the alien beings we faced. Instead of ever trying to communicate, they always attack. So far, I’ve encountered a few of these aliens, and they are not trying to kill me. It’s curious, and I wonder where the plot is going.
