Half-Life Thoughts

Yes, you're reading that title correctly.  Half-Life may have been released in the 90's, but I've only just finished it.  Not ten minutes ago, I was taking on the final boss, and dying many, many times.  Gamers back then must have either been really good or really masochistic, cause I thought the game was very difficult.  That's probably what I'll take away from the experience, the sheer frustration and difficulty of the game.

I know Half-Life doesn't even compare to some of the more infamous hard games, but I thought it was very difficult.  It's not very forgiving, there are a bunch of difficult puzzles, the movement is inconsistent, and I couldn't figure out how to turn mouse acceleration off, which meant that every time I tried to swing my crosshair at something behind me, I always went way too far.  It made precise aiming very difficult as well.  I guess that's part of the fun of an old-school game, they're often unforgiving, but I could only enjoy it for so long.  I mean, I started this game last summer, it took me eight months to finish.  I would play for a few hours, get incredibly frustrated, then put the game down for a couple months.

Now, I don't think it was a bad game.  The enemies were difficult, and you have to think your way through them.  I just think that Half-Life is a game which really shows its age.  I think it's still worth playing, because it does set up Half-Life 2, arguably the best game ever made.  Again, I haven't played it, and when I do, I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about that too.  Hopefully it doesn't take the better part of a year.

My Other Blogs
Cool Science News
Cool Golf News

My Twitter