Do believe the hype ... 'Half-Life' is worth wait

Reviewed by Peter Eley

Half-Life

Sierra

PC $109.95

MA 15+


Half-Life has been one of those games that arrives with sackloads of PR baggage.

An early version created a mini-sensation at the industry showcase E3 exhibition in the United States last June. Since then, the word has been: Half-Life will change the face of gaming forever.

Now we have the full retail version and can make the final judgment: is it as good as the hype, or is it just half good, like so many other supposed blockbusters?

Half-Life is a first-person shoot-em-up in the Doom/Quake tradition, but the big difference is that it has a real plot which dictates the way you have to play the game.

In effect, it is a very violent action adventure with complex puzzles punctuating episodes of frenzied firefights, all taking place in a rich 3D environment.

Yes, it is a very good game. It has clever and realistic gameplay, superb graphics on suitable systems, state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, good sound and a touch of humour to lighten the gore.

But most of all, it has that immersive quality which so many strive for but few manage to achieve.

From the opening scenes, which create a startingly accurate impression of a large corporate structure, down to the frequent scenes and dialogue which may or may not be relevant, Half-Life hooks you in.

It is more logical than most first-person shooters -- you don't just stumble across weap-ons and power-ups.

Your character, Gordon Free-man, wears a hazard suit which can only be repaired at stations set near dangerous areas. Almost all weapons and ammo must be taken from dead guards or enemies.

Freeman is a research scientist at the Black Mesa laboratory where an experiment goes horribly wrong, flooding the place with aliens and mut-ated workers.

The plot is so essential to the story that to reveal more would probably ruin the experience.

Be warned, it is a very hard game. After several sessions I find myself struggling to make any real sense of what's going on -- but little clues keep on taking me forward and I keep logging on for more.

A few tips: read the manual and learn the controls. Then take the excellent training course which teaches many of the key moves in the game. Fumbling around with the key-board is fatal when the action hots up.

Like Unreal, you can use characters in the game to help.
The most useful are the security guards, known by the generic nickname Barney.

They're not too bright but take to shooting aliens like ducks to water. Sadly, they usually do something stupid and get killed, but you can always pick up their ammo.

On-line play is a big part of first-person shooters and Half-Life has that vital death-match option. Whether it will woo the hard-core Quake fraternity remains to be seen, especially with the much-hyped Quake 3 just around the corner.

But one thing is for sure: Half-Life is a must for serious shooters.

Required: Pentium 133, 24mb ram, 400mb disk space.
Recommended: Pentium 166, 3D accelerator, 32mb ram. Test machine was a Pentium 2 266 with a 4mb 3D accelerator and 64mb ram.
- Peter Eley, 7DAYS