I finally beat Half-Life 2 last night, after a 2.5-month hiatus 80% of the way through the game. The Half-Life series has one of the best, if not the best, storylines of any videogame franchise. It’s blending of stylistic and thematic elements is brilliant, and the pace, mood, and tempo of the game is expertly controlled with stunning visuals, an unintrusive soundtrack, and plotwork. My “roommate” can attest to the tension I felt while working through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm—I screamed out loud, like a little girl, a couple times. Not joking.
Games often get boring when the plot is static and the setting is monotonous. In Half-Life you work your way through the plot, uncovering bit after bit about a grander and more evil plan than you originally thought each time. The environments you explore and fight through vary from Orwellian cities to beachside prisons infested with Starship Troopers-like insects, to extensive flooded canals, to a towering citadel full of dark, alien technological splendor and terror. Ever present is the threat of an oppressive, slaving military force against which you are fighting, giving the player a sense of fighting against overwhelming odds for the sake of freedom and righteousness—something every red meat-eating American can easily identify with.
Some might think that the Halo story is right up there with HL, and it is to some extent, but let’s keep in mind HL first brought us the moody, linear FPS alien-human battle in 1998 while Halo came out in 2001. There’s many common elements to the games, but I think HL takes the cake.
All this “combines” (ha!) to make a ridiculously good game that makes me want to play through it all over again (maybe on “hard” this time…?). If you’re not an
FPS type of guy or girl, well, you’re really missing out.
And yeah, I’m a geek, get over it.
[SPOILER]
