Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

This is a game from the time where games were more than 10 hours long, teeth-griddingly difficult, were well written, and had balance between adventure, action, exploration, puzzles, and a rainbow of enemies.

•GRAPHICS: I'm going to start right off and tell you that if anything is going to turn you off about this game, it will be the graphics, they have simply aged really badly. Everything looks like it's made from Legos. If you can put that aside, you can definitely have a lot of fun with this game.

•STORY: Half-Life easily holds its head above modern triple 'A' title in this regard.
•You are NOT playing as some giant space marine, fighting dinosaurs on the planet Zog.
•You are NOT playing as holy Knight-Wizard flying on a dragon to defeat Evil Lord Arse.
•You are playing as Doctor Freeman, working as a scientist at Black Mesa Research Facility when you open a rift where creatures overtake the facility and you have to escape while saving your fellow scientists.

•GAMEPLAY: This is where the game shines. •You play through a complex of corridors but you never get lost and never feel like you're stuck going one way (ultimately you actually are, but you feel as those you have a degree of freedom). •All of the enemies are greatly varied and keep you on your toes. •Weapons are plentiful AND original, and you generally have enough ammo to play with the one you like, but at the same time, you are never overpowed. •You feel as though you are encouraged to explore. Side paths almost always carry health packs, and ammo, and Skittles.
•Puzzles are nice and hard, but can be figured out logically if you stop and think for a minute.
Everything is recognizable, despite the limited visuals are the time.
•Escort missions are never to long to get annoying, and are infrequent enough to be acceptable.
•You are killing other dimensional aliens with a CROWBAR!

•SOUNDTRACK: For the most part, you'll actually notice and eerie silence which actually lends itself quite well to setting the mode. Some "music" plays at certain moments, but it's always very well done and very well timed, and is just enough to build atmosphere. Barely noticeable, but surprisingly memorable. (nothing like a jingle)

•VALUE: You will get a lot of bang for your buck. Only $9.99 on Steam. Great length. You will get many hours of enjoyment out of it, however it never drags or is redundant, especially compared to modern games. You will easily get your money's worth.