Revolutionary at the time of release. Great game-pack with the entire collection ... but I was just so bored playing it!
I consider myself a diverse gamer who favours PC games over anything a console can produce. I appreciate that developers must cater games for all types of gamers but I do tend to favour pensive games that require thought and immerse the player over games that are mostly action and rely more on an intense approach and reflexes. Occasionally if the humour is good enough it may sway my opinion of the game if the gameplay is rather bland.
So I will be more likeley to favour RPG's, Strategy, Adventure, Space flight Sims and Tactical Shooters but often can get bored playing Beat-Em Ups, Action adventures (focusing more on action like the consoles), Racing games and pure FPS's unless there is some redeeming quality that grabs my attention. This can be anything from a great story, great non player characters, to faithful recreation and use of an existing license or great game engine etc
Now before I say a single thing about Half Life, I am fully aware of it's status in the PC gaming community and that it is wideley regarded as one of the best FPS's out there. FPS's being the most popular genre in PC gaming I have no doubt other usesrs on this site will completely disagree with my upcoming remarks.
THE GOOD
I bought and played Half-Life when it first came out back in 1998, yes it did have decent graphics for the time (not that important to me), yes it did have a good selection of weapons with decent sound effects and animations, yes it did have people you could interact with in the form of scientists and security guards that helped, yes it did have scripted events, teleporting aliens, soldiers with revolutionary AI for the time, a game engine which reacted to firearms by leaving marks that remained on the screen, corpses remaining on the floor after death, jumping puzzles and a variety of locations, some bosses to defeat and mannable stations like rail cars and mounted machine guns.
So far (considering the competition at the time) this was by far the best shooter in existance as it had pretty much a little of everything gamers into this genre wanted. Unfortunately I got so bored playing this I had to abandon it and return it to Electrinics Boutique (I reached a little way after the first tentacle creature). I felt several years later that I had not given this famous title the chance it deserved so I bought this Anthology to try again. I have reached the end of the Lamda Reactor level and am struggling to keep awake. I'm sorry guys ... this game is just not for me. I can see why it is popular don't get me wrong, I just think that where it made up in diversity it lacked in substance - probably not what gamers that like FPS's look for!!
THE BAD (I am ready to be crucified now!!)
Bland characters (scientists that all look the same with about 3 different faces that are recycled), Security guards with bad AI (which pretty much defeats the point of enlisting them), Pointless story (mmm aliens entering through portals - how original), Freeman .... a character you never see or hear or know anything about (he might as well be a Clone Trooper from Episode II), Awful voice acting .. or more preceisley put, awful speech quality (everyone sounded like they are speaking with a asock in their mouth), the environments although somewhat varied were again pretty bland ... this was not too problematic for me but does all add up, I frequently encountered an elevator bug (which by the time this edition was released, should have been resolved) - basically you remain rooted to the spot. Additionally I found the game lacking any kind of choice and was pretty much linear in most respects - sure you could go off and find the odd secret by jumping in a pool or manhole, but that hardly qualifies. Oh and the game is way too easy even on the harder setting .. maybe it's just me being v lucky!!
I say all these negative points from both my first impression back in 1998 and now in 2006 having also played a lot of newer games. There are shooters out there that I did actually enjoy - games like Operation Flashpoint I shall not include as this is more tactical and not a good comparison (but does remain my favourite shooter due to the realism). I did enjoy Medal of Honour, Call of Duty, Halo, Delta Force (the first one as the sequels just didn't cut it) and Deus Ex (the first once again for the same reason - and Deus is NOT and RPG despite what reviewers say ... merely an FPS with RPG elements) ... thats about it. My marks are based on it's initial release and NOT in comparison to newer games since then.
I have yet to try Half Life 2 but of course will try it in the hope it inspires me more than the first game and it's expansion. Sorry for the lower mark and negative comments but thats just how I feel about this title despite it's reputation and faithfull followers.