During the time of this game, it was not expected of FPS games to offer well-crafted and memorable stories that actually promise even better sequels. Then came Half-Life by Valve, who would be known for greater things to come after.
Like most other FPS games of its day, Valve used a spin-off of id's Quake Engine, albeit a heavily modified one (whose advantages would eventually lay the foundation for Valve's own proprietary game engine). From publisher Sierra's ads and marketing, it would appear to be yet another sci-fi shooter, with a bland looking main menu in fact. It was only when the game actually started proper that the player would find it certainly very different from the rest.
The game places the player in the role of Gordon Freeman, a taciturn, virtually mute protagonist who happens to be the most unlikely choice of a hero for a shooter game: a scientist with a Ph.D. degree from MIT. In addition, the story of the game has a surprisingly slow but still very intriguing start (unlike most other FPS games of the time that tend to bombard the player with inconsequential cutscenes as an introductory exposition - if any at all).
What should have been a new day in a new job eventually develops into a full-blown crisis involving a quantum physical experiment gone terribly wrong. While this setup has been used before, how the story built up to this is actually hinted at in seemingly unimportant dialogue between unsuspecting scientists and minor, easily overlooked occurrences at the Black Mesa research facility before the bedlam. This subtle attention to detail would not have been detected by an unobservant player. It is worth noting that instead of dragging the player into scripted cutscenes, experiencing the build-up to said disaster is completely optional in order to accommodate the less patient.
Throughout the rest of the story, several twists in the plot occur as Freeman attempts to escape the doomed research facility. They mainly serve to introduce new enemies into the game, as well as any new objectives that Gordon Freeman has to achieve. Rational story development arcs such as these were generally non-existent in other FPS games of the time, in which new enemies are often introduced without rhyme or reason, and often in either a showy cutscene or an obstacle between them and the player character being removed in a typically loud bang.
Level design plays a huge role in the story. As Freeman navigates through Black Mesa, its ruined interiors present hazards that make for light platforming action, as well as logical puzzles involving the machinery used within the facility. Some puzzles require more back-tracking than desired, particularly one involving an underground tram and its power supply, but they are still certainly a fresh change of pace from the endless running-and-gunning and key-fetching that plagued FPS games in its day. (Puzzles that require back-tracking also often end in a spectacular scene as a visual reward.)
Unfortunately, the level design sometimes doesn't make sense (which is a likely consequence of the FPS genre not having the talent to craft levels that are not just blandly straight-forward at the time). Some levels have graffiti that threatens Freeman with bodily harm scrawled within rooms that the player would not normally go into if he/she is sticking to the critical paths to Freeman's destination. Furthermore, the placement of enemies also occasionally defy logic ("how did he/it get up there?"), though it does keep the pace of the game suspenseful and the player ever wary of ambushes - of which the game has plenty (many of which are unexpected the first time around). In addition, certain level-loading scripts are triggered at the oddest of locations, infrequently resulting in small (and often amusing) glitches with the game engine.
Sometimes, it is not immediately clear where the player should go, though the game designers did include a scripted occurrence that provides a hint signboard of sorts. However, a distracted player could easily miss this - and there are plenty of things on-screen that will distract the player (as will be mentioned later).
Fortunately, these problems with level designs are minor and do not break the game or its pace.
An FPS game would not be one without a variety of weapons for the player character to lug around. Freeman can be become a walking armory with weapons which are suitable for a wide range of situations, such as the all-purpose SMG with an under-slung grenade launcher, hand grenades for flushing out enemies lurking around corners, some exotic sci-fi guns for the quick killing of hard targets and living alien weapons (for otherworldly fun). Yet, certain weapons do not feel like that they have the punch they should have, especially the shotgun (which does have a more powerful double-shell alternate fire, but which depletes ammo unacceptably faster). Some, conversely, are too overpowered, such as the Gluon Gun that is simply too overwhelming on anything within its range and the Tau Cannon that can zap targets through walls.
Just as indispensable as varied weapons are to the FPS genre, the enemies in the single-player portion of the game sure are a motley bunch. Most of them are alien in nature, often choosing to lurk in dark places and/or narrow spaces. Freeman will also have to face human enemies, which behave differently from the aliens.
Most enemies, especially those that are clearly not humanoid, are persistently aggressive. The rest often duck in-and-out of cover in between volleys of shots, a behavior that was not exactly common in FPS games of the time. Unless require by their AI scripting (such as when performing attacks), they won't stand still to be mowed down either. (This is also quite the rarity in shooters of those days, when AI glitches that resulted in enemies becoming inactive were quite rife, especially in games of poorer caliber.)
However, that's not to say that Freeman's enemies are plenty bright. On the contrary, they often either appear confused or they resort to some cheap ambushes (courtesy of the level design). To elaborate on the second matter, some enemies, especially the Vortigaunts, resort to entrances into the game world that would have been quite cheating if not for the unearthly noises that they make. On the other hand, the placement of the inhuman enemies that Gordon Freeman has to face is for the most part, quite appropriate and lends character to their nature. (The Headcrabs in particular became quite infamous for their favorite hiding places - the dark interior of vents.)
Human enemies are purportedly smarter than alien ones. That is somewhat true, as they appear to make practical use of their weapons at hand. Unfortunately, Valve may have tried to accelerate their AI scripts too much, resulting in some bizarre behavior like lobbing grenades around corners, only to have their target-chasing scripts triggered when the player retreats Freeman to a safe distance. They end up running close to their own grenades, which may THEN trigger a falling-back script. Such sights would be very funny if they were not quite common.
Nevertheless, even with such flaws, the enemy AI scripts were generally more impressive and diverse than those of most other FPS titles of the time.
Sadly, the same praise cannot be given to the individuals that fight alongside Freeman. They are far dumber, often standing in plain sight to be mowed or chowed down and suffer all sorts of hideous deaths. Fortunately, most of them are really there for the spectacle of said gruesome deaths, and all of them are completely optional to have tagging along. Still, one wonders if Valve only placed them there to be the proverbial Star Trek Red-shirt.
For a game based on a modified version of the Quake Engine, the game does look prettier than expected, though part of this is due to Valve's art design and the Quake Engine's existing versatility at level creation. There are then-pretty sky-box textures in the game, as well as distinct models for every kind of enemies and next to no repeated animations. This was quite a rarity for any game that was not id Software's.
In spite of the developers' ingenuity at crafting unique in-game models, the same skill can't be seen in the graphical design of the levels in the game. There were more repeated textures than this reviewer would have liked for the in-door environments. Most of them are understandably concrete-heavy underground complexes, but comprehending this does little to mitigate the sense of repetition. Fortunately, the level designers do appear to have done a very good job of mixing up the layouts of the levels. Also, the many scripted occurrences in the game divert attention away from the texture repetitions.
The sound design of this game is perhaps the most diverse that I have heard in shooters around the time of this game. Every alien has its own noise, from the pitched gurgles of the Headcrab and electrical crackle of a Vortigaunt's attack to the indescribable (and thus unique) noises that the Hound Eyes make. The human enemies however appear to have odd, droning voice-overs, all of which appear to belong to the same voice actor. Fortunately, their poor voice-acting is overshadowed by the much more impressive ones that the other human characters have, like the scientists and security guards.
It is therefore a bit disappointing that subtitles appear to be missing from the game, at least in the launch version (mods for the game later added them in). It can be sometimes difficult to listen to the dialogue in this game when there is so much else going on.
Multiplayer, as can be expected from a game that runs on a modified Quake Engine, is fast-paced and visceral. The game's variety of weapons allows for some amusing and violent solutions to situations that players could encounter in multiplayer sessions. In addition, certain maps also have special scripted occurrences that can be triggered, such as an infamous WMD-testing site that contains a map-clearing trigger. With the exception of a few minor gripes (such as the Gluon Gun that is just too overpowered but can otherwise be removed from the map), multiplayer is an excellent component of Half-Life.
Half-Life is not without its flaws, but it certainly has far more praise-worthy portions in its presentation and design, something that cannot be said of so many other FPS games before it. Hence, it can be concluded solidly that Half-Life was exactly the re-invigoration that the FPS genre needed during its time.