By Reid Laxdal


The small monorail tram was the first thing I experienced that day at work. Although I was running late, the tram slowly worked its way through the Black Mesa research facility where I was working, winding through the many areas and tunnels that the facility boasted. I would not make it to my station on time. A pre-recorded voice crackled through the speakers mounted to the tram’s interior.

“Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel. This train is inbound from Level 3 Dormitories to Sector C Test Labs and Control Facilities.”

The voice continued its automated announcements while I admired the scenery presented to me, spanning the Mesa’s natural, beautiful views to the brutalist steel and concrete buildings, test chambers, and warehouses. The tram finally rolled into the station, allowing me to disembark and get to my office. My trusted friend, Barney Calhoun, was working as security that day. He let me into Sector C. As I jogged to my locker, he told me: “Hey, catch me later, I’ll buy you a beer!” But there was no time for that. I had to get prepared for the scheduled testing.

In a rush, I dressed myself up in the Hazardous Environment Suit, a requirement for the test we were performing today. A scientist escorted me to the entrance of the anti-mass spectrometer, which we were going to use to analyze the specimen, GG-3883, which was a crystal which the research team had taken from an alternate dimension known as Xen. Luckily, I managed to get into the chamber on time, and the experiment proceeded as normal. I pushed the crystal into the large, room-sized device using a small cart and turned the thing on.

Then everything changed. The extra-dimensional crystal had interfered in an unexpected fashion with the machine’s instruments. It seemed like it was going to explode, or rather, implode from whatever was happening inside of it. An unstable portal from our dimension to Xen was torn open, allowing the strange and hostile creatures from Xen to enter our world. I had to find a way to fix this, even if it required entering Xen myself and facing the danger head on.

*   *   *

What you just read was a paraphrased introduction to the 1998 PC action video game, Half-Life, which has to be one of my favourite games I have ever played. In it, you play as Gordon Freeman, an ordinary scientist who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.

The point reached in the story which I described was the moment the ‘Resonance Cascade’ happened, which was the start of the action and puzzle sequences of the game. Although some might look at the virtual combat and think it’s basic compared to newer first-person action games of today, I still like it. The weapons are unique, as three of them are stolen from aliens, like the ‘Hivehand,’ which essentially fires small insects that seek out targets, or the ‘Snark’ which is a crawling alien creature that will attack enemies that you throw it at, but also you, if you’re not careful. It really feels like the enemies work together and plan their attack by talking to each other, calling out an action the other should perform and working together to ambush or defend each other. The enemies, which consist of various alien creatures as well as soldiers and assassins sent into forcefully silence those who try to escape, do actually yell prerecorded dialogue. While the aliens shout a garbled mess of speech, the human opponents call out “Grenade! Look out!” or “I can hear him behind that wall…” which is a really good addition. These small things help make the situation Gordon was stuck in feel realistic, which not enough newer games accomplish.

Although I went into great detail on how the game looked during the introduction, like pointing out the various small details of the facility, in reality, being from 1998, the game world is blocky with pixelated, flat textures plastering the walls instead of the highly detailed, realistic appearance of modern games such as Star Wars: Battlefront or Call of Duty. However, I actually like this effect as the developers still worked as much as they could for a realistic look despite the limitations of that era of gaming.

My favourite example has to be the scene where the Resonance Cascade begins, with the large device rotating and sending out sparks and green lightning, eventually shooting out a large bolt of electricity into the control room, creating a massive explosion. So, even though the game doesn’t look very good graphics-wise, this improves the experience because you can be sure the developers put their heart into it.

Finally, this game is pretty broken… in an awesome way. The various overlooked glitches the game has to offer present many unique, unintended ways to traverse the game much quicker than expected. This includes mechanics like ‘bunny-hopping’ and ‘strafe-hopping’ which involves jumping as quick as you can, causing the game to increase your speed dramatically and fling you across the level. Another includes ‘surfing’ where you essentially use a directional key to hold onto a sharp-angled wall and gain speed, due to the game thinking you’re falling. When you combine the various glitches and map knowledge, it can net some serious results, like beating the game in a record 20:41 minutes.

Overall, this game is one of my favourites. It’s got a good story, keeping you in the action almost all the time, a well-made combat system that can help you predict the locations of your combatants, and great glitches to abuse and get farther in the game.. Even though the looks can be a tad lackluster, it can still be easily seen that plenty of care and heart was put into this game, not to mention its sequel, Half-Life 2, which was one of the first games to fully utilize a proper physics engine for the game’s elements.

I just hope that a third one comes out, as it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen another game starring Gordon Freeman in Half-Life 2: Episode 2.