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Who doesn’t remember that now-infamous train ride? A lone, late entrance to a remote location deep in Black Mesa, Mexico. From the start there was always a sense of unease as you passed over leaked pools of radioactive waste or encountered a security guard frantically thumping on a locked door. It was as if this perfect, futuristic research centre wasn’t quite as perfect as it should have been. The sense of unease built as your progress to work through the facility continued. Malfunctioning doors, quiet words from the experts…the ominous presence of some G-man everywhere you go.
This quiet sense of dread escalated terrifyingly, like some kind of Blair-Witch videogame crescendo, finally peaking at a devastating climax as the resonance cascade begins and you realise that the world around you is being torn apart. Now, deep underground, you find yourself alone in a hostile environment, slowly failing to contain the catastrophe you unleashed.
The feeling of terror, guilt, absolute immersion at this point was infallible. Creeping your way past the litterage of dead bodies, blood smears and sputtering machinery there was a terrible knowledge in the gamers’ mind – there are creatures in the complex, and sooner or later, I’m going to meet them.
It’s too soon after that you start to hear the all-too-familiar chirruping of a headcrab. Weaponless and defenceless, all there is to do is avoid the thing like the plague and dive into the ventilation shafts, where the fun really begins.
For me, the beauty of Half-Life laid in its confounding simplicity and stark, brutal realism. This wasn’t a videogame pseudo-reality you were placed in – rather, you were put in the most realistic environment possible and a videogame occurred there. Nothing ever happens that you can conceive as being out of the ordinary – Black Mesa is an apocalyptic microcosm that (when playing the game, anyway) seems the most feasible thing imaginable. This environment is a bland, ugly, detestable environment. A boring workplace for so many people, suddenly transformed by a new and terrifying hostility. All of a sudden there is a sense of purpose and progression. Your sole mission is now to survive, and as you find your first crowbar
D) meet the survivors your nerves are calmed, you become resolute. You become the Gordon Freeman who is going to beat this challenge.
Valve constantly threw new challenges and scenarios your way. Non-stop scripted sequences, sometimes terrifying, other times hilarious, soon gave way to plot progression. From nerve-shredding isolation and survival to a sense of comradery and the slow realisation that you are a hero. Amongst all these petrified, weedy scientists and useless security guards you are suddenly the beacon, an icon of hope, their one chance of survival. As the firepower intensifies and the aliens get bigger, you really start to feel like you are a badass.
This feeling is soon quashed, though. In a stroke of genius, immediately predictable but only when you see it for yourself, the army are rolled in and then the chaos really starts. The first moment, watching a fellow scientist get gunned down, you realise that the troops are here to remove all traces of the incident is agonising. Your fight just got a whole lot tougher. But this doesn’t phase the gamer. You are drawn deeper in, with a new resolve. Killing the grunts and taking their weapons, your new mission is apparent – you’re not heading to the surface anymore; you’re going deeper in, to the Lambda Core. Vital information must be sent into space on a ship so the world knows of this disaster. A purpose becomes painfully clear.
One of the most tear-jerking moments in Half-Life was when, after all the chaos, death and destruction in the claustrophobic corridors and air-ducts of the facility, you break through the surface and find yourself on the outside. In fact, I think this happens when you go and launch the rocket. The sky is a dazzling blue, lifted by clouds glowing pink as the sun sets below them. It’s suddenly at that point that you realise that there’s more to this than just Black Mesa. Through all of this, the world has been carrying on oblivious outside. Nearly a whole day has passed since the incident, the sun is setting, mountain eagles are shrieking out their calls as they prepare to roost. The starkest contrast possible to previous events, it was a beautiful moment.
However you descend back into the depths of Black Mesa and the plot once again thickens – the army are now under attack themselves. Weakened and bereft of all resolve, the mysterious and elusive Freeman is proving to be a formidable foe. Is he a ghost? An alien himself? Messages of “You’re dead Freeman” on the walls show their effectiveness waning. The Special Ops come in to erase the aliens, scientists, and the army. The army pull out to nuke the whole area. As for you, your new task is to head into quite possibly the most terrifying place comprehendible – the Xen homeworld, to destroy the main source of power fuelling these portals. What ensues is possibly the weakest part of the game, with platforming, and a poor environment. It detracted too much from the beauty of the rest of the game to be as enjoyable.
The ending though was a different story. Coming face to face with the G-man, you slowly learn that all of the incident was a test and all of your efforts were in vain. This was planned, co-ordinated by other forces and you were just their puppet. There are bigger thinks at stake. These will be revealed on Tuesday.
This quiet sense of dread escalated terrifyingly, like some kind of Blair-Witch videogame crescendo, finally peaking at a devastating climax as the resonance cascade begins and you realise that the world around you is being torn apart. Now, deep underground, you find yourself alone in a hostile environment, slowly failing to contain the catastrophe you unleashed.
The feeling of terror, guilt, absolute immersion at this point was infallible. Creeping your way past the litterage of dead bodies, blood smears and sputtering machinery there was a terrible knowledge in the gamers’ mind – there are creatures in the complex, and sooner or later, I’m going to meet them.
It’s too soon after that you start to hear the all-too-familiar chirruping of a headcrab. Weaponless and defenceless, all there is to do is avoid the thing like the plague and dive into the ventilation shafts, where the fun really begins.
For me, the beauty of Half-Life laid in its confounding simplicity and stark, brutal realism. This wasn’t a videogame pseudo-reality you were placed in – rather, you were put in the most realistic environment possible and a videogame occurred there. Nothing ever happens that you can conceive as being out of the ordinary – Black Mesa is an apocalyptic microcosm that (when playing the game, anyway) seems the most feasible thing imaginable. This environment is a bland, ugly, detestable environment. A boring workplace for so many people, suddenly transformed by a new and terrifying hostility. All of a sudden there is a sense of purpose and progression. Your sole mission is now to survive, and as you find your first crowbar
D) meet the survivors your nerves are calmed, you become resolute. You become the Gordon Freeman who is going to beat this challenge.Valve constantly threw new challenges and scenarios your way. Non-stop scripted sequences, sometimes terrifying, other times hilarious, soon gave way to plot progression. From nerve-shredding isolation and survival to a sense of comradery and the slow realisation that you are a hero. Amongst all these petrified, weedy scientists and useless security guards you are suddenly the beacon, an icon of hope, their one chance of survival. As the firepower intensifies and the aliens get bigger, you really start to feel like you are a badass.
This feeling is soon quashed, though. In a stroke of genius, immediately predictable but only when you see it for yourself, the army are rolled in and then the chaos really starts. The first moment, watching a fellow scientist get gunned down, you realise that the troops are here to remove all traces of the incident is agonising. Your fight just got a whole lot tougher. But this doesn’t phase the gamer. You are drawn deeper in, with a new resolve. Killing the grunts and taking their weapons, your new mission is apparent – you’re not heading to the surface anymore; you’re going deeper in, to the Lambda Core. Vital information must be sent into space on a ship so the world knows of this disaster. A purpose becomes painfully clear.
One of the most tear-jerking moments in Half-Life was when, after all the chaos, death and destruction in the claustrophobic corridors and air-ducts of the facility, you break through the surface and find yourself on the outside. In fact, I think this happens when you go and launch the rocket. The sky is a dazzling blue, lifted by clouds glowing pink as the sun sets below them. It’s suddenly at that point that you realise that there’s more to this than just Black Mesa. Through all of this, the world has been carrying on oblivious outside. Nearly a whole day has passed since the incident, the sun is setting, mountain eagles are shrieking out their calls as they prepare to roost. The starkest contrast possible to previous events, it was a beautiful moment.
However you descend back into the depths of Black Mesa and the plot once again thickens – the army are now under attack themselves. Weakened and bereft of all resolve, the mysterious and elusive Freeman is proving to be a formidable foe. Is he a ghost? An alien himself? Messages of “You’re dead Freeman” on the walls show their effectiveness waning. The Special Ops come in to erase the aliens, scientists, and the army. The army pull out to nuke the whole area. As for you, your new task is to head into quite possibly the most terrifying place comprehendible – the Xen homeworld, to destroy the main source of power fuelling these portals. What ensues is possibly the weakest part of the game, with platforming, and a poor environment. It detracted too much from the beauty of the rest of the game to be as enjoyable.
The ending though was a different story. Coming face to face with the G-man, you slowly learn that all of the incident was a test and all of your efforts were in vain. This was planned, co-ordinated by other forces and you were just their puppet. There are bigger thinks at stake. These will be revealed on Tuesday.
