t’s another beautiful morning in the underground research facility of Black Mesa where you have the honor to work. Well… maybe not so beautiful, because you just woke up and are already late for work. Damn it. Guys at the Anomalous Materials department will not be very happy about that. You hurrily dress up, grab a sandwich and get on the facility tram in hopes that the day might still turn out quite well. You’re supposed to perform a routine check of some new crystal samples, so at least that should be a piece of cake. As always. After all, what could possibly go wrong when you’re playing with a nuclear-fusion-based spectrometer?

And this my friend is where your adventure begins. You are Gordon Freeman, one of the scientist working at the top secret Black Mesa facility where you and your colleagues conduct different set of experiments in fields of chemistry, math and quantum physics. “Half-Life” starts in the aforementioned tram, introducing a rather long (and a bit dull) introduction to the facility and it’s everyday life. Scientists running around, technicians maintaing all the equipement and transporting goods and an occasional leak (or two) of some undisclosed radioactive material. What you see in the very beginning of the game is your regular Monday morning on your way to work. Basically player’s first impression is exactly that: “What am I actually supposed to do? Just go to work? Do research? How dull!”. And yet, there is something in the early stages of the game that just seems not right. A tension (amplified by a rather eerie music in the background) that hints you through the entire way to the lab that something is about to go very, very bad.

So there you are – dressed up in your hazard suit, briefed by your colleagues and ready to start experimenting with the crystal samples. Seems like an easy enough job: get the cart, push the cart, push the button, go for lunch. But then, as the crystal hits the beam of spectrometer something goes not quite the way it should. There is a big BOOM, SHAKE and WHAM, machinery goes wild, test chamber starts falling apart. An apparent notion that the rest of your day just got screwed up. But everything starts getting even eerier, as you momentarily get zapped and reappear in an alien world full of creatures of undisclosed origin. Another zap and you find yourself in a dark chamber full of humanoid one-eyed-like three-armed monstrosities. Out of sudden you pass and darkness shrouds your vision. Few moments later, as you shake off the events of the past several minutes you find yourself in a ruined test chamber which feels as if it’s about to collapse. That’s when the real game begins. Welcome to your nightmare!

“Half-Life” is a horror FPS game with a rather non-unique synopsis: your research facility is overrun by a horde of bloodthirsty aliens. Your mission is to get out to the surface and survive. Not that much of a story is it? So it seems in the first stages of the game. What is worth noting here is that the first impression of the post-cataclysmic research labs is truly overwhelming. You basically run back through the same corridors you came down not so long ago, only this time they are all ruined, filled with bodies of dead scientists, blood puddles and of course aliens. All of this is suplemented with ghastly sound effects and music, which can really creep the player out. Playing “Half-Life” for the first time late at night with the lights out and your headphones on is recommended if you have strong nerves.

Very soon you will discover, that the game is not just another dull FPS where you shoot monsters to survive – you can interact with virtually every piece of equipment or furniture in the facility, you will encounter a great variety of puzzles on your way, some of them vital to your survival. The game is full of unexpected pre-programmed occurences, such as collapsing an entire corridor right in front of you or hurling a bunch of zombie-like aliens from a nearby closet. To fight these surprises you will use a quite various aresnal of weaponry: starting from a crowbar (quite powerfull despite what some might think) through your everyday glock pistol and a machine gun, to a high-tech laser blaster and ion-cannon. You will also have the opportunity to use biological weapon, such as a hive-hand which produces a swarm of insect-like projectiles. Most weapons come with an alternative attack, so there’ll be a lot of experimenting along your way to freedom and safety.

However, ass the gameplay develops you will learn, that there is more to the alien invasion than meets the eye. Plot will really get twisted an will suck you in like a big sponge. You will meet different types of enemies, both alien and human. You will have to fight your way through dark and infested sewers, sometimes facing creatures so big and scary like you’ve never seen before. You will climb the mountains and swim in vast bodies of water. At some point you will even have to take down a couple of tanks and a military chopper! “Half-Life” is a very rich game with a good dosage of excitement and truly beautiful landscapes. This will be especially noticable in the late parts of the game when you visit the alien world itself! Naming all the futures that you will come across in the game is really difficult. All I can say is: if you’re a fan of thrillers/horrors and a great storyline, you won’t be dissapointed!

Sound – 9/10 – Music is very atmospheric and the overall sound effects throughout the game simply creep the player out. Sound has a very high atmospheric factor in “Half-Life”.

Graphics -8/10 – “Half-Life” came with a set of beautiful and atmospheric textures and lighting system. Swimming in dark and infested sewers is as exciting here, as roaming around the colorful alien world in the later part of the game.

Overall - 9/10 – Even though this might seem like just another shoot-the-monsters-dead FPS game, “Half-Life” is in fact a developing adventure with a deep storyline (that spans across it’s sequel games). It is highly recommended for everyone who loves some action and taking part in an authentic storyline at the same time.