System: X360, PS3, PC
Dev: Valve Corporation
Pub: EA
Release: Fall 2007
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: Pending
Preview by Tom Becker

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

While it is essentially a simple FPS in the tradition of Wolfenstein 3D, Half-Life raised the bar (as Valve are perpetually reminding the public) by incorporating an intricate plot and a dynamic level progression. Before Half-Life, FPS were little more than rat mazes with heavy weaponry. Games like Doom II and the Quake series with American McGee's brilliant level design were still, essentially, mazes. From the moment the player entered the game, Half-Life used existing technology in dynamic ways to increase player involvement.

Whether riding an underground tram through a series of security areas, diverting one's course through a level after an explosion, or solving complicated physical puzzles, Half-Life demanded more of the player than just getting keycards and opening doors. The interactivity of the series has only improved with time. As dynamic as the resulting experience is, the games are essentially not open-ended.

This has been the biggest (and arguably the most reasonable) criticism of the series. As it progresses, the game offers little or no choice in movement or means to complete objectives. One gets the feeling that rather than occupying the world, one is being shuffled from one area to the next like some sort of Disneyland ride. As developers like Rockstar have shifted the paradigm in terms of the open-endedness of games, and advanced processing power has allowed for more interactive and destructible environments, games with few user-determined outcomes are less and less acceptable.

The Half-Life series deserves the appellation "classic", but Valve is notoriously unabashed in their self-celebration. Their hauteur is deserved in terms of the quality of their ever-developing Source game engine, but their series have serious deficits in plot, writing, and, most of all, allowing for the user to determine the course of the game. Stunning graphics and startlingly realistic physics are impressive, but some of the greatest and most successful games of all time had terrible graphics. Civilization, anyone? What they did have was playability, something which Valve seems to be able to deliver thus far, with simple yet imminently playable games like Counterstrike.

As procedurally-based content and physically interactive systems like the Wii become the norm, developers that crank out big-budget stunners like Valve will have to change with the times and allow their users a hand in content generation. As gorgeous as the Half-Life series is, the gee-whiz factor only goes so far. Just ask the folks at Sony. After getting trounced by a system written off as "cute" or "for kids" they'll tell you - playability is king.

By Tom Becker
CCC Freelance Writer

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