Half-Life

Half-Life
Half-Life cover art
Release	19. November 1998
Developer(s)	Valve
Publisher(s)	Sierra Studios
Platform(s)	Windows PlayStation 2 macOS Linux
Genre(s)	First-person Shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player Local Multi-player Online Multi-player

<noautolinks> Half-Life is a first-person shooter that requires the player to perform combat tasks and puzzle solving to advance through the game. Unlike most first-person shooters at the time, which relied on cut-scene intermissions to detail their plotlines, Half-Life's story is told mostly using scripted sequences (bar one short cutscene), keeping the player in control of the first-person viewpoint.

In line with this, the player rarely loses the ability to control the player character, Gordon Freeman, who never speaks and is never actually seen in the game; the player sees "through his eyes" for the entire length of the game. Half-Life has no levels; it instead divides the game into chapters, whose titles briefly appear on screen as the player progresses through the game. With the exception of short loading pauses, progression throughout the game is continuous, with each map directly connecting to the next, with the exception of levels involving teleportation.

The game is set during May 200- in a remote area of New Mexico, USA at the Black Mesa Research Facility; a fictional complex that bears many similarities to both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Area 51. Early in the morning, Dr. The game is full of surprises, continually throwing new obstacles and challenges in your path...

The numerous scripted events bolster the illusion of reality, and you'll come across detailed scenes that are continually suspenseful. The player takes the perspective of the scientist Gordon Freeman who struggles to escape an underground research facility after a failed experiment causes a massive alien invasion through a dimensional rift, AKA a resonance cascade.

At the beginning of the game, during Freeman's tram ride into Black Mesa, various forklifts can be seen driving around the facility. The forklifts follow a scripted path and are all identical to each other. In fact even the drivers of the forklifts are the same model, known as Gus. Gus is based on the janitor from one of the developer's high school. Additionaly, the brand of the forklifts, Haihan, are based on the same developer's wife's name.

Expansion packs

Half-Life received three expansion packs, and two of them even included forklifts.

Blue Shift

Half-Life Blue Shift is the second expansion pack for the game. It was developed by Gearbox and released 12. June 2001. Similarily to the main game Gus can also here be seen driving around the facility while the protagonist Barney Calhoun is taking the tram through the Black Mesa facility.

Decay

Another expansion pack developed by Gearbox. It was released 14. November 2001 for the Playstation 2, and is Local Co-op mode only. In Decay, Gus makes a cameo appearance on one of the info-screens, together with some motivational text encouraging for a safer workplace.

Gallery

• 
  Gus (x2) and his forklifts as seen from the tram
• 
  Up close the brand Haihan is clearly visible
• 
  We can't disagree with Gus on this one

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