EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1IlDJ.png)
"Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa transit system..."
An introductory phrase that should be familiar to many gamers. Fourteen years ago these words began my journey through what is considered today as one of the most revered games in history. One that would shape the way I feel and approach games to this day, and one of immense frustration and enjoyment. Valve, a relatively new and completely unknown company at the time would firmly mark its stance as one of the premier developers in a very short time due to the incredible success of this and first title of theirs, Half-Life.
Setting the Stage
I was 16 when this when we first got this game and interestingly enough neither I nor my brothers purchased it. It was in fact my dad that bought it as a present, and he had originally narrowed it down to either Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (the first one) and Half-Life. Thankfully as the smart and critical thinker he is (and 3 am Zelda player), my dad made a decision that would leave a rather large mark on us for years to come.
People unfamiliar with this game might be asking, why was Half-Life so special? To understand why, we need to at least take a quick look at a somewhat historical perspective of the technologies being used and the games being created at this time. Wolfenstein 3D and Doom were already fairly dated FPS games (1992+3) and the newer kids on the block were Duke Nukem ('96) which used a '2.5D' engine (halfway between the Doom and Quake engines), and Quake ('96) in which id software created an entirely new (and first fully 3D) engine for their eventually to become behemoth esport title. This was also the era of Golden Eye 64, C&C Red Alert, Dark Forces II, Starcraft, GTA, MGS, Thief, and other IP and genre defining games.
Even amongst all of the new competition in FPS titles Half-Life quickly separated itself from all the rest by its use of technology, narrative, and game design that was a cut above all others. Anyone who's played Half-Life 1or 2 knows just how different these experiences are, but in 1998, no one had even thought of these ideas, or had only just begun to experiment with them.
By using a number of new techniques, Half-Life would prove to be a revolutionary experience. During this time, self contained levels and loading screens were commonplace, Valve broke away from the mold by implementing a dynamically loading system which still persists today. One of the more subtle effects of this addition is that emersion and narrative experience is never broken, but this was also partially due to something much more important below.
In most FPS titles in the 90's only a very loose correlation between narrative and gameplay actually existed. Wolfenstein for example had you trying to kill nazi's in order to progress to an kill Hitler, while Doom had you fighting a horde of demons that had poured through a rift, but that was only the setting, and was about as much as you got in terms of narrative or plot back then. Half-Life weaved together both the gameplay aspects and a story arc together where you couldn't devoid either of each other. No other game had done this . On top of this the opening sequence Inbound in the transit system both served as an introduction into the world and setting as well as give you the opportunity to play around with some of the controls (who jumped around in the transit car a ton when he first played? o/). Again no other game to date had the balls to break from the mold and drop you right into the action of a...narrative sequence?
Another innovation, ancillary NPC's were a rare sight in FPS games save for maybe the occasional stripper, yet not only did Valve use NPC's but gave you the ability to both interact with them, as well as giving them the additional ability to both help you advance in your goals as a support role and/or reach places you couldn't by opening doors or activating switches. No other game at this time had even thought to use NPC's in this manner. Also, these support characters could die at any point if you were too reckless, meaning that sometimes you had to start your game over because you needed an NPC to unlock an area that you had to progress to, and you had accidentally killed him earlier.
This use of NPC's to further the narrative story along with the use of narrative actually begins to touch on the most important innovation of Half-Life, scripted sequences. Most games at this time would deliver story through cutscenes separating the player from the environment and artificially stopping the experience by way of that, but here again, Valve broke the mold and both told the story and advanced your progression through the game by scripted sequences never removing the player from their environment. But of course we again are talking about Valve, and just intertwining a story with the game wasn't enough. Valve went yet another step forward and used scripted sequences to open new areas, or to advance plot development, or just create a dynamic and living environment. In effect They created narrative from the environment itself.
In the third chapter, Unforeseen Consequences, there was a portion right out of the test chamber where by progressing down the hall at some point there would be an explosion and lasers would come out and have to be dodged or you could die. Now this is a somewhat emotionless dissection of the intent, but the perception of the player was that you would be walking down a damaged and fatigued hallway only to have it almost explode and collapse on top of you. This adds a layer of uneasiness, dynamics, and most importantly palpable unpredictability and realism to the environment. In short, it was delivering atmosphere, and story development through scripted events (and with no dialogue).
The last major development was the impressive enemy AI that was introduced. When introduced it was heralded as the most advanced AI to date. By today's standards it is quite rudimentary, but back in 1998 where none of these techniques had ever been used before Valve created an AI which implemented NPC's facilitating knowledge of their environment, efficiently using teamwork tactics, the ability to hunt or track, and other survival instincts (such as dodging grenades). It's hard to impart how radically different this game felt when compared to its contemporaries. Due to the AI, enemies felt scary and dangerous, and even provoked a little fear in this 16yr old (black ops, OSHI...).
Perhaps the most widely recognized introduced element introduced by Half-Life was it's fascinating use of puzzle solving. This is probably the single element that both defined Half-Life as a series, and created such a different feel from your typical shooter, even by today's standards. But I don't really have to talk much on this as Valve has a long history for using puzzle solving creatively in their games. Half-Life just was the first.
Fast forward 6 years....
Through Thick Rimmed and Rose Tinted Glasses
In 2004 after a source code leak, lots of hype, and palpable anticipation, Half-Life 2 is released and somehow grabs almost as many awards, critical acclaim and notoriety as its predecessor, a task which at the time seemed inconceivable. To say that Half-Life 2 didn't improve upon almost every aspect of the first would be an understatement. Six years of experience and new technologies pushed Valve to improve upon every aspect of their first game, whether it be the brand new physics engine, or lighting or particle effects, or the fact that characters had a full range of emotions to impart from and incredible use of 34 facial muscle groups.
Of course with the advent of these new technologies and techniques, and a publicly available SDK it inevitably happened that a group of people would embark on recreating the incredible Half-Life experience in the new (at the time) source engine. The reason was likely two fold. Firstly the excitement of using new technologies to flesh out and create a robust and modern interpretation of the Black Mesa experience, and secondly and perhaps more importantly that Half-Life as a game hasn't exactly aged very well (it was developed on the quake engine after all).
Additionally with any game that revolves around Valve time, the development took a bit longer than expected. Originally begun in 2006 the mod team planned for a release in 2009, but that never materialized. Three years after that mark and seemingly out of the blue, we are now at the precipice of having a chance to look back on one of the most influential games of all time, through one of the most anticipated mods of all time. The first time I played Half-Life I was half as old as I am now. I last played it eight years ago and have been trying to avoid any media in order to keep my revisit to New Mexico fresh, but needless to say that I am rather excited at the freshness and nostalgia that awaits me in returning to one of my all-time favorite games.
Join me for Part II where I'll talk about my experiences of the Black Mesa mod, even if it is incomplete right now
