But, so a lot of Half-Life’s finest touches are grounded in realism. Essentially the most well-known instance of that is humorously highlighted within the recreation’s guide, which boasts that in-game weapons are present in sensible areas fairly than simply floating within the air. Titles like GoldenEye 007 performed with related concepts, however there actually is an inner logic to the placement of almost each gun and merchandise in Half-Life that goes past whether or not a gun is floating magically or laying in wait.
On high of that, you’ve bought spectacular particulars like the truth that crossing a physique of water that’s touching an uncovered electrical supply will electrocute the participant or enemies. All of it sounds easy, however in an period when the shooter style was nonetheless making an attempt to flee the “Doom clone” label, this is among the ways in which Half-Life confirmed that much more action-oriented FPS titles may nonetheless profit from a dose of lifelike design.
The Logic of the HEV Go well with
Previous to Half-Life, the idea of well being and armor in most first-person shooters (and lots of different video games for that matter) was fairly easy. You’ll simply decide up well being packs, armor, and power-ups as you went alongside, and also you didn’t ask any questions. Half-Life modified all that by introducing Gordon Freeman’s HEV go well with throughout the recreation’s opening sequence.
Not solely did the HEV go well with serve a sensible goal within the recreation’s story (it’s used to guard Freeman throughout the experiment that units the story in movement), however it assigned a logic to in-game gadgets, which on the time have been often handled as in the event that they have been magic mushrooms in Tremendous Mario. Well being was what saved Freeman’s physique alive, whereas the go well with, which functioned as further armor, wanted to be charged as a way to proceed defending Freeman from hurt. Well being and recharge stations have been additionally present in areas that usually made sense to the surroundings and narrative. It additionally featured a toggleable flashlight, which was both the primary look of that mechanic in an FPS or a really early instance of it.
You possibly can argue that the connection between Gordon and his go well with would even result in issues just like the rechargeable protect in Halo: Fight Developed. Curiously, later video games form of went the opposite approach by permitting characters to only “magically” heal by discovering cowl or resting, however there was a interval when assigning logic to how a participant’s in-game well being labored in FPS titles was all the fashion.
Enemies, Grenades, and You
A lot has already been stated about Half-Life’s revolutionary enemy and companion A.I. But, the methods during which Half-Life modified the artwork of PvE first-person fight can finest be summarized by what occurs when somebody within the recreation throws a grenade.
