The Underwhelming music of Half Life

[Crux2]

I've recently replayed the Half Life games after the update and one thing that struck me was how underwhelming the music is compared to the impact the rest of the game has had. Half Life has one of the most iconic soundscapes in gaming for sure, but it really does feel like it was the sound effects and not the music.

I recognised a handful of musical moments that stood out here and there (e.g. start of Ravenholm) but for the most part this was just rote recognition and, for me at least, there's nothing that comes close to the feeling of a typical 'good game soundtrack'.

I've acquired a ton of music from video games over the years but the only track of Half Life related music is the "Ballad of Black Mesa" a fan piece that prominently features sounds, rather than tunes, from HL2 - which kind of serves as the ultimate example of this whole train of thought.

Am I wrong? Is it just me? Can any music aficionados step in an explain what's actually good about the music of Half Life? Or at least what you liked about it?

[Snark]

We need Halo ost in Half Life fr.

[GamerXT]

I like the music, even if some is reused from HL1 .

Originally posted by Crux2:

what's actually good about the music of Half Life? Or at least what you liked about it?

The futuristic and spooky tone that matches the alien invasion story.

[Snark]

There's more alien sounding music than there are actual aliens in this game, lmao.

[Mopey bloke]

The music is sparse and it cuts off when going through map loads. In general, it doesn't have the impact it should if it were used more properly.

[GamerXT]

They fixed the music when loading though.

[Judy Cigarettes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjJmvANWn8 ratio

[DimTheEnderman]

Originally posted by Snark:

There's more alien sounding music than there are actual aliens in this game, lmao.

Yes the Combie are very human indeed

[Snark]

Originally posted by DimTheEnderman:

Originally posted by Snark:

There's more alien sounding music than there are actual aliens in this game, lmao.

Yes the Combie are very human indeed

True

[hoaxey]

Originally posted by DimTheEnderman:

Originally posted by Snark:

There's more alien sounding music than there are actual aliens in this game, lmao.

Yes the Combie are very human indeed

Haha, I was going to write the same thing. Plus, there are still Xen creatures.

Barnacle
Headcrab
Antlion

I'm going to include the Zombies too, as without the headcrab, they wouldn't have become zombies.

[Snark]

So 3 alien types. Lmao, so impressive.

[hoaxey]

Originally posted by Snark:

So 3 alien types. Lmao, so impressive.

That's not including the Combine.

Combine Soldier
Combine Sniper
Combine Elite
Manhack
Hunter Chopper
Dropship
Gunship
Roller Mine
Combine APC
Strider

Then if you add:

Zombie
Fast Zombie
Poison Headcrab
Poison Zombie
Fast Headcrab

Plus the aforementioned enemies:

Barnacle
Headcrab
Antlion

That's quite a few to me!

[hoaxey]

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Originally posted by Snark:

So 3 alien types. Lmao, so impressive.

That's not including the Combine.

Combine Soldier
Combine Sniper
Combine Elite
Manhack
Hunter Chopper
Dropship
Gunship
Roller Mine
Combine APC
Strider

Then if you add:

Zombie
Fast Zombie
Poison Headcrab
Poison Zombie
Fast Headcrab

Plus the aforementioned enemies:

Barnacle
Headcrab
Antlion

That's quite a few to me!

I forgot these enemies too:

Antlion Guard
Leech

[DimTheEnderman]

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Originally posted by hoaxey:

That's not including the Combine.

Combine Soldier
Combine Sniper
Combine Elite
Manhack
Hunter Chopper
Dropship
Gunship
Roller Mine
Combine APC
Strider

Then if you add:

Zombie
Fast Zombie
Poison Headcrab
Poison Zombie
Fast Headcrab

Plus the aforementioned enemies:

Barnacle
Headcrab
Antlion

That's quite a few to me!

I forgot these enemies too:

Antlion Guard
Leech

-and thats not even including the new ones introduced in the later episodes

[hoaxey]

Originally posted by DimTheEnderman:

Originally posted by hoaxey:

I forgot these enemies too:

Antlion Guard
Leech

-and thats not even including the new ones introduced in the later episodes

I thought about adding them, but as they are technically not in this game as enemies, I left them out. If I did, we would have:

Stalker
Zombine
Antlion slaves
Antlion Guardian
Hunter

[Snark]

Originally posted by hoaxey:

That's not including the Combine.

Aight, let's see how alien the combine are.

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Combine Soldier
Combine Sniper
Combine Elite

Humans.

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Manhack
Hunter Chopper
Roller Mine
Combine APC

Machines/vehicles.

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Zombie
Fast Zombie
Poison Zombie

Infected humans.

Originally posted by hoaxey:

Dropship
Gunship
Strider

Aliens. Although two of them are just helicopter re-skins.

So, if you don't account for the re-skins, you have:

Headcrabs
Barnacles (not part of the combine)
Antlions (not part of the combine)
Striders
Alien helicopters

So 5 alien types (Only 3 are part of the combine).

Striders only appear near end game, barnacles do nothing and the alien helicopters are just.. well helicopters that either shoot at you or drop off humans for you to fight.