I didn't play Half-Life when it was initially released, only now did I try it for the first time. And I must honestly say that the hype is deserved. However, the game is not without its flaws.

Graphics

The graphics is not the reason why you would want to play this game. It's a game from 1998 and it shows. There are some HD mods that can improve the textures, however buttons and other interactable objects still have no depth and look like they have been painted on the walls.

Story

The story is where this game shines out the most. Not as much for what it tells - there are only a few important things going on in the game - but for how it is revealed. The story is revealed bit by bit through observations and short interactions with NPCs. The protagonist is silent. There are no books, no logs and almost no cutscenes. The story is the experience itself.
However, the game does not take itself seriously. There are elements of comedy in some scenes and NPC lines. And for me that is a flaw, because it doesn't fit the overall crisis situation.

Level design

The game offers a seamless transition between the levels. They are built in a way that almost always the player intuitively knows where to go and what to do. It is accomplished without any mission logs or map markers. In some situations there is more than one way to go, but no matter which way you chose you reach the intended destination. Furthermore, the level design complements the story.
This is some master level level design.

Gameplay

The game starts slowly and for about first 15 minutes there's not much going on. But then the pace becomes faster and you face increasingly harder situations with a good balance between shooting and puzzle solving. However, there are some points in the game, when, if you don't have the right type of ammo, you are screwed. Multiple reloads or cheats are required to get past those bottleneck situations.

The endgame is particularly punishing, and also confusing. There's a lot of platform jumping, multiple enemy spawns and very hard boss fights. I'd say even too hard for easy difficulty.

Other notes
-It doesn't feel like the protagonist is walking, but more like sliding. A single press of a movement button takes you quite far. It's just too sensitive. For that reason I experienced quite a lot of problems with ladders and moving platforms, and fall damage was the most frequent type of damage that I took.
- The grenade throwing is very inaccurate and covers only a short distance.
- Shotguns and assault rifles have spray patterns.
- Crouch jumping is a thing.
- The soundtrack is amazing and available as extra content within the game files.

Final words

Unless for the annoying endgame that tested my patience, HL would have been one of my favourite games. But, nevertheless, I still think it's a good game and worth playing. Even in 2018.

My overall rating: 8/10

I didn't play [b]Half-Life[/b] when it was initially released, only now did I try it for the first time. And I must honestly say that the hype is deserved. However, the game is not without its flaws. [u]Graphics[/u] The graphics is not the reason why you would want to play this game. It's a game from 1998 and it shows. There are some HD mods that can improve the textures, however buttons and other interactable objects still have no depth and look like they have been painted on the walls. [u]Story[/u] The story is where this game shines out the most. Not as much for what it tells - there are only a few important things going on in the game - but for how it is revealed. The story is revealed bit by bit through observations and short interactions with NPCs. The protagonist is silent. There are no books, no logs and almost no cutscenes. The story is the experience itself. However, the game does not take itself seriously. There are elements of comedy in some scenes and NPC lines. And for me that is a flaw, because it doesn't fit the overall crisis situation. [u]Level design[/u] The game offers a seamless transition between the levels. They are built in a way that almost always the player intuitively knows where to go and what to do. It is accomplished without any mission logs or map markers. In some situations there is more than one way to go, but no matter which way you chose you reach the intended destination. Furthermore, the level design complements the story. This is some master level level design. [u]Gameplay[/u] The game starts slowly and for about first 15 minutes there's not much going on. But then the pace becomes faster and you face increasingly harder situations with a good balance between shooting and puzzle solving. However, there are some points in the game, when, if you don't have the right type of ammo, you are screwed. Multiple reloads or cheats are required to get past those bottleneck situations. The endgame is particularly punishing, and also confusing. There's a lot of platform jumping, multiple enemy spawns and very hard boss fights. I'd say even too hard for easy difficulty. [u]Other notes[/u] -It doesn't feel like the protagonist is walking, but more like sliding. A single press of a movement button takes you quite far. It's just too sensitive. For that reason I experienced quite a lot of problems with ladders and moving platforms, and fall damage was the most frequent type of damage that I took. - The grenade throwing is very inaccurate and covers only a short distance. - Shotguns and assault rifles have spray patterns. - Crouch jumping is a thing. - The soundtrack is amazing and available as extra content within the game files. [u]Final words[/u] Unless for the annoying endgame that tested my patience, [b]HL[/b] would have been one of my favourite games. But, nevertheless, I still think it's a good game and worth playing. Even in 2018. [b]My overall rating:[/b] [u]8/10[/u]