Half-Life (video game): Difference between revisions

The designers actually had great difficulty with the level design at first, and got stuck in a rut. In order to take stock, they created a single level containing every gimmick, enemy, and bit of level furniture that they had come up with for the game so far. Said level was fantastic, and they realized that this density of [[Videogame Set Piece|set pieces]] was the "certain something" the game lacked.

 

 

Gearbox Software made three [[Expansion Pack|Expansion Packs]] for the original game. The two first were called ''Opposing Force'' and ''Blue Shift'', in which the player respectively takes control over the soldier Adrian Shephard and the security guard Barney Calhoun. Gearbox took some liberties towards the storyline within these expansions, which have set off a lot of fan debate about their legitimacy. While [[Word of God|Half-Life's writer, Marc Laidlaw]], so far have deemed these expansions semi-canon until further notice, some parts of the fanbase have already labeled them as [[Fanon Discontinuity]], while others ferociously defend their being canon - due in no small part to Adrian Shephard's status as an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]. On the other hand, ''Blue Shift'' is generally considered inferior to ''Opposing Force'', and was originally intended to be released as an add-on campaign to the [[Dreamcast]] port of ''Half-Life'', which fell through when Sega pulled the plug on the console. The third Expansion Pack, ''Decay'', was developed and released exclusively for the PS2 version of ''Half-Life'', but can also be played on the PC thanks to the efforts of the mod community. It starred two female Black Mesa scientists, Gina Cross and Colette Green, and is the only co-operative entry to date.

* [[Bee-Bee Gun]]: The Hornet Gun from the first game.

* [[BFG]]: The Displacer from Opposing Force is very obviously inspired by the trope namer.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: The Hivehand, the only weapon you have that regenerates ammo. It's especially once you get to Xen, where ammo is very scarce overall.

* [[Captain Obvious]]: In Opposing Force's training level, Shephard gets shot point-blank with a shotgun to demonstrate the effectiveness of the PCV armor vest.

{{quote|"[[Drill Sergeant Nasty|As you can see, you are]] ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|not dead]]''."}}

* [[I Just Want to Be Badass]]: The first game was one of the first FPS games to avert this trope, and the game was remarkably atmospheric as a result. Ten years on, the atmosphere remains, but Gordon's [[Took a Level In Badass|taken a level in wish-fulfillment]].

* [[Indecisive Deconstruction]]: The first game can be read as a deconstruction of the [[Trope Codifier]] ''[[Doom]]''. The basic premise (an experiment into teleportation technology [[Gone Horribly Wrong|goes horribly wrong]]) is basically the same as Doom. Like Doom, there is very little plot exposition. But unlike Doom, ''Half-Life'' showed you exactly how terrifying this kind of scenario would be if it happened in the [[Real Life|real world]]; you must think and ''not'' act like a stereotypical [[Space Marine]] in order to remain alive. And of course, this kind of experiment would require immense levels of government funding. Necessitating a large covert laboratory. And thus, when everything goes wrong the military have to be called in to ''keep'' things covert. However, the developers have at no point implied any critical intent. Thus, ''Half-Life'' is arguably an unintentional deconstruction. Also, given how influential the first game was on all future shooters, [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|the game seems like a played-straight example of the genre to someone raised on modern shooters]].

* [[No Indoor Voice]]: The HECU Marines in Half-Life 1, due to their voices always sounding like they're coming out of walkie talkies. Even [[Lampshaded]] by one line they say while idle: "Squad, quiet down!" at the same not-very-quiet level.

* [[Planet Looters]]: Race X in ''Opposing Force''.