Homemademech - Playstation 2 Half Life reviews

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Half Life

You might have been through this scenario before. Tell me if this sounds familiar.
You hear about a great 1st Person Shooter and you‘re hyped! You want to play it and you go online to check up on it… only to find out that it‘s a PC shooter!! Worst, in order to play this game on your PC you‘ll have to shell out hundreds of dollars (at least $200-$300 or so dollars depending on your computer) for upgrades to make your computer capable of running said game in order to play said game, which just plain sucks! I mean for that much money you can buy either a console like the PS2 or Xbox (and some games) or put a downpayment on a next gen console like the XBox360 or the upcoming PS3! Why pay that much moolah when you can get a console to play games like that! Why? Because sometimes the game is just better on the PC! Games like Battlefield 2 rule the roost on the PC while it‘s console version is better suited for the single player type than the online multiplayer fanatic (where Battlefield 2’s PC version rules since they totally axed out the cool Commander feature from the console version).
Anyway why bother wasting money on a soon to be obsolete upgrade (no doubt you’ll have to shell out $200-$300 every few years just to keep your computer capable of playing the latest gen games) when games like Battlefield 2, Doom 3 and so forth eventually make it to the consoles… other than the fact that just because they’ve gone console doesn’t mean they’ll be as good as the original PC version (again Battlefield 2 comes to mind). So, then, is there any game on the consoles that is as good as the PC version? Let’s take a look at one… Half Life.

Sad to say I wish I could be saying that I’m reviewing Half Life 2 but I’m not. It’s been a long while since that game has come onto the PC and yet we’re still waiting to see a PS2 (or at least a PS3) version of the game come out. At least I can dig back into Half Life’s half life and review it’s past, the original Half Life for the PS2.

You are one Dr. Gordon Freeman, and you just got yourself a brand new job over at the Black Mesa Research Facility, working for the Anomalous Materials Facility. And, yeah, wouldn’t you know it! Just because you’re working for something called the Anomalous Materials Facility you end up working on something which drags alien lifeforms into your life… and by that I don’t mean you’ve successfully bridged the gap across multiple alternate Earths and started the Reunion of the Michael Jackson Alternates.
Anyway good thing it’s you who they hired since, as luck would have it, you are a scientist who can shoot guns, beat up alien lifeforms, solve puzzles, traverse any environment, and basically do what a guy would do in any 1st person shooter… man are you one multi-talented beaker breaker! Hooray! (Uh, so how is it you are such a butt kicker in Half Life 2 when you’re mostly playing as such a science geek anyway!)

Anyway after a LONG opening credit sequence (which I feel is mostly to remind you that you’ll never ever see virtual Half Life video game sunlight except for maybe once or twice) where you are shuffled through a long underground railtrain ride as you are assaulted by a dull tour narrative slash several loading screens…. Disney runs the Black Mesa facility? Seems that way since the intro has all the “joy” of a Disney theme ride, with the politically correct boring angle as well (Pre-PC Pirates this ain’t).
Anyway you barely have enough time to push buttons, irritate people, grab your HEV suit (HEaVe-ho!) and talk to the endless clone armies of the scientist black guy, and the two old white guys (who teach you 501 ways of saying “leave me alone”) along with the clone armies of solider guy who all look alike (cloning is fun isn’t it) before you run into this heavily shielded test lab, watch the pretty lights, pull a lever, push a cart with a crystal into the beam and watch all hell break loose!

Before you know it you’re no longer in the Midwest anymore (which was never Kansas to begin with), and it seems you have been shuffled into an organic alternate dimension filled with confused alien creatures (but it’s seemingly the same world since everything is where it is in your world but organic) who promptly come spilling through the portal into your Earth where they take residence in vents, boxes, dark corners and… oh, yeah, people. Soon you find yourself having to escape from a rapidly decaying facility filled with the dead, the dying, some people who can’t help themselves very well, and alien/human hybrid things merged together by the accident… which seems to be the reason the whole place is filled with clone beings, especially since they make “pretty” bug people clone things.

Ok. It’s a race to escape… just not so fast, especially around ladders connected to high drops, because you seem to be allergic to falling (like the Prince of Persia) and any halfway high fall will kill you, or greatly injure you. What? You say this won’t happen? Not so fast!
The controls on this game is quite fluidic and quick, meaning you can easily move Dr. Freeman about with little difficulty. Spinning about, rushing forward, strafing, whatever! You got a smooth silky movement here that makes moving Dr. Freeman an easy thing which makes monster mashing so damn easy to do… unless you’re trying to be gentle and climb onto a ladder or something like jumping from platform to platform! The swift slick controls is nice for moving through corridors quickly and creature smashing, but it sucks if you want to do something precise like jumping which means you better be careful not to run yourself off the platform you jumped onto… which I have done a few times either by overshooting a platform or mistiming my jump and running off said platform before jumping! I’ve gotten to know the quick load feature quite well because of this, as well as the quick save since this game seems to hate the concept of “auto saving”.
Also the slick controls makes ladder approaching a little bit of a worry since I’ve… uh… missed the ladder a few times. I’m not drunk or anythingn it’s just that I’ve miscalculated and fell off a few ladders from time to time! This sucks when you fall a long way and die since you apparently can’t fall into the ladder and stop yourself mid-fall, which comes from the games “relentless” realism.

As you know I don’t think highly of “relentless” realism, which comes from such previous reviews as… hmm… I can’t think of a review right now, maybe because I finally blocked the experience of the game out of my mind, lucky me, but here the whole concept of relentless realism is mostly nice. Mostly.
You can shatter windows to get into room (though it‘s clunky since you can‘t crawl through a window as much as you must jump/crawl through), or crawl through doorways as long as there’s an opening big enough to do so. Another thing about relentless realism I like is that things are not hidden all over the place by your hyperactive co-workers as if Easter was celebrated in the offices everyday. You can find stuff in logical places (which means you won’t have to rummage around the most ridiculous places like refrigerators or stuff for ammo or health) so you should have no problem picking up stuff and gear since the game (while it does have some hidey holes for stuff) isn’t trying to play keep away with stuff for the most part.
Searching will garner you a few sweet treats, but you don’t have to do it for the most basic stuff.

One thing though is that this “realisitic” game does NOT believe in the theory of “auto saving”!
That means you must constantly “quick save” the game yourself, and believe me you better remember lest you have to play long sequences of the game over and over again! And, by the way, this doesn’t mean you saved the game to the memory card which means you have to BOTH quick save AND regular save the game to make sure you’re saving your progress, which is abit of a pain! Turn off the game without remembering to regular save and you are so screwed! An auto save feature would have saved the aggrivation of having to continously remember to save the game over and over again, because if you forget to do this and you die… and you will die since this game has some hard moments besides the mounting and climbing of ladders… you’ll end up being shuffled back to your last quick save point so that means save whenever you do anything like getting ready to traverse a vent shaft or enter a new area or whatever. You never know what’s around a corner and you might walk into a vent fan or something crazy like that, so always be prepared -- unless of course you went over to Game Faq and got the cheat codes for Invunerability, Infinite Ammo and Xen Jumping then you can quickly ace this game even on it’s hardest setting… of course this time I won’t tell you that, you’ll have to dig that up yourself (sorry).

And then there’s Decay, a two player mode that can be played with one… kinda. I’m still working on that thing. Anyway you control two female scientist who get thrown into the same frenzy as Freeman, only you take your own route and have less levels (with one unlockable where you’ll play as an alien).
That’s good too, and it’ll keep you playing this game for awhile which is good.

Otherwise the game is good. With it’s fluid controls, enemies that give you a bit of a challenge to fight (the littlest ones giving you the most hassle since they move fast and can drain you quick if you’re not careful), and an interesting setup you got yourself a nice mix of 1st person shooting and puzzle solving.
However the puzzle solving usually involves trying to get from point A to point B, which is usually finding a route around obstacles (or finding a way to neutralize threats like electricity or so forth), only to come to an apparent dead end which plagues your mind because the means to move on is not apparent. And yes, in this game you can recruit people and have them follow you… to a point. They won’t, for example, climb through window openings. Apparently they are not very agile. They will also not unlock doors to help you get someone past an obstacle unless said door has a scanner attached to it… but if you can’t take anyone with you that means you probably don’t need them so don’t worry about it.

I have progressed abit in this game and I like it. I have seen sunlight once, even, but not for long. Most of the game is the claustophobic underground (so I hope you don‘t have a fear of tight confined places because you‘ll get lots of that in this game). Despite it’s few glitches here and there I can see why people are entranced with the original Half Life, and why you should be picking this up for your pleasure.
Worthy of a place in your collection you should give this a spin and try it out for yourself. The breakdown will tell the tale.

Half Life’s Half Life… that’s a long time… uh, breakdown…
What’s Hot?
The game is a solid first person shooter. The action is paced well with exploration and puzzle solving, even if the puzzle solving involves getting around obstacles and shutting down things so you can progress.
Add to that Decay mode where up to two people can play at once, and unlockable cheat codes as well, and you got a nice well rounded game for the PS2. Too bad it’s abit old, about 5 years counting, but it still shows it’s merits well over some of the newer (and not so fun) first person shooters I’ve seen come out lately on the PS2.

What’s Not?
There are a few glitchy glitches but I guess they’re not bad.
Watch out so you don’t fall off of things with the slick controllers making it too easy to overshoot a landing or miss a ladder or something. Oh, and the swimming controls is no Ratchet & Clank level swimming. It’s a wonder I don’t drown from the kind of odd (yet easy to pick up and master) swimming. My problem is mostly forcing my character out through a small opening (like a vent opening) which kind of panics me if I think I’m drowning while trying to get out.
Also get ready to put your heavy duty thinking cap on should you run into an area where the exit is not apparent… you’ll have to do some heavy duty thinking from time to time.
And you can recruit help but they’re not all that helpful for very much.
One blessing is that if you can find the cheat codes you can help yourself by getting yourself over some rough parts of the game with a little helping hand from God mode (which keeps you alive, helps you jump even if you’re a white man (because “White Men Can’t Jump”, you know, the Wesley Snipes movie tit-- uh, forget it) and pulls an endless batch of freshly baked ammo from your bread basket of death).
Anyway a few glitchy-glitchies are nothing to be concerned about, because they won’t inhibit your ability to enjoy Half Life in the slightest. Enjoy, oh player, enjoy!

Moments to Remember?
The first person shooting is solid, and I like the variety of weapons offered. Very nice.

What to Ignore?
You’re associates for the most part are clones who all look alike… how original. Do I have any co-workers (who are not part of the Decay part of this game) who are NOT clones of each other in this game? Any at all? Uh… ignore it. Also DON’T ignore saving! There is no auto saving here so you must save CONSTANTLY to avoid having to repeat things over and over again! Even if you are touched by God mode you should save, just in case you fall down a pit or something and have to backtrack in order to get out of your predictiment.

Overall?
A nice solid 1st person shooter with a great fun sequel… in fact I would love to play the sequel, if Sony ever gets around to releasing Half Life 2 on the PS2 or PS3... Hint hint.
Otherwise the rest is up there. What I thought of the game, and all, which is good recommendations to go get this yourself. And considering that this IS a five year plus game you might have a hard time finding a copy… but if you do you should find it for a nice low price. So if you can get it? Get it.

Playstation 2 - Half Life

Playstation 2 Half Life Reviews

Half Life

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