"welcome to 1998 or so."
I just got the Half-Life Prima guide for DC, mostly as a cool collectible. But as such decided it was about time I finally play this game. I downloaded the leaked DC version for the hell of it.
I've been playing for the past 2 nights and my mind is blown. The first thing that really got me was the intro. The descent into Black Mesa on board the tram thingy. Though it was all just something to watch, it wasn't a cut-scene in that I could freely move and look around. It's all very cinematic in a "show don't tell" sort of way, yet the player becomes the cameraman, taking in what feels important to be seen.
Venturing on (I'm still in the first chapter) I'm just amazed with this game. The music is incredible. The atmosphere is claustrophobic. The enemies completely reminiscent of something out of The Thing or Alien. As a horror film fan I can't believe I've put this off for so long.
But here's why I did... FPS. I'm terrible at FPS games. The controls have never made sense to me once the genre moved beyond the simplicity of Doom. Keyboard/Mouse never clicked for me. And even dual-analog sticks made me feel like an idiot -- you should see me fumble with Borderland. I'm kind of shocked to say that the DC controller setup actually makes the most sense to me for some odd reason. Left (only) stick is how you aim. The four face buttons make you move (so it's just Up, Down, Left, Right) ... I think that not having two sticks makes me avoid confusing one for the other. I don't know.
I'm certain the DC port is "bad" in its loading times and all, but it feels awesome to have a way to play this game -- and enjoy it! -- finally. I figured there'd be other Half-Life threads out there, but I couldn't find one. So here it is.
