I'm glad the game box let us know that the guy we play has a goatee, otherwise we wouldn't know he's cool. I still have flashbacks to the countless times I forgot the game didn't have a checkpoint system, or the times I accidentally quick-saved while falling off a ledge and fucked up the whole space-time continuum.

The game boasts a lot of cool enemy design and a variety of ways to tackle levels. The ai is really clever even by todays standards, being capable of setting up ambushes and flanking maneuvers among other things. For as enjoyable as combat encounters are, there's some things about this game that is aggravating such as awful, overly slippery platforming and some annoying level/enemy design around the end. Still, this is an exemplary FPS that I give far higher praise to than its sequel.

While the graphics have not aged the best, the gameplay and story is top tier. It is a must play for every gamer.

yet another absolute legend trailblazing the road to many new titles and setting FPS starndards high.

You fight through hordes of enemies so that you can fix machinery, rince and repeat until the end. There are a lot of cool features in this game, varied enemy types, weapons, environments, gags, platforms, etc but I didn't much care for these. The music was very hype though. Generally disappointed and thinking maybe games aren't for me. Isn't this supposed to be the GOAT. It was pretty weak. Also someone said that this was "story rich", where's the story?

Gordon freeman run, Gordon freeman thinks, Gordon freeman shoots, but most importantly, Gordon freeman protect

Certainly a well-crafted and influential model for its genre. As far as gameplay, it featured an interesting variety of weapons, as many games of the time did, but also a more interesting variety of enemies than most. But what really made it stand out (and what set the course for so many FPSs to come) was how plot is pushed along in-engine via scripting, and the various ways (some more subtle than others) that it ushers you along its deceptively linear paths.

The game that change it all.I will never forget the intro to this game.

/completed 2020

so much puzzle and physical solutions to things. i like how they take gorden everywhere

Unpopular opinion: The multiplayer was better than the singleplayer.

just like the first portal, this is near-perfect game design. and just like the first portal, while i can't say i particularly loved any aspect of it, i still enjoyed it a lot.

Very good but yikes some of the middle is difficult and those ladders! Most brutal ladder mechanics of any game.

A solid but inconsistent game that has some very good mechanics, even all these years later. The problem is that it doesn't seem at that well thought-out in the big-picture sense. No checkpoints or autosaves make this a frustrating game to replay and at the end it veers into 3D platformer territory when it does not have the mechanics to carry it. The puzzles, however, are quite well-considered though, and help make up some of the difference.

legendary FPS.

The game design, AI, graphics and sound were all completely brilliant for their time. Now there's an endless stream of add ons. follow ups, imitators and new games either utilising the Half-Life engine in some respects, or taking their inspiration directly from it. That's quite a legacy.

It's a really great game even to this day. The final level is a big let down but at least the game overall is wonderful.

A game changer (ha!) in many senses of the genre, its puzzle solving mixed with shooter premise was refreshing and offered a lot of different appeals to different gamer types.

Upon which an empire was built (Steam). Innovative for it's time this is still a solid FPS, but with such a crowded market there are better out there now. Excellent sound design and very atmospheric.