The Half Life Series has aged really well!!!

I had been hearing about the the legendary Half Life series on the internet for a long time and its tale of being the most legendary first person shooter is something that I think every gamer knows about. After hearing about its legendary status, the most important think that really made me curious about the series was the "Half Life 3 finally realeased!" meme. Yes it was not its quality or its legendary status that made me want to play the game but its even more legendary cliffhanger ending that shocked and broke people and made them even more excited about what would happen next. The only problem though was that VALVE, the legendary company behind the series never made the Third Episode. The cliffhanger that was set up in Half Life 2 Episode 2 dates way back to 2007 and its 2020 now and people have been waiting for the story to continue for over 10 Years!!!!(Fricking Crazy) Now things have changed since the release of Half Life:Alyx in 2020 and I think it has done something with the ending of Episode 2 but that is the only Half Life game that I have not played because it is VR only game and I do not want to spoil my experience by watching a YouTube Lets Play. Someday in the future, I will definitely play it in its proper VR glory.Until then though, I really do not want to get spoiled. After all, I started playing the series 20 years after its initial release, so think I can wait a bit longer to play Half Life:Alyx. But besides HL:Alyx, I have played all the main Half Life games and those games are really really old. In a time when Graphical fidelity has reached an all time high, It is Difficult to get into really older games. I had problems getting into the original resident evil game but I gave it time and it was one of the most amazing experiences. But somehow I got into the Original Half Life Game very easily.

The first Half Life came out in 1998!!!!( I was just 1 year old!!!!)I played it in 2019 and from pure graphical point of view, it has not aged well at all. I mean it is a 1998 game and it looks like absolute garbage but yet somehow I was not bothered by it at all. Somehow the old school graphics suits the game and surprisingly the gameplay, even though over 20 years old, it still feels very smooth and fluid. It feels very modern, almost as if it was way ahead of its time! The first game was revolution for what first person shooters could be. Even today its amazing level designing and its very fast pace hold very well. It was also revolutionary in the story department as it tells a then very original story that starts very simple but with time gets very much darker and weirder as we learn that something much more sinister is happening then what we are seeing, specially after the involvement of the Legendary G-MAN, probably the most mysterious character in all of gaming. This game was also a reminder of a time when game used environmental and situational storytelling instead of just feeding text to player and even its sequels follow that mostly.

The G-MAN is the most mysterious character in all of gaming history because since his first appearance in 1998, his origins have been completely unknown and no one knows about his actual objectives or how he is somehow controlling the events in all the games.

   

The first game was very important because it ends in a very abrupt way and sets up a sequel that is completely different from the original. It also helps to set up a universe that also includes the legendary PORTAL series. Most people now days will not be able to get into the game because its very old but thankfully, a fan made remake called Black Mesa is already available with modern graphics and is very faithful to the original and maybe even better than the original!

Then comes the Half Life 2 and its 2 episodes(not a big fan of the episodic format tbh). Half Life 2 is one of the best game that I have ever played and the best part of the game is its beginning which is just jaw dropping because it is so different in all aspects from the original. While the first game is more self confined within a scientific lab/institution until its final chapter that expands everything, Half Life 2 is the opposite as it is much more open world like and has multiple different locations and open environments and has longer levels and puts more emphasis on exploration. The tone, feel and story is completely different from the first game and overall, the scope is much more grander and the story expands in a multi-universal way compared to the first game and is much more complex and weird. HL2 released in 2004, HL2:Episode 1 in 2006 and HL2:Episode 2 in 2007 and from a graphical point of view, the HL2 series is way better than the original and even though over 10 years old, HL2 still looks fine and still has some beautiful scenes. Modern gamers will probably have no problem with HL2 graphics in most at all.

Over 15 years old and Half Life 2 still has some amazing visuals!

All the games in Half Life series end with a big WTF cliffhanger. The cliffhanger in Episode 2 is the biggest cliffhanger of all time considering that VALVE never made a Half Life 3 or Episode 3 and people have been waiting for years. And now I have experienced that cliffhanger and yes it is the most brain fading and masterful cliffhanger that I have ever seen! It is set up in such a beautiful and cinematic way that the player will be able to feel that something bad is about to happen and then, it just ends. No one knows why VALVE completely ignored Part 3 it seems like they were stuck. They reached a point that they did not themselves knew what to do with the story anymore.VALVE are perfectionists. They will never release anything until they know that it is something fresh and unique and up to the standard. Valve are known for trying something new and they waited 12 years to release Half Life:Alyx(which is not Half Life 3), the first full fleshed AAA game on VR and it seems like they will revolutionize VR and VR is their next go to. At least it seems like VALVE is back working on Half Life and now valve I would like to ask you, Portal 3 when?

Overall, the Half Life series has aged really well according to me and its an iconic series that every gamer should experience.

On a finishing note here is the evolution GMAN over the years from a Graphical perspective: