Half Life Developer: Valve Software Publisher: Sierra Category: 3D FPS System Req: P200, 64Mb Ram, 400Mb HD, D3D/OpenGL/3dfx card, Win95/98 Might look like: Unreal, Sin, ... Date posted: 8 January '99 Written By: Bjorn - This game was reviewed on P166 MMX, 64 Mb Ram, Voodoo Graphics, Win95 OSR2 - A little Introduction Hang on for Half-Life, the next step in the evolution of 3D action games. With the most advanced proprietary technology and dozens of innovative gameplay enhancements in a proven genre, all signs point to Half-Life becoming an instant best-seller. Come face to face with alien creatures whose fluid movement and incredible complexity stop you in your tracks. Explore environments crammed with realistic detail and gorgeous, full-spectrum lighting. Solve mind-bending puzzles, and engage enemies so smart they don't just case you - they hunt you. As a Half-Life player, you'll find that your top-secret military experiment has gone horribly awry. Now, with the pieces of your colleagues scattered around the lab, you must fight your way past cunning alien monsters and troops of highly motivated government "cleanes" bent on destroying the aliens and silencing you. The Manual I was delighted that we recieved the Half-Life manual as well. Anyway this one ain't that big. I don't know if you still remember Unreal's or Quake's manual? No? Well those weren't thick as well. It seems to me that those games, 3D action shooters or also called FPS (fist person shooters) don't really need big oversized manuals. Is it really necessary to have thick ones for 3D action shooter games? Not exactly because the global goal in every game is much of the same. Get out alive. The manual starts with a letter that you, Dr. Gordon Freeman, receives from the Administrator office of the Black Mesa Research facility. After that, several aspects of this game such as getting started, the main menu, controlling the action and more is pretty good explained. There is even information included on your HUD (Heads Up Display) with excellent information on your weapons, danger monitors, inventory and more. I also noticed that the enemies and other characters are splitted into 3 categories: Alien-, Human Enemies and Human Civilians. More info on those 3 will be given later in this sweet in-depth review :-). To end this manual review I will let you know that a fancy multiplayer section and critical information about Worldcraft (more on that topic later) is included. The several screenshots were not colored. It's still done in the popular but old black/white style. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about this nifty item that was also included namely a "Warning. Read this addendum before configuring the display and multi-player modes for Half-Life" note. This note tells you more about the recommended display settings for Half-Life. A very good note where the most common graphical cards are explained with additional comments and advised 3D modes. It's finally HERE! After years in development it is finally here! When I look back in time (probably some months and perhaps years) I remember that I got some info about a fancy 3D-shooter that was called Half-Life. Developed by Valve Software (unknown to me at that time) and published by Sierra this was really a nasty game that everyone, including myself looked forward too. At that time this game could wipe all those other FPS games out of the market because it has certain things that any other 3D-shooter doens't have. From what I've seen in those little 'first-looks' it looked amazing. This game could probably be an enourmous hit if 'they', the developers, don't screw up while they are completing the last touches. So, months and months later after reading like 30 little previews or even more, the waiting was over because 'IT' arrived at my doorstep.    Anyway I ran to my office where my lovely computer, also known as 'Playdevils Test Machine' is located. Pressing the power button of that machine would start it all up and made the waiting less longer. Fortunately they also included Half-Life's manual and when my computer was booting up I quickly took a peek into the manual. If you want to know how good or how bad the manual is ehm I suggest you scroll a bit up because I already reviewed it at the top of this page. :-) Hehehe. In case that you have read it, it's time to begin reviewing this little masterpiece. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. 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