Andy's Favorite Game

   

The Lambda symbol: A radioactive decay symbol constantly used in the half-life equation.

This symbol was, to me, the highlight and the end of the golden years of PC gaming. Bear with me. I want you to try and get an idea as to why Half-Life 2 is my favorite game... ever.

            I call the years of 1998-2004 the Golden Age of Gaming for a multitude of reasons. Half-life and Valve together helped shape what gaming is today. Valve set the bar... twice. My cousin was my source for new games and I remember around Christmas of '98 he told me about a shooter game that was like nothing he had ever played before. He had previously introduced me to Doom, Quake, and even Command and Conquer (R.I.P Westwood Studios). Mike and I went down to his computer and he booted up Half-life. Now at this point, I want you to try truly understand the leap that Half-life made

This is a screenshot of Quake 2 from 1997. (http://i.imgur.com/3LYfg4d.jpg) This was the precedent set for first-person shooters at the time. Quake 2 was fun, frantic and had awesome guns, but other than that there wasn’t much else to it.

This is Half-Life.  (http://i.imgur.com/G9VITrn.jpg) Everything had much more detail. There were colors and shades, enemies felt like enemies and not just bad dudes that rush you. You could actually interact with objects in the environment rather than simply pushing buttons and shooting barrels causing explosions. Boxes broke when you throw them, chairs moved when you pushed them over and the enviroment was part of the game. It was all so engrossing- I just got swept away. Never had I played a game where there was no down time either, the story kept you moving and the game never seemed to end- in a good way of course.

            Flash forward to 2004. In this year there were 3 games that came out which propelled first-person shooters into the next generation of graphics and story-telling. First was Far Cry, Doom 3 and Half-life 2. The year prior to this saw the release of the original Call of Duty which looked like this. (http://i.imgur.com/9dcK6uU.jpg) Not bad, but this was Far Cry five months after Call of Duty was released. (http://i.imgur.com/6Zz7Yf9.jpg) Then a couple months later Doom 3 was released. (http://i.imgur.com/2kaaITD.jpg) Then Half-Life 2… (http://i.imgur.com/HIyVb7e.jpg)

            No game up until this point had ever been so interactive and realistic- it blew my mind. The very first time you get that gravity gun… throw all the boxes, man. Every character had

facial expressions and the voice acting was amazing! It made you close to the characters around you. I had the feels. Just like with the original Half-life, the second one set the bar yet again and I think it really changed the way games told stories and played out. I play the Half-life series annually from beginning  to end. Writing this makes me want to play them again this year. Stream idea!!!