Multiplayer

Thresh's comments in BLACK

Multiplayer

The amazing ingenuity and creativity displayed in Half-Life has converted even the harshest game critics into die-hard evangelists; yet, interestingly enough, while a seemingly infinite number of people have raved incessantly about the game's single-player prowess, there has been little to no hype about its multiplayer game. Okay, I admit I was, like many others out there, downright blown away by what I saw in the Half-Life Day One OEM, but a bad-ass single player game isn't enough to convince me that it would also succeed in the multiplayer arena. Many of the new first-person shooter titles have placed a heavy emphasis on advancing the single player game, with unique and interwoven plots, intricate levels, and improved artificial intelligence. While that may be great for the casual gamer, it doesn't quite cut the beef for a hardcore gamer like myself. As displayed by Unreal's bumbling deficiencies in the multiplayer sector, focusing mainly on building a single player game can sometimes have serious consequences. As a result, I started off this trip with a somewhat pessimistic view of how the Half-Life multiplayer game would turn out… and boy was I surprised.

Ron PoWho?

Throw Duke Nukem, Quake, and Quake II, with a touch of olive oil into Ron Popeil's Pastamaker, cook up some Prego sauce, and you'll have Half-Life multiplayer spaghetti bolognese in no time. Before you assume that I had a disturbed childhood, lemme explain what I mean. Half-Life has an arsenal of new weapons (in all fourteen) that in many cases share strange resemblances to weapons in previous games in the first-person shooter genre, such as Duke, Quake, Quake II. An interesting addition to the "weapon system" that seems to be "trendy" (in that many of the newer games are following suit) is having primary and alternate fire for weapons. Of the fourteen weapons, nine of them have an alternate fire, some of which are completely different weapons in their own right. What's important to note about the game is that with the addition of hit location damage (meaning shots in the head hurt a helluva lot more), weapons that are generally regarded as weak can still inflict a lot of damage if you hit the right spot.