"I like hitting stuff with a crowbar."

Gordon Freeman works at the Black Mesa Research Facility in Black Mesa, New Mexico. He works as a physics associate. Since he is unmarried and without dependents he lives in the dorms on the Black Mesa base. Each day he rides the train to work where he handles anomalous materials while wearing a special HEV suit to protect him from the specimens that they research. One day while on the job and assisting scientists with a sample something goes wrong and the sample explodes, opening up a portal to another planet and/or dimension. All of a sudden the Black Mesa Research Facility is over-run by alien creatures and government agents. The only thing that kept Gordon alive during the explosion was his HEV suit. Now he must fight the dangerous creatures and government agents that mean to kill him and anyone else on the base.

Half-Life was originally released onto the PC by Sierra Studios and Valve Software. I remember when I received a demo with some software. I almost bought the real version of the game, but I never got around to it. I recently bought a Playstation 2, and since this has been released onto the console it's a real treat for me.

Half-Life is a basic FPS (First Person Shooter) that deals with a very rich plot development. The research being done at Black Mesa has finally caused problems, and Gordon Freeman must deal with it. As Freeman, you must blast away alien beasts and government agents, attempt to protect the remaining scientists and security guards, get the hell off of the Black Mesa base, and destroy the alien threat. You're in for one hell of a wild ride!

Because of the explosion, most of the Black Mesa base has suffered damage. As a result of this you must find alternate routes throughout the building, and it can get pretty confusing sometimes. Many a time have I been stuck on a part for a very long time before I got through it. On every occasion that this happened I thought about consulting a FAQ or walkthrough, but was so engrossed in the game that I couldn't look away. And eventually I would find a solution to the problem and went without the FAQ or walkthrough.

The enemies are like none I've ever seen before. That is accept for one such creature called a ''Headcrab'' that attaches itself to your face and gains control of your brain. It does look a little like a crab, too. A little reminiscent of the face-huggers from ''Alien'', but that's really the only ''partly-stolen'' idea in the game. Well, the only one that I could find. The rest is completely original to the best of my knowledge. One of my personal favorite creatures is the Barnacle. The Barnacle attaches itself to the ceiling and drops down a tentacle. The tentacle with grab anything it can and then it will drag the prey to the Barnacle itself and will feast upon it. The Barnacle is small, rounded, red, and has teeth surrounding the opening of it's mouth. Another creature is the Bull Squid. The Bull Squid has two legs, a mouth with tentacles surrounding it, and a nasty acid-spit. It will often charge, like a bull.

The weapons are VERY useful. There is a crowbar that you find and start off with. This is useful in close combat or busting through grates or other things that stand in your way. Then there is the Glock 9mm, the .357 Magnum, the Spas Shotgun, the crossbow, the machine gun/grenade launcher, and a slew of other weapons. You'll be having a great time blasting away enemies with these weapons until the Bull Squids come home. Oh, one of the aliens can be used as a weapon. This such alien is called a ''Snark'' and will explode five seconds after throwing it down somewhere. They will attack a person if you throw it at them, but if there is nothing for them to attack then they will come after you. The Snark is a little like the Headcrab.

The controls suck at first, but once you gain experience with them they aren't so bad. The game is strictly dual shock. You have to use the joysticks. Not in any way, shape, or form will you be able to use the d-pad. If you're not very experienced with the dual shock analog joysticks then this game will definitely take some time getting used to. At times I asked myself, ''I wonder what this is like on the PC,'' because there were times that the movements were so frustrating that I wasn't sure how the hell you could play it on the PC.

Half-Life is truly an awesome game. Sure there are some glitches, but they're nothing to whine about. Half-Life for the PS2 may be fifty bucks at the moment, but it's worth every penny.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/31/01, Updated 12/31/01