You know what I'm seeing a lot of in this thread? Games that, for their time, had amazing
technical graphics, but did not age well.
In other words, games that rely on their graphics technology instead of their art tend to not fare well after their time has gone by. This is why games like Morrowind, Deus Ex, and Goldeneye are more abrasive nowadays, whereas 2D sprite-based games from the 8/16/32 bit days still have a charm to them.
Obviously, this doesn't apply to
every game, but it seems like a fairly consistent pattern.
.
Edit:
Steve the Pocket said:
I'm sort of wondering this myself. I keep being told that it was really innovative for its time and it only feels like every FPS since because all of its best tricks have since become universal FPS staples, but I'm hard pressed to figure out what said tricks are. Half of the ones people are probably thinking about either are at least absent from many well-reviewed games, and the other half weren't really that unique. Maybe it's like Halo in that it was the first to tie them all together in the same product, except unlike Halo everyone can agree that they all enhance the experience as opposed to being divisive (e.g. regenerating health).
Anyway I've talked too long on this subject already. I'm sure this is for better suited for another thread.
As someone who played Half-Life when it was a new release, I may be able to help fill in the blanks for you as to why Half-Life 1 is revered.
1) It was one of the first shooters to have interaction and dialogue between NPCs without wresting controls away from the player (aka a cutscene.)
2) It was one of the first to feature friendly NPCs to help you along the way. Either as a second gun, or access into rooms with health and ammo.
3) It was one of the first games to not make the player out as a one-man army. You weren't going to the next level just to kill more bad guys. The next level was simply the next part of the facility you were traveling through on your way to escape/resolve the situation. Enemies felt like they obstacles, not the objective.
4) The world was very lively, both from scripted events and interacting with it. Moving crates to create new paths, messing with control panels, and hitting switches all had measurable change on the maps. I couldn't help but smile when I realized you could actually use the buttons on the soda machines. And the sodas gave 1 health =)
5) This is going to sound silly, but it was one of the first to utilize crouching. Lots of shooters prior to Half-Life don't even have a crouch button or never really had a real in-game use for it.
6) Moooooooooooooods. Everything about this game was moddable and customizable. From control schemes, AI behavior, weapon models, sound effects, textures, you name it, it could be changed. When I look back on Half-Life 1, I also have to include the mods that were made for it, such as Team Fortress [Classic], Counter-Strike, and Day of Defeat. The singleplayer Half-Life was good, but I think it was its multiplayer mods that cemented it into history.
A lot of that stuff probably seems trivial now, but they were pretty big for the day. If you still don't care for Half-Life, that's fine. Everyone's got their own tastes, but make no mistake: Half-Life 1 had a massive influence on the FPS scene.
