Half-Life is a first-person shooter developed by Valve Software and published by Sierra On-Line. It was released for Windows PCs in November 1998 and built on a heavily modified version of the Quake engine. The game follows theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman as he fights his way out of the Black Mesa Research Facility after a disastrous experiment tears a hole between dimensions, unleashing aliens while drawing the attention of a ruthless military cleanup crew.
The game was praised for its immersive, seamless storytelling, which eschewed cutscenes in favor of scripted sequences and environmental cues. Its artificial intelligence, particularly the behaviors of the HECU soldiers, set a new standard for enemy encounters in shooters. The sound design, leveraging A3D 2.0 and EAX 3D audio, further heightened the tension and atmosphere.
Half-Life also shipped with Worldcraft 2.0, the level editor used by Valve, fostering a robust modding community that produced countless single-player campaigns and multiplayer mods, most famously spawning the original Counter-Strike. Expansions followed: Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift (2001), and the standalone Decay (2001, for PlayStation 2). Over the years, the game has remained available through digital platforms such as Steam, where it continues to run on modern hardware.
Oct 191999
Half-Life Mac CanceledHalf-Life Mac is today's business-side update, the sort of suit-and-spreadsheet news that still decides what games actually reach players.
Release Jul 211999
Sierra Studios announces Three Mac GamesSierra Studios says it will show two of its premiere titles at the Macworld Expo in New York City at the Apple booth #101 July 21 - 23. the company also officially says its.
Release Jul 161999
Half-Life Mod Expo 99 set for San FranciscoSierra Studios, Valve Software and WON.net says the Half-Life Mod Expo '99, an event designed to show a variety of user-made MODs for Half-Life, the PC CD-ROM named Game of the Year by more than 40 publications worldwide.
Release Original Hardware
Original Half-Life CDs are easy to find for $10-20. The game runs on any Windows 95/98 machine with a Pentium 133 or better. A 3D accelerator card is highly recommended for OpenGL or Direct3D rendering. The infamous Sierra Utilities uninstaller bug can wipe your whole Games folder; apply the official patch before uninstalling anything.
Modern Re-release
Available on Steam for $9.99, regularly discounted. The Steam release includes the original campaign plus Opposing Force and Blue Shift, runs natively on modern Windows, and adds widescreen support. All uninstaller bugs are long gone.
Emulation / Other Options
No emulation is necessary, Half-Life runs natively on modern Windows. The Steam version is preconfigured and trouble-free. If using original discs, install the patch to fix the uninstaller bug.
