Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: 8

It pains me, it really does. Getting down the final games is soul crushing because I can’t believe these final games aren’t in the #1 slot. Some of these games have been my all time favorite before, so for the to move around or not be in the top slot is heartbreaking, until I remember they’re still really, really damn close. So, without further ado, I give you the #2 game from my last completed list:

8: Half-Life (PC/PS2)
Developer: Valve Software
Year: 1998

If you know me at all, you know of my love for the Half-Life games. Its uncanny, really, how much space there is in my heart for anyone or anything else, when you examine how much of it is filled with love for this game and its sequel. In fact, my first list was done in a rage-fueled protest to a list IGN had done, placing Half-Life in the 30’s, behind Wave Race on N64. Wave mother fucking Race. Seriously. At that time, I hadn’t had as many great video game experiences as I have now, and the game rested neatly at the #2 position. Since then, I’ve had amazing game experiences, but few to really rival this game’s sheer majesty and thrill-power.

To put this into perspective, the only real time I’d spent with an FPS was Doom, Doom 2, and Goldeneye. All great games, but my old Gateway 2000 really couldn’t handle any of the things coming out on PC. When my best friend in school, Steve, started blabbering on and on, showing off this “Half-Life” game, I had to see what it was all about. All he really got to show me was the game’s opening tram ride. From that day on, I knew I had to get my hands on this amazing looking game. And, fortune smiled upon me because my family invested in a “top of the line” (in 1998) Dell computer and – with enough prodding – I convinced my parents to get this game for me. What happened next was a whirlwind of excitement, enjoyment, and all around explosive entertainment at my fingertips. My time spent with Gordon Freeman, trying to escape Black Mesa Research Facilities was unmatched in any game I’d played up to that point and, for years, was unmatched in games that followed.

I could drone on and on about specific experiences I’d had playing this game at home, replaying the shit out of it time and again (because I got good enough to run through it in near-record time), buying the hell out of the expansion content, shooting people online, playing the various mods and conversions against classmates and teachers alike at my high school, and writing awful poetry about this game for class (note: true story… true… story…), but the major thing to note here isn’t really about my experiences with the game while I played it, but my love for the game when I wasn’t playing it. To put that into perspective, let’s just apply it to my nearly 8-year wait for the sequel. The first game was so perfect that the mere mention of a sequel was almost too enticing for me to bear. The second that stupid “next month” crowbar teaser hit the internet, I was immediately rabid with anticipation for any news at all.

the crowbar in question

In the inbetween time I wrote a journal about my experiences prior to getting the first game, how I spent my time trying not to think about the second game, and about how much money I was going to have to make to play the game on a computer that would even run the damn thing. During this time, Half-Life 2 was the only thing I cared to talk about. How I had friends remains a mystery.

While this might seem like a rant about Half-Life 2, I would like to note that it was because of the first game’s insane level of perfection in my mind. Had this game not been as goddamned great as it was, people wouldn’t have tolerated the protracted development cycle the second game ended up going through. I wouldn’t have been batshit crazy about more Half-Life. People would have invited me to hang out because I could have talked about something aside from bespectacled men in bright orange hazard suits (no, they wouldn’t have). Had Half-Life not been a 10/10 game, the release of Half-Life 2 – nay! – the very idea of Half-Life 2 would have been inconsequential. But, god bless, we got what we got, and I’ve been pleased since that day.

All in all, Half-Life ranks as one of my all-time favorite FPS titles, all-time favorite franchises in gaming, and is my all-time favorite game when it comes to minimalist storytelling. Its a run-and-gun shooter with few tactics and a ton of great action. For its time, it was the best, the game everyone copied and wanted to imitate. Its influence reached far and wide for years to follow and, without it, we would likely be in a different place in regards to shooters, storytelling, and how scary some things can be in a game. While I didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the core gameplay elements, please don’t let that deter you from taking away how much impact the game had on me; I love the game, always will. I’ll never “Forget About Freeman” for as long as I live.

Classic Moment:
For me its all about “Blast Pit” which, while not a “moment” in the traditional sense, does present the gamer with one of my favorite boss battles (if you can call it that); the tentacles. You can’t kill them with conventional weapons, so you have to turn on all the various elements of a giant test rocket to blast, burn, and fuck-up the three-headed mother. Its interesting because, even in modern games (like Gears of War, for example), you never really do anything but shoot monsters in weak spots until they die. Half-Life put players into a situation that was different, interesting, and scary, to boot!

PS: I elected to refrain from talking about how crazy insane I was while playing Half-Life 2 for a reason. One I’m certain you already know.

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Added April 12, 2017
If you like Half-Life at all and haven’t purchased and played through the Black Mesa mod, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Get on that, immediately. It is worth revisiting the world of Half-Life just for the thrill of seeing it all again.