Why has no other game managed this ten years later? TEN YEARS! It's ridiculous. Bodies lie all over the floor, a scientist is trying to resuscitate another, people are panicing, and you're being introduced to how the enemies work - seeing the head crabs take their first victims. As you try to find a way out, so much is happening. And then kaboom - it all goes wrong and the area you just familiarised yourself with has changed, been broken.
There's lots of time for silliness, like listening to the two scientists discussing that I'm a 'highly paid professional', while I jump up and down on the spot. It's you that chooses to trigger the beginning of events proper by stepping into the test chamber and triggering that resonance cascade. You can explore the few rooms of the facility open to you, bother the scientists, explore the lockerrooms, blow up the contents of a microwave. From the moment you arrive you're being set up for what's to come, but without the game forcing you into rushing. It's left me somewhat frustrated.ĭespite the incredibly over-long sequence on the monorail, and the astonishing - and surely unnecessary - frequency of the loading points, it really still is the best introduction to any game, ever. I just replayed the opening sequences of the original Half-Life.
