Half-Life: Source

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Half-Life: Source is a conversion of the 1998 science fiction first-person shooter Half-Life to run on the updated Source engine developed by Valve Corporation. It is available via the Steam content delivery service, bundled with the Game of the Year Edition of Half-Life 2, and the Collectors Edition of Half-Life 2, and as a standalone game through retail chains.

Features

HL:S makes use of new Source engine technologies for lighting and water, departing from the Gouraud shading used in the original Half-Life. Water now receives a translucent effect rather than being opaque and there is a simulation of water reflection, refraction, and diffraction. Due to the availability of high processing power PCs, Half-Life: Source features new high-resolution skyboxes, which simulate a longer draw distance. Although Source includes a physics engine, most objects in HL:S cannot be manipulated in the same way as they can in Half-Life 2 (particularly since there is no Gravity Gun). Also, players cannot lift items like in Half-Life 2.

The loading and menu screens have been redesigned to be similar to the ones in Half-Life 2, with the backgrounds featuring several scenes from various portions of the game (namely, Anomalous Materials, Interloper, Blast Pit, and Surface Tension).; the only difference between the HL:S menus and the Half-Life 2 menus is the absence of a "2" in HL:S. In this way, Half-Life: Source is only referred to as such through Steam; for all intents and purposes, and throughout the game, it is only ever called Half-Life.

Differences

Movement and weapons

The movement speed of the player is significantly faster than in Half-Life 2. The crossbow has been redesigned so it pins enemies to walls if they are close enough (as in Half-Life 2). However, where HL:S is a port, rather than being built from the ground up, the interactions between the environment and objects are imperfect. For example, if a corpse is pinned to a door and the door raises, the corpse remains in place, rather than being hoisted into the air. The inclusion of physics in HL:S has changed some puzzles, notably a point where Gordon has to jump a chasm using hanging boxes: in HL:S these boxes swing in response to being jumped on, whereas in Half-Life they remain stationary.

There is a notable 'ragdoll' effect on the NPCs. If characters are killed they will fall over like a 'ragdoll' rather than the animated deaths as in the original version. Bullet abrasions also appear on the enemies.

AI

Some aspects of Half-Life 2's artificial intelligence can be seen in Half-Life: Source. One is that enemies are more alert to the presence of the player and take cover when injured. Another is that allies follow the player in a manner similar to that in Half-Life 2. When engaging enemies, instead of always remaining in place until either the target or they themselves died, allies will disengage when the player moves on. However, unlike in Half-Life 2, there are no group commands for ordering allies around. In some cases, the modified artificial intelligence adversely affects gameplay, such as interfering with some of the many scripted scenes from the original.

Criticisms

Graphics

Half-Life: Source has been criticized for not including the detail or quality of the Source engine found in Half-Life 2. This is mainly due to the fact that it re-used textures and models from the original game, instead of designing new ones or even re-using the models from the High Definition Pack that was packaged with Half-Life: Blue Shift . Many fans were disappointed by this and a third-party modification for Half-Life 2, Black Mesa, is being made to complete a full conversion of the original Half-Life game, but this time with Half-Life 2 graphic standards.

It should be noted there are some mods that improve the quality of the game and some mods also make the graphics similar to the Playstation 2 version.

Music

Another issue may be the music: in the original Half-Life, the music continues even during loading screens, while the Source version (as in Half-Life 2) is completely truncated, in this way, the songs in the original Half-Life that starts right before a loading screen (For example the "We Got Hostiles" Chapter) are entirely stopped in the Source version. It is due to the fact that the tracks of the original game were on the audio part of the cd-rom (which means it can be played like a regular audio cd), which is independent of the game itself. The tracks of Half-Life: Source were therefore converted to files located in the installation folders, hence, now dependent of the game.

Multiplayer

The official multiplayer part of Half-Life: Source is Half-Life Deathmatch: Source. It is available to owners of Half-Life: Source and to those who purchase Half-Life 2: Episode One via Steam. It is not a full graphical update, merely using the Half-Life art resources on the Source engine. Occasionally, ragdolls "breakdance" instead of behaving in a more realistic fashion.