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Not only did Valve write video game history when they released Half-Life 1 back in 1998 (November 8th). But Valve also changed the FPS genre for all time, and the way we experienced FPS games.

Because before Half-Life there was no other FPS game that was so heavily story driven as Half-Life was (and are). And i still remember when i read the review for Half-Life (Gordon Freeman was like no other FPS maincharacter i ever seen before, and Half-Life was like no other FPS game i ever played or heard of before) in the Swedish edition of PC-Gamer (back then).

Because the more i read the review, the more hungry i got for Half-Life (which btw, used a heavily modified version of the Quake 2 engine). But in my case, there was two little problems that i had to deal with first.

Like the fact that my computer was outdated (back in 1998, computers and computer parts were really expensive), and i had no money for Half-Life either.

Dear headcrab zombies, say hello to mr crowbar!

And at that time, i was about 14 years old. So what did i do? I started to work as a paperboy. It was lousy pay, but it was well worth it (my parents helped me to pay for a new PC as well. Tons of love to them!).

As i got to play one of the best FPS games in the history of Gaming. Half-Life also changed the way i looked on games for all time. As i realized that you can create something “more” than “just” a game.

Because “if” you have the knowhow, and the willpower. Then you can create a game that beats both books, movies and other interactive mediums with ease.

And here´s the thing, there´s actually two stories to be told about Half-Life. One that tells the story about how the game even come about (that story is “almost” more impressive than the game itself. As the technology and code behind Half-Life is a whole chapter of it´s own).

And the other story is about the plot of Half-Life. I´ve read and heard both of the stories, and i have to say that it´s something which is worthy of your time.

But if you´re not the reading kind of person. You could always watch Treesicle´s “Gordon Freeman – The Story You Never Knew”, and Noah Caldwell-Gervais “A Thorough Look at Half-Life” video instead.

As for Half-Life 2 and 3, that’s a story for another time 😉