HALF-LIFE REVIEW...by Paul Briggs

Quick Guide by Paul Briggs.

This review ties in with other pages on this site so please use the links when you see them to find out more! Half-Life is a game very much in the Quake 2 vain. Not only does it use the Quake engine but it also borrows heavily from ID's classic frag fest! The main difference is how much Half-life has brought on the genre by listening to online gamers and what they want.

Rather than go into huge detail about the game I will point out the main benefits Half-Life has over Quake as every gamer worth their salt has played this via the Net! It is worth noting at this point that to play Half-Life over the net requires a little downloading and possibly a little tweaking of the config files within the game, but, more on that later.

When playing Half-Life always remember that you are ON YOUR OWN....do not try to help others or show mercy. The game sets up an "all against all" situation although there are variations on this theme. Basically yor goal is too kill as many of the opposition as possible! Sounds easy?.......Wrong! As every player is also human you find the tactics and thinking throughout the game can become awe inspiring as somebody, (usually an American), kills 50 people in under a minute. There are unlimited tactics and tricks you can use when playing online and my personal favourites are listed here!

Team Fortress Classic is a new "add-on" to Half-Life and can be obtained free from the net. You can use my links page to find out more! Shareware such as "Gamespy" or "Ping-Tool" can be invaluable when you need to increase your PC's performance and so should be considered. Don't forget to check out News groups for discussions on Half-Life which again can be invaluable for info!

One more note on the subject of Piracy.......Half-Life can NOT be played online with a copy of the game or a "cracked" copy of the game. The reason for this is the unique CD-Code that comes on every box. You can steal somebody else's CD-Code by using a particulaly nasty piece of software (whose whearabouts I will refrain from giving you!). The effect this has is to "steal" someone's CD-Code leaving them with a useless copy of the original game. Needless to say this is a VERY BAD thing to do and causes a lot of woe for those people who do not have the ant-virus software that stops this happening. So make sure you have a decent, up to date, anti-virus package. One last point worth mentioning is not to lend your CD to anyone who may play online as once your CD-Code has been registered to WON (World Online Network) you cannot then use it on another machine. If you paid for it....You use it!

This page has been designed by Paul Briggs I am currently an undergraduate at Northumbria University in Business Systems and Information Technology This page and all of the contents contained within can be used by anyone for anything at all.....ok?