Half-Life
Moderate overall intensityWhat's in it
Sustained first-person gunfire, melee, and explosives against alien creatures and human soldiers, with blood spray, bloodied corpses, and enemies that gib into pieces from explosives.
A lab accident triggers a mass-casualty disaster, and a military cleanup force hunts down and executes the surviving scientists and guards to bury the incident.
Dark corridors, sudden creature ambushes, reanimated headcrab-zombie personnel, and a tense dread-filled atmosphere throughout.
Occasional mild exclamations from scientists and security guards; no strong profanity.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
Released in 1998, Half-Life is a shooter viewed from the character's own eyes. The player controls Gordon Freeman, a scientist attempting to flee a research complex after one of his experiments rips a doorway to a violent extraterrestrial dimension. Playing the game involves firing at enemies, poking around the environment, and working out physical puzzles. The fighting is rendered with grounded detail: armed with an assortment of weapons, Freeman battles both military personnel and creatures from beyond, and landing a shot generates blood along with occasional severed body parts, all rendered in an older, stylized look. Its mood tilts into science-fiction terror through shadowy passages, unexpected attacks, reanimated corpse-like beings, and the bleak premise of troops dispatched to eliminate anyone left alive. The title contains nothing sexual, no nudity, no drug use, and no gambling. The multiplayer that shipped with it pits players against unknown opponents in head-to-head deathmatch, with a text chat box left unfiltered.
How it's framed
Bloodshed is cast as a fight to endure against extraterrestrial forces and armed troops, with the player cast as a solitary researcher struggling to survive. When soldiers gun down the facility's scientists, the moment reads as a horrifying act of treachery instead of a triumph, and no points or rewards flow from hurting the defenseless.
Details
- Developer
- Valve
- Publisher
- Valve
- Released
- Nov 19, 1998
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