Developer: Crowbar Collective
Rrp: £14.99 (Steam)
I played the original release of Half-Life when it first released (yes, pre-Steam) back when Valve were a scrappy group of indie developers using a heavily modified version of the Quake engine. No one suspected that one day this little band of misfit developers would become the powerhouse they are today. I remember pouring over the pages of PC Gamer magazine (I think, it could have been PC Zone, I read both) when they had an article previewing it, something to do with skeletal structures within the NPC’s.
It feels quite strange playing this fan made remake of Half-Life, like visiting somewhere you’ve been to a long time ago but everything’s changed while you’ve been away. What I can say though is you can see the care and attention to detail that Crowbar Collective have put in. What’s interesting that this isn’t a straight one to one remake, there are differences in the layout of parts of the game. Generally these changes are for the better and serve to remove some of the foibles of the original, and help make the game feel fresh to those of us who played the original.
Quite a few new puzzles have been added that feel very much in keeping with the tone of the game, there are also some puzzles that have been removed, usually the ones that would frustrate not due to difficulty but due to the time wasting nature. However, that just makes me wonder why the hell the developers decided to extend the Xen section of the game. I think it’s safe to say that anyone who played the original release felt that the Xen portion of the game outstayed its welcome… So why add more! Sure, its very pretty but its still bloody annoying.
