Half-Life is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by Valve Software and published by Sierra Studios in 1998, based on a heavily-modified Quake game engine. It was first published for PCs running Microsoft Windows, and was later ported to Sony's PlayStation 2 and Sega's Dreamcast video game consoles, although it was never officially released in the latter's case. It is now published by Valve themselves via their Steam platform.
Half-Life, often shortened to HL, has been heralded
by computer game critics for its gripping and atmospheric presentation of
the plotline, which would influence the development of other first-person
shooters in the years to come. It was among the first games to feature a story
that was told entirely in-game and in real time, without the use of cutscenes.
Half-Life is also known for its (at the time) sophisticated enemy AI. Its
own success continued for years with expansions such as Half-Life: Opposing
Force (OP4) and Half-Life: Blue Shift (BS), mods such as Counter-Strike (CS),
Team Fortress Classic (TFC), Deathmatch Classic (DMC), Ricochet and Day of
Defeat (DoD), and its sequel Half-Life 2 (HL2). Half-Life won over 50 "Game
of the Year" awards from numerous publications and was named "Best
PC Game Ever" by PC Gamer in its November 1999, October 2001, and April
2005 issues.[1] It is the best selling PC first-person shooter to date.[citation
needed]
