This article has a strange vibe that I can’t quite place my finger on. It almost feels like there were SEO mandates that had to be written in with as much as it talks about Call Of Duty.
While it’s certainly possible to draw lines from Half-Life to COD, I think the connections are very tenuous. Contrary to modern popular belief, Half-Life did not introduce the concept of plots to shooters. There were already numerous takes on military shooters, and Call Of Duty draws a more direct linage from the Medal Of Honor games. The first Medal Of Honor was being developed right when Half-Life released.
While it’s possible Half-Life influences seeped in, I don’t think they were particularly strong. Medal Of Honor and then COD games had very different goals than Half-Life.
Half-Life is and was fantastic. The enemy AI is tuned in a way that feels deceptively intelligent while not actually outthinking the player. The transitions between levels feel nearly seamless, making the game a single frantic adventure. The puzzles are just the right amount of brain teasing not to be frustrating.
I know it’s common to frame Half-Life as an elevated DOOM or Quake, but I think of it as a more accessible and streamlined Marathon or System Shock. It took the feel of an immersive sim, and then took the environmental reactivity of, for example, Build Engine games and put all of it into a fully 3D world with a lot of care.
Comparing it specifically to Call Of Duty is very, very strange. I know I already mentioned that, but I just can’t get past it. Call Of Duty campaigns are much more linear shooting galleries full of exciting setpieces, the old games wanted immersion by way of overwhelming you. They weren’t asking the player to think, just act.
It’s not a condemnation of other games not to try and perfectly copy Half-Life. There are tons of immersive sims, open world games, survival shooters, tactical shooters, ego shooters, and shooters that bridge into being RPGs in ways that would be held back by trying to be Half-Life.