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Updated 10/11/99
Introduction:
Half-Life, eh?? Quite a popular FPS single player game, rumour has it... Certainly one that I, and indeed almost everyone else, thoroughly enjoyed the first time round. But one
thing has always puzzled me: Many people are full of praise for the game, but full of complaints and downright distaste for the "Xen" section, the alien dimension you visit at the end. For me,
this was the highlight of the game - I didn't like all of it, some bits were frustrating, but at it's best, it was a magical experience - in fact, the atmosphere throughout was truly
inspirational, like nothing I'd ever seen in an FPS game. I think it's a pity that many people did not appreciate this part of the game, so this is the opposing force of my point of view...
Why I liked Xen so much:
Architecture - I like open areas, I like outside bits, I like weird stuff, and Xen had them all. Outdoor levels, suspended above a void, how much more open and exotic could you
get?? With great organic textures, serene lighting, natural angles, and plenty of details like huge spires, spike plants, glowing tentacle things....well, just look at the shot
above - it's just utterly cool.
Atmosphere - If the architecture was good, the atmosphere was unparallelled... Organic islands floating in space, populated with bizarre lifeforms, surrounded by glowing nebulae -
this was so alien, I loved it, such a refreshing change after the more mundane Earth levels previously. Some of the levels I found really magical - especially the level after killing
Gonarch, with the huge spires and marvellous flights of "manta ray" creatures - and also I loved the corpses of scientists who had explored before, which set the whole alien feel off. Many
aspects of the design and style all made this a unique experience to be savoured.
New creatures and features - Okay, so as you progress through a game, you always find new stuff, but still, Xen had added some impressive extras: Gonarch (bitch to fight but damn
good looking), the manta rays (just loved these), spike plants (just cool), light plants (what a sweet little touch), healing pools and sphincter vents (they fitted in perfectly), lower gravity (always
a favourite). All contributed to the special feel.
Some of the combats - Some I didn't like as they were too hard, but as I much prefered fighting aliens to fighting humans, I really enjoyed some of the gameplay: The tactics-taxing
assaults in the manta ray level, the satisfying sniping in the pre-factory level, the tough waves of monsters in the factory itself. Solid stuff.
What I personally didn't like:
Heh, the main thing was that there wasn't enough of it!! I'd have happily played 5 times as much Xen =). But seriously, there were a couple of things I didn't like:
Some of the harder combats: Both Gonarch and Nihilath I found to be frustratingly difficult, both because they required specific tactics making them hard to fight on early attempts,
and because the combats went on for too long. Basically, boss combats suck!! Well, I find them tedious anyway...
The "human" feel of the factory levels: Okay, with the textures, they were clearly alien, but compared to what had gone before, they were too reminsicent of human constructions,
and lacked that special Xen feel - decent levels but could have been more atmospheric.
Why people say they didn't like it:
From what I've seen, which obviously isn't exhaustive and there may well be more aspects people disliked, there are 3 main areas that disappointed people about Xen:
Jumping:
Many complaints I've seen have highlighted the difficult jumps that Xen required to complete it. And it's true there was some relatively difficult jumping, both to figure out and execute,
compared to what had gone before. But...
Firstly, there was an assault course at the beginning of the game - you were taught how to jump, how to crouch jump, how to jump with the jump pack. So what's so bad
about putting that into action on Xen??
Secondly, it's obvious that you are gonna die if you b0rk the jumps, so anybody with half a brain is going to quick save before and/or after any tricky
jumps.
Thirdly, jumping is just another aspect of the overall skill challenge the game provides: There are difficult combats, nasty ambushes, complex traps, tricky puzzles - Half-Life
challenges the player in many ways, and jumps are just one of those ways.
Fourthly, it was dismissed as "trick" or "gimmick" gameplay. Which is a fair point, but there was just as much in the Earth sections (jumps, ledges, conveyor belts, crushing things,
moving gizmos, teleporter sequences, air sphincters, and all that jiggery pokery) - and being on Earth made all that trick gameplay seem out of place, while Xen was weird enough for anything
to fit in.
Fifthly, there was a lot more to Xen than just the jumping. For a start, some levels didn't have any tricky jumps, and for most of those that did, there was a lot more to the levels as
well. In fact, visually, atmospherically, gameplay-wise, there was so much in Xen to capture the imagination, so how can a few gnarly jumps spoil it??
The lack of cool stuff that the Earth levels had:
I've heard this mentioned: some people are disappointed that Xen is relatively sparse both for overall design, but also scripting sequences and interaction. A fair point as the scripting,
set-pieces, communication that you encounter on Earth are perhaps the strongest aspects of the game, and are pretty much absent from Xen. But...
Firstly, Xen had it's own immersion and impressiveness without the need for such frills - see all the aspects mentioned above.
Secondly, Complex scripting and interactivity wouldn't fit so well in Xen. It's an alien world, so you can't chat to the aliens, the aliens are on their (inaccessible) home turf, so there is
going to be less or no interaction between them and humans, it's a simpler, organic enviroment so has less interaction with machinery and suchlike. I do think that more "alien" scripting
would have been good though....aliens hunting, slaves getting beaten, birthing chambers, organic designs spawning, etc etc...
The sheer alienness:
This strikes me as the most plausible reason though perhaps not one many people will admit too: Perhaps Xen was just too alien, too different, too imaginative, too much of a change for
people to cope with?? Given that people seemed to be drawn to the game because of it's easily comprehensible real life influences and familiar sci-fi scenarios, maybe there is a point there.
One minute you are in something that is fairly recognisable and mentally easy to deal with if you watch the X-Files or any comparable alien-orientated science fiction, and the next minute you
radically and abruptly change to something completely unrecognisable, where there is nothing familiar for the mind to get a grip on. I can see how it would disorientate some people enough to
annoy them, but...
Firstly, the change fitted in well with the plot, even being hinted at at the start, and it added an extra dimension to the game. Yes it was weird but these are aliens, it's an alien
dimension, strangeness is par for the course. For all the action, events, and human interaction that take place on Earth, the basis for the story is that aliens are invading (perhaps accidentally!)
our dimensions, so it's quite natural that their dimension could feature too.
Secondly, is one's own inability to cope with change and a strange enviroment (this is a game - strange enviroments are commonplace!) good reason to complain?? I say "no"...
Final thoughts:
I know this is all a matter of opinion - I've seen quite a few opinions already!! But, though I can see a bit of the annoyance with the jumping business (I must admit, being a speedrunner
and a trick jump freak, it came naturally to me...), I don't think complaints about the "alienness" hold much water, and I do think Xen has been unfairly dismissed given all of it's virtues.
Perhaps more importantly, I think it's also a pity it's potential hasn't been capitalised on with custom maps - from what I saw, there were only a few SP maps and two DM maps that used Xen
sections. I find this strange, as with custom maps, all the aspects about Xen people disliked can be omitted or improved, while keeping all of Xen's coolness. The potential is there, it's up to
mappers to use it... Maybe there is a stigma attatched to using Xen stuff from all the complaining?? Or maybe this confirms the point that it's just too weird for many people....but I
was happy with all the weirdness and more, so I say: "Xen 0wnz" =).
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