This echoes what Yahtzee said about the game years later, and it still rings true: Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never leave the shoes of Freeman. Its story interleaves with its gameplay, and the pieces are all there to see, but if you just want to shoot some aliens, that's okay too.
It's a collection of innovations and feelings that few other games have been able to capture.
On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant.
Yahtzee Crowshaw's (yes, the very same guy I mentioned above) LP of the game (Let's Drown Out All Of Half-Life), while by no means a must-watch, is also reccomended.
It's a collection of innovations and feelings that few other games have been able to capture.
On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant.
Yahtzee Crowshaw's (yes, the very same guy I mentioned above) LP of the game (Let's Drown Out All Of Half-Life), while by no means a must-watch, is also reccomended.