Gaming will probably become the dominant form of entertainment within the next decade. With games now beginning to hit the mainstream, expectations continue to grow with respect to the entertainment experience provided. It’s no longer enough to throw a couple of monsters in the way of the player’s crosshairs to shoot - a rich visual and narrative experience is expected as well. This creates choices for the game designer that are not decided with ease. In particular, a tension is created between the desire for a rich narrative experience, as opposed to player freedom to determine their own experience. This post will be an exploration of that tension as it plays out in the Half Life series of games. I’ll look at how narrative is constructed in the half life games. My argument will be that while games are capable of providing a rich narrative - this is generally at the expense of gameplay; and secondly, that if this decision is taken then a very strong and rich narrative is required to ensure an enduring an memorable experience for the gamer. The half life series serves as an example of this sort of game - where gameplay aspects are sacrificied for the sake of the narrative. While Half Life 2 had perhaps the best narrative of a game I’ve ever seen, it’s sequels have lost the depth that made Half Life 2 so great. With Valve continuing to limit player freedom (irrespective of their claims for the latest episode), along with the shorter episodic content - this combines to give a fairly shallow gameplay experience - limiting replayability. In what follows I will attempt to demonstrate why I think this to be the case.

Half Life 2 has been on the market now for several years, but still I feel a sense of awe whenever I step into that terrifying universe. The scope of the story, the immersive visuals, the characters - all of it combining to form an incredible gaming experience. But its as a narrative that I find the game most interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr Breen’s rants against the “dangers of magical thinking” - a rich allusion to the struggle between rationalist and romantic ideologies. Beyond this, I find it fascinating the way they resolve the natural tension that exists between gaming as a narrative medium - and the exigencies of narrative structure itself. In most cases they limit the choice of the character so that there is one and only one path to follow at any given time. This allows Valve, the game’s creators, to guide the player through their carefully crafted narrative - at the expense of player freedom. Nevertheless, I was able to find one part of the game, where they allowed the player more choice than even they suspected. The result is a scene that they didn’t intend for you to see.