Half-Life is a first-person shooter game series comprising two games and five expansion packs. The series started in 1998 with the launch of Half-Life. It was followed by Half-Life 2 in 2004. The sequel was then split into Half-Life 2: Episode One in 2006 and Half-Life 2: Episode Two in 2007. The game was developed by Valve Software and was distributed by Sierra Studios, which was taken over by Electronics Arts in 2005.
The games follow the exploits of Gordon Freeman, who works for a top secret government facility. The first game in the series tells the story of how an experiment went wrong and opened a portal to another world, leading to an invasion of aliens. The game tracks Gordon Freeman’s bid to escape the facility by fighting aliens and a group of soldiers, who are there to destroy the entire facility along with the scientists.
After successfully stopping the alien invasion, Gordon is recruited by the mysterious G-Man. At this point, the story continues into the episodes of Half-Life 2. In the sequel, Gordon wakes up a few years later on an Earth that has been conquered by an alien race known as the Combine as a result of the Black Mesa incident. During the course of the games, Gordon battles the Combine forces and tries to free the human population from their conquerors. The Combine alien race is also present through Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The story will conclude in Half Life 2: Episode Three, which is yet to be released.
Along with the main games, a few related games were released based in the Half-Life universe. Some of these games were based on Gordon Freeman’s story, but followed different characters and showed their view of the Black Mesa incident. These games include Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half–Life: Blue Shift. They are both included in the Half-Life 1 box set. The ground-breaking Portal and Lost Coast games are included with Half-Life 2 and both separate episodes in The Orange Box Set – a total of five games in one set.
The Half-Life series is critically acclaimed and has won many awards. Half-Life 1 has won over 50 Game of the Year awards! Its successor, Half-Life 2, has won over 35 Game of the Year awards and the subsequent episodes have also won many awards.
The games were originally intended for the PC but were released for platforms such as the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox and the Xbox 360. The games also include multiplayer modes and can come with the multiplayer edition of Counter-Strike: Source.
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