Still feeling creative. I'm writing a story. I haven't done that in years. I figure this will be kind of a jumble of ideas and themes that are rolling around in my head. Aliens, guns, government cover ups, a few more of my favourite things. After I get it out of my system I'll probably come up with something less derivative. It's surprisingly fun, just writing for yourself. Why can I do everything I want to do except study for my exams that are much less than a week away? I'm a born procrastinator. And why am I still awake? I am wired. And I don't even drink coffee...

Strange days.

I also whipped up a short review of Half-Life, in the hopes that my favourite game magazine will see fit to publish it. I've spent a few days tweaking it and I think it's alright. I may have found a new angle on the game that's been analysed to death. Take a look see:

Half Life

Half-Life, eh? Best RPG ever. Don’t believe me? You soon will.

You play the role of Gordon Freeman, bespectacled everyman and research scientist in the mysterious Black Mesa Research Facility. In classic RPG-stylee you’re dropped into the boots of a broadly drawn character and invited to fill in the incidental details yourself. Half-Life eschews any clunky cinematic cut scenes in favour of total immersion. One of its greatest achievements is in creating a game world that is wholly convincing and believable. It’s also vast, in terms of length and scale. Locations like gargantuan atomic reactors, sheer cliff faces and massive monorail sequences remind you that you are a very little person up against overwhelming odds.

And what would a game be like without a full assortment of fellow scientists, security guards and bloodthirsty, multi-tentacled, slobbering aliens? A bit rubbish, I suppose. Luckily Half-Life is populated by a menagerie of weird aliens, squads of double hard marines and some unfortunate NPCs caught in the middle. You’ll probably have to blink back a manly tear when Barney the security guard meets his inevitable grisly demise. You want an engaging storyline? How about a classic b-movie plot involving sinister experiments, aliens, guns, government cover-ups, black humour, more guns, trans-dimensional tomfoolery and bosses that resemble unborn foetuses and pendulous single testicles?

Like other RPGs, you gain experience as the game progresses. Except that it’s not represented by an arbitrary numerical tally but in the acquisition of skills that allow you to better cope with the chaotic situations that you find yourself in. At the start of the game you’ll flinch at the sound of your own gun, by the end you’ll be a bullet spewing, marine thumping, duck jumping, booby trapping, alien slapping Destroyer of Worlds! Ahem.

Forget Deus Ex and Baldur’s Gate. Half Life is the best RPG in existence. Roll on number two.