Half Life has a much more mature story based around real philosophy, ranging from Friedrich Nietzsche to Ayn Rand. The story that Half Life and its sequels pursue is a drastic interpretation of a philosophical stand-point -coined by Nietzsche- known as the, “Will to Power.”
You’ll often hear Dr. Breen reference Neurological Imperatives and broad-spectrum prospects, like purpose. Gordon Freeman, as a character, represents the slave-mentality of the average life-form. He is given tremendous power and seeks nothing but survival and the continuity of his species. His constant sabotage of fixed-Combine bases and the entire alliance of Xen is a clear reference to territoriality, which would make Gordon represent the more modern sense of morality and ways of thinking (or the Slave Mentality, as dictated by Nietzsche), where the Combine and their goals represent inevitability and conflicting purpose in both appearance and nature. It can also be symbolically interpreted as cultural tradition dissolving scientific and philosophical pragmatism. The territoriality is also used to contrast the advancement of the Combine and how our (humans) understanding and frequencies are primitive.
Mass Effect, in my opinion, is a contrived and cluttered cleche driven merely by character development in the same stylistic fashion that most pieces of modern pop-culture try to pawn off as a story. With “Advanced Story” labeled as Mass Effect’s signature quality, I’m willing to bet it will win.
The modern and overly-uneducated mind too often mistakes drama as a more important aspect than concept and other key-elements in story writing. I’m certain that the cleche drama that Bioware pawns off as “Mature Story-telling” will fool most people. The problem with drama, is that it ends when the presentation is over. Concept and originality can change a person for the right reasons, where drama affects our emotions – something we have no control over and requires no real thinking on our part.
Most importantly, Half Life’s story isn’t as contrived and in-your-face as Mass Effect’s; Half Life’s story is told realistically and behind-the-scenes. Half Life’s story can be completely ignored and the game itself can be subjectively pursued as a strict action game, fore the game almost never halts the constant action. This is why Half Life is a true marvel in the eyes of someone who doesn’t struggle with mature and philosophical, if not scientific, concepts. The game itself disguises you as the common protagonist-hero attempting to liberate your brethren. The story -though incognito- is anything but. Anyone familiar with the basic quandaries of philosophy is instantly slapped with an impasse of personal belief. The line that divides common-place moral certainties and advanced-philosophical views is immediately drawn at the start of Half Life 2. Most players don’t even consider that you can personally choose to side with the Combine, or with the pragmatism that it presents. Half Life’s story isn’t over when the game if finished, nor did it begin back when Valve dished it out. The story of Half Life has been plaguing and frustrating the intellectual mind since Aristotle. It isn’t just a game, it’s a visual representation of a conflicting argument that puts you in the seat of the average man.
"Look, Gordon! Look at what you are throwing away! "
“Would we model ourselves on the Trilobite?!”
“The Combine have thrown a switch and exorcised our demons in a single stroke. They have given us the strength we never could have summoned to overcome this compulsion; they have given us purpose. They have turned our eyes toward the stars.”
Anyone who has ever played the popular Half Life 2 mod, “The Stanely Parable” knows of these conflicting sides. Lets just say that anyone who turned the mod off before it was finished should never oppose the Combine – or Friedrich Nietzsche.
Half Life is fucking clearly superior than Mass Effect in story.
