8 Great Games That Said F**k You To The Player

5. Half Life

Half Life In philosophy, there is a concept known as a Hobson€™s Choice. The premise of a Hobson€™s Choice is pretty simple €“ it€™s a particularly awful dilemma where you lose with both choices, so you attempt to choose the lesser of two evils. You expect these things to turn up in movies and TV shows, but they almost never show up in gaming, despite it being the most interactive medium of all three. With that in mind, let€™s move on. Half Life is a huge game. It took me forever to complete it, and it got to a stage €“ around an hour into the Xen world €“ when I wondered if it was ever going to finish, or whether Valve were playing an elaborate trick on me. I€™d explored everything in Black Mesa, took on the military, jumped into an alternate dimension and fought giant scrotum-crabs but the end wasn€™t in sight. Then finally, I came to the Nihilanth €“ a hard boss battle in itself €“ destroyed him, and felt as if all was well. I felt the endorphins come over me, but before I had a chance to be happy the G-Man appeared, and sprang the Hobson€™s choice €“ I could either become his slave, or be released weapon-less into a room of angry creatures. I don€™t know if I€™m in a minority here, but after all the effort I put in, this seemed like a straight-up kick in the balls. This game was gargantuan, and the closer you got to the end the bigger you thought the reward would be, yet Valve turned it on its head and forced you to choose the biggest downer of an ending pre-2000. It was just gutting more than anything else, and I had to boot it up just to check whether this had actually happened. When I did, it became clear €“ it was a f**k you moment, pure, simple and well-executed. Damn. Occasionally, you€™ve just got to admire Valve€™s chutzpah, even if you hate them for it.
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Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.