How Valve Should Make Half-Life 3

Half Life 2 remains a venerable entry in the FPS genre, though another common criticism levelled at both it and its expansions has been the retraction of many weapons, narrowing the list down into a more traditional set of firearms.

The physics of the source engine and stellar audio design made up for this somewhat, but it unavoidably made some changes to gameplay. The emphasis on the gravity gun was a guiding force throughout the title.

Valve is known for their inventive approach to progressing game design, so surely there's a way to balance out this revolutionary contraption with a suite of awesome new weapons. Half Life 1, along with its expansions, boasted a wide variety of weapons that set it apart from other sci-fi shooters in the nineties.

With the next mainline entry potentially on the horizon alongside the return of classic FPS titles, now is the ideal moment to reimplement this older style of gameplay. A larger range of tools can often broaden the design, giving more options for the player to tackle obstacles.

Valve's original title was incredibly creative in this area with all sorts of zany tools from the supercharged gluon gun to the creepy hivehand that slotted onto Gordon's arm. Black Mesa, the remake of Half Life developed by Crowbar Collective, already showed off the potential for weapon variety with its collection of detailed animation.

Valve should take note of this effort by following the same approach for the next major title in the series.