1998. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Valve's debut title wins more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named "Best PC Game Ever" by PC Gamer, and launches a franchise with more than eight million retail units sold...
If you cant play 1 or Black Mesa because of the clunkyness, just watch a story recap and play 2.
The story of HL 1 is like a paragraph long.
60 second summary of 1 and 2