The Great Half-Life, probably one of the all time best FPS games there is. First off they found a story to right that was worth writing, they made it hard enough for us to smash our keyboards, yet keep us in the game. When I first picked up this game I had high hopes, they were met hand in hand. I wanted something that I could sit there and just watch while not killing, and at the time this game was extremely fun to watch, everyone remembers the opening scene where you are brought into the game and Black Mesa. Lets take a look at some of the aspects that were done well, and those that could have used a touch up.
Firstly you have to take into account that we were using a modifyed Quake2 engine, which was state of the art then. When you open up into Black Mesa it starts as more of a Military destruction type of shooter, you are trapped in the depths of the complex with not only creatures for another demension attacking you and trying to suck your head off, but Military units being shipped in to "take care of you". The AI was at the time incredible. When the military shows up they aren't like the mindless zombies just walking at you hitting, they will run off, toss nades at you, gather others to help, basically do what you don't want them to, eventually kill you. I remember many times where I would have to restart at my save point thinking of other ways for me to get around a challenge, this makes the game very fun.

Another fun aspect of the game is the slew of weapons, from pistols to bug guns, with some strange ones in between, sniping explosive crossbows, plasma blasters, a seeking rocket launcher (FUN!). I also enjoyed the interaction, although limited, with the NPCs (scientists). The controls like any FPS are pretty straight forward, set up exactly what you are comforatable with and get at it.

As you progress through the game you get to where you are infact teleported TO the other demension, WAHOO. You are not running around in some strange crazy cracked out world where you take on enormous monsters, I believe a giant spider (HARD!) and many random creatures. This part of the game was more creepy and disturbed than the rest of the game but kept me going at it for hours. Finally you get to the end boss and have a go.

There were a couple things that could have really boosted my play time after it was completed, 1 being COOP, there was no built in coop, one of my favorite options for an FPS, think of adding more monsters, a higher difficulty and you and your buddies blastin baddies, I played Quake2 over and over many times from the co-op and its story didn't catch my interest as much as HL did. There was a rigged up co-op version that was created you could add in, but it wasn't the best. Another aspect would be the large maps, there weren't as many fun DeathMatch maps put in, I really would have liked that put in the game on ship date. Granted you could create your own, and they later had maps all over the place, that is when it picked up for me again. Also with the easy use of people making mods for the game, such as the Notorious Counter-Strike which was so good they put it in stores to purchase alone, and has been around for literally years unshelved. Can you name any other games that have lasted THROUGH game engine generations, been out for years and is still played by thousoands of players at any given second. Kinda hard to match that.

Overall this game was exceptional, it is hard to find any other game that you could play as much, dive into and play all the way through, has ample amount of weaponry, great AI, graphics, and story. Really top notch. If someone hadn't played this game yet I would still recommend it over many many other new titles.