Half-Life

The Good
Half-Life is the kind of game that a lot of gamers have been waiting for. You take your average run-of-the-mill FPS, give it a well thought out storyline, ooze on some frightening atmosphere, add realistic weapons and an Intelligent AI, and you get this game.

The wonderful part of the story is that you aren't necesarily at the center of it. Things go on around you that you may or may not see, but have some relevance to what you may experience. The atmosphere also adds something to the story. There you are, a lone scientist trying to survive an out of this world (pardon the pun) experience, walking through a deserted office area, when the ceiling comes down on your head. And with the debris comes a handful of headcrabs! If you really enjoy being scared, play Half-Life in the dark.

As if being surprised by aliens and military grunts in abandoned hallways weren't enough, you have to reload your weapons. Yes, you heard me right! There is no such thing as a 99 round clip for your weapon anymore. You actually have to stop shooting and reload. And with the more realistic (for the most part) weapons, this can add a little bit of difficulty to those that charge into a room guns blazing.

The Bad
When I mentioned that the AI was one of the good things about this game, I wasn't lying. Just that upon closer inspection, the AI isn't as wonderful as I originally thought. The humans were indeed the smartest and most dangerous baddies that had to be dealt with. The grunts especially worked well together to get you to come out and die. The aliens however still seemed to be on the charge until he's (I'm) dead kind of AI. This doesn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the game.

The Bottom Line
All in all, Half-Life is a must play game. Not only is the single-player unbelievable, but the multi-player is really good too. There are tons of mods for multi-player Half-Life, among them the VERY popular Counter-Strike. Fans of the FPS rejoice!