Half-Life

The Good
Everything. AI is quite possibly the smartest to ever grace a computer game; the marines and aliens, run from you, take cover, speak and are very smart. Also, you get fellow scientists and security guards help you along the way without being a pain. The storyline is about government cover-ups and experiments gone horribly wrong...Basically a fantastic sci-fi story that should be made into a movie sooner or later. Levels are excellent, always throwing something new at you when you least expect it. No more are you searching for keycards, HL has gameplay that makes you think of what to do next, and strategies to defeat a squad of grunts, or the huge alien Gargantua. All the weapons are very interesting and all have a very good use. For example, sometimes when you see a squad of grunts, unaware of you, but always kill you when you enter where they are you always get killed until you bounce a grenade in there. You can't just go in there and kill everything right away like you would in DOOM...HL is much more of a challenge. Basically the game has nothing wrong with it, and it not only fits all the criteria for a great game, it exceeds it and creates an experience like none other, with many innovative features added to an overcrowded genre...the one of the best FPS and games of all time.

The Bad
Multiplayer Half-Life is not that good, with some heavy lag sometimes, although maps and weapons are very good...fortunately, HL has some great mods that improve this downside, namely the tactical Team Fortress Classic. In other words, one player is the meat of the game. Sometimes it got VERY difficult, but usually you would just keep playing anyway, no matter how fustrating it was, just so you could see what happens next...Half-Life is that good.

The Bottom Line
Think of the tactics of Rainbow Six strategy, combined with a fantastic sci-fi story containing the elements of the movie ALIENS, but not with all the mindless action of DOOM. One of the few games you could get someone like a real time strategy gamer to actually play and get interested into.