Unreal

The Good
Some of the best music ever to be composed for a game (mostly thanks to Alexander "Siren" Brandon), with such memorable tracks as Dusk Horizon carefully placed inside an exceptionally beautiful and an intriguing alien world that was, at its release time, the most detailed ever seen in a game make for the experience that is truly Unreal. The world is believable and you as the story unfolds a little bit at a time you find yourself anxious to find the next piece of information.

The Bad
The game is excessively long and it may be hard to keep yourself interested during a few of the maps that leave room for improvement. The story is only carried through the aural translator messages and doesn't really get that deep at any point. There's nothing special about the ending. The shooting gets a little repetitive at a point as it often tends to in first person shooters.

The Bottom Line
At its time, Unreal had the engine that for the first time surpassed id software's 3D-engine technology. For that alone it is worth a look by any serious gamer. It is one of the most beautiful and atmospheric games I have ever encountered and is able to completely immerse the player inside the world that combines alien and mythical elements. I tend to look at the shooting in Unreal as somewhat irrelevant and would probably advise anyone only now finding it to stick to the easy difficulty. What makes Unreal so great is something different, something that gives me hope the first person shooter genre is going to eventually evolve into something less mechanic and violent.