I'm going to come right out and say it ,Half-Life is the best first-person shooter since Doom there I've said it.
User Rating: 10 | Half-Life PC
Fast, furious, and fun, fun, fun. What really amazed me about Half-Life was the game's unforgiving pace as I made my way through the Black Mesa complex, dodging soldiers all the way. When the Half-Life hype machine started kicking into gear after E3, particularly when the "Day One" demo began circulating around the Internet, there was a lot of talk about the game's more story-oriented nature, and even talk of chapter-based gameplay. True, Half-Life is based upon a pretty cool science fiction story, but I think there needs to be some further clarification. In many ways, particularly at the beginning of the game, Half-Life is much more like an excellent interactive novel where the player gets to guide the main character through the pre-scripted -- but yet undiscovered -- adventure; every turn of a darkened corner is the flip of a page, and letting go of the mouse is as tough as closing that book before bedtime when you know the best is yet to come. Still, comparing the game to a novel may lead some to believe that the action is slow, even plodding, and that is simply not the case. To be quite honest, the beginning of Half-Life (basically everything leading up to the climax of the Day One demo) marks the game's slowest point, and can really be considered the prologue of what's to come. After that, the narrative feel is still there, but like a great book the story is expressed not through words but through the action...and believe me, this game's got tons of it.
