Half-life (PC)

Well what can be said about this game that hasn't been said?

First off,at the time,Half-life was just an out of this world and revolutionary FPS that did things,that i thought were impossible at the time. First off,Valve did an amazing job by sucking people into the experience by making the only solely in First person,and delivering an amazing story that blends sci-fi with some horror,in a great way.

Technology wise,Half-life was arguably the best looking game of it's time. Delivering great character models,fantastic lighting and quite possibly for the first time. Lip syncing. The atmosphere was unbelievable,making it as if you were actually trying to survive from these aliens and special forces and assassins. And the special effects like the environment exploding and stuff were fantastic.

The story of Half-life put the player in to the HEV suit of,Gordon Freeman. Gordon is a theoretical physicist sent to do an experiment that goes awry. After,aliens invade Black Mesa and,Gordon is in a struggle to escape the facility and kill some aliens while He's at it. And later on the military is sent in to eliminate anything that is in Black Mesa. I'm not gonna spoil anything but. The story was done in real-time cutscene and some fantastic scripted sequences.

The gameplay in Half-life was all about combat,puzzle solving and some platforming elements. Unlike games before it,Half-life used scripted sequences that would ranges from aliens smashing doors to a major story sequence,which keeps the playing in Gordon's shoes nearly all the time,even though Gordon never speaks or is seen in Half-life. Half-life has no "levels" instead it features chapters and takes place in one big world full of loading. Bosses are mainly used for puzzle reasons,although some of the boss fights are intense. Another thing i enjoyed was the fact that you can take NPC'S with you to help you out and help you reach area's out of Gordon's access. The AI on both NPC'S and enemies were fantastic. They would take cover attempt to flank and run for there lives if near death,making the enemies feel alive.

Half-life has been ported to the PS2 in 2001 upgrading character models,gun models and everything graphics wise. Also adding a mode called "Half-lif:decay" which is a co-op mode were two players played female characters name Dr. Cross and Dr. Green. A dreamcast port was announced but cancelled two weeks before launch. But has been leaked into the web. So look for that,if you can find it.

Half-life had two expansions released. The first one being called "Opposing force" were the player plays Adrian Shepard,a soldier sent into Black Mesa to silence everything including Gordon Freeman. And "Blue Shift" were the player controls Half-life 2 character Barney Calhoun and telling the story of how he escaped black mesa.

Half-life won over 50 Game of the year awards,and selling over 8 million copies. The highest selling game on the pc. And a sequel was release 6 years later. But that will be somewhere in the top 5.

So there you go. Half-life. My 10th favorite game of all time.