A modern classic, this is an finely-honed first person shooter with a compelling story, some excellent action set-pieces, great presentation, and a ground-breakingly perfect musical score. It reeks of quality, and stinks  of class - the creators obviously cared about making a good game, and that  simple fact sets 'Half-Life' apart from everything else. Now almost two  years old, 'Half-Life' is still just as good as it was, and it could be  released tomorrow and still make the same impact. It's an embarrassment of  riches, with too many good things to count - in amongst the  seemingly-intelligent soldiers, giant tentacles, amusingly jingoistic  security guards and radioactive water the game almost off-handedly solves  the problem of how to tell a story with a computer game - and it's  extremely immersive. You really need to play it with headphones, or an  expensive stereo. Everything from the plausible, gloomy environments, to  the metallic chatter of your machine-pistol, fits the atmosphere perfectly,  and there's a sparse, scary set of musical cues which mix ambient techno  with noisemusic. It's even excellent fun as a multiplayer game, or even in  related 'Team Fortress' form. It's rock-hard, too, but in a way that makes  you want certain bits again and again. All told, it's a classic, and you  should own it already (plus the mission pack).