The player begins on a tram ride through the government’s secret Black Mesa testing facility. Say goodbye to all the nice, happy people working like bees. That’s because the player is Gordon Freeman, a researcher whose job (like much of the circumstances) is never really explained. All that’s important is that Gordon dons a mechanized environmental suit and just a bit later, at the urging of the head researcher, pushes an unknown material into an immense power source.

Faster than you can say "dimensional rift," Gordon is warped to the type of biomechanical world made so popular by Alien. Luckily, he gets warped back seconds later. Unluckily, so do thousands of alien nasties who proceed to chow down on Black Mesa’s personnel.

What went wrong? Was it just a simple mistake? An alien plot? Or the work of that mysterious Man In Black who pops up from time to time? No time to stop and think about it -- Gordon’s environmental suit saves him from most of the monster attacks, so he’s Black Mesa’s last best hope of getting to the surface and getting help.

Welcome to the frenetic, frightening world of Half-Life, the shooter by which others should be judged in the future. Finally, the shooter can compete with RPGs that involve character and mini-stories within the main plot. As mentioned above, that’s in large part due to the scripted events which the player can influence.

Black Mesa is populated by scientists and security guards. Most often, Gordon stumbles across their torn corpses, but many times he can, for example, save a security guard from an unseen menace or rescue a scientist from the ever-annoying "head crabs" that transform victims into alien zombies. That’s good, because Gordon doesn’t have full access to the base (scientists can open armories and other rooms) and he sure can use backup (provided by the crack-shot security troops).

It’s a fabulous way to create a sense of atmosphere. It’s creepy enough to walk into a room with a zombie picking at human remains; it’s even creepier to watch a giant tentacle break through security glass and pull a scientist -- screaming all the time, mind you -- into some unseen maw. Add to that sporadic messages over the base’s PA system, urging survivors to return to the surface for "rescuing" by government shock troops. Let’s just say the military doesn’t want anyone blabbing about the Black Mesa blunder, and their form of rescue is awfully permanent.

Sometimes the "missions" (though they’re never stated as such) within the game strain credibility a bit. Gordon’s goal is to escape, so why would he stop to help dispose of the aforementioned tentacles or a giant, indestructible blue alien warrior? (Don’t think there’s an option here; to move on, Gordon has to often do the impossible.)

There are other times when the player finds himself moving on just because it’s a shooter and that’s what good shooter players do. After the shock troops arrive, it’s fairly obvious getting to the surface should no longer be Gordon’s priority. But the game just goes on assuming he’d want to until a bit later, when a better goal (finding a team who might be able to fix the dimensional rift) becomes available.

Isn’t it great that the biggest nits to pick with a shooter have to do with the plot? Half-Life is nearly seamless, with "levels" noted only by a title near the bottom of the screen; that’s because the game loads in small chunks as the player moves, keeping the action fairly fast.

Also, though ammo rationing isn’t nearly as severe as that of Thief (especially on Half-Life’s easier levels), the player is often encouraged to find new and imaginative ways to do away with the aliens and other baddies. In fact, bosses are often impervious to normal weapons, forcing the player to deduce a solution from the surrounding facilities.

Sound daunting? Good, because it is. The game is tough, but players will be too involved to notice. Don’t let this one sit on the shelf.