Half Life

Title: Half Life
Studio: Valve
Publisher: Sierra Studios, Electronic Arts
Genre: FPS
Platform: PC

Premise
You are a physicist in an underground lab when aliens start appearing everywhere, and you have to do you best to survive and escape.

Character
You play as Gordon Freeman, one of Black Mesa's leading physicists. Gordon is the strong silent type, for he doesn't talk at all during the game. He is completely controlled by the player, with no self control whatsoever.

Engagement
The game is very engaging. The levels are expansive and detailed, drawing the player into the game. The enemies are creative and scary. The difficulty curve is very well balanced, with a good rate of increasing difficulty.

Story
You are Gordon Freeman, and on the day of the game, you are attempting to create a resonance cascade, which you are successful in. The bad news, is that it opened a portal to another world, and lets a whole plethora of alien enemies in. You are tasked with finding a way out, and killing as many enemies and help as many people on the way as possible.

Resources
Your Resources include various weapons you find, grenades, HEV suit power, Health, and ammunition.

Challenge
The game offers a very good challenge for both fans of FPSs and people who enjoy puzzles, as there are spectacular battles, as well as very challenging puzzles.

Metal Gear Solild

Title: Metal Gear Solid
Studio: Konami Computer Entertainment, Japan, Digital Dialect
Publisher: Konami, Microsoft
Genre: 3rd Person Stealth Shooter
Platform: PsOne

Premise
You are a secret agent attempting to infiltrate a terrorist base and take out their main weapon.

Character
The main character is Solid Snake, who is the player character. He is a legendary secret agent and has been pulled out of retirement. He uses all manner of gadgets from remote controlled missiles to cardboard boxes. Other characters include Colonel Campbell, who gives general advice and tells snake necessary information about his surroundings. Naomi Hunter calls snake to offer medical advice, Snakes old master Miller, and Mei Ling, who gives technological advice. Meryl joins you later inside the base, and she helps you get past some of the more difficult security measures.

Engagement
The game is very engaging. Right from the start you are put into the action, having to stealth your way to the elevator to progress. The game gets slightly less engaging as you progress, because of constant calls from the Colonel and the others, and regularly occuring cutscenes.

Story
Solid snake is attempting to infiltrate the hijacked FOXHOUND base and take down the terrorist hijackers main weapon: a nuclear launch enabled walking tank. Snake goes through the base, avoiding or destroying the resistance. Eventually he meets Meryl, who helps him on his way. With Meryl's help, Snake eventually takes down the terrorists weapon, and ends the threats being put on the White House.

Resources
Your resources include various weapons, ammo for weapons, different types of grenades, a cardboard box, different scopes, and various keycards.

Challenge
The game starts out fairly simple, but as it progresses, the game gets more and more difficult, requiring more help from the colonel and other supporting characters. The game tends to have a very steep difficulty curve, requiring the player to know what they are doing very early into the game.