With the gift-cards I received for my birthday, I picked up a copy of Half-Life (which was already on sale for $40). I managed to find time to play it between bashing the bejeezus out of Murlocs in World of Warcraft.

Does it live up to the hype? Well, it's a good game. The physics are good and so are the toys, generally. It's heavily scripted, though, with a linear course designed to funnel you through exactly what they want you to experience. Which is not so bad; it's just not very well hidden. There is an advantage to never being given a real choice: you never worry that you made the wrong one. On the other hand, it's hard not to feel like a slave to the game and its creators.

The ending is, as others have said, somewhat irksome. There is still a climactic battle, and one that makes more sense than a giant baby with a retracting skull. Still, if the next Half-Life doesn't have me killing that withered old briefcase-carrying fuck, then I'm writing off Valve for good.