Long story short, I love this game. Why? Well, first, lemme say what's wrong with this game in its current state:

• It's missing the last four chapters from the original game. They weren't in the original free mod release[www.blackmesasource.com] in 2012, and they still aren't here now. Apparently, they were really badly-designed originally, so Crowbar Collective has been working on overhauling it, among other things. Though, they said it's going to come in or before this December, so hopefully they stay true to that! (And, if you really wanna play those last four chapters before they officially add them in, there's a fan port of them on the Workshop, found here.)
  
• There are some bugs. I've occasionally gotten stuck in physics props, though that's nothing a quickload of a quicksave can't fix. Though, there was also the issue of projectiles getting stuck when they ran into a mounted .50 caliber gun I was using... but I'm not sure if that will recur.

Now, what's good about this game? Well...

• It's a lovingly-made-from-the-ground-up recreation of Half-Life, Valve Software's first game published back in 1998.
  
• It makes fantastic use of the Source Engine, featuring greatly enhanced graphics, physics, sound quality, and AI from the original game.
  
• It has so much attention to detail, it's nuts... especially evident in the chapter Anomalous Materials, which features several adjustments to dialogue to reference other characters and tidbits in the Half-Life universe (and even the inclusion of Isaac Kleiner[half-life.wikia.com] and Eli Vance[half-life.wikia.com], characters made for Half-Life 2 based on generic scientist designs from the original game).
  
• It has plenty of little aesthetic additions that further enhance immersion, including a dynamic lighting system created and optimized specifically for this recreation, special animations that play when you first acquire any given weapon, and even enemies' blood that can splash onto your weapons and hands.
  
• Enemies are fun and challenging to fight without being "unfair". Encounters with the marines[half-life.wikia.com] are easily the most intense, majority of the time, requiring you to use cover effectively if you want to survive their numbers, tactics and weaponry.
  
• It even has the Deathmatch mode from the original game! Not all of the maps have been recreated, and I haven't actually played it myself, but I imagine it to be lots of fun.
  
• It has Workshop support! Want some additional singleplayer content, more multiplayer maps or even reskins of stuff? You can definitely find it there.

In my eyes, this would be the absolute definitive way to play Half-Life if it were not for the missing last four chapters... but even then, it comes real close. I heartily recommend this if you're looking for an engaging and immersive first person shooter experience... or if you wanna play Half-Life, but better (unless you're so nostalgic for the original that this won't do it justice in your eyes).

Long story short, I love this game. Why? Well, first, lemme say what's [b]wrong[/b] with this game in its current state: [list] [*]It's missing the last four chapters from the original game. They weren't in the [url=https://www.blackmesasource.com/pages/download_manager.html]original free mod release[/url] in 2012, and they still aren't here now. Apparently, they were really badly-designed originally, so Crowbar Collective has been working on overhauling it, among other things. Though, they said it's going to come in or before this December, so hopefully they stay true to that! (And, if you [i]really[/i] wanna play those last four chapters before they officially add them in, there's a fan port of them on the Workshop, found [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=894282258]here[/url].) [*]There are some bugs. I've occasionally gotten stuck in physics props, though that's nothing a quickload of a quicksave can't fix. Though, there was also the issue of projectiles getting stuck when they ran into a mounted .50 caliber gun I was using... but I'm not sure if that will recur. [/list] Now, what's good about this game? Well... [list] [*]It's a lovingly-made-from-the-ground-up recreation of [url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/70/HalfLife/]Half-Life[/url], [url=http://www.valvesoftware.com/]Valve Software[/url]'s first game published back in 1998. [*]It makes fantastic use of the Source Engine, featuring greatly enhanced graphics, physics, sound quality, and AI from the original game. [*]It has so much attention to detail, it's nuts... especially evident in the chapter Anomalous Materials, which features several adjustments to dialogue to reference other characters and tidbits in the Half-Life universe (and even the inclusion of [url=http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Isaac_Kleiner]Isaac Kleiner[/url] and [url=http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Eli_Vance]Eli Vance[/url], characters made for [url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/220/HalfLife_2/]Half-Life 2[/url] based on generic scientist designs from the original game). [*]It has plenty of little aesthetic additions that further enhance immersion, including a dynamic lighting system created and optimized specifically for this recreation, special animations that play when you first acquire any given weapon, and even enemies' blood that can splash onto your weapons and hands. [*]Enemies are fun and challenging to fight without being "unfair". Encounters with the [url=http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Hazardous_Environment_Combat_Unit]marines[/url] are easily the most intense, majority of the time, requiring you to use cover effectively if you want to survive their numbers, tactics and weaponry. [*]It even has the Deathmatch mode from the original game! Not all of the maps have been recreated, and I haven't actually played it myself, but I imagine it to be lots of fun. [*]It has Workshop support! Want some additional singleplayer content, more multiplayer maps or even reskins of stuff? You can definitely find it [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/362890/workshop/]there[/url]. [/list] In my eyes, this would be the absolute definitive way to play Half-Life if it were not for the missing last four chapters... but even then, it comes real close. I heartily recommend this if you're looking for an engaging and immersive first person shooter experience... or if you wanna play Half-Life, but better (unless you're so nostalgic for the original that this won't do it justice in your eyes).