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In recognising there's more to shooting games than guns, guts and gore, Valve's all-conquering Half-Life rewrote the rule book for first-person blasters. Creating a richly detailed and refreshingly realistic world as a backdrop for the bloodshed - and using a huge variety of scripted sequences that bestowed personality on the protagonists and injected every skirmish with drama - Half-Life was one of the first gun toters where players actually gave a damn about the plot, rather than simply worrying where their next crate of bullets was coming from.

Memorable for...
Geek power. The game's protagonist, bespectacled researcher Gordon Freeman, wasn't a Navy Seal or a Delta Force commando but a science nerd. One who, with the aid of a trusty crowbar, sent otherworldly critters running for their lives. It's possible this says more about the wish-fulfilment of the game developers than anything else.

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