That might sound like high praise for a game that's already knocking 4 years of age on PC. However PS2 Half-Life really does get so many things right that it simply can't be relegated any lower than the top of the current pile in our opinion. It hasn't got online play (how many PS2 games do?!) and you can't add mods but hey, this version has a fully customisable USB mouse and keyboard control option! Couple that with the fact that the graphics at least equal what the PC version does with a mid- to high-quality video card and we got ourselves a very decent port here indeed!

For the benefit of those who haven't played HL on PC the story in the PS2 version sticks very true to the original. You play as Gordon Freeman, a Research Associate working in the anomalous materials lab at the Black Mesa research facility. Whilst taking part in a routine experiment something goes terribly wrong and the facility is almost destroyed in a devastating wave of blasts. From then on you discover that all is not as it should be and somehow the failed experiment has opened up a portal to another dimension. As you try to escape from the crumbling complex you encounter many different alien life-forms, all hostile of course, and you begin to suspect that maybe something more sinister has been going on at Black Mesa than you first thought. As you progress more of the storyline is revealed to you by non-playable characters you meet along the way, many of whom need to assist you to overcome such obstacles as locked doors and malfunctioning machinery. Some scientists will also boost your lagging health with a much-needed syringe shot of magic health-giving drugs!

Gameplay is an almost perfect balance of first-person shooter blasting and tense shootouts mixed with puzzle-solving and platform-style play where you must negotiate such things as stacked crates, narrow cliff-face ledges and pipelines to name a few. The stealth element is also very important and must be employed throughout the game in places if survival is to be ensured.

Which leads us onto the AI. A few of the aliens you'll encounter will certainly give you a hard time but it's the human adversaries that really set Half-Life apart from many other first-person shooters. You see, the government has sent in a "dangerous and very efficient clean-up crew" to obliterate the aliens but also to silence any surviving Black Mesa workers including, unfortunately, you! These guys know every trick in the book and will attack in teams, hide behind crates, lob grenades and retreat to more fortified positions. They're guaranteed to provide tough and quite extended battles so be warned!

If you feel like you might need a little training before you go into battle – fear not as the full training level from the PC version is included for you to familiarise yourself with the terrain and the controls.

All the glorious HL weapons are here to do the damage with and although compared to some other first-person shooters the selection isn't huge, the ones on offer are very effective and some are very unique! They include the lowly but very necessary crowbar, a couple of pistols, assault rifle, machine guns, shotgun, grenades, tripmines, energy weapons and more and have secondary fire options as well as primary. You'll also get to use some quite heavy fixed guns in certain parts of the levels to mow down opponents and blast your way through locked doors. Oh and if you get wounded by enemy fire there's HEV Charging Stations and First Aid Stations plus health satchels and batteries scattered around the complex where you can recharge your environment suit or top up your health.