5. Half Life
In philosophy, there is a concept known as a Hobsons Choice. The premise of a Hobsons Choice is pretty simple its a particularly awful dilemma where you lose with both choices, so you attempt to choose the lesser of two evils. You expect these things to turn up in movies and TV shows, but they almost never show up in gaming, despite it being the most interactive medium of all three. With that in mind, lets move on. Half Life is a huge game. It took me forever to complete it, and it got to a stage around an hour into the Xen world when I wondered if it was ever going to finish, or whether Valve were playing an elaborate trick on me. Id explored everything in Black Mesa, took on the military, jumped into an alternate dimension and fought giant scrotum-crabs but the end wasnt in sight. Then finally, I came to the Nihilanth a hard boss battle in itself destroyed him, and felt as if all was well. I felt the endorphins come over me, but before I had a chance to be happy the G-Man appeared, and sprang the Hobsons choice I could either become his slave, or be released weapon-less into a room of angry creatures. I dont know if Im in a minority here, but after all the effort I put in, this seemed like a straight-up kick in the balls. This game was gargantuan, and the closer you got to the end the bigger you thought the reward would be, yet Valve turned it on its head and forced you to choose the biggest downer of an ending pre-2000. It was just gutting more than anything else, and I had to boot it up just to check whether this had actually happened. When I did, it became clear it was a f**k you moment, pure, simple and well-executed. Damn. Occasionally, youve just got to admire Valves chutzpah, even if you hate them for it.