Over at Game-Spy.com they've started a weekly review of mods, and this week is HL's turn. And well of course there's a blurb about CS, but well it's some kind words by that fella Mugwum, here's a snippit (well not really I pasted the whole thing, it's not that big).
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The modification that changed the path of much of the community and inspired more clones than Quake did. The concept is simple: two teams, Terrorists and Anti-Terrorists, fight it out. The Terrorists occupy a strategic objective on the map and the Anti-Terrorists have to storm the building. The team that survives wins the round. Once a player is dead, he can't respawn until the next round of play - this creates a unique teamplay atmosphere where every shot is crucial and territorial advantage is of the utmost importance. Counter-Strike enjoys popularity unlike any other modification and is probably one of the most influential releases since the original Capture the Flag.
Check out the rest of the MOD's that're compared here