Counter-Strike has made GameSpy's top 50 games of all time list, bringing in spot number twenty-nine!
In case you've been living under a rock, Counter-Strike first appeared as a free modification for Half-Life back in spring of 1999. While the first release was extremely buggy, it had three things going for it: (a) it was one of the only mods available for Half-Life; (b) it continued the evolution of "realistic weapons and physics" gameplay that had been so successful with another popular mod, Action Quake 2 (AQ2); (c) it had Minh "Gooseman" Le working on it -- one of the people who helped build AQ2.Check it out for yourself.
Despite the early problems, online gamers jumped at the "terrorist vs. counter-terrorist" concept, and in a short time, it became the most popular online multiplayer game -- a title it's held for over a year and continues to maintain today.
The game has undergone many changes since that first release -- new maps, scenarios and goals, the involvement and backing of Valve Software, and a stand-alone retail release to boot. The core gameplay, however -- kill the enemy team before they kill you -- has remained the same, and shows no signs of letting up with two more retail titles carrying the Counter-Strike name in the works. It may seem odd to have a modification on this list, but there's no doubt that many will consider Counter-Strike one of their favorite games of all time for years to come.