First I would like to thank you for reading this half-ass'd piece of work I have created here. It mainly entails comparisons of new and old and not so old first person shooters and the advantages of each one.
 
Recently I have become absolutely turned off by almost every first person shooter that is announced these days. The genre has become very popular thanks to Halo and Call of Duty franchises and because of this has been streamlined down to the bullet points that are required for a FPS. Because of this I have decided to take a step back and play through all the released Half-Life games to get a real feel for how much the FPS genre has changed.
 
Obviously playing through Half-Life was a great experience, as always. I noticed the game is a lot more harsh and unforgiving than most modern FPS'. You are almost constantly on the verge of death with only 20 health and a couple more clips of ammo. No need for a sprint button here! You move faster than an olympic athlete. Having so many guns to  choose from is a great thing! How many times in recent shooters have you seen a gun you just want to have not because of its functionality, but its just a cool gun?  Being able to carry as many guns as you want is a great thing in old FPS' and I miss it very much. A lot of people may call out and say "But its UNREALISTIC!"  Let me tell you something sparky....Games are not real! If you want realistic (or as close as you are going to get) play a tactical shooter like rainbow six. Call of Duty is not realistic, and if you think it is you may want a reality check!
 
Thankfully Valve kept almost everything the same with Half-Life 2, yet somehow made it better. A 6 year development cycle will do that (HINT HINT EXECUTIVES), unless you want to end up like Foxconn your not going to pump out an amazing game in 2 years! Take your time and getting people interested is the best way to sell your game. Back on track!  Half-Life 2 did everything right and I'm not going to delve further because EVERYTHING has been said about Half-Life 2 and its future releases; both the good and bad. 
 
Health is something that no longer exists in the FPS universe. Now it is all about magically regenerating your health after taking a couple bullets to the chest. Yes I realize that walking over a white box with a red cross on it and having your wounds magically heal is not realistic; but at least they tried! Some games can be very inventive with the reason why in the game your health can regenerate, and I always find that stuff cool but there will never be a part in call of duty where i'm walking down a hallway with 20 health and see a health kit, but worry that its a trap. It takes away some of the tension in a firefight, just go hide and you'll be fine? If you hide in old FPS' the enemy WILL find you and KILL you! Then probably insult you and your heritage. 
 
I hope you have enjoyed what I have to say, constructive criticism or even just saying I suck will be good enough for me so hopefully I can improve. Stay tuned for more!