[intrestedviewer]

Well i cant remember what games were before it but half life had quick loading time, meaning an uninterrupted story, and the story was pretty cool.
HL also had good Ai, the graphics were some of the best at the time. You could tell teammates to follow you or stayput and you had bunch of weapons. I think what really made it live so long was that it was easy to mod. Compared to FPS games before it, HL was the king.