Half Life vs N.O.V.A. 2
Half Life
Half Life is the first game in the famous Half Life series that has gained a certain amount of infamy among gamers mainly because Valve has refused their fans' request to create a Half Life 3. That being said, the game itself is pretty old - released back in 1998 - and it was a shining gem of a game back in its time because of its amaing gameplay and engaging storyline. Unlike any other games in the 90s, Half Life manages to combine action and adventure along with a what-was-back-then a realistic world into one amazing package. The game also has a multiplayer mode that turns the game's many maps into arenas for you to play against your friends.Half Life is one of "those games" that almost every gamer (midcore and above) would at least have heard of before. It's as classic as classic games go. If you enjoy old-school games, Half Life is probably one of the first few games you'd want to play.
N.O.V.A. 2
N.O.V.A. 2 is the exciting sequel to a pretty popular FPS game series. Set in a time 6 years after humanity has successfully repelled the Judger invaders, another more devious, telepathic alien race, the Volterites, arrived under a banner of peace but had brainwashed a majority of the human race into thinking they are some kind of deity who had come to create a Utopian world that humans deserved.Join Kal Wardin once again as he tries to fight to free humans from the corrupting mind control the aliens have imposed on mankind, reunite humanity to rise up against the Volterites and potentially find out what these aliens have in plan for the humans they control.
N.O.V.A. 2 basically retained everything that had made the original game so popular among fans of the FPS genre. Although it's not exactly an innovative sequel, it is still a pretty nice addition to the franchise and well, you get to enjoy a brand-new storyline.
That said, N.O.V.A. 2 is no longer available. If you're interested, you can get N.O.V.A. 3 instead or browse through the list of alternative games below.