Half-Life: Opposing Force

     Half Life: Opposing Force came out shortly after Half Life, and well before the other expansion pack Blue Shift. This one has an interesting take on it though, what with you playing the part of Marine Corps Adrian Shepard, one of the many who were sent to dispose of all the witnesses in Black Mesa, Gordon Freeman especially. This change of sides makes a pretty large difference in the game, instead of an HEV Suit you wear Body Armor, and instead of a flashlight you get to use some nifty night vision goggles. Scientists and security guards also have a less than pleasant tone to their voice whenever you show up, resulting in either a scared or angry tone to most voices.
    
    The gameplay consists of the usual mix of shooting and light puzzles you've come to expect from the Half Life series,

shoot a mess of aliens and flipping a few switches basically. In Opposing Force however, you collect a few guns that add to the count that the original Half Life had, including two melee weapons this time, a pretty big wrench and a combat knife, and the Displacer, which sends your enemies somewhere else entirely. A few of the guns have also been re-skinned to help reinforce the idea of you being a Marine instead of a scientist, the crossbow's been replace by a sniper rifle, and the revolver's been replaced by a desert eagle, which you obtain pretty early on. They're also a few boss fights thrown in for good measure, including another match up against a helicoptor. It doesn't have as many winks and nods as Blue Shift does to the original, but it's still a pretty fun game for the most part.
     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Graphics don't really hold up as well as Blue Shift did, though they're better than you're probably thinking for a ten year old game. The character animations are the same quality as the original, and the enivornment still look nice, but after playing Half Life and Blue Shift, you start to get tired of the same five faces. The new designs look a little better than the old ones, though sadly, a good number of the new enemies straight up replace the older ones instead of being added to them. 
      
 Sound is also what you've come to expect from Half Life, moody music and fierce sounding weapons. Most of the game goes by with little music, but when it comes on, it definitely fits the mood. The new guns also sound pretty sweet, I especially dig the sound of turning on your D.Eagle's laser sight, anytime anything sounds like lasers being turned on, it's great. The voice acting is also slightly better than Blue Shift, but not every soldier needed to sound gruff as they could possibly be, did they?

          
 
          Half Life games are known for their advanced A.I, but as much as I tried, I couldn't find much of it. Fellow soldiers would run in front of my shots time after time, and there was even this instant where I had a tiny sliver of health and asked a medic to heal me, but he just refused every time. Even the enemies rarely showed intelligence, usually running right towards me instead of flanking and maneuvering like the A.I in the original Half Life did. I found myself ditching allies for the most part in fear of them filling my back with bullet holes.
      
        This has been a pretty negative review for the most part, but it really is a fun game. No series is better than Half Life when it comes to run and gun games, and Opposing Force proudly continues this tradition. Other than a few frustrating parts that all happen in the last hour of the game, it's a very fun experience throughout. Like Blue Shift, $5 is a small price to pay for six to eight hours of some pretty good fun.
 
Remember though, you need the original Half Life to play Opposing Force.