First rate expansion (Half-Life - Opposing Force (PC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Half-Life - Opposing Force (PC)
Date:	04/09/09 (5 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb alternate perspective

Disadvantages: Doesn't advance the story

Half Life: Opposing Force is the first expansion pack to the superb 1998 game Half Life, presenting an alternative perspective to the events of the Black Mesa incident in the first game. You play a Marine tasked with containing both the monsters and any remaining survivors of the incident, the intend being to cover up and wrong doing on the part of the facility. This pits you as essentially the very enemy that you were shooting as Gordon Freeman in the original game, and at one point, you briefly cross paths with Freeman, rather excitingly.

As far as expansion packs go, this is without a doubt one of the best that I've played - the alternative perspective idea isn't just a gimmick and has been very well thought out, to give those who loved the original game a little pang of deja vu whilst also presenting a wholly new gameplay experience. Unlike the original game, which saw you almost wholly playing the game solitarily, there are extended portions of Opposing Force that will see you teaming up with other Marines in order to keep the monstrous horde at bay. Also, rather handily, Medic Marines will heal you if your health gets low, although there's always a constant stream of baddies, so don't fear that the game starts going soft on you, now!

Although it doesn't really build on the original game in any way - with largely unchanged visuals, and it has clearly used the original as a firm template design-wise - it's a unique title that gives us another perspective of the incident, and whilst it may do little to advance the story, it's got the same great gameplay as the original game, and some tense and very fun set pieces that make it undeniably worth picking up. Also, the multiplayer component is a whole lot of fun!

Summary: Unnecessary perhaps, but also brilliantly realised