It's a bug hunt! (Half-Life - Opposing Force (PC))

Member Name: Moominpapa

Product:	Half-Life - Opposing Force (PC)
Date:	05/01/01 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A winning formula which remains unchanged

Disadvantages: Was very expensive when it was first released

‘Add on disks? Pah. Something strictly for fans. A serious gamer never bothers with such obvious cash-ins. And even if the original is a classic, a mere new disk can’t really expand it.’ Is this how you feel? If it is, do you own a hat? If you do, then I suggest you pop along to the kitchen and cover it in whatever spicy or savoury sauces you enjoy munching – because if you’re going to eat it, it might as well taste good.

Army

While playing as the spectacled hero Gordon Freeman in the original Game-of-the-Year winner Half-Life, your most feared foes were the marines sent in to silence all the workers of the Black Masa compound. They used expert team-work to hunt you down. In Opposing Force you play one of these life-takers.

So you’re the bad guy then? Well…it appears not. Your character, Corporal Adrian Shepard, is being just as manipulated as Gordon was in the original game. From the point his chopper crashes within moments from the start, he’s forced into a world gone to pieces.

Game

So it’s just a new plot then? Oh, you wish. Opposing Force should be held up to the faces of lazy developers as a world-class example of how to follow your ideas through. Every one of your team-mates bubbles charisma-molecules through their skin, with their pithy grunt-like comments. You want kick ass soldiers? How about the swarthy engineer who lights his blow-torch from his cigar before cutting open a door?

The whole game is set at the same time as the original Half-Life, which means that you visit places which Gordon passed through in his adventures at the test lab and beyond. However, rather than feeling like their just re-using old-bits from the previous game, each location offers a completely fresh challenge to the original. As a result it really creates a great sense of continuity and produces a similar level of tension.

Design

Since it runs on the same
game engine as the original, the graphics haven’t improved. Which is fair enough – their distinctive style is enough to impress even today. But the main element that’ll leave you far-more jaw-dropped is how Opposing Force manages to maintain the entire design-philosophy of its forefather.

Rather than skipping to an external cutscene, the entire game is still played out first-person. Since you never lose control, you’re never crudely reminded that you’re only playing a game. Basically if someone stuck a syringe into your arm while you were having a go and took out the fluid, they’d be shocked to find pure adrenaline rather than blood pumping around your veins. Every jump, gunshot and shock is as good as Half-Life. Is there a bigger compliment?

Flaws

But there are a few problems keeping Opposing Force’s mark out of the stratosphere. Despite the fact that it’s finger-licking good, there’s not a huge amount to really chew upon below the surface. The whole thing’s about 75% the size of Half-Life which wouldn’t be so bad were it not for the fact Sierra originally charged 35 quid for it. Add this to the necessity of needing the original game and you’re definitely not getting value for money. If I were you, I’d try and grab hold of the Half-Life Generation pack, which includes Half-Life, Opposing Force and a free T shirt for 30 quid. Unfortunately, when I got home I found that someone had stolen the T-Shirt. DAMN YOU SHOPLIFTERS!!!!!!!

Summary: