Thoughts on the expansion packs?

[inpurpleshadows]

If you've spent some time in the Half-Life community, you probably already know about the original game's expansion packs, Opposing Force and Blue Shift. If you've never heard of these expansion packs, they were released as additional content for the original game with each of them having their own unique campaign and some new features. After playing the original Half-Life for the first time this summer, I thought it would be a great idea to delve into these games. What's interesting about OF and BS is that they weren't even developed by Valve. They were instead designed by Gearbox Software, a studio famous for their Borderlands franchise. The second expansion pack, Blue Shift was also originally planned to be an exclusive side mode for the cancelled Dreamcast port of HL1, but development moved to PC after the port's cancellation.

I played Blue Shift first because it was already in my Steam library and for what it is, it's a pretty enjoyable game. The gameplay is as fun and well-designed as the original game and the AI is significantly improved over the base game. I also think Blue Shift has some pretty nice visuals; there's more detail in the Black Mesa Research Facility and the HD models are pretty good (with the exception of weapons). Despite that, there are some criticisms I have with Blue Shift. The length is way too short, I clocked in at about three hours on my first playthrough where as Half-Life took me twelve hours. There are also very few new features; no new enemies or even weapons. According to Wikipedia, Blue Shift received mediocre reviews from critics, probably because it wasn't as expansive as Opposing Force.

Speaking of which, Opposing Force is a damn great expansion. I played OF right after finishing BS and my expectations were blown out of the water. The level design is amazing and arguably better than how it was in the base Half-Life. The narrative is also engaging; it takes the storytelling of HL1 and has you play as one of the HECU Marines, Adrian Sheppard. Getting to experience the story from a villain's perspective was genuinely cool and it's nice to see new details revealed about the resonance cascade which I won't spoil. There are also a ton of new features in OF. A crap ton of new weapons, a new type of alien enemies called Race X and a new game mode for multiplayer. My only problems with OF is that the AI is abysmal, even by 1999 standards. Having to rely on other soldiers as teamates when they can't do ♥♥♥♥ was really annoying, so much so that I just continued without them. This is more of a subjective issue but I feel like the game ended too soon, leaving some new features to not be used to their fullest potential. Despite their flaws, both expansions for Half-Life are really enjoyable and worth playing, Opposing Force especially.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Good.

[hovnocuc]

I agree. OF is great. Playing as a marine was the dream when I played it as a kid. :) And it's impressive how much new content they managed to add there. BS is good but short. But it's still cool to see the story from a different perspective.

I'm now playing HL Echoes for the first time. It's a mod but it honestly could be an official expansion. Visually it is really impressive and very polished. But it is also quite more difficult than the expansions.

[Vox]

Opposing Force is almost on level with Half Life on how good it is, only let down for me was the ending boss, which is far too easy.

[geordiebroon58]

i mean for me half life took me 5.5h tou do a normal run (no exploiting etc i didnt use the railcart tho throughout on the rail)

so your comparisson in length isnt all that fair for blue shift. and while it still is true is like half the length or something for one as mentioned it was a sub story for dreamcast as it gets some sub story where it ended up becoming another expansion pack

it would make sense there is no unique things since its meant to be a port in ways that gives a unique setting etc

so new content wasnt needed. obviously once the situation changed it was a bit too late so they just patched it up as a second expansion pack

that's not really a good or fair comparison.

anyways BS is a fine side experience that can go along with half life good enough and its nice enough to play if you are looking for a Shorter experience than half life so in its own right that works in its favour

as for OF the ai is fine imo. my real problem lies within how tanky everything can be and it hits unnecessarily hard while at it and you dont really get anything to compensate for it something about the enemy design coice or the level design is just a bit unfair to the player

OF is still great tho

id always say play the OG first before anything else related to HL but the expansions are fine as they are (even if theres some nit picks that goes for any game)

[Cat]

Blue Shift's new gun models are good.