Yo, listen up here's a story
About a little guy
That lives in a blue (shift) world
And all day and all night
And everything he sees is just blue (shift)
Like him inside and outside
Blue (shift) his house
With a blue (shift) little window
And a blue (shift) corvette
And everything is blue (shift) for him
And himself and everybody around
Cause he ain't got nobody to listen to
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I have a blue (shift) house
With a blue (shift) window
Blue (shift) is the colour of all that I wear
Blue (shift) are the streets
And all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue (shift)
Blue (shift) are the people here
That walk around
Blue (shift) like my corvette its in and outside
Blue (shift) are the words I say
And what I think
Blue (shift) are the feelings
That live inside me
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I have a blue (shift) house
With a blue (shift) window
Blue (shift) is the colour of all that I wear
Blue (shift) are the streets
And all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue (shift)
Blue (shift) are the people here
That walk around
Blue (shift) like my corvette, its in and outside
Blue (shift) are the words I say
And what I think
Blue (shift) are the feelings
That live inside me
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
About a little guy
That lives in a blue (shift) world
And all day and all night
And everything he sees is just blue (shift)
Like him inside and outside
Blue (shift) his house
With a blue (shift) little window
And a blue (shift) corvette
And everything is blue (shift) for him
And himself and everybody around
Cause he ain't got nobody to listen to
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I have a blue (shift) house
With a blue (shift) window
Blue (shift) is the colour of all that I wear
Blue (shift) are the streets
And all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue (shift)
Blue (shift) are the people here
That walk around
Blue (shift) like my corvette its in and outside
Blue (shift) are the words I say
And what I think
Blue (shift) are the feelings
That live inside me
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I have a blue (shift) house
With a blue (shift) window
Blue (shift) is the colour of all that I wear
Blue (shift) are the streets
And all the trees are too
I have a girlfriend and she is so blue (shift)
Blue (shift) are the people here
That walk around
Blue (shift) like my corvette, its in and outside
Blue (shift) are the words I say
And what I think
Blue (shift) are the feelings
That live inside me
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
I'm blue (shift)
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
The beginning portions are definitely where Half-Life is strongest, which is part of why Blue Shift is so good. Blue Shift only sometimes mimics Half-Life's incredible horror atmosphere, but from start to finish, it's got a pretty limited arsenal. Yes - the huge arsenal is really fun in Half-Life - but it's also a product of that game's obsession with army man combat in its latter half. Blue Shift is much more restrained, and with a crisp, appetizing length of only some 2.5 hours, this is a Half-Life expansion for those who'd like a clever little "summary" of the original game. Half-Life takes a lot of influence from the cinematic medium, and Blue-Shift refines the game experience down into a movie-length, one-sitting side-story.
I wonder how the other scientists feel about Rosenberg having a higher fidelity head than them.
Only played Opposing Force before but I still got the same feeling of "There's Gordon! Gordon Freeman!"
How the fuck are we supposed to divine that explosive plunger puzzle though?? Straight to GameFAQs for that one, so it still felt like 2001!
How the fuck are we supposed to divine that explosive plunger puzzle though?? Straight to GameFAQs for that one, so it still felt like 2001!
Blue Shift screams unfinished. Either that or they had too many ideas but not enough time. The gameplay feels very basic, almost like it was supposed to escalate to something bigger but then it just suddenly stops with giving you a happy ending.
I am not that good at FPS but even then this one felt extremely easy for no real reason. You are supposedly playing the guy with the least ideal equipment to deal with the enemies in HL, yet your journey only really lasts for like 2 hours with minimal distinctions from Gordon or Sheppard at a much lower difficulty.
The puzzles are interesting at least, that barrel acting as a Powerline for the C4 aside (seriously what the fuck). The atmosphere and setpieces are actually pretty solid, and the beginning is a very interesting look into what goes on into the life of Black Mesa employees. It's not that's it's a bad expansion it's simply that the moment you'll see the credits pop up you'll think "Wait that's it?".
It's inoffensive at the very least, if you need to scratch that GoldSrc itch you could do far worse, but if you played HL, OP4, and then tried to jump directly into Blue Shift, all in quick succession, you are going to feel burnt out fast (like it was for me). It at least seems like it was more intelligent than Opposing Force by NOT adding pointless boss fights.
It's hard to hate the game, I just wish it did more than just being...more Half Life 1. Opposing Force may have swing too much into the other direction with giving a new weapon or gimmick every 5 minutes, this is much more minimalistic comparatively. What is actually better is up to you to decide.
I am not that good at FPS but even then this one felt extremely easy for no real reason. You are supposedly playing the guy with the least ideal equipment to deal with the enemies in HL, yet your journey only really lasts for like 2 hours with minimal distinctions from Gordon or Sheppard at a much lower difficulty.
The puzzles are interesting at least, that barrel acting as a Powerline for the C4 aside (seriously what the fuck). The atmosphere and setpieces are actually pretty solid, and the beginning is a very interesting look into what goes on into the life of Black Mesa employees. It's not that's it's a bad expansion it's simply that the moment you'll see the credits pop up you'll think "Wait that's it?".
It's inoffensive at the very least, if you need to scratch that GoldSrc itch you could do far worse, but if you played HL, OP4, and then tried to jump directly into Blue Shift, all in quick succession, you are going to feel burnt out fast (like it was for me). It at least seems like it was more intelligent than Opposing Force by NOT adding pointless boss fights.
It's hard to hate the game, I just wish it did more than just being...more Half Life 1. Opposing Force may have swing too much into the other direction with giving a new weapon or gimmick every 5 minutes, this is much more minimalistic comparatively. What is actually better is up to you to decide.
slightly better writing than opposing force but there is literally nothing new here in terms of gameplay. the levels are rather confusingly designed which makes playing this very frustrating. seeing gordon is neat but ultimately just meaningless fanservice. probably avoid playing this
paul blart: mesa cop
i feel like an idiot saying that Opposing Force is "just more Half-Life" now that i've played what's essentially the 'steam early access' version of Half-Life
i still had a lot of fun and it's kind of funny playing something that's proudly showing off those HD models people hate
i still had a lot of fun and it's kind of funny playing something that's proudly showing off those HD models people hate
what if Half-Life was fucking boring, could not be assed to finish it
It's odd...
originally purposed for an exclusive add-on for the dreamcast port of Half-Life 1, Blue Shift was later repurposed for DLC for Half-Life. Releasing in 2001, two years after the first expansion, Opposing Force.
Blue Shift is the shortest of the Black Mesa stories, taking a whopping 3 hours. Though it could take less than that, It only took me that long because I suck at FPS' and the final puzzle took me longer than I had hoped. That being said, it's short.
In some ways, it's a meaningful add-on to the world of Half-Life. The intro portion helps sell Black Mesa as a real location. With things like basketball courts, food courts, a shooting range. It revisits what the Black Mesa disaster means and how tragic of an event it is. How you see Gordon casually twice. I always appreciate when entertainment shows us the movements of the heroes from the outsider observing them. It paints them as human because, despite his feats, that's all he is. Gordon is just the right man in the wrong place.
On the other hand, it's very stagnant. The storyline of Blue Shift ends before the finale of Half-Life, whereas Opposing Force went on past the story, giving it a much more depthful approach to the game and new ideas. As extra content, Blue Shift plays it overly safe. It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't try to deviate from the first Half-Life in gameplay or overall experience in nearly any way. Coupled with the fact that the level design, despite being fine, is also forgettable.
Of course you don't need to shove a million new weapons in my face. Though something to feed that craving for something fresh would have been the move.
Something else I don't get, lore-wise, is why Barney is the face of this expansion. This goes along with another point I have is that the game is way too easy on medium difficulty. Lore-wise, I don't know if Barney is jacked the frick up or what, but he's able to mow down soldiers like it's nothing. Multiple groups of soldiers are just ready for you to tear apart. This guy is a security guard and frankly, I'd be wondering what he's doing as an 8-5/5 says and sometimes the weekend guard for Black Mesa. The game gives you a ton of gear at a ton of points. Even for a wasteful player such as myself, who often (accidentally) prefers placing bullets into the walls instead of their skulls, I found it overbearing. Now while healing is scarce, you're never too bad, multiple points had me low and doing fine, I just had to lock in. It just feels wrong to struggle so much as the guys who were trained in every muscle vs "Yeah I think I visited the range last week."
I know it's somewhat minute, but I want to bring it up. I think it would've been worth it to keep combat low, instead focusing on navigating quietly and facing small groups of enemies. Of course, that's just me.
Yes, you should play this, yes it's good. But it could be so much better. Especially when it was released after the great Opposing Force by two years. it was also somewhat buggy on my end; whenever my save was reloaded, it just kept firing until I pressed my mouse.
Anyways, it's a 6/10, it's aight, give it a look. Try playing it before Opposing Force, you may like it better that way, you can't go wrong with it though, it's still Half-Life, just Half-As-Good.
originally purposed for an exclusive add-on for the dreamcast port of Half-Life 1, Blue Shift was later repurposed for DLC for Half-Life. Releasing in 2001, two years after the first expansion, Opposing Force.
Blue Shift is the shortest of the Black Mesa stories, taking a whopping 3 hours. Though it could take less than that, It only took me that long because I suck at FPS' and the final puzzle took me longer than I had hoped. That being said, it's short.
In some ways, it's a meaningful add-on to the world of Half-Life. The intro portion helps sell Black Mesa as a real location. With things like basketball courts, food courts, a shooting range. It revisits what the Black Mesa disaster means and how tragic of an event it is. How you see Gordon casually twice. I always appreciate when entertainment shows us the movements of the heroes from the outsider observing them. It paints them as human because, despite his feats, that's all he is. Gordon is just the right man in the wrong place.
On the other hand, it's very stagnant. The storyline of Blue Shift ends before the finale of Half-Life, whereas Opposing Force went on past the story, giving it a much more depthful approach to the game and new ideas. As extra content, Blue Shift plays it overly safe. It doesn't take any risks, it doesn't try to deviate from the first Half-Life in gameplay or overall experience in nearly any way. Coupled with the fact that the level design, despite being fine, is also forgettable.
Of course you don't need to shove a million new weapons in my face. Though something to feed that craving for something fresh would have been the move.
Something else I don't get, lore-wise, is why Barney is the face of this expansion. This goes along with another point I have is that the game is way too easy on medium difficulty. Lore-wise, I don't know if Barney is jacked the frick up or what, but he's able to mow down soldiers like it's nothing. Multiple groups of soldiers are just ready for you to tear apart. This guy is a security guard and frankly, I'd be wondering what he's doing as an 8-5/5 says and sometimes the weekend guard for Black Mesa. The game gives you a ton of gear at a ton of points. Even for a wasteful player such as myself, who often (accidentally) prefers placing bullets into the walls instead of their skulls, I found it overbearing. Now while healing is scarce, you're never too bad, multiple points had me low and doing fine, I just had to lock in. It just feels wrong to struggle so much as the guys who were trained in every muscle vs "Yeah I think I visited the range last week."
I know it's somewhat minute, but I want to bring it up. I think it would've been worth it to keep combat low, instead focusing on navigating quietly and facing small groups of enemies. Of course, that's just me.
Yes, you should play this, yes it's good. But it could be so much better. Especially when it was released after the great Opposing Force by two years. it was also somewhat buggy on my end; whenever my save was reloaded, it just kept firing until I pressed my mouse.
Anyways, it's a 6/10, it's aight, give it a look. Try playing it before Opposing Force, you may like it better that way, you can't go wrong with it though, it's still Half-Life, just Half-As-Good.
Após a decisão da Valve de cancelar o port pra Dreamcast de Half-Life 1, que estava praticamente completo, a sua expansão exclusiva foi lançada pra PC, três anos após o lançamento do jogo original, e dois após sua última expansão.
Já presenciamos a cascata de ressonância nos pés de um cientista certo no lugar errado e na perspectiva de um soldado que sequer sabia qual era sua missão. Na pele de Barney, um guarda qualquer, temos uma visão mundana de um cotidiano de alguém de pouca importância, evidenciado até mesmo pelo texto na tela que diz que sua vida é a última prioridade. Vemos, pela única vez, o evento catastrófico pelos olhos dos NPCs que encontramos durante toda a aventura.
A natureza cotidiana dá um charme a esse início e faz com que seja a melhor parte do jogo. O problema é que ela o permeia até o fim.
Não há armas novas como em Opposing Force, e temos menos que Gordon. Pra novos inimigos, nem mesmo os da expansão anterior retornam. De cenários, temos uma parte nova de Xen e as antigas instalações abandonadas de Black Mesa, ou seja, apenas modificações pequenas do que já vimos.
Ao navegar por esses ambientes, sinto que estou na pior versão de Black Mesa, onde muitas vezes me perco e o caminho a seguir não é tão claro. São tantos túneis e tantos headcrabs que fica pouco intuitivo.
De certa maneira, o design dessa expansão parece ser uma ponte entre o primeiro e segundo jogo. Cientistas e guardas se tornam personagens reais e nomeados, há longas conversas com eles e mais foco nesse companheirismo. Puzzles que envolvem manipular e mover objetos estão mais presentes que nunca, o que é a base do segundo jogo, mesmo que não seja muito bem implementado aqui.
Lembra quando eu comparei Opposing Force com a campanha Dark de Sonic Adventure 2? Blue Shift tá mais pra campanha bônus terciária de um survival horror.
Para um fã de Half-Life, vale muito a pena descobrir como Barney fugiu de Black Mesa nessa curta aventura. Fora isso, não há muito a se ver. Já fiz essas coisas, já conheço a história... É cotidiano, sem muita importância, como Barney- aquele que viria a se tornar um dos grandes heróis da resistência.
Um homem qualquer no lugar certo pode fazer toda a diferença no mundo.
Já presenciamos a cascata de ressonância nos pés de um cientista certo no lugar errado e na perspectiva de um soldado que sequer sabia qual era sua missão. Na pele de Barney, um guarda qualquer, temos uma visão mundana de um cotidiano de alguém de pouca importância, evidenciado até mesmo pelo texto na tela que diz que sua vida é a última prioridade. Vemos, pela única vez, o evento catastrófico pelos olhos dos NPCs que encontramos durante toda a aventura.
A natureza cotidiana dá um charme a esse início e faz com que seja a melhor parte do jogo. O problema é que ela o permeia até o fim.
Não há armas novas como em Opposing Force, e temos menos que Gordon. Pra novos inimigos, nem mesmo os da expansão anterior retornam. De cenários, temos uma parte nova de Xen e as antigas instalações abandonadas de Black Mesa, ou seja, apenas modificações pequenas do que já vimos.
Ao navegar por esses ambientes, sinto que estou na pior versão de Black Mesa, onde muitas vezes me perco e o caminho a seguir não é tão claro. São tantos túneis e tantos headcrabs que fica pouco intuitivo.
De certa maneira, o design dessa expansão parece ser uma ponte entre o primeiro e segundo jogo. Cientistas e guardas se tornam personagens reais e nomeados, há longas conversas com eles e mais foco nesse companheirismo. Puzzles que envolvem manipular e mover objetos estão mais presentes que nunca, o que é a base do segundo jogo, mesmo que não seja muito bem implementado aqui.
Lembra quando eu comparei Opposing Force com a campanha Dark de Sonic Adventure 2? Blue Shift tá mais pra campanha bônus terciária de um survival horror.
Para um fã de Half-Life, vale muito a pena descobrir como Barney fugiu de Black Mesa nessa curta aventura. Fora isso, não há muito a se ver. Já fiz essas coisas, já conheço a história... É cotidiano, sem muita importância, como Barney- aquele que viria a se tornar um dos grandes heróis da resistência.
Um homem qualquer no lugar certo pode fazer toda a diferença no mundo.
the worst half life game is still mid at worst
Short, but still good add-on for HL1. Can't really describe it as a standalone thing, and it may feel disappointing after Opposing Force, but as an additional bonus to the original game - it is fun, especially for GoldSrc engine fans!
sorry Shephardbros this is the superior expansion by far
The best Half-Life expansion pack. I loved every second of this game even though it is shorter than opposing force I enjoyed it a lot more. The story was better and was not just some guy trying to escape. I loved the part where you had to bring Rosenberg back to his lab. It was a great game and I recommend it even though it's not cannon. I recommend it to any fan of Half-Life.
Barney Calhoun is the people's champion. Clocks in, does his goddamn job above and beyond, and leaves the first chance he can get. Our guy.
The worst thing about this was seeing Randy Pitchford's name in the credits.
I dont know why I just remembered this since the last time I played this was a year ago but when I saw the blue liquid I immediately thought "ah yes the blue shift"
Im actually beyond repair
Im actually beyond repair
Blue Shift more like Blue Shit.
this is a fine enough expansion, it's just more half-life but with less weapons and less interesting levels so it's just not as good but you know it's relatively harmless enough, especially considering its origins as a bonus campaign for the cancelled Dreamcast port. plus I like the HD models (even tho they changed the MP5 to an M4 for some reason).
Not as great as half life whatsapp but still enjoyable to play through.
Not as interesting as Opposing Forces or og HL1, but not bad by any means
Also the HD models that were introduced with this are awful and completely clash with the games style
Also the HD models that were introduced with this are awful and completely clash with the games style
I wish Randy Pitchford meets a bad fate
I mean it's alright...
In terms of positive stuff, nothing was offensively bad about Blue Shift and I think what this expansion does best is the puzzle sections are mostly pretty great and in some cases better than Opposing Force.
There are some pretty cool parts of levels but overall since it was originally supposed to be bonus content for the Dreamcast port of HL1 it has a reoccurring issue of being too similar to the content in base HL1.
Because of that, a lot of level design is very "safe" and pretty uninteresting, especially when it comes to enemy encounters, the entire expansion felt WAY too easy and boring.
To add on to that, Blue Shift LOVES putting headcrabs in crawl spaces that are artificially long and extended so they can spam you with them every time you get to a corner or they’ll put headcrabs in really obscure locations where it feels almost impossible to not lose health from them because of how hard they are to see. I’ve never died to a headcrab at all in Blue Shift, I think I might’ve died twice my entire time playing this, but it just feels really lazy and annoying more than anything.
Blue Shift will also constantly do this thing where it’ll have an empty room where it spawns exactly two vortigaunts but they’re so easy that you can spawn kill them before they even get a chance to shoot at you. This happens throughout the entire campaign.
The biggest thing about my experience playing this game has got to be escorting Rosenberg on the Captive Freight level.
People complained about the tracking of the marines in Opposing Force but during Captive Freight, having to escort Rosenberg has WAY worse tracking and sequence breaking. When I played, Rosenberg ran in front of me down all the flights of stairs, went to the basement area, said to stick together and then continued to suddenly book it all the way back where he started for no reason, so I had to run all the way back to where Rosenberg started and walk ahead of him so he’d follow me correctly.
Also this goes without saying but since this was meant to be bonus content, this expansion is so fucking short. I literally beat it in exactly two and a half hours in comparison to Opposing Force, which took me about six hours to beat.
Blue Shift isn't necessarily bad by any means but its a pretty overall forgettable experience. Especially when compared to the base game and Opposing Force.
In terms of positive stuff, nothing was offensively bad about Blue Shift and I think what this expansion does best is the puzzle sections are mostly pretty great and in some cases better than Opposing Force.
There are some pretty cool parts of levels but overall since it was originally supposed to be bonus content for the Dreamcast port of HL1 it has a reoccurring issue of being too similar to the content in base HL1.
Because of that, a lot of level design is very "safe" and pretty uninteresting, especially when it comes to enemy encounters, the entire expansion felt WAY too easy and boring.
To add on to that, Blue Shift LOVES putting headcrabs in crawl spaces that are artificially long and extended so they can spam you with them every time you get to a corner or they’ll put headcrabs in really obscure locations where it feels almost impossible to not lose health from them because of how hard they are to see. I’ve never died to a headcrab at all in Blue Shift, I think I might’ve died twice my entire time playing this, but it just feels really lazy and annoying more than anything.
Blue Shift will also constantly do this thing where it’ll have an empty room where it spawns exactly two vortigaunts but they’re so easy that you can spawn kill them before they even get a chance to shoot at you. This happens throughout the entire campaign.
The biggest thing about my experience playing this game has got to be escorting Rosenberg on the Captive Freight level.
People complained about the tracking of the marines in Opposing Force but during Captive Freight, having to escort Rosenberg has WAY worse tracking and sequence breaking. When I played, Rosenberg ran in front of me down all the flights of stairs, went to the basement area, said to stick together and then continued to suddenly book it all the way back where he started for no reason, so I had to run all the way back to where Rosenberg started and walk ahead of him so he’d follow me correctly.
Also this goes without saying but since this was meant to be bonus content, this expansion is so fucking short. I literally beat it in exactly two and a half hours in comparison to Opposing Force, which took me about six hours to beat.
Blue Shift isn't necessarily bad by any means but its a pretty overall forgettable experience. Especially when compared to the base game and Opposing Force.
Blue Shift is yet another expansion of Half-Life. This time around, instead of playing as a HECU soldier you play as the common security seen in the Black Mesa facility, more specifically Barney Calhoun, a character we see around the 10 second mark trying to enter his designed sector in the original Half-Life and then never again. A funnily yet odd choice for a protagonist this time around, seen as how security guards in the game are pretty boring, only really standing in places and being lookouts then always being victim of the Marine invasion onto the facility and dying, and well, it's not like this game makes them any less boring.
This game truly feels like a Half-Life expansion in the way that it is simply more Half-Life. Opposing Force had a lot of things different than the original, new arsenal of weapons, some new mechanics and enemies to take on (and mind you this was two years before Blue Shift released, and one if you take into account this was supposed to be a Dreamcast expansion), yet Blue Shift features little to no different content than the original, making it kind of disappointing to play with the same weapons in a bite-sized version of Half-Life.
But, for what they didn't get to do when it came to new features they doubled in for level design. After three years of GoldSrc being out, I'm guessing the peeps over at Gearbox had a very clear idea of how to use the engine fairly efficiently, and in return we got a very polished and more updated look of the industrial insides of Black Mesa, there's clever puzzling here and there and they accommodate fairly well to the game having you moving NPCs from place to place.
So the game is just like Half-Life but updated and shorter and a bit more boring, what's not to like.
This game truly feels like a Half-Life expansion in the way that it is simply more Half-Life. Opposing Force had a lot of things different than the original, new arsenal of weapons, some new mechanics and enemies to take on (and mind you this was two years before Blue Shift released, and one if you take into account this was supposed to be a Dreamcast expansion), yet Blue Shift features little to no different content than the original, making it kind of disappointing to play with the same weapons in a bite-sized version of Half-Life.
But, for what they didn't get to do when it came to new features they doubled in for level design. After three years of GoldSrc being out, I'm guessing the peeps over at Gearbox had a very clear idea of how to use the engine fairly efficiently, and in return we got a very polished and more updated look of the industrial insides of Black Mesa, there's clever puzzling here and there and they accommodate fairly well to the game having you moving NPCs from place to place.
So the game is just like Half-Life but updated and shorter and a bit more boring, what's not to like.
I mean, it's a bit more of Half Life 1. I was never a fan of Half Life 1's gunplay due to how bullet spongey enemies felt, and the reliance on physics puzzles while impressive for the time is just kinda aggravating now. I did want to beat all the Half Life games so I finished this. It was passable for a 3 hour playthrough but its never being touched again. Onto Opposing Force!
It's weird how much better Blue Shift is than Opposing Forces, and I think a good element about it is that I just really like the scrappy nature of how Half-Life feels that this nailed. Like, in terms of characters, Barney is just some security dude whose priority is just to help the people out, and it makes more sense to me that he would be a scrappy individual to make puzzles work and such. It just works a lot better, and especially because this doesn't overstay it's welcome at all. It's short, sweet, and to the point, and is a fun look at the events of Half-Life... in the eyes of someone else.
On the topic of puzzles, they're way more engaging here and require a lot more sort of thinking with it, and I wasn't ever frustrated by them, but more of a "oh WOW!" in a good way! Like connecting a barrel to complete a line to blow up a door? Fuck that's awesome! It's also a way more interactive game and kinda has a lot more of that feeling of player control, even if it is just scripted sequences and do A to get to B so you can do C, but it just feels so much better to me.
Because Barney is also just a security guard, the amount of weapons he gets is so refreshingly small, and only from sources that he just finds. You barely get more than the 5 slots that the HUD gives you and even then, it's only like 2 weapons per slot, thank god.
Overall it's just really cool I think lol
Barney Calhoun for life!
On the topic of puzzles, they're way more engaging here and require a lot more sort of thinking with it, and I wasn't ever frustrated by them, but more of a "oh WOW!" in a good way! Like connecting a barrel to complete a line to blow up a door? Fuck that's awesome! It's also a way more interactive game and kinda has a lot more of that feeling of player control, even if it is just scripted sequences and do A to get to B so you can do C, but it just feels so much better to me.
Because Barney is also just a security guard, the amount of weapons he gets is so refreshingly small, and only from sources that he just finds. You barely get more than the 5 slots that the HUD gives you and even then, it's only like 2 weapons per slot, thank god.
Overall it's just really cool I think lol
Barney Calhoun for life!
you have to play as a cop
It's fine but nothing new
I kinda like the old black mesa setting at points and I like how the small xen section feels like it inspired what would come in Black Mesa's version of it w the random machinery and survey teams and shit but other then that its kinda just boring. The combat especially really feels like it was made for controllers because they don't pose much of a challenge at all. Harmless if you wanna play it but I still don't blame anyone for skipping.
I kinda like the old black mesa setting at points and I like how the small xen section feels like it inspired what would come in Black Mesa's version of it w the random machinery and survey teams and shit but other then that its kinda just boring. The combat especially really feels like it was made for controllers because they don't pose much of a challenge at all. Harmless if you wanna play it but I still don't blame anyone for skipping.
It's not bad or anything, it's just really short. Took me less than 2 hours to beat. Pretty easy and you don't even get nearly as interesting of an arsenal as you do in the base game, let alone Opposing Force.
Apparently this was originally intended to be a part of the Dreamcast version of Half-Life which was cancelled, so I guess that explains why this feels a bit like an afterthought. Still worth a playthrough at least, if only because of its incredibly short length.
Apparently this was originally intended to be a part of the Dreamcast version of Half-Life which was cancelled, so I guess that explains why this feels a bit like an afterthought. Still worth a playthrough at least, if only because of its incredibly short length.