Half-Life: Blue Shift is the second expansion for Half-Life, originally made for the ill-fated Half-Life Dreamcast port. While that port was cancelled, this expansion did get its stand-alone release for the PC original, completing the RGB scheme of all three games (I thought Half-Life’s color was orange and not red, but whatever). Unfortunately, Gearbox didn’t one-up themselves after Half-Life: Opposing Force. Half-Life: Blue Shift is far more vanilla in comparison – it doesn’t really introduce anything new. For me, the only interesting thing about it is that armor system is now “disposable”, guards at Black Mesa don’t receive their own H.E.V. suit, so you can’t use dedicated terminals. Instead, you have to pick up armor and helmet from the dead guards. Otherwise, gameplay wise, it’s very close to the original. I wouldn’t even mind the lack of new things (too much, I think it would still end up being underwhelming in comparison to Half-Life: Opposing Force) if it was well designed, right? Unfortunately, I think this expansion is about as average as the base game. Only this time, instead of being mostly tedious, it’s mostly boring. There are a few interesting puzzles, but I haven’t found much joy playing Half-Life: Blue Shift. I think I only started enjoying it towards the end, then it’s over quickly. Xen is both boring & frustrating, once again, the same physics remain, which aren’t good for platforming. Also, Gearbox had an AUDACITY to place headcrabs in lots of annoying spaces. As if headcrabs in vents from the original weren’t annoying enough. Ladders are still jank (same issue with climbing down ladders from Half-Life: Opposing Force applies here). If you like original Half-Life, you may get more enjoyment out of it, as it’s just more Half-Life. And there are a few more crossovers with the base story. But other than that, there’s not much to get excited about. Half-Life: Blue Shift ends up being kind of underwhelming as both an expansion and a game in its own right.