| Half Life + Opposing Force + BlueShift |
| Half Life Half-Life is a first-person shoot-em up. You are Gorden Freeman, a young research associate in the Anomalous Materials Laboratory. You have limited security clearance to the building, and your schedule sees you being sent into the test chamber alone on a routine analasys (or so they say). Something goes terribly wrong, and in the next moments of your life you find yourself on a mission to live to tell the tale. The experiment isn't your only problem. The government has become aware of the situation, and has sent in troops. Not to help, but to cover up the incident. |
| Opposing Force You are a soldier on call at anytime of the day or night. You find yourself escorted to an area with unknown objectives. It soon seems clear that your objective is to eliminate Gorden Freeman. Chaos and confusion leads to events happening fast and you soon are told to fall back and move out. However, anyone not catching the lift out of the area in time is left to die.. You find yourself alone to explore the area, fending for your life. |
| BlueShift You begin your daily routine as a security officer. You are Calhoon, Picking up your bullet proof vest and gun. Just as you go about working the lift, the lift starts, but then shudders and shakes. Then you're suddenly found plummeting to the ground. Upon waking up, you try to find your way out, confused and bewildered about what just happened. |
| This first person shoot-em up has been successful in sales. It has a good story line, and is original by the fact that once you've played Gordon, you have the choice of playing in the other persons perspective. One draw back is the ending. Or to put it correctly, "what ending..?". On Half-Life, I seriously thought my disc was faulty as it leaves you expecting more. I was wrong, having confirming it with a friend. Opposing Force is more or less the same. Just this time it doesn't leave you thinking it is faulty. BlueShift ends differently, but again, is poor. I didn't even expect it to end there either, thinking there was another chapter. Another draw back to this game is that you have to follow a specific path through the game. There is no real turning away from the one single direction you have to go in order to work through the game and complete it. If it had slightly more freedom to roam or go a different direction in some parts, that would have added variety to the game. But once you've completed the game once, there is nothing particularly to go back to, and on the shelf it may go. However, if you have an interest for multiplayer games, then it would probably last that little longer off the shelf. Overall, now that you are able to buy Half-Life Generations (which includes Half-Life, Opposing Force & upgrade to v1.1.0.6 - saves you from a huge download for modem users, and the multiplayer program Counter Strike), it is a great deal for money. This game sells for a low price, and the Generations pack is now at version 3, so also includes BlueShift too. I did enjoy playing through each character, and aside from the 2 drawbacks above, I still would recommend these game to play at least once. It has a good sense of gameplay about it, and is one to definately have on your shelf beside your other games. In the era Half-Life came from, it is one game that certainly rises above the rest from that time period, also collecting a 'Game Of The Year' award. For multiplayer first person perspective shoot-em up fans, it will keep you playing for a while. |