For those that missed the half-life review, it can be found here: http://www.starcraft2forum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=93352 . The opposing force review will feature heavy unmarked spoilers, so be warned, ye who read on here. When half-life came out, it was a huge success. People loved Freeman, as he provided a nice contrast with all the alien-murdering space marines from most other shooters. The game was so popular, it warranted an expansion: opposing force. Instead of following scientist Gordon Freeman, who has been recruited by the g-man at the end of half-life, we follow the marine colonel Adrian Sheppard, stranded during the attack on Black Mesa. I'll start with the story, since it's kind of weird. In the original half-life, there were two factions you fought against. There were soldiers who wanted to eliminate all witnesses and an alien invasion. What does the sequel bring us? Soldiers who want to eliminate the witnesses of eliminating the witnesses and an alien invasion invading the alien invasion. It's a bit weird. It also doesn't make a lot of sense. The main goal of the black ops is to activate a single explosive device that would destroy the entire facility, yet they are spread all throughout the game. The new elements the sequel introduces are mostly good. The enemies are a lot stronger, and you will notice quite a spike in their difficulty compared to the original half-life. The new weapons introduced are also a lot of fun, with the chain-gun being my absolute favorite. There are however some new problems with the new content as well. The game completely abandons the original enemies (with the exception of the female black ops) during the second half of the game, leading to a grand total of five different kinds of enemies for half the game. Some of the new weapons, while fun, are poorly integrated. The sniper rifle, for example, only has a grand total of 12 obtainable bullets. The portal gun is a cool concept, but poorly executed, especially because one of the random teleportations just kills you. The wrench becomes useless after two minutes of gameplay, when you obtain the knife. And the grappling hook really needs a way to extend the tongue at a safe speed. The level design, again, has some cool concepts but is purely executed in some areas. The game spends far too much time outside of the Black Mesa laboratories, which is a shame, since those were the coolest areas in both the original and this expansion. The worst level in the game is the sewer level, which consists of three areas: a completely dark tunnel system filled with only voltigores. A small area where Pit Drones continually spawn unless you lock them out (takes about ten seconds) and then a second completely dark tunnel system filled with only voltigores and baby voltigores. It's especially annoying because Voltigores are among the strongest enemies in the game, capable of taking two bazooka shots to the face, as well as having a powerful AoE attack. It wouldn't be so bad if the game actually gave you a useful amount of ammo or health inbetween the two dark sewer systems, but no. Just a few SMG clips and a single health kit. Another annoying things about this game is the bad climbing mechanics. You will often just miss the stairs or make the wrong jump from a rope and tumble down. In fact, there were 7 falls that killed me, and only 6 enemies. The best level in the game is the tutorial level, which is just hilarious. You remember those over the top sergeants from every single army movie ever made? This level has got six of them. It's just awesome. The final boss in this game is better than that of the original game, but still pretty bad. He's immobile and there is an infinite healing pool nearby, so he never really poses a threat. How the hell does a game start out so good and turn mediocre so quickly? The first half of the game is great, featuring a wide array of enemies, further exploring black mesa and plenty of interaction with the original game (you actually see gordon freeman jump into the Xen portal). The second half of the game is just tedious, filled with only a small variation of enemies, boring level designs and a final boss that poses no threat. If I had to rate purely the first half of the game, I would give it a 7.5/10. If I had to rate purely the last half of the game, it would be a 5/10. The end score is the average of the two: 6.25/10.
Nice review, i've actually read all of it the devs probably ran out some ideas halfway through. But most surprisingly, i never knew that the portal gun was shown before the portal series >.>
It's a different portal gun. Left button performs a powerful attack. Right button transports you to a random goodie area. Ammo is too rare to actually ever use the left button, so you could just as well replace all the ammo with the actual goodies (you always find the ammo in large enough quantities to go to one goodie area).
