Rating: 
Summary: Through the eyes of ...
Review: major Shephard. Experience Half-Life's Lambda Complex incident all over again through the eyes of major Shephard, part of a squad sent in to contain the chaos that has erupted in the Lambda Research Complex.
First, play Half-Life. Actually, this game won't even run without it so you don't have much of a choice.
Rating:
Summary: Greatest expansion-pack EVER.
Review: Most expansion packs are quite simple: a dozen-odd levels here, couple new weapons there, new bad guy or two. Not this time, baby. Following closely to the story of Half-Life, it takes the game to a whole new level of mystery and suspense. Remember the accident back at Black Mesa Research Facility in the original? Yeah, that was scary, fleeing from aliens and trying to keep you and your friends alive. Remember those soldiers who tried to keep the aliens at bay and gun you down at the same time? Geez, they must have had an easy job... not! This game puts you into the boots of the U.S. marine Adrian Shepard, one of the soldiers sent in to keep the alien invasion at bay. Things turn bad right at the begining, and you must fight your way out of it. What really sets this game out from the other expansion packs is all the stuff in it. Over 40 new levels, tons of new locations, half a dozen new military and alien weapons, new soldiers who fight along with you, a whole new batch of aliens, I could go on forever. Even the training simulation is redone in the style of a military Boot Camp, complete with a hard-ass drill instructor barking orders at you. There is also a bunch of new multiplayer stuff too! This is the most fun you will have with Half-Life until the sequel comes out.
Rating:
Summary: The Lowdown...
Review: Okay, after reading most of the reviews below, I'm going to break my review down into a list of pro points and con points.Pros: Excellent new aliens. From the one-eyed chicken-legged Shocktroopers to the bullish lurching sewer creatures, all new alien strains add plenty of much needed variety. There's plenty of them too, offhand I'd say that there's at least eight or so new enemies. Excellent new weapons. The sniper rifle adds a different slant on the large scale battles and the new alien weapons are great fun (except maybe the barnacle grappling hook.) The storyline is quite snappy too, with plenty of glimpses of the mysterious suited man and a few secret conversations that you can eavesdrop on. Usual high standard in terms of the graphics and sound. The alien noises/voices still make me jumpy when you can hear 'em, but they're hiding somewhere (those Shocktroopers sound just like Daleks too!) Cons: Some people say that it's too short, but for an add on pack it more than suffices. Clearing it in one sitting was mentioned below too, I'm good at it and played it on and off for a few weeks. However, the end monster and actual ending are both let-downs. The 'final battle' consists of a series of climbing ropes, using mounted laser guns and using your grappling hook over and over (and over) again. More like the Krypton Factor assault course than an pan-dimensional showdown. Iffy bugs. I have a Pentium 3, Voodoo3 3DFX card and 256 of RAM but the game 'stuttered' and froze plenty of times during music/sound sequences. Sometimes (especially in lifts) you get stuck on the floor and have to reset the game to get out. I'm not too sure about the AI either. Any friendly troops that you 'lead into battle' either refuse to follow you, charge straight into gunfire or shoot you in the back! Their average life expectancy in battle is about a minute or so. The bad guys aren't really the sharpest tools in the shed either, following basic patterns or causing you grief by being very fast instead of very smart. I didn't come across any of the epic battles I'd read about and was looking forward to. The largest team of men that I led into the fray was three. Moments into it, all three ran into an upturned container to be gunned down one after the next by a gleeful Shocktrooper. Like Half Life itself, the majority of the time you're frightened of noises and the dark rather than tonnes of aliens charging at you. The latter more regularly would be welcome, and draw the games out a bit. The best part is the sewer section where one minute you've got a horde of giant half-bull half-spider thingies thundering after you and just when you think you've time for a breather, an infinite amount of scythe-armed flea aliens start spilling from doors. Ok. So to summerize, Opposing Forces is a very worthy purchase that adds plenty of great features to an already great game. Not very long or particularly hard, but well worth money.
Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT, but...
Review: Opposing Force was a worthy add-on to Half-Life, but it is way to short. Between homework and having to go to work, I still found time to beat this game in a single weekend. Don't get me wrong, the new millitary perspective is awesome - commanding small groups of soldiers is cool and a nice variation on the Half-Life theme - it's just that it is way to short. I can't even beat the Big Baby at the end of the original Hal-Life, but I beat the monster at the end of Opposing Force in maybe 10 minutes (after I got a system down). Overall, a nice game worthy of the Half-Life name. Oh, and you guys out there who are familiar with the Black Suit Guy, you're really gonna hate him at the end of the game...
Rating:
Summary: An excellent expansion pack for Half-Life
Review: Opposing Force was truely terrific as an expansion pack. Keeping most of the good parts from the original Half-Life, there weren't many disappointments about it. Great new weapons, good AI for the friendly soldiers(although they accidently shoot you in the back from time to time...), as well as those new and annoying Black Ops and Shocktrooper aliens. The story was great too. It was also good how the developers showed "the other side of the coin", how bad of a situation those marines from the original game were in. And not to mention, the introduction was excellent. LoL I would say this was very successful expansion, although it did seem a little shorter than expected. But none the less, it was satisfying when I beat the game, and was fun.
Rating: 
Summary: BAHH! They ALL DO IT!
Review: Please welcome Half-Life: Opposing Force to the crowded arena of expansion packs. In this follow-up to the sweetest shooter ever made, one plays the enemy Marines and has to join forces with all the annoying soldiers that you strived to kill in the first game. That's the short version, at least. The game is good, though not even half as long as the original. It is also mad easy compared to the first game, and vets will finish this game in a day. Multiplayer is, like the first game, fantastic, and is great fun to play on a LAN. So why did i give it 3 stars? Because, by itself the game is great. But compared to Half-Life: Game of the Year, it pales horribly. One of the big problems with expansion packs is that the developers give the job to another team. Thankfully, Op Force is not a disaster, and is great fun for the day it takes to beat it. But, like other expansions, it can't match the pure excellence of the original game. I can't understand why the creators pass their games off like this. Diablo Hellfire was the perfect example of total junk. The first was superb. The expansion was a rehash. This is the case with Op Force. It's the same game. New stuff, but the same game. This is either good or bad, depending on your opinion, but to me, this game is a novel little target practice session.
Rating:
Summary: Sierra,Valve,did it again!
Review: The first and main half-life game when I first played it I really enjoyed it, then I got opposing force, and it was to me a fantastic addition to the half-life mod collection!Finnaly, fight along side soldiers and as one, the marines that gave you trouble in the first game, you are now one of them! Opposing force is packed with new weapons and aliens, plus more advanced marines than the last half-life, use engineers to cut through sealed doors, the medic can heal you, and your friendly soldiers, but only for a limited time, besides the point, There is one thing that disturbes me about this game like the last one, the ending, NO not the adminstrator g-man again! He follows you everywhere, then talks to you about sending you to a place and the end! But, I would reccomend this to gamers who are half-life fans , and to the ones especcially who like marines!Graphics:Not much changed from the last one.Sound:New sounds, but not much changed.Control:Like the last gameOverall:A fun fantastic game!ps.Multiplayer rocks just as much in this one as the last main game as well!
Rating:
Summary: For the money, you can't go wrong!
Review: The levels, creatures, voices, etc. are at least as good as the original. There is nothing groundbreaking to be found in this add-on pack. However, if you loved the original single-player missions, then don't hesitate in picking this up. Dirt: -A few new weapons, some are pretty cool, but not spectacular. If you are looking to buy this just to get a few more weapons to use in Deathmatch games, don't bother. The free mods like "Rocket Crowbar" or "Counterstrike" do it better. -More aliens, very cool, some very deadly. -More stuff with troops. Security guards are okay, but in this game, you get to have some machine-gun packin buddies who know how to get the job done. The AI is still far from perfect, but it is better than the last one. -Well designed maps. Some I found to be superior to the original, I don't want to get into details for fear of spoiling it for you. Bottom line: If you enjoyed the first one, buy this. It's cheap. It's good. It's got head crabs.
Rating:
Summary: Almost a new game
Review: There are games on the market that release sequels to games, expansion packs and whatnot, and they tend to feed the customer more gametime for the franchise until the next release comes about if any. Opposing Force did just that, as it completed the task of a defined add-on, and then some. It contained new maps, new skins [of guards like barney] and more importantly, a new mission in the view of your enemy: a marine sent in to vacate the Black Mesa facility. Valve knows how to make games, and with 1 full game and an add-on that nearly makes itself a totally new one. Gearbox took the helm for this project, and what a project they made. An EXCELLENT experience. I felt surprised and baffled every corner of the game, remembering areas in the original Half-Life, reminiscing about old moments. The folks at Gearbox even let you take along a few friends, as the engineer, grunt and marine will help you on your escape (not capture of Freeman) of the dreaded facility. Now here's the downfall: it should have contained more things than just a few new maps and more missions as a marine. I finished the game in a couple of weeks, and I stopped right there. They should have included TFC in the pack (I got it before buying the game though). It would have been better though to download the 13 MB application off the CD instead of from the internet. This game, or add-on, to Half-Life is definitely worth your money, not only because of the Half-Life name slapped on it, but because the immersion is incredible, as you will find yourself breathing a marine after you finish the game. I keep thinking about the female assassins that run after you in the game. The Worldcraft program was put into full use; we expected a fantastic game to begin with, and Gearbox delivers. - VULCAN, the LEVELER
Rating:
Summary: Oppose This!
Review: There is some good news and some bad news about Opposing Force. The good news: this is the same great game as the original Half-Life. The bad news: this is the same great game as the original Half-Life. On one hand, kudos to Sierra for putting out one of the greatest games of all times and for expanding upon it so creatively. Now let the modular madness stop. One of the points the original Half-Life proved was that a game was more than just new boards, new monsters, and new guns - it was atmosphere, setting, story, and pace. In Opposing Force you've got more atmosphere, setting, story, and pace than ALL the other shooters out there, except one: the original. Opposing Force is a great game in and of itself, but its no Half-Life. In this round, you are Alan Shephard, one of the soldiers that invades the Black Mesa facility to "clean things up" and get Gordon Freeman. Clever use of the same Black Mesa spaces and a fun twist to the terrific story used in the original make this expansion pack feel more like a game by itself. In fact, when you consider that this is only an expansion pack, it sets an incredible new precendent for Half-Life 2. Now if only Sierra can step off the packaging up mods band-wagon and create an entirely new game, we'll be in business.
|
