Half-Life: Opposing Force

Video Game
1999
M

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer0:46

1 Video

9 Photos

Action Horror Sci-Fi Thriller

Play as Adrian Shephard, a HECU soldier assigned to kill the Black Mesa personnels, especially Gordon Freeman. But, the assignment may not be easy as he thought.Play as Adrian Shephard, a HECU soldier assigned to kill the Black Mesa personnels, especially Gordon Freeman. But, the assignment may not be easy as he thought.Play as Adrian Shephard, a HECU soldier assigned to kill the Black Mesa personnels, especially Gordon Freeman. But, the assignment may not be easy as he thought.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

More like this

7.5

Half-Life: Blue Shift

9.1

Half-Life

8.7

Half-Life 2: Episode One

9.1

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

9.4

Half-Life 2

7.2

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

8.6

6.9

9.3

9.1

9.4

8.2

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
A console during one of the minor boss fights reads "Gearbox" and "Valve". Valve developed the first Half Life game, while Gearbox developed the expansion packs "Blue Shift" and "Opposing Force".

Goofs
The calendar in the room where you wake up says December, but only has 30 days.

Quotes
[Post-game 'conversation' with the G-Man, takes place in helicopter, flying through a desert canyon]
G-Man: So, Corporal Shephard, we meet at last! Please, don't think that I've been avoiding you, a great many matters require my attention in these troubled times. I *do* hope you understand. Now, I require a further indulgence on your part. I cannot close my report until every loose end has been tied up. The biggest embarrassment has been Black Mesa facility... but I think that's finally taking care of itself.
[Bright flash of light, implying that the bomb you disabled has in fact gone off]
G-Man: Quite so.
[Another flash of light. Now, the helicopter is flying through Xen]
G-Man: But there is still the lingering matter of *witnesses*. I admit, I have a fascination with those who adopt and survive against all odds... they rather remind me of myself. If for no other reason, I have argued to..."preserve" you, for a time.
[Another flash of light. Now, the helicopter is flying through a pitch-black expanse with few tiny lights passing by]
G-Man: While I believe a civil servant, like yourself, understands the importance of discretion, my employers are not quite so trusting. And rather than continually subjective to the *irresistible* human temptation of "Telling All", we have decided to convey you somewhere you can do no possible harm... and where no harm can come to you. I'm sure you can imagine there are worse alternatives...
[Fade to Black]
Ending Titles: Subject: Shephard. Status: Detained. Further Evaluation Pending.

Alternate versions
Like the base Half-Life game, the German version was heavily modified in order to get a USK-16 rating and comply with the country's strict laws on video game violence at the time. The changes: Blood and gore completely removed, enemy HECU soldiers are robots instead of humans, NPC death animations altered to where they sit on floor & shake their heads "No" instead of just dying, and barnacles spit out mechanical parts instead of bloody parts.

Connections
Edited into Shephard's Mind (2009)

User reviews10

Review

Featured review

9/10

90% -- Another exciting continuation to Valve's groundbreaking Half-Life

PROS

When I play this game, I feel like playing a familiar game with an entirely fresh experience. Immersive, interactive, destructive, physically correct, and grotesquely violent, Opposing Force ensures a quality game of Half-Life as a reality.
Gordon could break boxes with the crowbar, but Adrian Shephard can turn Headcrabs (amongst other small creatures) into a splat of guts with the powerful strike of a wrench. The player gets a thorough story of a tale of one soldier of the Opposing Force who finds himself to be fighting for survival, and while the secondary characters that tell the dialogue are still designed to be "there and done", the exchange of conversation and dialogue has notably been improved.
Graphics are equally beautiful as the original, and the level design is agreeable and additionally, thanks to the utilization of some of the additions of new content, has some of the trickiest and most well-planned level architectures and puzzles ever.
For an expansion pack, we got an abundance of new weapons (up to 23 according to the game files and in multiplayer compared to the original's 14--with 5 being entirely new weapons and 4 essentially being re-editions--though there are only 17 in single-player), enemies, personnel with their own abilities for helping the player, and ways of physically interacting with the world, notably the climbing of ropes, which I find to be among the most pleasing additions to the game. Gearbox obviously tried so hard to make the game not feel too familiar to the original that they would add the new stuff and replace some content with better versions. The Barnacle as a weapon is a very special surprise to me, we have teleporting guns, there are replacements such as the revolver being placed by the more-functional Desert Eagle, and we are fighting primarily against a race of aliens known as Race X, comprising species other than those in the original game, not to mention that the flashlight has been replaced by night vision.
As a bonus for enthusiasts of multiplayer, functionality is expanded to not only include Deathmatch as in the original Half-Life as well as additional levels, but Capture the Flag as well.

CONS

Sadly, there are cases where there are under-demonstrations of the improvements such as the ropes as well as over-demonstration of certain improvements at a time that can render the game a bit repetitive, specifically late in it. I have had a lot of fun with the improvements, but with about 7 hours of campaign, I am left disappointed with the feeling of missing out on the full potential.

CONCLUSION: Half-Life: Opposing Force offers ideas that further demonstrate the capabilities of the GoldSrc engine and successfully build on the original game, in the same way that made the original popular to begin with.