What I thought of Half-Life Opposing Force

[Spoilers. For this 26 year old game.]

Opposing Force was published in 1999 as an expansion pack to the original Half-Life. The expansion has you play as a member of the military, known now as the Hazardous Environmental Combat Unit or HECU, that served as enemies in the main game.

With the military unit’s newly revealed name came a slight makeover. The ambiguous angular camouflage of the original was morphed to clearly be modeled after urban woodland pattern.

Helmets were changed from low poly domes to obvious PASGTs and given woodland camouflage. Different classes among the HECU were further made distinct from each other. This cemented the look of the HECU that many people think of.

The game starts with the player en route to Black Mesa, the player character unaware they are part of a second wave of HECU trying to contain the interdimensional invasion, and also unaware of a second set of orders to eliminate all scientists on sight. Their Osprey is shot down before the reveal of the orders, and the player wakes up being aided by a holdout of scientists who also seem unaware of the military’s objective of eliminating them.

This narrative handwave neatly scoots past making the player feel bad about their role at Black Mesa, although it also loses some of the attitude and distinction compared to Gordan Freeman from the original game. In both games, the player is aided by both scientists and security guards against aliens and evil black ops. There are only a few instances of HECU roughing up scientists and they are much toned down from the original game where troops would gleefully mow down scientists.

The HECU are shown to be a close knit group who are banding together in an attempt to survive Black Mesa. The best promise of the game is the ability to gather up a squad of different specialists and lead them through firefights.

That promise isn’t really met. The player can’t control AI squadmates aside from telling them to stay put or to follow. If they follow and get within a close distance to a specific object such as an engineer getting near a locked door or a medic getting near a wounded marine, they will automatically act out their skillset. This is very simplistic, and also made me constantly wish for some belated re-imagining of the game with influence from Brothers In Arms or Star Wars Republic Commando that allowed more indepth control of the marines around the player. For what it is, when the marines do get a chance to engage the enemy, it is satisfying to watch.

The black ops take on the gameplay role of human enemies fighting toe to toe with the player that was occupied by the HECU in the first game.

The black ops prove how masterful the HECU design of the original game was by failing to live up to it. The HECU in the original game wore white and grey camo which gave the impression of camouflage while conveniently making them easy to see for the player. In contrast the black ops wear full black body suits which make them both annoying to track and visually boring. They lack the attitude and gravitas of the HECU as well. While HECU troops would constantly shout call outs during combat, which gave them both character and cued the player into their plans, the black ops are dead silent in combat while sprinting around the combat areas at sonic speeds.

The black ops serve as constant foes as they further a plot to place and activate a nuclear weapon with the goal of wiping out the entire area as their superiors have declared the HECU attempt to contain the situation a failure. I actually killed the black ops guarding the nuke and disabled before talking to the security guard that would have warned me about it, making the moment somewhat anti-climactic.

Aside from the black ops, Opposing Force introduces race X, a new set of creatures taking advantage of the resonance cascade started in Black Mesa. In game, their motivations are not laid out entirely clearly, but the gist of the backstory is they are trying to bring a gene-worm through a portal, such a creature could terraform earth to be suitable for habitation by race X. That’s bad.

Opposing Force added a few new weapons, which is welcome although the weapons selection somehow ends up feeling both bloated and missing something. In terms of bloat, the game gives the player both a knife and a wrench as melee weapons. I never found myself using melee weapons for anything but destroying boxes; it seems bloated to provide two melee weapons in a shooter like this. Similarly the game provides two handguns- the Glock from the original game alongside a new Desert Eagle. I similarly found myself never much using the Glock except to sniper distant headcrabs, which was not an entirely needed use. The Desert Eagle is quite an amazing addition, good power and rate of fire, decent capacity and available ammo pickups.

The power of the Desert Eagle is good, because the MP5 feels absolutely wimpy. Against hulking race X creatures this might be somewhat excusable, but even the nimble blackops seem to soak up more MP5 shots than feels satisfying. I found myself often switching to the Desert Eagle when entering areas full of black ops, and only switching back to the MP5 as a last resort. The M249 SAW is a new addition to the arsenal, and satisfying to use. It shreds race X shock troopers and voltigores while having relatively plentiful ammo pickups especially in the late game. I did find myself wishing for an earthian weapon in between the MP5 and M249 however, something that acted like the assault rifles compared to the SMGs in Counter-Strike- more power, better accuracy in single semi auto shots but with more recoil for extended bursts and more sway while moving. It could have even been something esoteric like a Colt ACR to fit in the Half-Life aesthetic.

It would have felt nice to run and gun against shock troopers or black ops with something similar but a hair more powerful than the MP5.

The strangest new weapon added to the game was the barnacle gun. This is a utility item that allows the player to traverse areas by firing out a barnacle tongue onto certain surface like a grappling hook. The most shocking thing is how weapon this grappling barnacle works. Considering how finnicky and deadly ladders are in the original Half-Life engine, the barnacle grapple seems like a wonder that it works at all, much less works as intended and never killed me even once with weird physics glitching.

Overall, Opposing Force was worth the time. It was more difficult than the original Half-Life, with a few sections needing numerous tries, but even so the entire run time was short. It felt just right for an expansion game, neither bloated nor like a thin rip off. It has plenty of mechanics not seen in the original game, and the designs of many things are already a slight upgrade. The story, while not as sprawling as that told in Half-Life was acceptable and created its own distinct flavor while still feeling comfortable inside of Half-Life. If you like the original game and never gave this a chance, I support giving it at least one playthrough.