Opposing Force is a solid expansion to the main game that expands upon the world, gameplay and level design of the original in a way that feels uniquely its own, without losing the core essence of what made Half-Life so enjoyable to begin with. It's a new perspective to an undeniable classic, even though it sometimes doesn't hold up to the same scrutiny.
It may not be nearly as iconic as the original but I'd say this is easily the better game. The weapons are amazing and there's still some annoying enemies, but what hands down puts this over the original for me is that the chapters not only drag on way less, but also that there's not really a bad chapter in this game. Sure not all are amazing, this isn't Half-Life 2, but there's no real point where I just wished the game would end. Great time even if it was created by a pedophile.
Doesn't quite have the vision of the original. The campaign loses focus halfway through and the final boss is kind of weird and abrupt. It's too bad, because the military stuff is quite fun and if it carried the quality of its strong opening chapters all the way through, I probably would have ended up putting it above the base game. Still a very worthy expansion. Doing the different perspective was an inspired idea.
Takes Half-Life's playful ribbing of the player to the point where it gets kinda mean, but in a fun way. Unfortunately I lost all motivation to continue near the end of Crush Depth when I ran into the bug where the deagle permanently jams underwater, which somehow hasn't been fixed in 21 years. Hopefully I can return soon.
I'm shocked and somewhat saddened at putting this below Blue Shift, as I do think this is the better-made game overall, but I have to give a low rating due to how frustrating and unfun a lot of the combat in the later parts of the game is. The Shock Troopers are annoying to fight against and the Voltigores are so tanky to the point that I would save-scum my way around fighting them and just run away. I've mentioned in the past that Gearbox doesn't quite understand how Valve makes Half-Life games, but it's a lot more clear in this than in Blue Shift. Oh well. The first half was great, and the guns are really fun to use! If the enemies were fun to fight, this would easily be a 4 or even a 4.5.
Look, Half-Life: Opposing Force is the game that got me into first-person shooters, there's no way I can give an objective review of it. That said, this expansion pack has some truly memorable setpieces and outlandish weapons. I recommend it for any fan of old-school FPSes, provided you can adjust your expectations accordingly