Blue Shift screams unfinished. Either that or they had too many ideas but not enough time. The gameplay feels very basic, almost like it was supposed to escalate to something bigger but then it just suddenly stops with giving you a happy ending.
I am not that good at FPS but even then this one felt extremely easy for no real reason. You are supposedly playing the guy with the least ideal equipment to deal with the enemies in HL, yet your journey only really lasts for like 2 hours with minimal distinctions from Gordon or Sheppard at a much lower difficulty.
The puzzles are interesting at least, that barrel acting as a Powerline for the C4 aside (seriously what the fuck). The atmosphere and setpieces are actually pretty solid, and the beginning is a very interesting look into what goes on into the life of Black Mesa employees. It's not that's it's a bad expansion it's simply that the moment you'll see the credits pop up you'll think "Wait that's it?".
It's inoffensive at the very least, if you need to scratch that GoldSrc itch you could do far worse, but if you played HL, OP4, and then tried to jump directly into Blue Shift, all in quick succession, you are going to feel burnt out fast (like it was for me). It at least seems like it was more intelligent than Opposing Force by NOT adding pointless boss fights.
It's hard to hate the game, I just wish it did more than just being...more Half Life 1. Opposing Force may have swing too much into the other direction with giving a new weapon or gimmick every 5 minutes, this is much more minimalistic comparatively. What is actually better is up to you to decide.
I am not that good at FPS but even then this one felt extremely easy for no real reason. You are supposedly playing the guy with the least ideal equipment to deal with the enemies in HL, yet your journey only really lasts for like 2 hours with minimal distinctions from Gordon or Sheppard at a much lower difficulty.
The puzzles are interesting at least, that barrel acting as a Powerline for the C4 aside (seriously what the fuck). The atmosphere and setpieces are actually pretty solid, and the beginning is a very interesting look into what goes on into the life of Black Mesa employees. It's not that's it's a bad expansion it's simply that the moment you'll see the credits pop up you'll think "Wait that's it?".
It's inoffensive at the very least, if you need to scratch that GoldSrc itch you could do far worse, but if you played HL, OP4, and then tried to jump directly into Blue Shift, all in quick succession, you are going to feel burnt out fast (like it was for me). It at least seems like it was more intelligent than Opposing Force by NOT adding pointless boss fights.
It's hard to hate the game, I just wish it did more than just being...more Half Life 1. Opposing Force may have swing too much into the other direction with giving a new weapon or gimmick every 5 minutes, this is much more minimalistic comparatively. What is actually better is up to you to decide.