Half Life - Blue Shift - By Dragon

Half Life, game of the year for pretty much every major publishing company around. Opposing Forces, very well received and another classic in the half life mould. But, we're not here to talk about Half Life, or Opposing Forces. We're here to talk about the 3rd installment in the Half-Life saga. Half Life Blue Shift.

So you've played as Gordon Freeman and you've played as one of the special forces soldiers sent to kill him, now you get to play as Barney Calhoun, one of the resident Black Mesa security guards.

So, what's the plot then? Well, as you are all aware the Black Mesa research facility were into some rather dodgy dealings when Gordon was working there and basically what you have here is the same scenario but from the point of view of the security guard(s).

The plot is exactly the same as the original episode, however, due to Barney's higher security clearances you have the chance to reveal some facts behind the disaster at the Black Mesa that you didn't know about, until now. I won't spoil it for you by telling you what they are, suffice to say that it figures heavily all the way through the game and ties in well with the events that took place in the original.

The combat is basically the same, the monsters are basically the same and the special forces soldiers have the same brilliant AI as they did in the original, however, there are no mid level bosses, no end game boss and no big monsters at all in the entire game. This makes for some anti climaxes during play when you reach a tense point and are expecting something BIG to happen, and it doesn't :\\ Rather frustrating. Another criticism I must level at the game is that you spend far too much time in the xen world. Yep, more low gravity platform jumpy type puzzles for you to solve (although not too many thankfully).

So what makes it so good then? Well, the use of the sound hardware is nothing short of fantastic. Standing in a chamber like room and firing a weapon, hearing the report echo from the wall in front of you, then behind you, then in front of you and so on until it fades is frankly amazing. The weapons are nicely done, as are the puzzles. Your co-workers actually do things of their own accord instead of needing continual prompting by you. Also, the game ships with a "high definition pack" for HL and OP Forces which is designed to increase the graphical quality of the two previous titles for those of us with higher spec machines (hmmmmm). I didn't notice much in the way of improvement, it must be said.

So is it all good then? Ahhhh, now we get to the nitty gritty. I finished this game in a 5 hour sitting. That's not to say I'm completely 1337 (which I am of course) but the game is woefully short. Ludicrously short in fact. The lack of any significant battle with a big bad-ass monster also leaves you feeling a bit cheated when you finish the game. The ending is less than satisfactory, but again this is largely down to the lack of any boss monster during the closing chapter.

Should I buy it then? Well, in complete fairness to Sierra, I picked this game up (brand new) for £15 at PC World. I've heard it's going for £20 elsewhere, but \'a315 seems to be the going rate. At this price, it's not too much of a sting. Die hard HL fans should definately own this, even if only to find out what really happened at the Black Mesa. FPS fans would probably enjoy it for a while, but the lack of any kind of multiplayer aspect is a huge knock back for the games longevity and is a real shame :(.

Conclusion: An interesting viewpoint on the Black Mesa disaster. All in all a reasonable enough game but it's not going to take over your life by any stretch of the imagination.

Game :	Half Life: Blueshift - Official Game Site
Publisher :	Sierra
Price :	£14.99 UK - $29.95 USA
Release date :	Out Now
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