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*Pathetically* short

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I know some of the reviews here say "Of course it's short it's just an expansion!, but even still I was disappointed at how little time it takes to complete this. Don't get me wrong, while it lasts you'l be doing a lot of the stuff that made the original so good, but seriously, given that you don't get stuck for a long time at any puzzle this game can be finished in about 5 hours.

On the bright side though a couple of the puzzles are quite clever (especially one involving a dynamite plunger)

I give this 5 stars for fun, but I can't give this product too many stars overall. Such a halfhearted effort leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth.

It lasts less than half the time the original Half-Life did.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Yep, this game is that short. Half-Life was extremely long and fun. Opposing Force is the same way. But I'm quite disappointed with the way this game turned out. I love it, so don't get me wrong here, I still love each Half-Life game. But, this game comes with a thing that makes the graphics on all the Half-Life games that you own better. Here's the problem. It only affected this game, and the original. It didn't change anything about Opposing Force! So that was sort of a dud. I beat this whole game in one day. Seriously. It was a saturday, not unlike any other, when suddenly I got the urge to play my favorite first-person shooter. So I loaded up my new expansion pack of Half-Life, Blue Shift, and began. My mom had gone to the store to get some thing. Well guess what. I finished this entire game long before she even got back and she wasn't even gone that long. There's no final monster in this game, you rarely go to the alien world except to start up this machine somewhere there so the scientists can work the teleporter back on Earth, and above all else, this game is WAY TOO SHORT. I know somebody pointed out it's an expansion, so it'll naturally be short, but still. This is too short even for an expansion. This is more like a demo of a game rather than the actual one. Like on those demo discs I'm sure we've all got one of for Playstation where you play like half of a level for a particular game, then it just says something like 'to be continued', or 'coming in 2000', or something. I was expecting to see a message like that appear after Calhoun and that group of scientists escaped the facility. That's where the disappointment lies. I don't even think I died a single time in this game, either. There's always plenty of ammo, and plenty of alien scum to unload it into, but it just ends so quickly it ruins the fun.

Really Good but way too easy and short - but the H.D. Pack Rocks! 3.5 stars!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I heard that yet another expansion pack for Half-Life was about to be released, I snaffled a copy as soon as I could. And as I thought, "Half-life: Blue Shift," did not disappoint in terms of graphics, gameplay, excitement and fun. BUT the problem is that you can finish this Expansion in 5 hours on the Difficult setting! Now I live in South Africa and I payed R250 (that's about $42) for it. Then I discovered why it was/is so expensive: 1) it includes the retail version of "Opposing Force," and 2) the Half-Life High-Definition pack. So of course I went and played the entire series with the new H.D pack and it was great! So I suppose if you were buying "Blue Shift" by itself it wouldn't be worth it. BUT (again) I already had the retail version of "Opposing Force," and the return offer for "Opposing Force" was only open to Canada and the U.S.A. SO bummer for me for not being in the northern hemisphere YET AGAIN! Well, all that aside, here's my take on "Blue Shift."

In this Expansion pack you assume the role of Barney Calhoun, a Security Guard at Black Mesa. Just like Gordon Freeman, you start your day normally with the usual drudge of the auto-tram and suiting up. However, Barney and the entire Black Mesa facility are soon inexplicably thrown into a world of blood-thirsty aliens and merciless and unforgiving soldiers. And of course the only way out is to fight - you can't really fault the storyline as it follows the same type of adventure as the previous 2 installments. And there are new places to explore and different objectives (in some instances), so I guess that "Blue Shift," gets a 9/10 for the story etc.

In terms of difficulty, "Blue Shift" is actually very easy. Even on the hardest setting it's a cakewalk, and for seasoned F.P.S players and "Half-Life" fans, this game will no doubt be a walk in the park. No new enemies or weapons either (bummer!), so in terms of new weapons, "Blue Shift," gets 2/10 (because the MP5 changes to an M4 Assault Rifle when you apply the H.D. pack, so nothing really "new" I'm afraid). In terms of difficulty, it's 2/10 for Easy, 4/10 for Normal and 5/10 for Hard. Just trust me, the game is not very challenging and will most likely be a frag-fest for most gamers, and there's never a shortage of ammo (unless you're a trigger-happy freak!) so "Blue Shift," just ain't a challenge my friends.

The characters you encounter include Scientists, soldiers, and various aliens that you've probably seen a thousand times. So no points for "Blue Shift," on that level. As a Security Guard you will now need to use helmets and body armour to keep yourself safe instead of H.E.V and P.V.C chargers like Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard. In this way there's a new approach to protecting yourself, which is a refreshing change. You won't fight the more advanced, powerful aliens as Shephard did and you won't encounter any Desert Eagles, Sniper Rifles, S.A.W's or anything cool like that. In some ways "Blue Shift," is a regression, but nonetheless, it's still fun as hell and action is fast, realistic and furious! 10/10 for Gameplay!

Overall "Half-Life: Blue Shift," scores a comfortable 3.5/5 or 7/10 if you like. My personal advice is that if you want value for money, this probably isn't worth it. If you're looking for a real challenge, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a huge expansion pack, well, "Opposing Force" is bigger, but that's it. If you just wanna kill s***, frag, run, jump and play with the all-new H.D pack (on all Half-Life games) and are a "Half-Life" fan, then you should already have this game. I'm reluctant to just say "buy it." That's what I've found and what others have agreed upon, so you be the judge. Not bad at all, but too short, too easy and very few new features...

More Half-Life......just not a lot more.............

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Half-Life was fun, and it was llloooonnnnggggg. Opposing force was also fun, just not as long. Blue Shift is, you guessed it, fun.....but it only has about 3 hours of game time......3 HOURS!?!?!?! This is a retail product....not a mod. I feel cheated out of my money!

Good for Half-Life Fanatics.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game seems to me more like a downloadable MOD (modification) of Half-Life (One of the greatest PC games ever to be created). I would love this game if it wasn't retail, but I'm glad it's only Ten Bucks. If you played and loved Half-Life along with its expansion Opposing Force, then you'll be happy about how this adds on to the story of what happened that day in Black Mesa (The Govermental Base that the game takes place in), in Barney's (The fat police officer) point of view. The problem with this game is that it's too short, takes a few hours of regular playing to beat. This game will include some entertaining cut scenes that you experienced in the original Half-Life (again from Barney's point of view). This game has a very tense and exciting ending and will satisfy any Half-Life fan. I suggest getting this game with the Half-Life Plantinum Pack, because then you can pay 40 bucks for all of the amazing Half-Lives (including the INCREDIBLY addictive, Massive Online Game, Counter-Strike).

A Great Game From a Great Series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Half-Life: Blue Shift is a great game. The graphics aren't bad and the gameplay is incredible. You play as Barney Calhoun, a Black Mesa security guard. It's a normal day, you're just fixing an elevator for some grumpy scientists when all of a sudden swarms of hideous aliens are everywhere in the Black Mesa underground lab. Things get worse when the military comes on a mission to kill anything and everything, including you. You must escape Black Mesa or you will surely die. Like the other Half-Life games, Blue Shift definitely desrves an M rating. There is blood, gore, and lots of dead things. However, unlike the other Half-Life games, if you kill an ally you are court-martialed, so at least you get in trouble for killing humans. Also there is content control (meaning you can turn of anything inappropriate). There is no language or sexual content. Get Blue Shift, you'll love it. The only problem is it's too short.

HalfLife Online Ruined My G.P.A. (lol)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is unspeakably awesome, right up there with RUNE insofar as providing online gaming that will make your world a better place. Now if they'd only port it to Macintosh (the new UNIX-based Mac OS), I'd be able to run it on a real computer, that's good for something besides video games!

fun but over way to fast

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In this expansion to Half Life, you control a security guard for the Black Mesa Research Facility named Barney Calhoun who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Basically, you had just punched in for work when all hell breaks loose - by this I mean aliens are teleporting into Black Mesa and killing off everything in site, and soon US Marines as well as Black Op forces enter the scene looking to kill you and the civilians as well. Its up to you to find a scientist named Dr. Rosenburg and help him repair a mini-teleporter so you can escape.

If you've played Half Life or it's other expansion pack entitled Opposing Force then you know what to expect in this game: lots of puzzles and lots of action. You run around as Barney, looking through his eyes, as he clutches his weapons tights and fights his way through Black Mesa. You'll gather weapons like pistols, magnums, shotguns, assault rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, a crowbar, and others. All these will be used to fight off dog like things that send out shock-waves, Vortigaunts, tad pole like monsters that spit acid or whatever at you, and US Marines that were sent in to kill any living creature within Black Mesa.

The difficulty is a little hard, and the puzzles are a bit tricky. For example, to kill a US Marine (otherwise known as HECU Soldier) it takes like 5 shotgun blasts or 3 magnum shots, or the puzzle where you have to complete an electric circuit but the game does nothing to tell you how to solve it.... and you only find out by accidently moving a barrel in between the wires and the charge goes through the barrel.

The ending of the game was kind of lackluster, but certainly better then Opposing Force. You're helping Dr. Rosenburg and his colleauges finish charging this mini-teleporter. As you wait for the thing to charge so you may flip the switch and open the portal to leave, HECU soldiers come barging in. You fight them, open the portal and run through. You appear outside with the scientists who note that something is wrong - your glowing green. Quickly you teleport back to Xen (the alien homeworld). Then you appear back outside where you hear Rosenburg trying to figure out whats going on. Just as quickly, you appear in some sort of room and oyu see two HECU soldiers dragging an unconsious Gordon Freeman (the protagonist from Half Life) and saying things like "we should just kill him now." and so on. Then you teleport back outside and Dr. Rosenburg notes that your no longer growing green, that the scientists couldn't have done it without you, and all of you go driving off away from Black Mesa.

The only real downfall I have is the lack of action (fire fights) andhow short the game was. It was incredibly short.

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