Half-Life: Opposing Force

2025-11-08
The current situation is looking pretty grim.

I live close enough to and have worked with enough people from MIT to have grown tired of Freeman's brainiac Crates Rule Every Around Me philosophy. I'm more interested in the perspective of a jarhead who might not be able to spell "physics" nevermind understand the finer points of quantum mechanics. Opposing Force then is the perfect game for me. It's a game about guns and shooting guns, not crates and moving crates. For a solid portion of the game it feels like a Gun Advent Calendar where every ten minutes you're unwrapping a new gun to shoot at the hordes of soldiers and aliens. And not just gun-guns but wet slimy guns that make weird noises and literally eat ammo making you feel uncomfortable in the process.

The game is a journey behind the sets of Half-Life's movie, a tour for the Half-Life-heads to see familiar scenes from a new perspective. There's Gordon running through that portal, there's the G-Man opening a door for me, there's the G-Man planting a bomb, there's the G-Man--christ this guy is everywhere. And yet all along the way we're treated to new sights, new parts of Black Mesa, and, really, new enemies. Going back and playing Half-Life felt so dated and boring but here the sheer variety of monsters and military to shoot all your different guns at was honestly a non-stop delight.

Maybe my biggest takeaway was remembering how much I adore the original Half-Life engine. The speedy, precise movement feels sublime in a 2025 world where every other game has gone all third-person and slow. Yes I would like a platforming challenge where I have to nail the speed and trajectory just right capped off with a tight crouch for that little extra distance. But I was properly addicted to surf maps in Counter-Strike Source so that's no surprise.

All that is to say is I'm astonished I never played these expansions back in the day because this one is excellent.