Intrepid Homoludens Posted May 20, 2004 Last night, in a sentimental rush, I decided to revisit the Half-Life world again and reinstalled and played Blue Shift from start to finish. *Sigh*, even the least well done title of the whole series still manages to envelope me in the Black Mesa state of mind. Barney sends his love along with a few snapshots: "For those of you who have only played Half-Life, this was my first sight of Gordon riding the tram to his destiny, staring at me as I was banging on that stupid door. Hello, Mr. Freeman!" "I hadn't yet tried Tesla's Tacos yet, the scientists love it. Hell, they love anything other than donuts and security guards. The pizza's okay, at least it's not Domino's." - Love, Barney "I don't know. Something tells me I should have called in sick today. All these ominous little nasty things happening around me, just before that big explosion and shaking. That scientist guy Rosenberg said something about some cascade resonance or something." "I don't have a damn clue what he did to deserve it, but those Marines sure gave Mr. Freeman a bad time. Man, does he look tenderized in this pic. Oh yeah, that weird-ass alien world I barely survived, I was helping Rosenberg and the other scientists by teleporting there and trying to get back, I snapped this pic of Mr. Gordon just before I got teleported to safety and hightailed my ass out of Black Mesa for good. Hey! Catch me later, I'll buy ya a beer!" - Love, Barney Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
schepton Posted May 20, 2004 Yes a great game, although insanely short... Nice screenshots. Makes me want HL2 so much more!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHoatzin Posted May 20, 2004 Hehheh... Hated the flashlight though... it was more useless than the nightvision you had in Opposing Force... Dear god, how horrible the... ...underground mazes with the ugly things that looked sortof like the big momma headcrab from near the end of H-L proper were with that mechanical 'aide' of questionable utility... you only saw the mosters when they were right in front of you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Intrepid Homoludens Posted May 20, 2004 Those headcrabs were bitches. I swear, they were even more a-holey in Blue Shift. I still want one as a pet, though. If only to terrorize the megaphone speaking P.O.G.s* on every other street corner. * Pimps Of God Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Intrepid Homoludens Posted May 20, 2004 BTW, Kingzlebub, did you also get stuck later in the game trying to figure out how to get to that battery pack to recharge it? That was a bitch, I can't believe I got stuck again last night. [looks at self in mirror] Dumbass Bitch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHoatzin Posted May 20, 2004 Uhh... maybe... what game and what battery pack and where exactly? Blueshift in zen? I don't think I've gotten stuck there... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted May 20, 2004 Blue Shift was more puzzly than the other two. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest James Posted May 20, 2004 blue shift was short enough to warrant the tag "episodic" as in one episode. still fun though. will play through half-life again post exams (TOMORROW!) to get in the groove. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHoatzin Posted May 20, 2004 Uhh... maybe... what game and what battery pack and where exactly? Blueshift in zen? I don't think I've gotten stuck there...No, but I was however stumped by the barrel bit. Who wudda thunk it: an actual adventure game puzzle in a ftp... Took me a while to figure out that there was no other way around and that the barrel cannot be pushed into the water... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
schepton Posted May 20, 2004 Opposin Force had some very memorable moments. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Intrepid Homoludens Posted May 20, 2004 Who wudda thunk it: an actual adventure game puzzle in a ftp... I found that highly refreshing in a first person shooter. A quality break from all that running and shooting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHoatzin Posted May 21, 2004 Oh, scheisse... I feel like an ass: I wrote ftp when I meant to write fps... I hate acronyms... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Intrepid Homoludens Posted May 21, 2004 Mormon. Moron. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrHoatzin Posted May 21, 2004 You know, Denis Rodman got sued for saying something along those lines after the Bulls lost a game to Utah Jazz some six years ago... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rich SC Posted May 21, 2004 I must say, It was hardly as entertaining as HL or OF, kept me entertained for a good 5 hours before I was out in the bright sunshine of the end (*cough* anti-climax *cough*). While there were some cool new aspects, the puzzles were cool (not that there were enough of them) and the story was'nt too bad. It really became blase after realising that everything was superficial, a short resham of the original game that took you on a different and less interesting path, with rehashed and updated graphics like the fanstastic new weapons were just average new weapon skins. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simpson yellow Posted May 21, 2004 This thread makes me want to reinstall the Half Life suite right now. Know what you mean about being enveloped by the Black Mesa state of mind, Trep (if I may be so bold as to call you that). HL, OF and BS - truly great gaming. Better start thinking about buying a new rig in preparation for HL2. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayel Posted May 30, 2004 I'm playing through Blue Shift for the first time. I'm in this chapter called power struggle or something. I played through the original and Opposing force when they were released, but I never bothered with Blue shift until now. And $#%%!!! what's the matter with Gearbox?? they must've ran out of ideas or something, because those headcrabs are around EVERY DAMN CORNER!!! and I hate cheap "BOO!" scares. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Posted May 30, 2004 This thread was one of the things majorly responsible for me finally getting off my ass, buying a used near-current PC, and installing the full half life platinum collection. I haven't played more than 50% of HL in my life and now I've played a bit more than that. I'm currently in the Lambda complex, being extremely pissed off at the rotating "teleportation lab" atrium area, with all the floating platforms and the 9 teleportation gates. Argh. So good though, I clearly missed out when I only played the first part. Though I already knew it as a fact, finally seeing it for myself I am impressed with how fresh everything has remained so far. They're amazingly good at mixing it up. Tired of the sterile lab environment? Now you get to ride around in a crazy car, and then the abandonned industrial "old lab" area, then the cliffs, then the supersterile lambda complex... Also, hi there everyone I'm generally a Mac user and console gamer (well, for the last 8 years or so) but now I have a PC in addition to the above systems, if that wasn't super obvious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huz Posted May 30, 2004 For some reason, I got Opposing Force for free when I installed the monstrosity that is Steam, so I'm going to be playing through that shortly - although it seems so wrong considering I still have Deus Ex sitting on the shelf. Is Blue Shift worth actually purchasing? How does it compare to HL itself and OF? I was half-expecting it to be available via Steam at a knockdown price, but apparently not. (Even that new Counter-Strike game costs more on Steam than in an actual, real box. Like I'm going to be that keen to hand over my credit card details to a bunch of clowns who got their source code nicked.) Bah. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted May 30, 2004 incoherent babbling Man, you're making me all nostalgic and stuff. Now I wanna go play Half-Life, but I'm stuck in Rome with this goofy European computer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
schepton Posted May 30, 2004 Considering that we are looking at a six year old game, those grpahics have held up pretty well IMO. They have some good atr direction and level design, and the colors stand out nicely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayel Posted May 30, 2004 Oh yeah, great level design. but compared to those in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, they're crap. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erwin_Br Posted May 30, 2004 Some of the textures are needlessly blurry, even for their time. But I agree, though; level design's fantastic. --Erwin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RLacey Posted May 30, 2004 Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but I never found Half-Life's level design amazingly awe-inspiring. I got sick of crawling through ventilation shafts, knowing that if the place wasn't illuminated a head-crab would, without fail, leap onto me from every corner. I also don't like games that don't indicate that you're suddenly about to die if you move somewhere or stand on something... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Posted May 30, 2004 Faulting the game for things like that means to me that you're really looking to get the wrong things out of Half Life. Same with that one guy who consistantly posts in HL threads about how the story is bland. It seems like you're coming at it wrong, you're expecting the wrong thing, and then when you don't get it you write it off as bad. Its like my friend who played Beyond Good and Evil and turned it off after 2 minutes because she "doesn't like video games where you have to fight someone before the game tells you if they're good or bad." What? just give it a chance, it plays by different rules than other games. Seeing that as a negative instead of a positive is extremely limiting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
