Worthy Of The Name

We all know and love the original Half-Life, even if it is two years and counting. To keep us fervent and devoted, they gave us Opposing Force. Honestly, it's a nice game. With a interesting perspective and awesome weapons like the teleporter gun or the portable barnacle grappler/muncher, it gives a breath of fresh air. Challenging puzzles, cross-over storylines, and freakish aliens all make the game that much better. At one point, I was totally stuck and mumbling curses about the game design. It turns out, if I had just paid attention to one of the games new innovations, I would have seen that there was a perfetly good elevator cable to climb. Unfortunately, there are a few flaws. Occasionally, there are texture glitches, like when your rail car will disapear while looking at an angle it doesn't like. Also, Shepard's textures could use a bit of work. Fingers are rather chunky, and while holding the shotgun his arm looks like someone stuck a wooden plank inside a black glove (and this is all with the HL upgrade!). The squad usage could have been applied a tad more too. I ran into a medic only twice in the whole game! Overall, Opposing Force is a welcome "expansion", flaws and all.