Opposing Force is the first official expansion for Half-Life, developed by Gearbox Software under the supervision of the original creator Valve. The storyline of the base game is interwoven into the add-on, as players take on the role of Corporal Adrian Shephard, one of the soldiers sent to the Black Mesa facility to "clean up" the incident and silence any witnesses.

Shephard never reaches his final destination, though: his helicopter is shot down, his squad killed, and he finds himself in a battle for survival against the invading aliens.

Opposing Force takes place concurrently with Half-Life, and Shephard will witness some of the same events (though from a different perspective) and visit some of the same places as Half-Life's protagonist Gordon Freeman did in the original game. The add-on uses the same style of storytelling as Half-Life: everything is seen from the eyes of the protagonist.

The expansion pack consists of 12 new interconnected "levels". There are new weapons and new enemies: Zombie Grunt, Pit Drone, Shock Trooper and Voltigore, plus some new boss creatures.

Another new feature is the ability to command AI-controlled teammates, belonging to different classes: standard grunts and heavy gunners can be called upon for support fire, engineers can cut through doors and medics can restore lost health. Some areas of the game can only be completed with the squadmates' help.

[edit description | view history]

Alternate Titles

"OF" -- Common abbreviation
"Hλlf-Life: Opposing Force" -- box and in-game title
"ハーフライフ: オポージングフォース" -- Japanese spelling

[add alternate title]

Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Half-Life Expansion Pack: Opposing Force	Windows	$1.43
	Half-Life: Opposing Force
Please select your country: Not an American user?

User Reviews

Another facet of a gem.	Ray Soderlund (3500)
The Making of Adrian Shepard	vicrabb (7002)
Isn't it nice to become the enemy for once?	Katakis (37454)
That's what an expansion should be!	JudgeDeadd (6927)
True example of better add-on sequel than the original. How's that possible? :)	MAT (53416)
Opposing Farce is more like it...	MasterMegid (899)
Redfines what an expansion pack should be!	jeremy strope (126)
Sweet game. Better than the original.	The Big Ragu (3)	unrated

[review game]

The Press Says

GamePro (US)	Nov 24, 2000		100
Electric Games	2000		90
Game Vortex	1999	90 out of 100	90
Svenska PC Gamer	Jan, 2000	86 out of 100	86
Gaming Age	1999	B+	83
Game.EXE	Jan, 2000	4 out of 5	80
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Dec 02, 1999	7 out of 10	70
HonestGamers	Jun 08, 2008	7 out of 10	70
Computer Games Magazine	Dec 06, 1999		70
Gamekult	Sep 18, 2000	6 out of 10	60

[see more rankings | add ranking]

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.

[new thread]

Trivia

Extras

Installing Opposing Force automatically patches Half-Life to version 1.0.1.5. The patch not only fixes several bugs, but adds the multiplayer mode Team Fortress Classic.

German version

There are a number of changes in the German version:

All blood and gore effects after hits against enemies or the player were removed.
If a human non-enemy is killed, he does not die but sits on the floor and shakes his head.
In multiplayer mode, the human skins (except assassin) were replaced with the "Helmet" skin.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

References

In original Half-Life, when you played the scientist Gordon Freeman, you jumped into some huge generated portal to reach the alien world. In this game, when playing military corporal Sheppard, you actually see Freeman how he jumps into that portal, and then come to the same point only the portal crashed before you manage to follow, but you exterminate what's left of the flying aliens around, though.
The game contains easter eggs which reference DOOM II, The Beating of a High School Janitor song by Adam Sandler, David Michael Mertz and James Bond. Detailed information about how to reach them can be found in the tips & tricks section.