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By Dan Blomberg on December 1st, 2001
Introduction Half-Life, yet again. Well, this is the third half-life game to come out. First, there was Half-Life, which was Game Of The Year. In the first one you play as Freedman, a staffie caught in the middle of it all. In Opposing Force you play as the Recon Marines who have to eradicate everyone from the complex. In the latest Half-Life game, Blue Shift, you play as Calhon, a security guard in the complex.Presentation Well, the usual Half-Life setup. A goofy menu. The controls in the game are okay. Pres 2 for handguns, 3 for more power, etc. Overall not real impressive on the menus end, something half-life never really had, and was somehow degraded more in this game.Graphics & Sound Well, yeah, they didn’t upgrade the graphics at all. Still the original half-life graphics. They are really blocky, poor textures, no effects of any sort, the landscape is nowhere near real. If for some reason you still want 2 year old graphics though, have at.Sound, I had to turn off the "cd music". It is not balanced, with it on you can’t hear your gun shoot, much less the people talk, and you need to hear the people talk to know what is going on. The sound effects aren’t great, normal half-life sounds though, and for some reason the voices are really hard to hear. Gameplay Since when does a security guard take on a task like this. Anyway, you are a security guard going to work at the compound. Once you take the long tram ride in, you find out the place is having major computer problems. You are sent to fix an elevator, when you get there you find out how dumb the staff is (press the button you idiots). Anyway, on your way down, the whole place loses power, then you see aliens killing people. You see a lot of security personel die, on top of scientists, not a good day for Red Mountain security, sucks for you eh? Anyway, when you start out, you kill some aliens, your new goal is to escape to safety, that is all. You get to visit the alien homeland to reset the sensors, and have to help the scientists leave. While all this is going on, you get to take on the Recon Marines. Yeah, rent-a-cop vs recon marines, wonder who is gonna win? Well, you do by the end (can you say Yeah Right!). Once you are done killing everyone (cept a few scientists), you get to escape via the transport that brought in the aliens. That is the entire game. It seems like the last ditch attempt to sell more Half Life games. Not a good plot, nothing to make it real different from the original one. One more thing, I have never seen more load screens and longer load screens ever, and I have a very high end PC.Lasting Appeal Umm, takes a very short amount of time to beat. Like nothing, and if you get stuck, well, it just annoys you. No multiplayer, no mods, no expansion. You beat it once, and that is it.Conclusion Waste of money, unless you can get it free don’t bother, even then. There is no reason to play it over, the graphics are some of the worst I’ve seen in a newly released game. Overall, a no-go. |
