If I had to compare Opposing Force to anything, it would be an amusement park ride.
That’s not to say that the expansion is bad, but more an acceptance of its flaws. During the initial few rides, it seems pretty neat. You get more Half Life, but with a ton of new weapons, and enemies, and even new mechanics to tangle with. There’s an undeniable coolness factor to all that, and it helped keep me on-board for a good portion of my playtime. I bet a lot of people were excited for Opposing Force back in the day, and it’s certainly the more fondly remembered expansion compared to Blue Shift.
Yet, the longer I played, the more I realized that something was missing. Something that had initially pulled me into the vanilla game, and was simply lacking here in Opposing Force. Which is to say, once the initial thrill has passed, you can really tell that Valve didn’t make this. It lacks some of the charm and thoughtfulness the original team brought to the table, and once you notice, it sticks out. Particularly in the case of exploration, which is rarely rewarded to the same extent as the vanilla game. There are whole big sections of levels that you’d think would have item caches or something, and end up being entirely empty.
On a related note, I honestly found myself not using many of the new weapons. They’re cool, but many feel redundant, or just not worth using. I’m similarly lukewarm on the rather tanky new enemy roster, the janky rope climbing, that final boss, and the list goes on. Opposing Force very much hinges on novelty, and the sheer amount of it that Gearbox managed to jam into its shorter campaign. Provided that you can be satisfied with such, power to you. I, however, am left far more mixed on the experience, leaning towards negative. Hence my choice of not recommending it.
It isn't bad, but Opposing Force is very much the sum of its inconsistent parts.
