Half-Life: Opposing Force
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| Half-Life: Opposing Force | |
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| Developer(s) | |
| Release date(s) |
November 1, 1999 |
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| Platform(s) | |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB: M (Mature) |
| Distribution | |
| System req |
500 Mhz processor, 96 MB RAM, and 16 MB video card |
| Input |
Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad |
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| Series | |
| Designer(s) | |
| Writer(s) | |
| Composer(s) | |
| Previous game | |
| Next game | |
Half-Life: Opposing Force (Commonly referred to as Op4 or OpFor) is a critically acclaimed expansion pack for Half-Life, developed by Gearbox Software and released by Valve Software on October 31, 1999. The expansion's single-player mode features the same setting as the original, with the twist that the player is cast not as Gordon Freeman, but as Corporal Adrian Shephard, a U.S. Marine. Shephard is sent into the Black Mesa Research Facility on an undisclosed mission, but things go wrong as he finds himself fighting for survival against government agents, Xen aliens and the mysterious Race X. A fan mod is currently in the works that will see the whole game remade in the Source engine.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Weapons
- Pipe Wrench: The first mêlée weapon Shephard finds, the wrench is suitable for bashing crates and enemies alike. Alternate fire prepares for a more forceful swing.
- Combat knife: Another mêlée weapon that delivers only modest damage, but is very fast and effective against headcrabs or already wounded aliens. Stabbing some enemies in the back can result in a one-hit kill.
- Barnacle (specimen 1176): The Black Mesa scientists were able to "tame" this Xen creature that normally adheres to ceilings. Its ability to latch onto distant organic targets (including enemies) using its long tongue makes it useful as a grappling hook allowing the player to scale heights and cross otherwise impassable gaps. Primary fire shoots out the tongue and pulls the player towards whatever it sticks to, alt-fire stops it from retracting its tongue, allowing the player to swing around.
- 9mm Pistol: The most basic ranged weapon. Accurate and with average stopping power, the 9mm Pistol is unique in that it can be fired underwater.
- Desert Eagle: A powerful semi-automatic pistol. Similar to Half-Life's Colt Python revolver, but has less recoil and a faster rate of fire. Alt-fire activates its laser sight, which greatly increases its accuracy and power but reduces its firing rate.
- Submachine gun: Fully automatic with poor stopping power and accuracy, but high magazine capacity and rate of fire. Has an attached grenade launcher.
- Shotgun: Powerful at close range, but has a slow rate of fire and long reload time.
- Rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher: An extremely powerful weapon, but must be reloaded for each shot. Alternate fire activates/deactivates a laser sight; with the laser sight active, the rockets will track the laser to its target.
- Hand Grenade: A handheld explosive. Can bounce off of walls and detonates after five seconds.
- Laser Tripmine: A high-explosive Claymore mine-like device that can be attached to walls. It is set off either by damaging the mine or by crossing through the laser "tripwire" emitted from it.
- Satchel Charge: A potent explosive that can be thrown a short distance and detonated remotely.
- M249 Squad Automatic Weapon: A light machine gun that is very effective at cutting down groups of enemies, but empties quickly and has a long reload time. Its powerful recoil makes it difficult to aim; crouching while firing can help alleviate this.
- M40A1 Sniper Rifle: A powerful and accurate sniper rifle that is very effective at long distances. Its bullets hit their targets instantly, unlike the bolts of Half-Life's Crossbow. Alt-fire activates the fixed-power scope.
- Spore Launcher (alien weapon): A living weapon with a fish-like appearance, the Spore Launcher feeds on spores and regurgitates them as dangerous warheads. Primary mode fires a glowing green alien spore (which can be picked up from scattered "spore pods") that does heavy damage to organic enemies. Its alt-fire mode launches a slower-moving "spore grenade" that bounces around for a few seconds and then explodes, causing even greater damage in its area of effect. Shephard seems to hold some affection for the creature, stroking it fondly during one of the idle animations. Shock troopers use the same spores as grenades.
- Shock Roach (alien weapon): Another biological weapon, these insect-like creatures are the standard armament of the alien Shock Troopers-which apparently bond to a host's skin until death with its six legs. The Shock Roach fires an electric bolt that inflicts moderate damage. It can fire off ten such bolts, but continuously replenishes its "ammunition.".
- Displacer (Project XV11382): An experimental teleportation weapon, its primary fire launches a large, slow, green orb of energy that damages enemies it passes by and obliterates anything that it hits directly. In the single-player game, the alt-fire is used to transport Shephard to Xen as well as access certain "hidden" areas of the game. Both modes need 1-2 seconds to "charge". In multiplayer, the alt-fire teleports the player to a random area of the map. The Displacer's primary fire is, in effect and damage, homage to the BFG weapon of the Doom and Quake series, taking out any enemy short of a boss with a direct hit and dealing splash damage in a visible radius. Note: The displacer uses the same spinning component as the gauss/tau gun, which can be seen when it charges a shot.
In the single-player campaign, some of these weapons replace their Half-Life counterparts (Desert Eagle - Colt Python, M40A1 - Crossbow, Pipe wrench/Combat knife - Crowbar, Shock Roach - Hivehand). However, in the multiplayer game the player can carry both the new Opposing Force weapons and their Half-Life variants at the same time, while cheat codes also make it possible to possess and use these weapons in single-player mode.
[edit] Allies
- HECU
- Soldiers
- Engineers
- Medics
[edit] Enemies
- Black Mesa Security Force (If shot at)
- Black Ops
- Female Black Ops
- Male Black Ops
- AH-64 Apache
[edit] Xen Aliens
- Alien Controller
- Alien Grunt
- Barnacle
- Bullsquid
- Gargantua
- Gonome
- Headcrab
- Headcrab Zombies
- Houndeye
- Ichthyosaur
- Snark
- Tentacle
- Vortigaunt
[edit] Race X
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Trivia
- Senior Drill Instructor Dwight T. Barnes who appears in the training section, is modeled after R. Lee Ermey's Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". The same drill instructor is also heard to say "You wanna come and knock me off?" when standing on top of a rope climbing platform. This line is said by Sgt. Hulka in the film Stripes during a similar training exercise.
- Several areas of the level "Pit Worm's Nest" bear a striking resemblance to the trash compactor from the Star Wars films, particularly the pattern of red lights above their exit doors. Also, the Pit Worm itself slightly resembles the garbage squid from the same scene.
- To kill the Pit Worm, Shephard must activate the "valve" and the "gearbox," an obvious reference to developers Valve Software and Gearbox Software. The player also needs to activate a "steam" vent during this level.
- If the player enters Freeman's Xen portal, the game will end, accusing the player of trying to rewrite history - "Evaluation terminated: Subject attempted to create a temporal paradox." This means what happened in the original level was changed by the player. The same thing happens if the player somehow kills Gordon Freeman. However, "nocliping" via the console allows Freeman to be viewed face to face, revealing he possesses a short ponytail and sunglasses, a fashion not seen in any other game, presumably made by Gearbox. In addition, doing this will play the "Threatening short" from the original game.
- The name "Foxtrot Uniform" is derived from the NATO phonetic alphabet, referring to letters "F" and "U". It is a military euphemism for "fucked up," sometimes preceded by "Alpha" (for "all", represented by "A").
- While playing the "Boot Camp" tutorial, the player can clearly see the developers names printed on each footlocker in the barracks facility. This seems to be a "tradition" in Half-Life because the same thing can be seen in both the original Half-Life and Blue Shift in the first level. Also, being in front of the beds of soldiers waiting for Roll Call from their Drill Instructor, the developers' names might belong to the soldiers in this case.
- At the point where the Shock Trooper is first introduced, the security guard in the room can be heard saying "Have you seen the new IG-88?" "IG-88" is the name of the assassin droid which is one of the six bounty hunters chosen to capture Han Solo in the film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
- If the player uses a console command to view the skybox from within the V-22 Osprey during the "Worlds Collide" G-Man sequence at the end of the game, there is a hidden message on the upper skybox texture. The message reads: "HACK HACK HACK ALL DAY LONG. HACK HACK HACK WHILE I SING THIS SONG [sic]."[2] This poem is a reference to Adam Sandler's song, The Beating of a High School Janitor. This can also be found by viewing the game files.
- A sound file in opposing force called "dsbossit.wav" can be found using GCFScape and located in the "misc" folder. The sound file sounds like complete gibberish but when played backwards says "To win the game you must kill me, Randy Pitchford", mirroring the final boss from Doom II that says "To win the game you must kill me, John Romero", backwards. John Romero and Randy Pitchford are one of the makers of Doom and Half-Life:Opposing Force, respectively. In addition, dsbossit means "Doom sound, Boss sighted" and is the filename used for the equal sound in Doom II. The voice of this clip alarmingly resembles the noised made by the Gene Worm, but this could be merely a coincidence.
- In many instances of the game, scientists that usually die in the game can actually be saved: In the chapter "We Are Pulling Out" a scientist can be seen running from a Vortigaunt, if the player acts fast, the Vortigaunt can be killed to save the scientist. In the chapter "Crush Depth" a scientist can be found hiding in a chamber accessed by a teleporter, after saving him by activating it there will be a door that will kill him when he attempts to open it, avoiding this event will save him. In one of the teleport locations accessed by the Displacer, a scientist is found lying against wall greeting the player by saying "Oh thank god, rescued at last!", by talking to him he will follow the player into a portal and be saved.
