Half-Life: Blue Shift
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{{Infobox CVG | title = Half-Life: Blue Shift |image = Image:Half-Life Blue Shift box.jpg |developer = Gearbox Software |publisher = Sierra Entertainment |designer = |engine = GoldSrc (Modified Quake engine) |released = June 12, 2001 |genre = First-person shooter |modes = Single player |ratings = ESRB: Mature (M) |platforms = Microsoft Windows, Sega Dreamcast (unofficial) |media = CD or Steam download |requirements = PC: Pentium II 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM, Windows 95/98/XP |input = }}
Half-Life: Blue Shift is the second expansion pack for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life, developed by Gearbox Software and released on June 12, 2001. Like Gearbox's other expansion packs, Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Decay, Blue Shift returns to the setting and timeline of the original story, but with a different player character: the ubiquitous Black Mesa Research Facility security guard Barney Calhoun. As Barney, the player attempts to escape the alien invasion caused by the resonance cascade and the ensuing military cover-up.
Blue Shift has now been released via Steam and anyone with Half-Life, or the Silver or Gold packs of Half-Life 2 may download Blue Shift for free.
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Overview
The Blue Shift package offers the "Half-Life High-Definition Pack" as an option at the time of install. The pack includes updated 3D character, weapon and item models, often increasing the polygon count 10-fold over the 1998 originals. The U.S. Blue Shift release includes the full version of Opposing Force, but the international edition has multiplayer-only Opposing Force CTF.
Blue Shift started out first as a part of the Half-Life Sega Dreamcast port. Due to Sega pulling the plug on the Dreamcast, this version was cancelled (although the Dreamcast Half-Life port has since been leaked onto the Internet, with both Half-Life and Blue Shift fully playable). Gearbox then turned the project into a standalone product; unlike Opposing Force, it does not require the original Half-Life.
Although fans of Half-Life were eager to play more of their beloved game, many complained that Blue Shift did not measure up to the high standards set by the Opposing Force expansion. Although the game features new levels in a (relatively short) new campaign, there is no actual new content such as new weapons or enemies. The only new content is Dr. Rosenberg, a Black Mesa scientist who has his own unique character model and plays a major role in the story, and alternate scientist and security guard models wearing civilian attire. Blue Shift reviews were very poor in comparison to other games in the series.
As of August 24, 2005, Blue Shift is now available to download via the Steam content delivery program. Anyone who owns the original Half-Life, including those who bought the Half-Life 2 silver or gold packages (thus, having access to the back catalogue) can download it for free. The High-Definition Pack is also available via Steam.
However, the Steam port suffers from numerous issues, most probably because the GoldSrc engine used in the game has been changed, preventing Blue Shift maps from being correctly played. Additionally, the Steam port omits the fixes from the Blue Shift patch that prevent known map and model glitches. As an aside, in a break with the style of the original version, the GUI colour is the standard Half-Life orange, not Blue Shift blue. A third-party mod, Blue Shift Unlocked, addresses these issues and can successfully patch files from either a CD or Steam version of Blue Shift.
Plot
Barney Calhoun, a low-ranking security guard in Black Mesa, is responsible for maintaining security in a cavernous underground sector of the facility. At the time of the resonance cascade, Calhoun is trapped in an elevator with two scientists. He wakes up at the bottom of the lift shaft, and soon finds himself fighting through the facility's underground areas to reach the surface and escape. Calhoun rescues some scientists who have been locked in railway cars in Black Mesa's Classification yards. One of the scientists, Dr. Rosenberg (who is also a character in Decay), advises Calhoun that the entire facility is surrounded by Marines intent upon killing all base personnel to cover-up Black Mesa's research into extradimensional exploration. The only way to escape, Rosenberg explains, is to use an old prototype of the Lambda Complex teleporter; if it works, they can reach an obscure entrance to Black Mesa which (hopefully) has been overlooked by the Marines.
The remainder of the game takes place in an abandoned, walled-up sector of the base originally built for research of the first teleporter device. Calhoun, Rosenberg, and two other scientists (Walter Bennet and Simmons) try to restart the prototype teleporter. Calhoun is briefly teleported to a ruined human research camp on Xen to operate a triangulation device. Upon his return, Calhoun fights off Marines and aliens while the three scientists teleport out of the facility. Calhoun experiences a brief malfunction while teleporting: he is quickly "zapped" through different locations across Black Mesa and is imbued with a green glow. Finally, he returns safely to the remote facility entrance where he and the three scientists escape in a Black Mesa SUV.
At several points during Blue Shift, Calhoun almost meets the protagonist of Half-Life, Gordon Freeman: Calhoun is locked outside the door to Area 3 Security Facilities and sees Freeman go past on the tram heading towards Sector C; using remote cameras, Calhoun also sees Freeman heading towards the H.E.V. Storage Area from the surveillance room; during the ending sequence of Blue Shift, Calhoun sees Freeman being dragged by H.E.C.U. soldiers towards a trash compactor.
Blue Shift is the shortest game in the Half-Life series, with all the events taking place immediately after the resonance cascade. Blue Shift is also arguably the most disturbing — as most of the events take place on the surface in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the player sees first-hand the panic of the Black Mesa personnel as they desperately try to flee the facility by any means necessary. It is interesting to note that aside from the PlayStation 2-only Decay, Blue Shift is arguably the only HL1-based game with a "happy ending". At the end of Half-Life, Gordon Freeman is conscripted by the mysterious G-Man, and Opposing Force's Adrian Shephard is indefinitely detained by the same individual to ensure his silence. However, in Blue Shift, Barney and his three scientist companions escape Black Mesa and the scrutiny of the G-Man, whose brief report suggests he deems them too insignificant to bother further monitoring or eliminating. At least two other scientists, Dr. Isaac Kleiner and Dr. Eli Vance, also escape from Black Mesa; in Half-Life 2, together with Calhoun, they form the bedrock of the resistance movement in City 17.
Chapters
- Living Quarters Outbound - Calhoun rides the tram from the surface into work at the Black Mesa Research Facility. Along the way many new details about Black Mesa are revealed; Calhoun passes a laundromat and several fast food outlets, suggesting that the facility is very self-sufficient and probably houses many of its workers. He also passes Gordon Freeman in a scene that mirrors one in the original game.
- Insecurity - Calhoun visits security headquarters, including a shooting range and a surveillance room where it is possible to see Gordon Freeman again. He is then sent to help some scientists with an elevator; along the way, he witnesses many incidents foreshadowing the resonance cascade, such as a pair of scientists vainly trying to fix a supercomputer. After repairing the elevator, the resonance cascade occurs; the elevator cable snaps and sends Calhoun and two scientists plummeting down the shaft as chaos breaks out around them.
- Duty Calls - Calhoun regains consciousness at the bottom of the elevator shaft to the sight of a Houndeye eating the body of a fellow security guard. The two scientists in the elevator are dead, and so Calhoun sets off through the industrial waste areas of Black Mesa to try and find help. Along the way he gains an insight into the scope of the disaster, and sees a pair of marines dumping corpses into a sewer opening, thus discovering that the military is trying to cover up the disaster rather than evacuate surviving personnel. (This scene also contains a reference to previous expansion pack Opposing Force, as one of the marines grumbles "just because Shephard's team didn't show up we get stuck with the crap jobs?")
- Captive Freight - Calhoun reaches the surface and encounters the HECU. He manages to fight through them and reach a man named Dr. Rosenberg. He and a team of fellow scientists were trying to escape until the marines caught him.
- Focal Point - Rosenberg and Calhoun reach an older part of the Black Mesa Research Facility where a disused teleporter system is being reassembled by scientists. To make the teleporter completely operational, Calhoun is forced to travel to Xen and activate a device to allow teleportation to happen. Notable in the older part of the facility are older-looking models of health and HEV charger and the use of hand scanners instead of retina scanners for identification.
- Power Struggle - The teleporter has used its entire supply of batteries to transport Calhoun through to Xen. Calhoun is again forced to go down to a power facility level and find the batteries and recharge them. Calhoun fights through a team of HECU marines and aliens before he reaches the power generators.
- A Leap of Faith - Calhoun helps operate the simpler parts of the teleporter to get all the scientists through. He barely escapes the marines before teleporting.
- Deliverance - The other scientists have teleported to a safe location outside Black Mesa with some cars laying about. Calhoun also arrived but some kind of discharge has affected him. Calhoun is teleported to various parts of Black Mesa. He witnesses Freeman being carried off to the trash compactor before transporting back to the scientists. The scientists and Calhoun drive off. The last words say: "No Further Comment."
Soundtrack
Blue Shift did not have its own original soundtrack as Opposing Force did. In the US release of the game, which came bundled with a full, standalone version of Opposing Force, the Opposing Force music was played during the game. The European release, which only came with a stripped multiplayer-version of Opposing Force, did not contain any music tracks, so nothing was played during gameplay.
In the Steam version of Blue Shift, the Half-Life soundtrack is played. This was most likely the original intent as this is the music that was used in its initial Dreamcast form.
The Opposing Force soundtrack, listed below, is credited to Chris Jensen.
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External links
- Sierra's Blue Shift site
- GameRankings.com: Blue Shift
- Installing the Half-Life High Definition Pack for Steam (official)
- Blue Shift at Planet Half-Life
- Template:Moby game
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