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                    <p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="2">The 
                      Top Shelf: </font><font color="#904C10" size="4"><br>
                      Half-Life: Opposing Force</font></i></font></b><br>
                    <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 

                      <a href="mailto:hb@loonygames.com">Noel &quot;HB&quot; Wade</a></font></div>
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                  <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                    2, Issue 3<br>
                    November 24, 1999&nbsp; </font></b></h5>
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            <h5 align="right">&nbsp;</h5>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><loonystart>What 
              follows next, is a great adventure sprawling across many new areas 
              of Black Mesa; along with many locations from the original game. 
              But fear not, Gearbox didn&#146;t just simply re-use old <b>Half-Life</b> 
              maps here... they took areas that you only got glimpses of; or went 
              through only a part of &#150; and they expanded them into whole 
              new, unique levels. Along the way, you&#146;ll encounter many scripted 
              sequences, traps, and puzzles that all remain faithful to the feel 
              of the original game. As a side-note, you will end up in Xen on 
              a few occasions; but I believe that (thankfully) you can count that 
              number on one hand (provided you still have most of your fingers 
              intact after playing <b>Half-Life</b>). Its just enough to remind 
              you that Xen is a part of this whole mess; and you&#146;re seeing 
              stuff that not many men have ever seen &#150; but not enough to 
              drag on or get as frustrating as Xen could sometimes be in the original 
              game. Regarding Xen, I would like to take a sentence or two to explain 
              my pet peeve of this expansion: the ending (and no, you&#146;re 
              not in Xen for it this time). While being entertaining, the ending 
              just isn&#146;t as compelling as <b>Half-Life</b>&#146;s. No new 
              mysteries are really revealed; and instead of running off for further 
              unknown adventures like Freeman got to, Shepard finds himself with 
              a somewhat different fate. It's not a bad ending; but with the rest 
              of the game so faithfully stacking up against the original game, 
              this one small spot where it doesn&#146;t quite measure up is left 
              sticking out like a sore thumb.</font></p>
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                  <div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/cgi/image.pl?image=/content/2.3/shelf/images/of4.jpg&amp;w=400&amp;h=300&amp;back=/content/2.3/shelf/index2.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/of4_sml.jpg" width="100" height="75" border="0" alt="click to enlarge!"></a></font></div>
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                  <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>Uh 
                    oh - that don't look good (17k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">One other 
              difference from the original game (albeit a positive one) is that 
              scientists and other characters will all react to you as Shepard, 
              not Gordon; so be aware that people&#146;s attitudes towards you 
              may be a little different than in <b>Half-Life</b>. There is, however, 
              one group that doesn&#146;t change the way it acts: the assassins, 
              or &#147;Black Ops&#148; people. They&#146;re back in a big way, 
              cleaning up the base &#150; and on a mysterious mission of their 
              own. While not quite as hard as the original assassins (they won&#146;t 
              cloak as much, if at all), they will team up (like the normal soldiers 
              in the original game; but silently); and will be one of the most 
              deadly enemies you&#146;ll encounter. In fact, it's worth pointing 
              out that most of the monsters from the original game have been made 
              a little bit less tough. They still hurt; but they all seem to be 
              able to take less damage. In my opinion, this is great. It lets 
              the player be a little more gung-ho (as a soldier would be, compared 
              to Gordon Freeman); and also lets us focus more on the new monsters 
              and challenges, instead of continuously slowing us down and re-hashing 
              those &#147;same old&#148; fire-fights.</font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Speaking 
              of firefights, let me cover a few of the new features and weapons 
              in <b>Opposing Force</b>. First off, the weapons: You&#146;ll pick 
              up about 9 new weapons in the course of the game; some more useful 
              than others (for a whopping total of about 20 weapons!!). All will 
              have their uses, however; and the modeling and balance for these 
              weapons are superbly done! I won&#146;t go into details too much, 
              but here&#146;s a quick list of the new weapons: </font></p>
            <ul>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pipe-wrench (with 
                a powerful &#147;over-head&#148; strike in secondary mode &#150; 
                perfect for boxes and smashing small enemies)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Combat knife (for 
                those of us who love to hack away at enemies)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Desert Eagle .357 
                pistol (a much more useful pistol than the revolver)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Sniper rifle (reach 
                out and touch someone &#150; zoomed or not!)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> S.A.W. (Squad Assault 
                Weapon &#150; a machine gun, inaccurate but powerful)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> &#147;Fish gun&#148; 
                (a bio-weapon that looks like some kind of aquatic being &#150; 
                which eats and then spits out bulbous plant-nodules you&#146;ll 
                find here and there)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> &#147;Roach gun&#148; 
                (at least, that&#146;s what we call it in the office. It looks 
                like a large insect, and can rapid-fire electricity/plasma in 
                a straight line; but recharges itself like the hornet gun in <b>Half-Life</b>)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> &#147;Barnacle gun&#148; 
                (it&#146;s a hand-mounted barnacle that you can use as a grappling 
                hook in some situations; or grab enemies with and munch them to 
                death - though as a weapon, its not too useful)</font></li>
              <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> BFG (I have no idea 
                what to call this &#150; maybe &#147;teleporter gun&#148;? It 
                fires a small teleport charge that will warp out or kill any creature 
                it touches; and when it hits a hard surface, it sends out a shockwave 
                that hurts everything inside a certain radius.)</font></li>
            </ul>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></loonystart><br>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. This review is &copy; 1999 Noel Wade. All other content 
  is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, 
  goldarn it.</font></i></p>
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