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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&nbsp; <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>Other 
              new features include the ability to climb and swing on ropes &#150; 
              an interesting physics model that seems to work well; if not perfectly. 
              Definitely something to spice up the game-play, though, and add 
              some new-ness to the game engine (as well as open up new options 
              in multiplayer play). And, as you will learn in &#147;Boot camp&#148;, 
              you can control other soldiers - after a fashion. Grunts will follow 
              you around and shoot things &#150; a la security guards (though 
              with slightly higher effectiveness). Medics will heal you and your 
              teammates (if needed). And engineers can cut through doors for you 
              (adding a bit to the &#147;find key&#148; mentality &#150; since 
              the engineer becomes a &#147;skeleton-key&#148; as long as you have 
              him around). All in all, these don&#146;t add a ton to the game; 
              but they do keep things fresh and interesting. And to add to the 
              realism, your squad-mates will limp or run for cover when they get 
              injured. As I&#146;ve mentioned before, all of these new bits add 
              to the game; and go a long way towards keeping <b>Opposing Force 
              </b>fun and unique &#150; instead of, like most expansions, just 
              being &#147;more of the same&#148;.</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/of5.jpg&amp;w=400&amp;h=300&amp;back=/content/2.3/shelf/index3.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/of5_sml.jpg" width="100" height="75" border="0" alt="click to enlarge!"></a></font></div>
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                <td height="18"> 
                  <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>Woo...sniping 
                    (35k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm not 
              going to talk any more about the single-player aspect. You&#146;ve 
              probably read enough to either be excited, or decide you&#146;re 
              not interested. Besides, I don&#146;t want to spoil ANY of the great 
              parts of it. I do, however, want to briefly go over the multi-player 
              aspects of <b>OpFor</b>. If you enjoyed <b>Half-Life</b> deathmatch, 
              then you&#146;ll love <b>OpFor</b>&#146;s gameplay. Many weapons 
              in <b>OpFor</b> are slightly different in the multi-player game; 
              and a few become less useful... but <b>OpFor</b> does manage to 
              be as balanced, or more so, than <b>Half-Life</b> was. While specific 
              weapons do definitely rule certain combat regimes, it continues 
              to avoid the &#147;all rocket-launcher, all the time&#148; syndrome 
              that so many FPS&#146;s fall into in deathmatch mode. The sniper 
              rifle is definitely a treat; as you don&#146;t have to zoom in (unlike 
              the crossbow) to use its deadly effects. Beware, though, as its 
              long reload time could leave you a sitting duck if you don&#146;t 
              have a backup plan! The new weapons do definitely add some twists 
              and additional choices, and my only problem with them is the BFG/teleport 
              gun. It just doesn&#146;t really seem to be useful. I&#146;m guessing 
              that Gearbox didn&#146;t want it to be dominating; but the way in 
              which it was implemented... I&#146;d rather it was left out altogether 
              &#150; but then again, I know plenty of people out there who ferociously 
              support the idea of a BFG in every game. Taken against the phenomenal 
              balancing and fun of the deathmatch, it&#146;s a pretty small issue.</font></p>
            <table border="0" align="right" bgcolor="#D7B582" width="98" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
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                <td height="43"> 
                  <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/of6.jpg&amp;w=400&amp;h=300&amp;back=/content/2.3/shelf/index3.php&amp;name=The%20Top%20Shelf"><img src="images/of6_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>Insert 
                    Tarzan reference here (38k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll leave 
              it to you to figure out your own strategies; but you&#146;ll have 
              plenty of places to do so &#150; they&#146;ve reworked all of the 
              original <b>Half-Life</b> maps to include the new weapons, and added 
              a few all-new deathmatch maps, too! There should be more than enough 
              to hold you over until the user community picks up on <b>OpFor</b> 
              level designing. And judging from the fun that myself and my co-workers 
              have had playing this game, you&#146;ll see plenty of servers out 
              there to hone your skills on.</font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In summary, 
              <b>Opposing Force </b>manages to be a far more complete and coherent 
              expansion packs than most &#150; and, while having a short story 
              line compared to the original, ties into it nicely. Taken as an 
              add-on, it will definitely leave you thinking, &#147;there&#146;s 
              more?&#148; a couple of times. Add to that some fun, expanded deathmatch 
              play that&#146;s equal to, or above normal H-L deathmatch; and <b>OpFor</b> 
              delivers more than its money&#146;s worth &#150; Gearbox should 
              really be commended for a superb job in both the quality of the 
              work, and how well it fits into the existing <b>Half-Life</b> universe. 
              If you enjoyed <b>Half-Life</b> - get your shoes on, grab your keys, 
              and go buy this baby! </font></p>
            <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
            <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>- Noel 
              &quot;HB&quot; Wade is a regular contributor to loonygames. Basically, 
              he<br>
              just wants attention. </loonystart></i></font></p>
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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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