Half-Life's side stories

[RadarScope1]

So I'm playing through Half-Life for the first time (I regret to say that, but it's true). Playing the PS2 version. I'm on Wiki checking out some background on the game and I see there have been two expansion packs - Blue Shift and Opposing Force.

Are these worth playing? Sounds like they did a good job adding to the HL universe and tying them into the main story.

[Ack]

Personally? Yes, I'd say they both were. They're both much shorter than Half-Life of course, though longer than most single-player things the mod community put out(though Poke646 did get pretty long...). It's gonna be more of the same type of stuff as Half-Life, but I don't think that's a bad thing...

[RadarScope1]

That wouldn't be bad at all.

Do you think my generic mail order PC would be able to run these old games if I sign up for Steam. Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, I'm not a PC gamer whatsoever.

[Ack]

Half-Life runs on a toaster.

Seriously. I honestly think Steam will be a bigger drain on your resources. HL came out...1997? It's old. I think you could even rip out your video card and it would run. And there's no way Opposing Force and Blue Shift are any more intensive. Valve might still make folks cough up five bucks for them, of course, but if you think it's worth it, it's money well spent.

[Funk, E]

Valve does good stuff with their engine. Even HL2 is supremely scaleable to play on even pretty low-end machines.

[Mozgus]

Blue Shift was pretty lame. It felt like a very simply single player mod, if anything. It added absolutely no new content at all, besides upgrading the models on people and guns. Opposing Force however is an excellent FPS. It's HL1 but with a military style, and quite a few new weapons and abilities. Also it had simple but reliable squad control, which HL2 later brought back.

[Funk, E]

There's also HL: Decay, for the PS1, another side story.

[fastbilly1]

Decay is on the PS2, and soon the port for the pc will be complete. I would suggest Opposing Force no question, Blue Shift only if you like Barney or dark stages.

And I am glad the phrase that "Half Life runs on a toaster" is getting around. Sooner or later Ill build a computer into a toaster so it wont be lie - that atom motherboard makes micro computing cheaper (pico is still up the nose). Granted I have seen hotswappable harddrive bays built into one.

[RadarScope1]

Not worried about the five bucks at all. OF looks cooler than BS but they both interest me because I want to check out the places where the stories overlap, like the Gordon sightings and the radio messages, etc. I have Decay already, because I'm playing the PS2 port.

I should just get on steam. Everyone else in the world seems to be.

[Mozgus]

Not worried about the five bucks at all. OF looks cooler than BS but they both interest me because I want to check out the places where the stories overlap, like the Gordon sightings and the radio messages, etc. I have Decay already, because I'm playing the PS2 port.

I should just get on steam. Everyone else in the world seems to be.

Be warned that by default, the versions on steam will be missing most of their music. Valve includes a few minor MP3s with these old games, but leaves out most of them, and it really hurts the experience. The solution is to either look for an MP3 pack for each game to install, or to have the original CDs (before steam existed) in your drive, and the CDDA music should play. Of course if you have those cds, you could just install them directly without the need for steam.