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Half-Life: sing Force is the official game expansion for
Half-Life, the thrilling PC CD-ROM named game of the year by more
than 50 publications. In sing Force (a.k.a. Op For), players
return to the Black Mesa Research Facility to experience an
entirely new episode of single-player action. In addition, Op For
contains a massive collection of new multiplayer content.
Review
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First-person-shooter mission packs are usually mediocre: Throw
together a few new levels, put in some more s, add a spider,
and you've got a commercial add-on for your aging product. As
such, it's appropriate that Gearbox Software's sing Force,
the official expansion for the genre-redefining Half-Life, in
turn sets a new standard of quality for future action-game
mission packs.
sing Force's story recounts the events of Half-Life, but from
the sing side's perspective as implied by the title. You are
Marine Corporal Adrian Shephard. You've been sent to the Black
Mesa Research Facility to locate and eliminate Gordon Freeman. As
in the original, things immediately go awry, mistakes are made,
people die, and your initial plan is replaced with a complicated
fight for survival. It's a testament to the success of Half-Life
that its story actually warrants retelling. The developers know
that while Adrian Shephard has no idea what Freeman is doing, you
do, and they pack the game with clues as to where you are in
relation to Half-Life's hero. Your path initially converges with
Freeman's, then takes some unexpected detours. Many of the
original settings and incidents are referred to or revisited from
a slightly altered perspective, and it's a ringing endorsement of
their effectiveness that to give any of them away would lessen
your enjoyment of the game.
Like Half-Life, sing Force's greatest strength is its success
at consistently delivering surprises. You can sense the
designers' enthusiasm as one memorable scene unfolds after
another, and it compels you to keep playing. Although sing
Force is only about one third as long as its predecessor, it's
packed with original content. There isn't much filler in the
game, so while you may finish it in just over ten hours or so,
the experience feels much more complete and satisfying than many
longer games, which tend to be padded with hours of drearily
similar firefights.
Despite its relatively short length, there's plenty of shooting
in sing Force. Instead of limiting you to fighting alongside
no more than two of Half-Life's weakling scientists or security
guards, you can now recruit a squad of up to eight marines. The
marines have the same advanced artificial intelligence as when
they were your enemies in Half-Life, so that some of the
large-scale battles staged in sing Force are simply
phenomenal. Even though the game doesn't require you to do so,
you'll want to replay such combat sequences just to try out
different strategies in an effort to reduce friendly casualties.
However, although the game lets you lead so many companions,
you'll likely never have more than four at a time thanks to the
AI's finicky following behavior. sing Force's only
significant flaw is that it's often difficult to keep your
followers in line. In some instances they simply appear to become
confused, and at other times there is an invisible line they will
not cross. It's usually unclear which of these two reasons keeps
your squad from moving forward, so you'll spend too much time
trying in vain to keep it assembled. This is a shame, as the rest
of the game is of such high quality.
sing Force adds nine new weapons to Half-Life's arsenal.
There are a few additions to each original category - standard
s, experimental s, and alien artifacts - and each is useful
for the most part. An especially clever version of a grappling
hook is put to good use in many of sing Force's action
sequences and puzzles. The new experimental weapon's secondary
firing mode transports you to a small section of the alien world
Xen, where you can gather some extra and ammo in the heat
of battle.
Most of the aliens in Half-Life weren't nearly as crafty as the
enemy soldiers. sing Force introduces a new breed of alien
warrior that is the marine's equal, along with about ten
other new allies and adversaries, including a few impressive boss
monsters. Some of the new 3D models are merely window dressing
but add to the game's rich atmosphere. A great number of scripted
sequences have also been created for sing Force, which are
often darkly humorous - the designers at Gearbox seem to harbor a
real grudge against Half-Life's hess scientists and dispatch
them with sadistic ingenuity.
sing Force doesn't include any new multiplayer game modes but
is packaged with a set of multiplayer s designed by a team of
"all-stars" assembled by Gearbox, including such level design
luminaries as Tom "Paradox" Mustaine and the Levelord. As you'd
expect, these designs are all at least competent. Most of the
new weapons and character models are also available in the
multiplayer game. However, the excellent single-player experience
remains the best reason to get sing Force.
While it doesn't add anything new to the graphics or technology
of Half-Life, sing Force still manages to thrill through the
impassioned application of creative design. It's the interactive
equivalent of a page-turner; you'll finish it in a marathon
sitting just trying to see what surprise lies around the next
corner. Quite simply, the best first-person shooter ever released
is now bolstered by the finest mission pack yet created. -- Erik
Wolpaw
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot
