Publisher: Sierra Studios
Game Site: Half-Life: Blue Shift
Availability: Now

Do you remember sitting on the edge of your seat when Rocky fought Tommy in Rocky V? Was the epic battle between Superman and Nuclear Man in Superman IV everything you had hoped it would be? If so, then this game will absolutely knock your socks off. But for the rest of you who want more from a game than more of the same (pardon the sing-song rhyme, there), the latest update to Sierra's Half-Life franchise, Half-Life: Blue Shift, will likely be a bit of a disappointment.

Half-Life: Blue Shift once again takes you back to the Black Mesa Federal Research Facility. Those of you who have been faithfully buying and playing each chapter in the series have already fought your way through the facility as Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of the original game, and Adrian Shephard, the Marine who gave you the other side's perspective in Half-Life: Opposing Force. But while that earlier expansion pack seemed new and fresh, offering a different perspective and cool new weapons, Blue Shift makes it seem that Gearbox, who developed both of these updates to Valve's classic, is now just going through the motions.

This time around, you get to play as Barney Calhoun, a Black Mesa security guard who gave Gordon a helping hand in the original game. Once again, you get to go through the same story from a new perspective, as a security guard who finds himself trapped in a research facility that is simultaneously under siege by aliens and marines. I suppose it's only a matter of time before Sierra releases an update where you get to play the same game from the aliens' point of view, and then perhaps another where you get to be a rat, scurrying through the sewers and wondering what all the commotion is.

The gameplay in Blue Shift is pretty good, as it uses the same engine, interface, and control system we've grown familiar with. But whatever fun you have will be short-lived... literally. Playing through the whole "game" will likely take you about 5-7 hours that, to their credit, does leave you wanting more. But there is very little that actually seems new, as you are faced with the same kinds of puzzles that you know and love from Half-Life and Half-Life: Opposing Force. And once you bulk up and get a few weapons in your arsenal, quite frankly, any seeming difference between playing as Barney, as opposed to Gordon or Adrian (beyond the fact that Gordon had a hazard suit to recharge) quickly fades away. You shoot the bad guys, get help from good guys, and figure out the tricks and puzzles that get you through the levels... who you're doing this as has little bearing on the game.