Half-Life: Blue Shift
| Half-Life: Blue Shift | |
|---|---|
The cover art for Blue Shift, depicting the game's protagonist, Barney Calhoun
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| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Distributor(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Director(s) | Randy Pitchford |
| Producer(s) | Randy Pitchford |
| Designer(s) | Rob Heironimus |
| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) | Brian Martel |
| Writer(s) |
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| Composer(s) |
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| Series | Half-Life |
| Engine | GoldSrc |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Release |
June 12, 2001
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| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate scores | |
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| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 67.40% (35 reviews) |
| Metacritic | 71/100 (19 reviews) |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Eurogamer | 6/10 |
| GameSpot | 7/10 |
| GameSpy | 70% |
| IGN | 7/10 |
| PC Zone | 78% |
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001. Blue Shift is the second expansion for Half-Life, originally intended as part of a Dreamcast version of the original game. Although the Dreamcast port was later cancelled, the PC version continued development and was released as a standalone product. The game was released on Steam on August 24, 2005.
As with Gearbox's previous expansion pack Opposing Force, Blue Shift returns to the setting and events of the original game, but portrays the story through the eyes of another person. The protagonist in Blue Shift is a security guard, Barney Calhoun, employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility. After a scientific mishap causes Black Mesa to be invaded by aliens, Calhoun must fight his way to safety. The game received mostly positive reception. Many reviewers were critical of the short length of the game and the lack of new content, although the inclusion of a High Definition pack that upgraded the models and textures in both Blue Shift and the preceding Half-Life games was praised.
As an expansion pack for Half-Life, Blue Shift is a first-person shooter. The overall gameplay of Blue Shift does not significantly differ from that of Half-Life: players are required to navigate through the game's levels, fight hostile non-player characters and solve a variety of puzzles to advance. The game continues Half-Life's methods of an unbroken narrative. The player sees everything through the first person perspective of the protagonist and remains in control of the player character for almost all of the game. Story events are conveyed through the use of scripted sequences rather than cut scenes. Progress through the game's world is continuous; although the game is divided up into chapters, the only significant pauses are when the game needs to load the next part of an environment.
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