History YMMV / HalfLifeBlueShift

* ContestedSequel: Unlike Gearbox's ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce Opposing Force]]'' expansion, ''Blue Shift'' didn't bring anything new to the franchise other then a new armor system for playing as a security guard, and its story turned out to be much shorter in length compared to the previous games. You don't even unlock all the weapons the original game had to offer. It's to the point that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBC9Ec8hkyU this review]] recommends playing ''Blue Shift'' first, if only so ''Opposing Force'' doesn't become a ToughActToFollow. However, ''Blue Shift'' has more scripted sequences and set pieces, as well as far more improved models (see: Rosenberg.)

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: "Focal Point" houses a neat looking section where Calhoun has to traverse a path that goes along a flowing Xen river. It's one of the more memorable parts of the game since a flowing river using Xen water texture is something that's not seen in any of the other ''Half-Life'' games.

* DisappointingLastLevel: "A Leap of Faith" isn't much of a FinalBattle. During the teleportation escape, you hold off a couple Houndeyes when the coolant line ruptures, and the HECU soldiers arrive so late that it's possible to just beeline for the teleport to the end. For a final escape sequence, it's rather underwhelming.
* HilariousInHindsight: The Xen level, "Focal Point", is considered one rare example of Xen being done ''right'', with diverse environments, logical labyrinths, and more tame platforming, compared to the original game's DisappointingLastLevel syndrome and ''Opposing Force's'' minute-long visits, of them only one being mandatory. The ''Half-Life'' remake, ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', opts for a similar approach, ''on steroids''.

* ThatOneLevel: "Focal Point" is another level that takes place in Xen, whose levels in the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' are not viewed fondly. While "Focal Point" doesn't suffer from the same design problems as its predecessors, there's still a fair bit a platforming to do across large gaps, so the error of mis-jumping and falling into oblivion is still very high. There's also a maze of small tunnels that can be confusing for first timers. Finally, if that wasn't enough, there are ''no'' armor pickups in this level. Once your armor meter is fully drained, encounters with large mobs of enemies can quickly spell death, so you'll have to be very careful.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with succeeding releases of the ''Half-Life 1'' collection's entries. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the game's overall look. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun, which were updated to look and sound more imposing. Some players enjoy the empowerment behind these changes, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

*** Unlike the ''Opposing Force'' expansion having its own unique flare, ''Blue Shift'' doesn't offer any new weapons to play around with, and none of the weapons introduced in ''Opposing Force'' ever come into play. Not even the Desert Eagle, which security guards are seen using within ''Opposing Force''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Strangely enough, ''Blue Shift'' pretty much ignores the group of people that the game is supposed to be giving the spotlight to. Other than the player character, Calhoun, the actual Black Mesa security staff does very little outside of the opening of the game before the Resonance Cascade goes off. In particular, the fat security guards--all named Otis in the files--somehow have even ''less'' importance than their older counterparts. The most that they have are cameo appearances; in many of them, they're just corpses for Calhoun to loot for supplies.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with succeeding releases of the ''Half-Life 1'' collection's entries. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the game's overall look. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with other releases of the ''Half-Life 1'' collection's entries. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the game's overall look. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the game's overall look. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: "Focal Point" houses a section where Calhoun has to traverse a path that goes along a flowing Xen river looks incredible. It's one of the more memorable parts of the game since a flowing river using Xen water texture is something that's not seen in any of the other ''Half-Life'' games.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the game's overall look. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* ThatOneLevel: "Focal Point" is another level that takes place in Xen, whose levels in the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' are not viewed fondly., While "Focal Point" doesn't suffer from the same design problems as its predecessors, there's still a fair bit a platforming to do across large gaps, so the error of mis-jumping and falling into oblivion is still very high. There's also a maze of small tunnels that can be confusing for first timers. Finally, if that wasn't enough, there are ''no'' armor pickups in this level. Once your armor meter is fully drained, encounters with large mobs of enemies can quickly spell death, so you'll have to be very careful.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Strangely enough, ''Blue Shift'' pretty much ignores the group of people that the game is supposed to be giving the spotlight to. Other than the player character, Calhoun, the actual Black Mesa security staff does very little outside of the opening of the game before the Resonance Cascade goes off. In particular, the fat security guards--all named Otis in the files--somehow have even ''less'' importance than their older counterparts. The most they have are cameo appearances; in many of them, they're just corpses for Calhoun to loot for supplies.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Strangely enough, ''Blue Shift'' pretty much ignores the group of people that the game is supposed to be giving the spotlight to. Other than the player character, Calhoun, the actual Black Mesa security staff does very little outside of the opening of the game before the Resonance Cascade goes off. In particular, the fat security guards--all named Otis in the files--somehow have even ''less'' importance than their older counterparts. All they get are mostly cameo appearances; in many of them, they're just corpses for Calhoun to loot for supplies.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Strangely enough, ''Blue Shift'' pretty much ignores the group of people that the game is supposed to be giving the spotlight to. Other than the player character, Calhoun, the actual Black Mesa security staff does very little outside of the opening of the game before the Resonance Cascade goes off. Otis the fat security guard in particular was a bit of missed potential. You'd think that having a new character design for the guards would lead to this person being seen more often in a game that focuses on Black Mesa's security. Possibly for even a character of importance. Yet all Otis gets is a couple cameos; in many of them, he's just a corpse for Calhoun to loot for supplies.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Strangely enough, ''Blue Shift'' pretty much ignores the group of people that the game is supposed to be giving the spotlight to. Other than the player character, Calhoun, the actual Black Mesa security staff does very little outside of the opening of the game before the Resonance Cascade goes off.
** Otis the fat security guard in particular was a bit of missed potential. You'd think that having a new character design for the guards would lead to this person being seen more often in a game that focuses on Black Mesa's security. Possibly for even a character of importance. Yet all Otis gets is a couple cameos. Almost all of which as just a corpse for Calhoun to loot for supplies.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The one section of "Focal Point" where Calhoun has to traverse a path that goes along a flowing Xen river looks incredible. It's one of the more memorable parts of the game since a flowing river using Xen water texture is something that's not seen in any of the other ''Half-Life'' games.

* ThatOneLevel: "Focal Point" is another level that takes place in Xen, but while the level doesn't suffer from the same design problems as the original Xen levels in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', there's still a fair bit a platforming to do across large gaps, so the error of mis-jumping and falling into oblivion is still very high. In addition, the maze portion of the level that has you crawling through small tunnels will surely cause confusion for first timers. If that wasn't enough, there are no armor pickups in this level so once your armor meter is fully drained, encounters with large mobs of enemies can quickly spell death, so you'll have to be very careful.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some welcome the higher quality models, while others either find them ugly or too far removed from the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Model Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some find it to be a welcome update to the character models, while others see it as an unnecessary, ugly mod that clashes with the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some find it to be a welcome update to the character models, while others see it as an unnecessary mod that clashes with the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack doesn't encompass nearly enough of the game; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some find it to be a welcome update to the character models, while others see it as an unnecessary mod that clashes with the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack is incomplete; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were ''all'' reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs aesthetically. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pistol, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Reactions toward the Pack are deeply mixed. Some find it to be a welcome update to the character models, while others see it as an unnecessary mod that clashes with the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack is incomplete; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were all reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pisto, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

* BrokenBase: ''Blue-Shift'' introduced the ''Half-Life'' High-Definition Pack, which would later be included with other entries in the ''Half-Life 1'' collection. Even when Gearbox would later expand on the pack through ''Half-Life 1's'' PS2 release, reactions toward the Pack remain just as deeply mixed as when it was first released. Some find it to be a welcome update to the character models, while others see it as an unnecessary mod that clashes with the rest of the game's assets. What both parties can agree on is that the pack is incomplete; only the models shown prominently throughout ''Blue-Shift'' were updated. The game's weapons, however, were all reskinned, some of them becoming entirely different weapon designs. The most contentious changes are the ones made to the submachine gun, the pisto, and the shotgun. Some find the changes empowering, while others find that they impede the tone that ''Half-Life 1'' and its expansions are trying to establish.

*** Snark ammo only ever appears at one location within ''Blue Shift'' to the point that some players may not even know that it's possible to obtain it within the game. They're only obtainable within the "Focal Point" level's secret Chumtoad Lair and in an out-of-the-way vent in "Power Struggle".

** Gearbox pretty much did away with the NPC follower mechanic with the exception of the three scientists you come across in the "Captive Freight" level (one of them being Dr. Rosenberg). In addition, with the exception of those that appear within cut-scenes, ''Blue Shift'' has a surprising lack of fellow NPC security guards. Not once does the player ever come across another Black Mesa security guard to fight alongside with.

*** Snark ammo only ever appears at one location within ''Blue Shift'' to the point that some players may not even know that it's possible to obtain it within the game. They're only obtainable within the "Focal Point" level's secret Chumtoad Lair.