

Although praising the level design as the game's strongest point, the reviewer felt that "towards the end of the game. Eurogamer stated that Opposing Force still had similar problems to other expansion packs, commenting that "χ amount of new content has been created and it is going to be cut into the old content in a linear way to make it look like an all new game", but noted that "fortunately though the new stuff in Opposing Force.
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PC Zone stated that "the taste left in the mouth is a bitter one", noting that " Opposing Force is a few excellent ideas strung together by pedestrian Half-Life padding", but concluded that "it was still a good weekend's worth of entertainment". However, some critics dissented on the idea that Opposing Force was as influential as other reviewers made out.

GamePro stated that "Gearbox has done one hell of a job in creating not just an add-on for Half-Life, but a continuation of a masterpiece", praising both level design and story elements, but noted that it was a little too short. Other reviews echoed many of the positive aspects of the game. Although criticizing some elements of the game's artificial intelligence and describing some of the new models as "merely window dressing", the review concluded that Opposing Force was an "impassioned application of creative design". Wolpaw praised the design of the single-player campaign, commenting that "you can sense the designers' enthusiasm as one memorable scene unfolds after another, and it compels you to keep playing". Erik Wolpaw, writing for GameSpot, noted that as most expansion packs were mediocre, "it's appropriate that Gearbox Software's Opposing Force, the official expansion for the genre-redefining Half-Life, in turn sets a new standard of quality for future action-game mission packs". Randall closed the review by concluding that Opposing Force is "an awesome achievement". Praise was also given to the game's multiplayer Randell stated that the new additions for multiplayer made it the area of Opposing Force that "really shines". Ĭomputer and Video Games reviewer Kim Randell noted that "Gearbox has obviously gone to great pains to provide a similar experience to the original". Although figures for the game's sales on Steam have not been released, Opposing Force has sold over 1.1 million copies at retail. Opposing Force received a very favorable reception from critics, holding a score of 85.45% on the review aggregator site GameRankings. The deal was signed, and the production of the Opposing Force expansion pack went forward.
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Newell, inspired by The Alexandria Quartet series of novels, also wanted to have a Rashomon-esque structure and allow the players to experience the same events from a different point of view. He likened the concept to the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Randy Pitchford pitched the idea of player returning to Black Mesa as one of the soldiers invading the facility occurring during the same time as the events of Half-Life, retelling the story from another character's perspective. Both companies got together to discuss and explore the possibilities. Through their connections, Gabe was told what Gearbox was doing, and he believed they'd be a good fit. However, Gabe Newell ended up calling them first as he a similar idea for a project. Gearbox had connections at Valve and were interested in meeting them to see what they could put together. They were looking for someone to take over their role and expand the Half-Life universe so they could focus on their future titles. Meanwhile, Valve was busy with developing Half-Life 2 and its supporting engine technology. The team wanted to work on small scale titles based on an existing technology rather than creating a completely new game. At the time, Gearbox was a new company formed by the core members of the defunct Rebel Boat Rocker which had been shut down after a struggle with their publisher on their first video game project. Half-Life: Opposing Force was announced on Apto be developed by Gearbox Software.
