Half-Life: Opposing Force cover
FranchiseHalf-LifeSeriesHalf-Life

Half-Life: Opposing Force

Half-Life →

Critic score1 critic
First release
Nov 10, 1999
Engine
GoldSrc
Genres
Platform, Shooter, Puzzle · Warfare, Action, Science fiction, Thriller

Opposing Force returns to the same setting as Half-Life, but instead portrays the events from the perspective of a U.S. Marine, one of the enemy characters in the original game. The player character, Adrian Shephard, is sent in to neutralize the Black Mesa Research Facility after a scientific mishap causes it to be invaded by aliens, but quickly finds that the Marines are outnumbered and slowly being beaten back by a second alien race and black operations units.

Also known as hl.exe, OP4, OPFOR, HL: OPFOR
… See more, HL: OP4

Attributes

No Attributes added.

Details

Storyline, release dates, time to beat, age ratings, modes, links, keywords

Storyline
Opposing Force opens with Shephard riding on a V-22 Osprey with his squad. His squad discuss their deployment, somewhat irritated that they have not been told what they are being deployed for. However, as they are nearing their Landing Zone at Black Mesa, airborne alien creatures attack the Osprey formation, causing Shephard's Osprey to crash land. Shephard regains consciousness in a Black Mesa medical bay, tended to by the science team, learning that the Marines are being steadily beaten by the alien forces from Xen and orders have come through to pull out. Consequently, Shephard departs to reach an extraction point and escape the facility. However, Shephard is prevented from reaching the extraction point by the enigmatic G-Man, forcing the evacuation craft to leave without him. Other Marines who have also been left behind team up with Shephard and attempt to reach another extraction point near Black Mesa's Lambda Complex, but en route they come under attack from black operations units seeking to thoroughly contain the situation and eliminate all survivors. Shephard makes it to the Lambda Complex alive, and briefly sees Gordon Freeman as the latter teleports to Xen in the final stages of Half-Life. To escape the teleportation chamber, Shephard is forced to enter a separate portal, briefly taking him to Xen before depositing him in an entirely different area of the facility. The facility is now heavily damaged, and it soon becomes clear that a new alien race, Race X, has exploited the situation to mount a localized invasion, attacking both human and Xen forces in Black Mesa indiscriminately. Fighting between the black operations units and Race X quickly intensifies. Shephard soon encounters more stranded Marine units in the wreckage of the base, and tries to break through the black operations units to reach an escape point past the facility's storage unit, but meets heavy resistance from both Race X and the black operations units. A surviving Black Mesa security guard reveals to Shephard that the black operators intend to detonate a tactical nuclear weapon in the base, thereby totally sealing it off and killing everything in it. After successfully neutralizing the guarding black operations unit, Shephard disarms the device and proceeds to the nearby storage areas, intent on escape. However, the G-Man rearms the device as Shephard departs. The storage unit has become a thick battleground between Race X and the black operation units, and although Shephard manages to evade them, he is informed by another security guard that something very large is coming through an alien portal blocking the exit path. At the portal, Shephard discovers a gene worm, a massive creature facilitating the Race X invasion. Shephard is able to kill the creature, but just afterwards he is teleported onto an Osprey by the G-Man. As the G-Man congratulates Shephard on his accomplishments, the nuclear device detonates in the background, destroying Black Mesa. The game closes with the G-Man detaining Shephard someplace where he can tell no one of what he has seen and cannot be harmed, pending further evaluation.Read more

Opposing Force opens with Shephard riding on a V-22 Osprey with his squad. His squad discuss their deployment, somewhat irritated that they have not been told what they are being deployed for. However, as they are nearing their Landing Zone at Black Mesa, airborne alien creatures attack the Osprey formation, causing Shephard's Osprey to crash land. Shephard regains consciousness in a Black Mesa medical bay, tended to by the science team, learning that the Marines are being steadily beaten by the alien forces from Xen and orders have come through to pull out. Consequently, Shephard departs to reach an extraction point and escape the facility. However, Shephard is prevented from reaching the extraction point by the enigmatic G-Man, forcing the evacuation craft to leave without him. Other Marines who have also been left behind team up with Shephard and attempt to reach another extraction point near Black Mesa's Lambda Complex, but en route they come under attack from black operations units seeking to thoroughly contain the situation and eliminate all survivors. Shephard makes it to the Lambda Complex alive, and briefly sees Gordon Freeman as the latter teleports to Xen in the final stages of Half-Life. To escape the teleportation chamber, Shephard is forced to enter a separate portal, briefly taking him to Xen before depositing him in an entirely different area of the facility. The facility is now heavily damaged, and it soon becomes clear that a new alien race, Race X, has exploited the situation to mount a localized invasion, attacking both human and Xen forces in Black Mesa indiscriminately. Fighting between the black operations units and Race X quickly intensifies. Shephard soon encounters more stranded Marine units in the wreckage of the base, and tries to break through the black operations units to reach an escape point past the facility's storage unit, but meets heavy resistance from both Race X and the black operations units. A surviving Black Mesa security guard reveals to Shephard that the black operators intend to detonate a tactical nuclear weapon in the base, thereby totally sealing it off and killing everything in it. After successfully neutralizing the guarding black operations unit, Shephard disarms the device and proceeds to the nearby storage areas, intent on escape. However, the G-Man rearms the device as Shephard departs. The storage unit has become a thick battleground between Race X and the black operation units, and although Shephard manages to evade them, he is informed by another security guard that something very large is coming through an alien portal blocking the exit path. At the portal, Shephard discovers a gene worm, a massive creature facilitating the Race X invasion. Shephard is able to kill the creature, but just afterwards he is teleported onto an Osprey by the G-Man. As the G-Man congratulates Shephard on his accomplishments, the nuclear device detonates in the background, destroying Black Mesa. The game closes with the G-Man detaining Shephard someplace where he can tell no one of what he has seen and cannot be harmed, pending further evaluation.

Release dates
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Nov 10, 1999
PC (Microsoft Windows)
Nov 15, 1999
Mac
Jul 31, 2013
All 4 release dates
Linux
Jul 31, 2013
Time to beatIGDB · recorded
Main Story
4h
Main + Extras
6h
Completionist
5h
Age ratings
PEGI 16ESRB M
Game modes
Multiplayer, Single player
Perspective
First person
Keywords
modern warfare, aliens, zombies, helicopter, assassin
… All 86, bloody, gravity, training, genetic experiment, insects, pvp, death, soldier, military, run and gun, doctor, steam, gore, online, traps, artificial intelligence, capture the flag, worm, easter egg, teleportation, giant insects, mad scientist, silent protagonist, climbing, alien invasion, one-man army, darkness, boss fight, explosion, death match, digital distribution, platform exclusive, modern military, voice acting, human, polygonal 3d, original soundtrack release, wasd movement, non-player character, profanity, corpse, sniping, player vs player, melee, grapple, a.i. companion, difficulty level, quicksaving, quickloading, inconvenient malfunction, vending machine interaction, cheat code, scientist, nuclear bomb, interactive environments, valve anti-cheat, squad tactics, particle system, dimension travel, team deathmatch, not-so-bad guys, dedicated servers, alternative blood, scripted events, vent crawling, jumping puzzle, first-person platforming, time paradox, escaping imprisonment, severed limbs, arrival by crash landing, text dialogue, shooting range, crash landing, another world, alien languages, strafe-jumping, missile launcher, novint falcon support, buddy system, interactive achievement awards 2000

At a Glance

Critic Score
70
Main Story (IGDB)
4h
Main + Extras (IGDB)
6h
Completionist (IGDB)
5h

Overview

Steam review summary

Steam users rate this Overwhelmingly Positive, 25,643 reviews in all languages, recorded 25 October 2026

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