Replaying this it's not quite as great as I remember. Back to back with Half-Life it quickly becomes apparent what the better game is.
Start with the positives though. It has a meaty 9-10 hour campaign, longer than most full retail games today. It comes packed with many new weapons, enemies and environments as well as a new audio, there is surprisingly fewer assets reused than your typical expansion pack.
The main appeal here is playing "the marines" one of the main antagonists of Half-life. Unfortantly, alot of feels less like an alternative view point and more like a remake of Half-Life itself as the pacing, and most of the sequences are repeated from the original. Early in the game for example, much like the original, human enemies emerge in the form of Black Ops, who are basically re-skinned marines, who like the marines, are there to wipe everyone out. Eh?
The only major change is the ability to command soldiers. In certain sections, when you first encounter female assassins it's joy to watch them duke it out on your side. But the commands are very scripted and trite compared to the original game.
The new weapons are quite fun and do operate different from the main game, making them feel something more than just a cheap reskin. This, more so than the levels and story itself, gives the sense of not playing as Freeman.
New alien enemies are pretty good, again not simple reskins. Though their AI can be exploited fairly easily by Gearbox's poor positioning.
This is another issue with the gameplay, Gearbox seem to think spawning enemies in front of you with no way to circumvent them equates to challenge, rather than cheapness. Several times I had to reload because of several enemies warping in with out any warning or cover. Since you will reload several feet back, it simply becomes a case of exploiting the spawn. Which isn't fun and doesn't require any skill.
It sounds like I'm whining alot, but it is still one of the best expansions made, it seriously makes modern dlc like crap, it's not even funny. It's just depressing. I didn't bother with the MP, but even at that, there is still far more here than the slop Publishers now whip out.
