Half-Life Blue Shift is not to be underestimated. Alongside the other expansion, Opposing Force, and of course the tentpole Gordon Freeman adventure proper, the story of Barney’s worst ever day at Black Mesa might seem comparatively minor. But it’s a fantastic FPS, lighter, swifter, and often funnier than its siblings, and offering a totally different perspective on the disastrous resonance cascade. Built by Gearbox, alongside all the others, Blue Shift feels like the most forgotten Half-Life game. But now, as some small rumors about Half-Life 3 start to appear, HL fans are determined to prove that Blue Shift still deserves attention.
You remember the opening section of Half-Life, where you approach Black Mesa by tram, and, at one point, pass by a security guard banging on a locked door, trying to get inside. In Blue Shift, you are that security guard, the stalwart, beer-owing Barney Calhoun, who’s tasked with getting survivors to the surface and away from Black Mesa before G-Man triggers the nuclear bomb. Originally released in 2001, Blue Shift is the second expansion for Valve’s epochal FPS game, after Opposing Force. Now more than 20 years old, its fans are nevertheless keen to keep its name alive.
Just like the Raising the Bar and Opposing the Bar events, which in the past have united Half-Life players to set new concurrent player count records for other games in the series, the upcoming Shifting the Bar is an attempt to reach a new high for Half-Life Blue Shift. On Saturday August 24, players are invited to log into Steam, fire up Blue Shift, and play for at least an hour to register their presence.
The last concurrent player count record was set more than four years ago, but stands at a relatively surmountable 420. Come this Saturday, we’ll see just how high we can push it – I bet we can get over 1,000.
As for Half-Life 3, something called ‘Project White Sands’ recently appeared on an actor’s CV, and is reportedly in development right now at Valve. Speculation has reached such a fever pitch that the owners of a company called Black Mesa have had to officially respond to keep theories in check. A strange new test branch has also just been added to the backend of Half-Life 2.
If you miss the classic era of Half-Life, check out some of the best old games you can still run today, or maybe the best zombie games on PC.
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