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I start with laying all this out because the promise of expanding upon the Half-Life storyline is the major reason to play Blue Shift. It’s why they all looked the same, and going back to say that all along this Barney is the one that helped Gordon out (which he never actually does in Blue Shift) is completely pulling a George Lucas. Originally, “Barney” was just the name for all the guards in HL1, as in “Barney Fife” from Mayberry. Barney Calhoun here barely meets Gordon in the course of the game, his actions have no impact on the events at Black Mesa, and his adventures here don’t play into HL2 whatsoever.
![half life blue shift story half life blue shift story](https://www.giantbomb.com/a/uploads/original/1/13474/847963-of2a50004.jpg)
He exists in the timeline, but he doesn’t do anything of significance. But as far as being a story that needs to be told? Nuh-uh. To Gearbox’s credit, this game does fit seamlessly into the first Half-Life, giving Barney Calhoun a clear place in that timeline. The stories could have easily been tied together, but Valve didn’t share any sequel notes they may have had with Gearbox, and they pretty obviously didn’t give a rip about the events in Blue Shift. For some reason, I had the impression that key characters from HL2 had escaped from Black Mesa with Barney, and those events were chronicled in Blue Shift. Now, at the risk of a few minor spoilers, I will first admit that when the bug bit me to replay Blue Shift, I remembered it having more bearing on the continued Half-Life story than it actually does. The uninteresting person here is one Barney Calhoun: security guard extraordinaire, and Gordon Freeman’s BFF in Half-Life 2. The star characters are literally on the fringe of Half-Life‘s core narrative, which results in uninspired side stories about uninteresting people.
#Half life blue shift story ps2
For Blue Shift and Decay (the exclusive added value for the PS2 port), the idea wears pretty thin.
![half life blue shift story half life blue shift story](https://gamefabrique.com/storage/screenshots/pc/half-life-blue-shift-08.png)
However, it also unwittingly set a devious precedent: the story of the downfall of Black Mesa could go on forever, so long as you retold it from a different angle each time.
![half life blue shift story half life blue shift story](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OhIssEJeMKk/TpxphzirXmI/AAAAAAAACSI/L57xy6tvH-Y/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/hl+2011-09-24+15-38-54-01.png)
#Half life blue shift story series
It was a neat twist, and while you never actually played the bad guy per se, it did offer the series a closure that first game lacked (read: KA-BOOM!). I liked its first expansion, Opposing Force. Hell, I don’t know anyone who didn’t like Half-Life.
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