Half-Life: Opposing Force is the first Expansion Pack to Valve's Half-Life 1 developed by Gearbox Software. Taking place during shortly after the Resonance Cascade at the Black Mesa Research Facility, Opposing Force follows the perspective of Corporal Adrian Shephard, a member of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit that Gordon Freeman fought during the events of the first game. The first 9 chapters are fully playable, up to and including Pit Worm's Nest. The next chapter uses a mortar and Black Ops aircraft that need to be implemented. Once that's done it's just the Gene Worm and the singleplayer will be fully playable.
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| Gene Worm | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Faction | |
| Type | Ultimate Weapon |
| Individual information | |
| Health | 840/1080/1200 |
| Weapon(s) |
|
| Game information | |
| Entity | monster_geneworm |
| Designer(s) | Stephen Bahl[1] |
- 'Listen, you've got to get down below. There's something coming through and it's the nastiest looking thing yet. Some of your buddies went down there a while ago and I haven't seen them since.'
- ― Black Mesa security guard[src]
The Gene Worm is the final boss of Half-Life: Opposing Force, and the most mysterious of the Race X aliens. This life form is the equivalent of a 'biological resource management factory.' It is capable of taking any of Earth's natural resources and assimilating it to make them useful to the aliens' needs. If one fully entered Earth and became productive, it would effectively alter the planet enough to become useful as a new homeworld for Race X. However, this was never shown in action.[2]
Overview[edit]
Physically, the creature resembles a green, worm-like creature with many tentacles and a beak-like protrusion similar in both shape and position to that of the XenTentacle. The Gene Worm attacks with its tentacles and ejects a deadly chemical stream from its mouth. Its outer hide is impervious to damage; in order to kill it, the player must blind the creature by shooting both its eyes with the mounted laser guns on either side of the worm. This causes it to summon reinforcements by opening its abdominal cavity to reveal a portal orb that a Shock Trooper will teleport through. The worm's weakness is by firing any gun at the rear of this stomach cavity; It should be noted that the portal orb itself is not vulnerable to attacks. When the Gene Worm 'dies', it sinks back into its portal, but not before emitting a 'portal storm' into the room, similar to the one that occurred as the Nihilanth died. When the creature is idle and no threat is visible, it will gently sway its tentacles around, and emit soft hissing and groaning noises.
The Gene Worm is found deep underground in a seemingly abandoned industrial area of Black Mesa and appears through a portal opening powered by Sprites in a room there, apparently either unwilling or unable to fully enter this world, most likely because of the minuscule size of the portal behind it in proportion to the Gene Worm's presumably immense size and length. The room itself has been fitted with mounted weapons which are powered by Xen energy crystals. The player character, Adrian Shephard, is sent down to the portal by a Black Mesa security guard, who remarks 'Some of your buddies went down earlier, and I haven't seen 'em since.' These soldiers were only able to set up the mounted weapons before their unseen demise, although nothing is seen of their remains, possibly indicating they may have been 'processed' by the creature.
Trivia[edit]
The Destroyer in Borderlands.
- The Destroyer, an enemy featured in the Gearbox game Borderlands is remarkably similar to the Gene Worm, in the sense that it has many tentacles, has an eye which needs to be shot in order to kill it and the fact that it appears through a portal. The Destroyer is likely an intentional reference to Opposing Force.
- In the Opposing Force files, there is a sound byte related to the Gene Worm called 'dsbossit'. When played, it sounds like plain gibberish. But when played backwards, it seems to say 'To win the game you must kill me, Randy Pitchford'. Randy Pitchford is CEO of Gearbox. This is a nod to Doom II where 'to win the game you must kill me, John Romero' is played backwards when the final boss sees the player. Furthermore, 'dsbossit' is the name of this sound in Doom II's main WAD file.
Gallery[edit]
The Gene Worm being targeted by Shephard.
The Gene Worm is defeated.
List of appearances[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑Stephen Bahl's Profile on the official Gearbox Software website (archived)
- ↑Half-Life: Opposing Force strategy guide
| Race X | |
|---|---|
| Creatures | Gene Worm · Pit Drone · Pit Worm · Shock Trooper · Sprite · Voltigore |
| Weapons | Shock Roach · Spore Launcher |
| Transportation | Teleportation |
| Technology | Teleportation · Transportation · Weapons |
| Creatures | |
|---|---|
| Antlions | Antlion · Antlion Grub · Antlion Guard · Antlion Guardian · Antlion Soldier · Antlion Worker |
| Headcrabs | Headcrab · Classic Headcrab · Armored Headcrab · Fast Headcrab · Gonarch · Poison Headcrab · Reviver · Headcrab Shell |
| Race X | Gene Worm · Pit Drone · Pit Worm · Shock Roach · Shock Trooper · Spore Launcher · Sprite · Voltigore |
| Synths | Synth · Advisor pod · Crab Synth · Combine Advisor · Combine Dropship · Combine Gunship · Hunter · Mortar Synth · Strider |
| Xen | Alien Craft · Alien Controller · Alien Grunt · Barnacle · Boid · Bug · Bullsquid · Chumtoad · Clam · Gargantua · Gnat · Headcrab · Houndeye · Ichthyosaur · Leech · Nihilanth · Protozoan · Snark · Tentacle · Vortigaunt |
| Zombies | Zombie · Classic Zombie · Fast Zombie · Gonome · Jeff · Poison Zombie · Reviver Zombie · Zombine |
| Other | List of Earth creatures(Half-Life series/Portal series) · Mantis Man |
| Antlions (cut) | Antlion King |
| Synths (cut) | Attack Synth · Combine Guard (Synth) · Combine Mobile Mine · Combine Super Soldier · Combine Synth Elite Soldier |
| Xen (cut) | Archer · Charger · Fast Walker · Flocking Floater · Jelly Bobber · Kingpin · Mr. Friendly · Panther Eye · Sand Barnacle · Snapbug · Sphere · Stukabat |
| Zombies (cut) | Zombie Assassin · Zombie Monkey |
| Other (cut) | List of minor cut creatures · Hydra · Particle Storm · Sacktick · Skitch |
Retrieved from 'https://combineoverwiki.net/index.php?title=Gene_Worm&oldid=428336'
REMINDER TO ALL READERS: This post is a direct sequel to Half-Life: The Future. You are advised to read its previous post first before following this one. Thank you.
Previously on Half Life: The Future
In my previous post, I have talked about my own interaction history with Half-Life series. I have said many times how much I love this first and only childhood FPS game and crazily follow its game details, and even manipulated it by modifying its game consoles, sounds, models, and so forth. I also love its adventurous storyline being built up for all six HL games. There are something just extraordinary about them, I am not lying.
For adventurous story, first you have the scientist himself who had to fight through Xenian aliens, HECU Marines, and radioactive materials all the way to achieve something in saving the humanity. This is followed by expansions which stars a soldier and a security guard who are doing similar things but from different perspectives. Later on, the second series mostly stars the same scientist but now has a new sidekick which tells why partnerships, though not necessarily romance, are essential in order to start an effective uprising against the oppressive alien occupiers.
These powerful plots gave me many ideas to write my own adventurous fan fictional (fanfic) stories using my own fictitious characters in later times. And this is how great Half-Life is. It is not just about shooting things for fun or using console cheats. It is the interesting adventurous plots that cannot make me forget about this awesome game.
During the following post, I also mentioned about the reasons Valve is having trouble in making a sequel to Episode Two. I have said that the main reason behind this delay for a decade was due to plot line problem, which there are no interesting lines to push the story forward despite its big hints on Borealis and Aperture Science.
The main heroes such as Gordon and Alyx we know of are lagging behind in terms of pursuing what Combines are after at. With Eli knowledge about Borealis being siphoned from his brain by the powerful Combine Advisors, the Combines would know everything about Borealis what both protagonists know nothing of. Not to mention that both Gordon and Alyx themselves are yet to find ways in defeating the Advisors who are notoriously assumed to be masters of Combine races and expectedly going to be the main antagonist in next episodic series.
Side characters also faces their own problems. As mentioned earlier, Eli Vance martyred before managed to tell Gordon what is inside Borealis. Judith Mossman went hiding after a failed attempt to reveal about Borealis in her broadcast message. Barney went stranded somewhere while escaping from City 17 and Citadel’s explosion and there is no way he would know anything about Borealis/Aperture Science. Arne Magnusson is not interested in pursuing Borealis as he needs to protect White Forest. Isaac Kleiner is aware about Aperture Science but has limited knowledge on what technological devices are they capable of. The Vortigaunts who can manipulate time are still hiding from the feared Advisors. The Human Resistance currently has no concrete plans what to do next after repelling Combines in White Forest, and most would prefer to stay there for survival. And most importantly, the powerful G-Man is losing control of Gordon Freeman grip since Vortigaunts intervention in EP1 event, thus derailing the business deal with Gordon.
Many people believes that after delaying the third episodic release for so long and also because there are no more good stories to write for the third episode, it is time to abandon the ship and jump on to Half-Life 3 wagon instead. I have said that as much as I want a next HL series so bad, I reject skipping everything to HL3 or even talk about bringing episodic series to third HL series as a ridiculous transition. Come on, I do not want a Modern Warfare 3 style opening where it directly picks up from the inconclusive ending at second series! This is not how Half-Life works. The third episode must be made no matter how long the vaporware takes place to break the biggest cliffhanger HL story. Why not let us talk about wiping out the Combine races from Earth first before we can start discuss creating HL3 universe in future?
And this is where the real problem comes in. As admitted by the famous writter Marc Laidlaw himself, they have no idea how to continue the story at Episode Three, let alone even building a HL3. This is why Valve Corporation got stuck and decided to focus on other non-HL games and had been reluctant to mention about HL ever since. So if they cannot make EP3 or HL3, how should HL series move forward?
My suggestion is, Valve should just temporarily drop Episode Three or Half-Life 3 because there is nothing can be built from it at the moment. Instead, they should just focus entirely on one guy from the start of HL2 universe: the last unsung hero many community fans seems to have forgotten, he is the 22-year old young corporal who helped disarmed the nuclear device in Black Mesa and defeated the second alien invading forces before being held captive by G-Man. He is the last surviving protagonist who has yet to make presence in HL2 universe.
He is the last soldier on Earth whom you would not know who he was, until he puts on his gas mask. And this last protagonist is Adrian Shephard, the only man who can break the biggest cliffhanger in Half-Life history.
I am telling you readers: This man must return, or else no solid plots can be built up to keep HL2 events forward. Henceforth, this post will be dedicated to all our (in fact my own preference) forgotten and lost unsung silent hero Adrian Shephard and will explain why Valve must bring him back.
For adventurous story, first you have the scientist himself who had to fight through Xenian aliens, HECU Marines, and radioactive materials all the way to achieve something in saving the humanity. This is followed by expansions which stars a soldier and a security guard who are doing similar things but from different perspectives. Later on, the second series mostly stars the same scientist but now has a new sidekick which tells why partnerships, though not necessarily romance, are essential in order to start an effective uprising against the oppressive alien occupiers.
These powerful plots gave me many ideas to write my own adventurous fan fictional (fanfic) stories using my own fictitious characters in later times. And this is how great Half-Life is. It is not just about shooting things for fun or using console cheats. It is the interesting adventurous plots that cannot make me forget about this awesome game.
During the following post, I also mentioned about the reasons Valve is having trouble in making a sequel to Episode Two. I have said that the main reason behind this delay for a decade was due to plot line problem, which there are no interesting lines to push the story forward despite its big hints on Borealis and Aperture Science.
The main heroes such as Gordon and Alyx we know of are lagging behind in terms of pursuing what Combines are after at. With Eli knowledge about Borealis being siphoned from his brain by the powerful Combine Advisors, the Combines would know everything about Borealis what both protagonists know nothing of. Not to mention that both Gordon and Alyx themselves are yet to find ways in defeating the Advisors who are notoriously assumed to be masters of Combine races and expectedly going to be the main antagonist in next episodic series.
Side characters also faces their own problems. As mentioned earlier, Eli Vance martyred before managed to tell Gordon what is inside Borealis. Judith Mossman went hiding after a failed attempt to reveal about Borealis in her broadcast message. Barney went stranded somewhere while escaping from City 17 and Citadel’s explosion and there is no way he would know anything about Borealis/Aperture Science. Arne Magnusson is not interested in pursuing Borealis as he needs to protect White Forest. Isaac Kleiner is aware about Aperture Science but has limited knowledge on what technological devices are they capable of. The Vortigaunts who can manipulate time are still hiding from the feared Advisors. The Human Resistance currently has no concrete plans what to do next after repelling Combines in White Forest, and most would prefer to stay there for survival. And most importantly, the powerful G-Man is losing control of Gordon Freeman grip since Vortigaunts intervention in EP1 event, thus derailing the business deal with Gordon.
Many people believes that after delaying the third episodic release for so long and also because there are no more good stories to write for the third episode, it is time to abandon the ship and jump on to Half-Life 3 wagon instead. I have said that as much as I want a next HL series so bad, I reject skipping everything to HL3 or even talk about bringing episodic series to third HL series as a ridiculous transition. Come on, I do not want a Modern Warfare 3 style opening where it directly picks up from the inconclusive ending at second series! This is not how Half-Life works. The third episode must be made no matter how long the vaporware takes place to break the biggest cliffhanger HL story. Why not let us talk about wiping out the Combine races from Earth first before we can start discuss creating HL3 universe in future?
And this is where the real problem comes in. As admitted by the famous writter Marc Laidlaw himself, they have no idea how to continue the story at Episode Three, let alone even building a HL3. This is why Valve Corporation got stuck and decided to focus on other non-HL games and had been reluctant to mention about HL ever since. So if they cannot make EP3 or HL3, how should HL series move forward?
My suggestion is, Valve should just temporarily drop Episode Three or Half-Life 3 because there is nothing can be built from it at the moment. Instead, they should just focus entirely on one guy from the start of HL2 universe: the last unsung hero many community fans seems to have forgotten, he is the 22-year old young corporal who helped disarmed the nuclear device in Black Mesa and defeated the second alien invading forces before being held captive by G-Man. He is the last surviving protagonist who has yet to make presence in HL2 universe.
He is the last soldier on Earth whom you would not know who he was, until he puts on his gas mask. And this last protagonist is Adrian Shephard, the only man who can break the biggest cliffhanger in Half-Life history.
I am telling you readers: This man must return, or else no solid plots can be built up to keep HL2 events forward. Henceforth, this post will be dedicated to all our (in fact my own preference) forgotten and lost unsung silent hero Adrian Shephard and will explain why Valve must bring him back.
Introduction to Adrian Shephard
Background
“So why this unknown corporal? Why this generic guy in a gas mask? This man is a nobody! He might as well just die from stasis! Adrian has no character to start with unlike Gordon, Alyx, Barney. He may do good things saving the humanity but no one will remember him! He is just some damn soldier who has military background, but Gordon is a scientist yet kicks HECU butt. Besides, Adrian Shephard is not canon! He is built by goddamn Gearbox Software, not Valve!”
The above quote is what detractors and opponents of Adrian Shephard character from Half-Life: Opposing Force would say in opposition of his return. Some HL fans have several reasons to oppose the idea of bringing back Adrian, but most of their reasons are pretty much what was summarized in that quote.
While I for one respects their own entitled opinions as HL gamer, I am also in liberty to say how much I disagree with their reasoning for opposing Adrian Shephard return to HL2 universe. Before I explain why I am not buying into their reasons, let us first introduce who this lost unsung hero is. Please be warned that the following paragraphs contain massive spoilers for those have not played Half-Life or Half-Life: Opposing Force.
| Cpl. Adrian Shephard, the main protagonist in Half-Life Opposing Force. |
For starters, Adrian Shephard (nickname Dog Meat) is a 22-year old US Marine corporal who is the main protagonist in Half-Life expansion universe Opposing Force. This young corporal was assigned to a special military faction known as Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU), the same main hostile factions whom Gordon Freeman, Barney Calhoun and the rest of Black Mesa personnel had to encounter.
When Adrian was being transferred to HECU in Santego Military Base of Arizona, he began his military training under his drill instructors Dwight T. Barnes and Sharpe. According to his own diary he kept at his camp, everyday was a typical hellish day for Adrian at base camp where he had to go through much of the boring military exercises. Adrian wrote that he will be happy “when this [military training] is over and I can finally can get assigned a mission”.
In an interesting note, Adrian also said that several times during his military training, he encountered this mysterious government guy with his uptight suit and his briefcase who keep watching Adrian during his training throughout the day. Rumor is that this G-Man guy, as mentioned in his diary, is either from some government branch looking for recruitment or he is with some secret research group (which we all know it will be about Black Mesa).
When Adrian was being transferred to HECU in Santego Military Base of Arizona, he began his military training under his drill instructors Dwight T. Barnes and Sharpe. According to his own diary he kept at his camp, everyday was a typical hellish day for Adrian at base camp where he had to go through much of the boring military exercises. Adrian wrote that he will be happy “when this [military training] is over and I can finally can get assigned a mission”.
In an interesting note, Adrian also said that several times during his military training, he encountered this mysterious government guy with his uptight suit and his briefcase who keep watching Adrian during his training throughout the day. Rumor is that this G-Man guy, as mentioned in his diary, is either from some government branch looking for recruitment or he is with some secret research group (which we all know it will be about Black Mesa).
Half Life Final Boss
| Another typically hellish day at base camp... I'll be glad when this is over and I can finally can get assigned a mission. There has been this really weird civie spotted at the base. Rumor is he's from some government branch looking to recruit; others say he's with some secret research group. I would jump at the chance to join. It would be cool just for the change and the adventure. |
| I finally saw the government guy today. I am not sure he is a g-man, but he was wearing a really uptight suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked more like a lawyer or insurance agent to me. I did notice him checking me out. Several times throughout the day I spotted him just watching me during training. I wonder what he's up to... |
Again, he stated that he would jump at the chance to join something for change and for adventure. This informative diary already shows that Adrian Shephard is a very adventurous young guy who wants to get assigned to some interesting military operation. More proofs can be seen in his next entry where Adrian stated how boring he has to go through the military drills in seven days for indoor strategic combat.
| For weeks our drills have been the same crap day after day. Today we assemble for the morning run and our drill instructor tells us we have one week to become experts at indoor strategic combat. We will be spending every day this week at the combat simulation facility. As far as I know this is a specialized training not taught in boot camp. What I want to know is if this is to test our ability to adapt or if we are being readied for a specific mission? Time will tell... |
In short, we can see that Adrian Shephard is very tired of staying at his military camp and he is hunger for a live-scene military operation. This can be judged when he used strong languages like “same crap” while referring to his daily military drills. Adrian feels that he did not signed up and get assigned in the military just for exercising. He wants to explore something more adventurous, dangerous, and active missions as a soldier. A naive young man, because he will soon have to be careful what he wishes for.
Anyways, the fourth and last entries stated that he is now confirmed will be assigned for an operation in the research facility, which it is revealed to be Black Mesa (told you).
| The rumors have been flying since our indoor combat training began. Most of my peers are convinced that we are being primed for a mission. No one can agree on what the mission is. I have heard the name Black Mesa Facility thrown around a lot, but I have no information about the place. The rumors are that some top-secret research is going on there. Doesn't sound too exciting to me... |
| The rumor has been confirmed. We are being trained for a mission at the Black Mesa Facility. All I know is that the place is being used by scientists who are doing some kind of new research. I can't imagine what we would be needed for. We were told today to be ready in case it happens tomorrow. I don't know what 'it' is, but the whole thing is a little strange. I kind of hope it doesn't happen; the mission doesn't seem to have much excitement potential. I'd rather hold out for something with more likelihood of combat. |
That was it for Adrian Shephard’s diary. And he got what he wishes for in which he gets to exit from his boring military base in Santego and will be assigned to Black Mesa research facility for a mission. Still unfortunately for Adrian, such mission is not enough for him as he thinks Black Mesa will not be his type of adventurous mission he seek for. Adrian wants something more deadly and more combat, not visiting some scientific facility according to him. He probably does not like science, who knows.
So as we can see from these entries, there are already characters being built for this silent protagonist: a young marine who wants to try out something adventurous and not living in his boring peaceful life. He does not mind dying if something bad happens to him. That is Adrian Shephard, a tank minded brick man. I do not really get why detractors keep saying Adrian has no specific character to start with. Do these anti-Shephard fans ever read his diary in the game instruction manual before concluding about the importance of Shephard?
One must keep in mind that these entries wrote by Adrian took place before the Black Mesa incident known as Resonance Cascade. It also occur as he was under advance training program, whom his drill instructor Barnes said Adrian was mysteriously bumped up to the top of the list. It is unknown why it happened, but probably it could be G-Man himself who arranged it for him as he show some interest on Adrian compare with Gordon Freeman, believing Adrian has somewhat great potential skill to achieve his personal agenda.
This leads to my next point. The G-Man did not show any interests on Gordon Freeman in the beginning. G-Man started watching Gordon only after the Black Mesa incident and notices him trying to fight through all the way to Lambda complex. On the other hand, the same G-Man has been showing great interest on Adrian Shephard a lot from the start long before the incident. This should explain why Gordon was being “offered” to work for G-Man, but in Adrian case he was being “detained”.
If these are the cases, then it cannot deny the fact that like Gordon, Adrian will serve as someone very important in the future HL universe after Black Mesa. So putting aside that canon or non-canon nonsense debate (which I will explain this later), I fail to see why Adrian cannot be fit into HL2 universe.
| The G-Man talking to an officer while watching Adrian Shephard training in Santego boot camp. |
Welcome to Black Mesa
This is it. After waiting for so long sitting at the boot camp, finally our young protagonist got his wish granted to travel for a mission. So Adrian sat on his V-22 Osprey helicopter designated “Goose Seven” while flying on the way to reach Black Mesa facility. He was silent, but in deep heart slowly gets excited. He was accompanied by his Marine peers such as Tower and Jackson. All those Marines were never given orders, which lead to both Adrian and his comrades curious about what sorts of mission they will be participate. One even jokingly wondered if their assigned mission will be just another baby-sitting job.
Suddenly, unknown alien flying objects went past through the Ospreys, taking down one of them. As their commander was about to give an important mission for Adrian and his team, their helicopter got attacked right before he could do so. The commander did not finish his sentence and jump off the helicopter. The Osprey was later shot down and Adrian knocked out unconsciously. When he vividly wakes up, he was in the middle of battle between surviving HECUs and Xenian aliens. The mortar struck at Adrian and he went unconscious again.
Adrian finally wakes up at Black Mesa hours later and first encounter the scientist. The scientist says he saved Adrian but unfortunately not for his peers. The scientist and the fat security guard were nice to him, telling Adrian where to get the radio to signal for help and to suit up his Powered Combat Vest (HECU equivalent of HEV) before going outside.
For original Half-Life fans, I am sure you guys would have thought Adrian was supposed to kill the scientists and security guards as part of cleanup operations just as Gordon was dealing the HECUs in the original series. As mentioned, he was never ordered to kill them. Therefore, Adrian is unaware and ignorant of what he was meant to be, a supposedly bad guy in the making.
However, notice that the scientist and security guard first encountered by Adrian also did not show any hostility either. The fat guard said he heard rumors that the marines are not being here to rescue them, but the guard decided to let go of Adrian because he did not encounter any hostile troops, and neither from Adrian himself too. Adrian thought that the marines were sent here for rescue operation. But Adrian does not know what the guard is talking about, so he will have to get confirmation on his orders from the military via radio. Since both sides have no idea what happened, Adrian and the fat security guard temporarily became good friends when in reality they are not supposed to be if obeying the original HL series black vs white situation.
This tells one important point: not all Black Mesa personnel saw HECU as a threat and for certainly not all HECU members wanted to kill innocent civilians. In Half-Life, it is about black vs white with the security guards and scientists being good guys while HECU are bad guys. In Opposing Force, there are grey areas which shows that not all HECU are bad people. And this is one reason why I like the Adrian Shephard character more than Gordon Freeman, because he is only among “bad guys” who turns out to be not bad person.
This is the uniqueness of Adrian where you can find something “good” from the bad people, something what Gordon, Barney, or Alyx does not uniquely have.
Along the way, Adrian obtained his first weapon which is the pipe wrench. It would be his symbolic melee weapon equivalent to Gordon Freeman’s crowbar. The difference is that the pipe wrench is more powerful. Later, he reached for the radio and finally got his clarification on his orders. However, instead of expecting orders regarding rescuing or killing civilians, his first order received was to pull out from Black Mesa. Adrian was unsure why the military issued such orders after having arrived at the facility recently, but he still complied with it anyway since noticing he got ambushed by aliens.
| Adrian Shephard (right) with his pipe wrench, the equivalent of crowbar carried by Gordon Freeman (left). |
Isolated from getting surrounded by alien invaders, Adrian makes his way through inside Black Mesa facility alone without getting help from his peers who are all dead. He managed to go past through dangerous routes. Until at one point Adrian finds himself trapped in a collapsing room, with toxic waste quickly filling the room. There was no way out. Adrian was going to die as he felt hopeless to save himself.
Suddenly, the G-Man appears and observes Adrian. Only until the very last moment, G-Man finally intervened and opens the locked door to allow him into safety. Adrian tries to look for G-Man in a bid to thank him, but the mysterious government guy vanishes.
So if it wasn’t for G-Man, Adrian would be history long ago. Once again, more proof that G-Man really took great importance on this young protagonist unlike Gordon, hence the reason why he directly rescued Adrian.
| Adrian Shephard inside the collapsing room which later will be filled up by toxic waste. Yes, that’s the unmasked Adrian. |
Shephard’s escape and detentionBut G-Man rescuing Adrian has a payment. When Adrian finally arrives at the extraction point and was about to board the Osprey, the G-Man appears again and this time closes the silo door, thus preventing Adrian from catching the last Osprey. Left stranded alone again, Adrian was forced to leave the facility by other means and went through parts of the facilities not seen in the original HL series, dealing with Xenian and Race X aliens as well as the Black Ops who wants to kill the HECU for failing to cleanup the messes in Black Mesa. After all, G-Man would want to test more on Adrian’s adventurous skill to survive the journey.
Despite risking his life while facing many unknown dangers that awaiting him, Adrian has proven that he managed to adapt to the strange environments alone and survived throughout the journey at all odds. The Race X aliens was more powerful than Xenians, but Adrian managed to kill most of them. He has defeated the Gene Worm, the final boss of Race X. The Gene Worm could be more deadly and evil than Nihilanth because they have the ability to terraform Earth and kill every non-Race X living things on sight. Adrian however stopped this.
From being the military faction that notoriously known as bad people, Adrian has proven to be the only soldier who shows mercy and humanity to civilians. The scientists were afraid after seeing him arrive, but Adrian did not kill them. The security guard at World’s Collide chapter even called Adrian a “good guy” after battling Race X and Black Ops. What is more, Adrian even took the trouble to disarm the nuclear device planted by Black Ops which would have annihilate the entire Black Mesa research facility and kill everyone inside, although G-Man was revealed to have reactivated the bomb again.
It should be reminded that by the time Race X was on the verge of defeat, Adrian was the last hero to remain at Black Mesa when others such as Gordon Freeman (went to Xen for Nihilanth), Barney Calhoun (escaped from Black Mesa), Alyx Vance (brought out by G-Man), and Gina Cross (died at Xen) were no longer there. Imagine the feeling when you are alone and be the last person to make out alive on this hellhole!
The G-Man finally teleported Adrian to safe zone after Gene Worm was killed. He first explained that the nuclear destruction had to take place as Black Mesa was the biggest embarrassment to whatever happened down there. It is important to note that Adrian is the only surviving witness who saw the facility gets destroyed while other characters in HL universe does not know what happened to Black Mesa.
G-Man later told Adrian that contrary to his employer’s original wishes, Adrian is to be spared, but detained. The G-Man says that he has been impressed by Adrian’s ability to “adapt and survive against all odds” in the Black Mesa facility, and comments that these are traits which remind him of himself. He finally justified this by saying Adrian has to stay in order to be prevented from telling the world what happened. G-Man left the stasis, and this is when Adrian got remanded there and the world has never heard of him since then.
16 years later, Adrian Shephard remains one of the most popular Half-Life protagonist after Gordon Freeman, Alyx Vance, Barney Calhoun, and G-Man. Although Adrian so far has not made any presence in Half-Life 2, millions of fans wants him back on HL2 universe, believing he will be able to serve on humanity side once again. He was so popular such that even Valve developers such as Gabe Newell and Doug Lombardi themselves admitted they are Adrian fans and that he resonated them well. There are hints that Adrian will return one day, but we do not know when he would.
Fate of the ShephardWe know briefly about this lost unsung hero Adrian Shephard’s background and his character. We know that Adrian is a young adult who wanted to try something adventurous out of his lifetime. He got what he wished for, except that he came at the very wrong place and wrong time. Adrian realizes how naive he got after going through many dark paths. Despite this, he was resilient, smarter and more morally aware than most of the HECU grunts in his unit; one who sometimes gets overwhelmed by the chain of events around him; but at the same time one who knows when duty calls and knows how to adapt and find a way out of seemingly hopeless situation.
Now of course we cannot conclude if he is truly a good guy despite his actions in Black Mesa, but one thing for sure being a bad guy is out of the question. He was a badass brick character and no surprise many fans wanted his return.
So back to the most popular question: will Adrian Shephard return to Half-Life 2 universe, let alone Half-Life 3 in future?
Shephard and Opposing Force canonicity
Many fans, especially those from orthodox Half-Life fan communities dismissed his return as stating that he is non-canon. Fans citing Marc Laidlaw quote:
“Thanks for your letter. Adrian Shepard is a bit like Schrodinger’s cat he’s neither canon nor non-canon, depending on whether or not the G-Man may or may not have a use for him.”
While it does sounds like Laidlaw truly says Adrian presence in Opposing Force should not concern with the original HL series, which I partly agree to this, this is never to say Adrian is completely non-canon. First of all, Laidlaw language on answering the fans question regarding HL plot was purportedly ambiguous. If you read Marc Laidlaw Vault as I have posted the link on his Adrian quote above, one will notice that he simply refuses to answer the questions in details, but rather let the communities think about it themselves. The reason is simple: Laidlaw does not wants to become a complete spoiler of the game. It is not his interests to spoil the mysterious atmosphere of the game plot.
Secondly, Laidlaw also stated that the canon and non-canon things are fans concept and that Valve has no official stance on it:
“The whole issue of canon is something the fans came up with. I guess you will be able to identify as canon those story elements we continue to build on and develop and mention repeatedly as the story progresses. Others might fall by the wayside once they’ve served their purpose. Couldn’t you say the same of us all?”
I agree with Laidlaw on this. This is what many HL fans do not seem to understand: the correct way to judge the canonicity of HL game plot should be based on what we have learned and seen from each series we played and not relying on the game company’s stance. If we get all answers from Valve itself regarding the game plot, would that not spoils the game atmosphere over the stories we followed?
My definition of canonicity is like this: that aside from series officially developed by Valve and not based on cut materials, it should be based on whether the story contradicts each other series or not. From what we have seen, the HL expansion series Opposing Force and Blue Shift did not contradicts the original Gordon Freeman HL series.
Some said Race X are non-canon because of what Laidlaw saying it is “purely Gearbox creation”, but then again it does not imply that they are non-canon just because it does not appear in HL2. The bullsquids, alien grunts, and houndeyes also did not make any presence in HL2 too, so do we consider them as non-canon too? Of course not. You would just say they were from “canon Half-Life”.
I could argue the same for Race X. Instead of dismissing them as non-canon, my stance is that I consider Race X as canon; but that they have been exterminated by nuclear blast which closes down their only life source portal in Black Mesa. The reason we do not see them appear in Half-Life is because Race X came late after Gordon Freeman enters Xen. We do not see them appear in Xen because they are not natives there and they cannot thrive at Xen environment. The Race X story was retconned from Half-Life later chapters. In fact, this YouTube user BigMacDavis sums up very good explanation on Race X background and their motivation:
Race X in general were opportunist alien creatures from another dimension taking advantage of Resonance Cascade effect to establish their foothold on Earth in an attempt to terraform this planet. But thanks to the nuclear blast and death of Gene Worm and Nihilanth, it shuts off the portal and kills every Race X creatures teleported inside it, sealing off possibility of Race X teleporting to Earth. This is how you explain why they do not appear in HL2, not just by dismissing their unexplained non-existence as being non-canon as many lazy fans do.
Most community fans reached a rather ambiguous consensus that Opposing Force and Blue Shift are considered “canon unless stated otherwise”. But I will go further into this: I consider both expansion series as well as Decay as fully canon series as they are since they never contradicts the original Half-Life and Half-Life 2 timeline. However, I would not consider Uplink, Lost Coast, and all Mod games as canon because they are not officially sanctioned by Valve. I do not consider any fan-made or cancelled materials as canon, if that is how I define it this way.
Who owns Adrian Shephard?
Okay. So now we have same fans assumed that since Adrian Shephard and Opposing Force were created by Gearbox Software, hence Gearbox owns the right of this character and not Valve. But this is not entirely true. In an e-mail, Gabe Newell answers that Adrian is owned by Valve despite Gearbox creation:
Okay. So now we have same fans assumed that since Adrian Shephard and Opposing Force were created by Gearbox Software, hence Gearbox owns the right of this character and not Valve. But this is not entirely true. In an e-mail, Gabe Newell answers that Adrian is owned by Valve despite Gearbox creation:
| Valve Corporation founder Gabe Newell answering question about who owns Adrian Shephard character. |
Race X Half Life
Ironically, Gabe also admitted in the same email that he is also an Adrian fan himself. To further prove his loyalty to Adrian Shephard character, Gabe in 2006 later replied another fan email that he is “sure we‘ll get back to him one of these days”.
If you want further comments from Valve employees, we have Valve developer Doug Lombardi who says:
What is more, Valve recently just approved a fan made Opposing Force sequel called Prospekt, which stars Adrian Shephard in Nova Prospekt in HL2. Personally, I did not like it a bit and treat the game more or less the Adrian version of unofficial HL2’s Lost Coast, a cut material where it would not fit into the future main plot. I would rather wait for an official Adrian Shephard sequel. Call it “Opposing Force 2” if you like, although I think such aforementioned title would not be used if a sequel is released. I do like the idea that Prospekt should take place at same time as Gordon Freeman HL2 series but from different vantage point, which is precisely what OpFor stands for. The developer could have make it better though.
The main point is, Valve owns the right of Adrian Shephard character just as they owns Gordon Freeman and Barney Calhoun. If they owns Adrian, then Otis Laurey would be owned by Valve too. Contrary to popular belief, the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansion series were JOINTLY developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation. In the end, Valve owns everything what Gearbox has created. Valve originally wanted to create expansion series but they could not do it because they are preparing for sequel at that time, which would be Half-Life 2. So they let Randy Pitchford to handle the expansion series.
That is it for today. Now that we have cleared up the status of Adrian Shephard and we all know that our unsung hero will return in a matter of time, we will soon discuss his possible return, where he will return and why he will be brought back. Unfortunately, I cannot continue now because my post is getting too long. Therefore, we shall proceed again in my next and final post. Have a nice day, my followers. Stay tuned and do not go away.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
If you want further comments from Valve employees, we have Valve developer Doug Lombardi who says:
“There’s a lot of interest in Adrian Shephard. There’s nothing being built today, there’s no secret Adrian Shephard project going on right now, but that’s not to say we won’t ever come back and tell another Shephard story. He resonated with players really, really well. When we heard the pitch for Opposing Force, he resonated with us too. So we'll see.”
What is more, Valve recently just approved a fan made Opposing Force sequel called Prospekt, which stars Adrian Shephard in Nova Prospekt in HL2. Personally, I did not like it a bit and treat the game more or less the Adrian version of unofficial HL2’s Lost Coast, a cut material where it would not fit into the future main plot. I would rather wait for an official Adrian Shephard sequel. Call it “Opposing Force 2” if you like, although I think such aforementioned title would not be used if a sequel is released. I do like the idea that Prospekt should take place at same time as Gordon Freeman HL2 series but from different vantage point, which is precisely what OpFor stands for. The developer could have make it better though.
The main point is, Valve owns the right of Adrian Shephard character just as they owns Gordon Freeman and Barney Calhoun. If they owns Adrian, then Otis Laurey would be owned by Valve too. Contrary to popular belief, the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansion series were JOINTLY developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation. In the end, Valve owns everything what Gearbox has created. Valve originally wanted to create expansion series but they could not do it because they are preparing for sequel at that time, which would be Half-Life 2. So they let Randy Pitchford to handle the expansion series.
That is it for today. Now that we have cleared up the status of Adrian Shephard and we all know that our unsung hero will return in a matter of time, we will soon discuss his possible return, where he will return and why he will be brought back. Unfortunately, I cannot continue now because my post is getting too long. Therefore, we shall proceed again in my next and final post. Have a nice day, my followers. Stay tuned and do not go away.
(TO BE CONTINUED)