In the "Something Here Seems Vaguely Familiar" department, our story begins thus:
You are Barney Calhoun, a security officer at the Black Mesa Research Facility. You find yourself on a tram ride on the way to the security station. Just a typical day in the typical life of a typical security guard in a top-secret government research facility. Nothing unusual here. Oops, the door’s locked. Gee ... there goes that Dr. Freeman guy. He sure is a nice man. You’ll have to remember to say "Good Morning" to him later.
The door opens, and all of the other security guards there keep telling you what a long day its going to be - what with all of the systems going down and such. You get into your helmet and vest, and get your first assignment: see what you can do about a broken lift. Seems like a good brainteaser for a security guard, so off you go.
No, thats not "Silly String"...
On the way, you encounter several unbelievably rude scientists - not like that nice fellow Gordon Freeman. That’s ok, they’ll be singing a different tune when the shit hits the fan - which is right about the time when you press that elevator button and "something goes horribly wrong". (Hmmm ... pressing the button makes the elevator "go" - amazing thing, that, you know-it-all scientists.) A portal opens to an alien world and causes all hell to break loose at Black Mesa.
And so begins your quest: to get out of the alien-ridden facility with your butt in one piece. Also, you have to find the only new character in the story - Dr. Rosenberg. (Any relation to the Rosenberg’s who were tried as spies for selling the secret of the atomic bomb? Hmmm ... quite possibly. You never know.)
Ok, let’s face it - there really is nothing new, story-wise. It’s more of a sub-plot to the original HL than a story in and of itself. It would have been more engaging if we actually learned more about the Black Mesa incident from a new perspective: a little more interaction with Gordon Freeman, maybe; some more info about the mysterious G-Man perhaps. Half-Life’s strongest suit without a doubt was its immersive story - OP4 excels at this as well. With HLBS, I found myself more often than not just trying to get to the next area to see if there was anything cooler there. I was not really engrossed in the story like I had been in the previous two sagas.