Released in June 2001, Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion to the critically acclaimed Half-Life, where you assume the role of Barney Calhoun as he tries to escape Black Mesa. Originally slated to be released for the Sega Dreamcast, it was instead converted to a standalone PC game when Sega discontinued the Dreamcast. However, many HL fans were disappointed by the lack of extra material in this game when compared to the other expansion, Half-Life: Opposing Force, leading some to dub this game "Blue ****".
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Best time: Hard mode 0:32:18 by Jerry Yu, done in 27 segments appended to one file. RAR file containing demos also available.
Author's comments:
This is my first and likely last non-TAS speedrun, since I have a hectic school schedule. The game is Half-Life: Blue Shift, one of the expansions for Half-Life, the other being Opposing Force. Since both Half-Life and Opposing Force already have runs, this completes the triumvirate. I used the Steam version of Blue Shift, with no scripts.
I made this segment so that I wouldn't have to listen to Barney's speech over and over. I sprayed the wall for fun, it's a habit of mine to do that when things are dull.
Possible improvements: None that I know of, unless there is some way to make Barney open the door earlier.
I jump over the railing so I don't have to go around the stairs. It's necessary to pick up the vest and armor because Barney (imagine that, a whole crowd of Barneys in this place) doesn't let you through if you don't. At 1:41 I shoot out a window and jump to the other side to save a trip downstairs.
Possible improvements: Use the pistol's secondary function to break the window quicker, but it is less accurate.
I jump and air-strafe to the lower level to skip using the ladder. The long elevator sequence was annoying because the elevator often got stuck due to a glitch, which would damage me and kill the scientist, which instantly failed the game.
Possible improvements: Use a barrel for a speed boost down the dark hallway.
The start of this segment is normally blacked out, but since I made a new segment it shows up in light. I shot the switch to open the door, and used the chair to go over the gate.
Possible improvements: Bunnyhop from the table to the chair and then over the gate all in one smooth motion.
I made this segment short because of the difficulty of the jump to the other side. In order to build up enough speed, I followed a very specific bunnyhop pattern beginning at the tram. When the alien slave spawns, I crowbar him to delay his attack animation.
Possible improvements: A shorter bunnyhop pattern to get to the other side?
I was rather lucky to lower the cranes without being attacked by the houndeyes. When I bunnyhop to the ladder, I have to be careful not to go where the slave spawns because it means instant death.
Possible improvements: The second crane doesn't have to be lowered that much, I think.
When bunnyhopping to the control room, I crouched to avoid the gas pipe. The jump across the canal saves over a minute and skips activating the power, but it also skips the shotgun.
Possible improvements: Start the jump across the canal earlier.
After the jump, I get to fight three slaves with just a pistol and a crowbar. Fun fun. Anyhow, I wait until they fire and then crowbar one to stop his attack, and quickly push the explosives down.
Possible improvements: Instead of hiding behind the box, just run forward and shoot the slaves with the pistol to break their attack animation.
I shoot the lock with the magnum instead of crowbarring it to save a few seconds. Later I found out that shooting the barrels also breaks the lock, but oh well.
Possible improvements: Better bunnyhopping.
This segment was uncomfortable to run because the cramped tunnels really limit my bunnyhopping. I lure out the bullsquid and then jump over him, saving me both ammo and health.
Possible improvements: More aggressive bunnyhopping, and it might be possible to jump over the bullsquid without luring him out.
I think it's safe to say this segment destroyed my mousewheel. It's actually possible to bunnyhop faster but the electric rod near the end damages you if you arrive too early.
Possible improvements: With uncapped bunnyhopping speed (which the Steam version of Blue Shift does not have) it may be possible to go so fast that you get to the electric rod before it shoots out sparks, instead of after, like I did in this segment.
I shot the barrel to spawn the slave and then waited behind a wall to manipulate him to come closer, then used him as a platform to reach the vent.
Possible improvements: Jumping on the slave's head as soon as he spawns instead of waiting to make him come closer, however I have tried every jump angle and is not sure if it is doable.
I move close to the headcrab and then move back, so he jumps and becomes an easy target. Shooting the scientist skips an otherwise lengthy speech.
Possible improvements: It's not necessary to kill the second headcrab, use 1 magnum headshot to kill each marine attacking the scientist.
I chose to magnum the guards from afar because they surely would have destroyed me if I tried a head-on blitz. I use the mp5 grenade on the guard in the window, so by the time I get there his body can't block me.
Possible improvements: Attempt a head-on blitz and hope you get really, really lucky.
I get the satchel so I can kill a large pack of marines later. The reason I strafe close to the train is because it triggers the next door to open.
Possible improvements: Skip the satchel and use mp5 grenades later on.
This segment was annoying because it seemed like the marines had a varying amount of health every time. It is not necessary to break the two wooden supports closest to the train.
Possible improvements: Use mp5 grenades on some of the guards instead of the shotgun/magnum combo.
I use an mp5 grenade on the boxes to uncover two health packs, and then strafe over the railing to avoid going around.
Possible improvements: Only pick up 1 health pack, the shotgun may be faster at destroying the air tanks.
I killed the shotgun-wielding marine because it was too risky to leave him 5 feet away from me while I'm activating the switch. After the train moved into place, I "used" Dr.Rosenburg on the other side of the wall to get him to start his speech without having to go inside the train.
Possible improvements: Skip killing the first marine.
Since I can't skip Rosenburg's speech, I just get some ammo and health. I turned around in the hallway to check on Rosenburg, since he always seems to get stuck in a corner. Once he gets to the labs, I'm stuck in a very long scripted sequence. Unlike in Half-Life, where shooting a scientist or throwing a grenade at him can scare him into opening doors early, Rosenburg doesn't flinch when a grenade is tossed within two inches of him, and if he gets hit the game automatically ends (even if he doesn't die). I got myself wedged in the teleporter just for fun.
Possible improvements: Some way to make Rosenburg open the portal earlier?
I use a mortar boost to skip the stairs, and I shoot the plant thingy to make him attack, then run right past him. In the tunnel, I use wall-strafing to go faster. This doesn't work in all tunnels because of differing angles.
Possible improvements: Find more places to wall-strafe.
I go to the left to avoid being hit by the plant thingy.
Possible improvements: Throw a grenade so that it activate the plant thingy's attack animation, then quickly swim up and get on land before it can attack.
At 21:16 I used a grenade boost to get over the gap, skipping a scripted sequence that creates a bridge.
Possible improvements: With uncapped b-hopping speed it is possible to do a mortar boost near the beginning of the segment and carry the speed all the way to the hole.
I use a grenade boost to skip going in a tunnel to the river. The alien jump pad was weird in that if I jumped into it coming off a previous jump, it won't send me high enough, but if I ran and jumped into it, it did.
Possible improvements: Do the grenade jump and air-strafe into the river instead of manually lining myself up for the boost.
After activating the power, I collect some ammo during spare time. When I went into the tunnel, I lured the slave out, laughed as it got buried by a rockslide, then picked up a health pack for good measure. The reason I didn't jump on the rocks earlier is because even though they don't show up on the screen, there are still rocks falling down that can kill me.
Possible improvements: Activate the right switch first, and then the left.
I fire the mp5 grenade at the slave to kill it, and to distract the one to the left of me while I blast the one in the middle. After killing the bullsquid, I gib it and the scientist for fun.
Possible improvements: Use mp5 grenades on the bullsquid.
At 25:40 I use a mortar boost to reach the second floor, which skips activating the power generators.
Possible improvements: Better b-hopping.
This segment was really frustrating because the power cell is unpredictable when you try to move it fast. At 30:54 I jumped and missed the ladder, costing about a second. A funny thing that can happen in this part is to die as you jump into the portal; you'll still complete the game, but the ending scripted sequences will play out with you in the "death stance," that is, lying sideways on the ground.
Possible improvements: Get the power cell in the charging station faster, not missing the ladder on the jump.
Enjoy the run. If you have any more questions, IM me at the SDA forums, where I go by the nickname laughing_gas.
Best time: Hard mode 0:27:39 by Maciej Maselewski, done in 70 segments appended to one file. RAR file containing demos also available.
Author's comments:
Although it seems like you could squeeze through the still-opening tram door just fine, it's impossible. There's an invisible wall which disappears after some frames, after the steps have fully extended. Wallstrafing then jumping out of the tram is a few frames faster than just running. After talking to a Barney clone, I jump out of the room in a particular angle because of how the left corridor wall is placed. The next bhing sequence is harder than it looks. The 180 turn is what makes it hard, it has to be done really smoothly. Notice how I'm pixels away from touching a wall in nearly all phases of the turn and I still loose a lot of speed (don't let the fact that I actually did touch the cabinet while grabbing the vest fool you, you don't loose any noticable speed from touching something at this angle). The U turn while grabbing my gear is also the reason why I don't start accelerating while Barney's clone is still talking, it's impossible to nail the turn at higher speeds without stopping completely. I planned on getting out of the elevator in a straight line, but I couldn't get it faster than/as fast as this attempt. You can't hear or see the glock pick-up because there's a segment split there. Bla bla bla. In the underground part I use one of the barrels to boost myself through the corridor. I couldn't find a way to do it any faster without positioning anything due to crappy placement of everything in there. At the part where you see g-man it's possible to start accelerating before the gates open and bh right under them. I didn't take advantage of that because: a) it doesn't save enough time to even consider an extra segment, b) I won't try to fit it into an already hard segment, c) maybe I'm just lazy and looking for an excuse not to waste 10 more hours on encoding the damn video, not to mention the time wasted to complete such segment. The rest of this chapter is pretty boring so either fast forward or watch me rape some scientists.
Bh, murder some boxes, shoot the box thingie, bh to the door, do one of the hardest bhing sequences in the game, press switch, blabla, bh some more, stop bhing, start bhing. Now, here's one of my favourite tricks in the run. In order to get the hound to turn around quicker, I take a step to the left after it sees me, which is good because I have to push the little box to the left anyway. If I would leave the box in its original position the hound would fail to jump up on the box, it would fall in front of it instead. After getting up on the big box it's easy to get on the ladder with a single jump, without using the cranes. Everything up until the explosive box is self explanatory. As for the box itself, it's used to get rid of a kill trigger at the spinning wheels or whatever they are. The trigger disappears when the box explodes. The explosion is why I pushed the box on the right side, it can still damage you (pretty hard).
I grab some explosives from the truck at the surface. When falling into the canals there's a trigger forcing you to grab the ladder and it's big enough to make you do it at least twice. What can I say about the canals... Well, there's some bhing... Oh and I used a slope to "surf" faster at the underwater valve part. As for the first two marines: there's an invisible box surrounding them, they can't be damaged until they start turning around. After killing the first one, I don't rush to the door immediately because you can't turn off weapon auto switching in 1.0.0.1 (he drops a weapon, get it?). I kill the scientist to skip his speech and the door behind me opens up instantly. In order to force the marine to get out of my way I have to position myself behind a wall for a sec so that he can't see me, that's why I grab the medkits so slow. A couple of seconds later you can see the first reason why I got those explosives from the truck. After some corridors I use two grenades to scare off the marines. The next freight yard is another reason for the truck explosives. Here, basically you have to kill all the guys before destroying the wooden stakes, or else they'll hide away from you (and if you won't kill them, the big door won't open). I fight the last guy the way I do because I have to control my health at this point. After triggering the scientist, I bh to the point where you have to fire some air canisters. I take advantage of a sloped spot on the broken door to get up on the wagon. Flip some switches, kill marines, trigger Rosenberg outside the wagon, gather supplies while the doc is speaking, kill some marines while standing at the wagon door in order to trigger Rosenberg for the last time asap. From this point there's not much to this chapter. I throw grenades at Rosenberg a couple of times to either skip his speech or to make him not stop while making a 90 degree turn. Also, at the first staircase it's important that the guy gets hit by the nade's splash damage a while after he starts running again. If you fail to do so, he'll run into the room and you won't be able to make him follow you until some seconds have passed. Also it's necessary to "use" him at least three times while he's still on the staircase, not just once, or else he won't follow.
In the tunnels, it's possible to "surf" down the sloped walls. Wallstrafing there is a little bit tricky due to some points where you'll just get stuck. It's not a problem anymore when you learn where those points are (not random). At the point where I get out of the water, I show myself at the surface and then dive again before going out. I do it to get rid of the headcrab waiting on solid ground. At the waterfalls you might think that at one point I jumped in mid air. That is kind of true because the wall extent under me is invisible. Before entering the area with the control panel, I hit the sloped wall and crouch jump so that I fall a little bit sooner than doing a regular bhop (the speed at this point doesn't matter). The kill trigger at the room with the falling ceiling disappears nearly a full second after the stones have hit the ground, that's why I start jumping so late. On my way to the teleporter I kill most slaves, preventing unavoidable damage. I only take advantage of being damaged once to get a nice boost. At the lab I scare off the doc with a nade so that he ends up near the switch before finishing his speech. It's possible to start accelerating and bh under the door before the elevator but I didn't take advantage of that for the same reasons why I didn't do the same in the first chapter.
There's one tricky part I'd like to explain. After triggering the barney-fights-some-slaves scene, I throw two grenades at the door. What do I achieve with this? Well, the second grenade pushes the first one through the door, getting rid of the marines on the other side (cheers, slynk ;)). At the next bhing sequence I stop jumping after grabbing the medkit to give some time to the guy blocking my way to change his position so that I won't get stuck on him while jumping through the window. When I get to the room with the power charging stations, I shoot an invisible Barney clone to skip his speech and make his corpse disappear instantly, it blocks your way if you fail to do so or if you do it to late.
Not much to note here. When turning the valve you don't have to kill the hound with lightning fast mouse movements. The valve will stop turning after you stop using it for a full second or so, so I left this not-so-fast attempt be. If it isn't already obvious how I activate the last portal: if you're close enough, you can press switches through walls in half-life games. The devs did a shitty job putting an invisible wall there, preventing you to do so.
It would be appropriate to thank all the people who contributed the not-so-obvious tricks for blue shit and HL in general, the people who pointed out flaws in my run, the people who wanted to see a decent blue shit run and the people who run this wonderful site. I can't remember any names right now, but you all know who you are. I'll end these comments with a list of scripts that were used to achieve this run.
//WAIT alias w wait
//BUNNYHOPPING alias +bhop "+jump;w;-jump;w;+jump;w;-jump;w;+jump;w;-jump;w;+jump;w;-jump;w;+jump" alias -bhop -jump
//OBJECT BOOSTING alias usetrick "+use;w;w;w;w;w;w;-use;+jump;w;-jump"
//OPTIMAL OBJECT PUSH TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT alias usetrick100 "-forward;-moveright;-moveleft;+moveright;+use;w;w;w;w;w;-use;-moveright" alias usetrick200 "-forward;-moveright;-moveleft;+moveleft;+use;w;w;w;w;w;-use;-moveleft"
// TRIPLE USE alias tripleuse "+use;w;-use;w;w;w;+use;w;-use;w;w;w;+use;w;-use"
// ASSAULT RIFLE BOOST alias arboost "sensitivity 0;cl_pitchspeed 22500;+lookdown;+duck;w;+attack2;w;-lookdown;cl_pitchspeed 225;force_centerview;sensitivity 15;-attack2;w;w;w;+jump;w;-jump;-duck"