Reviews - 23-down

This Review is written for the Escape V2.0 release of March 2024.

What can I say. It has been a nice journey back into my early 20s being able to play this mod in a very fresh and polished fashion.

Just like with the original releases of Escape 1 & 2, we're getting a very fast paced Action mod that actually feels like an official AddOn instead just a mere simple mod and it follows the Events of Half-Life closely.

The mapping was enhanced on such a well polished level that I was sometimes truly astonished how well everything was constructed and looked. Everything was fitting perfectly together. While some map sections unfortunately were kicked out of the remastered version others were thankfully added into their place instead. We get to visit Xen as new place for instance which wasn't part of the original Escape 2 mod.

Pro:
+Fast Action orientated mod

+Numerous puzzles throughout the mod

+Custom Voice Acting and fine npc scripts in place

+Wonderful & logical designed maps with some fantastic architecture in place

+Xen with a clear inspiration taken from Black Mesa Pc game

+A New mod ending (perhaps an indication for a new mod sequel at some point?)

+In general fantastic npc scripting

+long playtime guaranteed

Contra:
-Often an overuse of Alien Slaves. You seem to fight them more than anything else in this mod. Where are the snarks, the Assassins etc?

-Sometimes not so well balanced regarding ammo or health, enemy spawns but not utterly unfair either. You will have to play smart for a change.

-In the later maps the Facility feels devoid of life when it comes down to your fellow BMRF colleagues, sad as they provide many additional npc scripting possibilities.

-Contains some UI sprite bug. It appears as if you're wearing a Hev_Suit with a flashlight. How ever in this mod you actually go entirely without any flashlight. It was confusing at first and requires some fixing.

Go play it people. This is a masterpiece!

Dr.T released a wonderful and masterfully executed mod with plenty of npc scripts in use. That and fantastic re-pitched alert sounds provide a wonderful atmosphere within the mod. But it won't end here. The whole mod comes with tons of new textures which may for some be a down turn seeing how this plays at Black Mesa.

But fear not. Vanilla assets are well mixed with the new textures and you won't have any trouble accepting the world you've been thrown into. That being said it does play in a secret facility within Black Mesa and much like the XEN Teleportation Lambda had, was classified and information only known to those involved with the project.

Story: The Storyline is simple and unfortunately somewhat short: The Resonance Cascade occurred and it is up to us to rush to our super computer to retrieve vital data which must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands as that would bring larger implications with it. Must be super important if Aliens are considered less threatening than the idea of the data getting into the wrong hands. :)

Pro:

- Brilliant new textures in usage.

- Fantastic Npc scripts in the earlier mod maps. (The World feels alive)

- Clever thought out puzzles and even some minor secret areas. (providing you with extra health mostly)

- Fantastic level design and architecture. (A true masterpiece that can easily compete on it's own with mods such as (The Core, Crossfire, Field Intensity, Caged or Echoes just to name a few. At the very least on indoor maps that is.)

Contra:

- Throughout the mod we get only 5 weapons (Crowbar, pistol, shotgun, mp5/m4, at the very end the Magnum too) pity.

- Some minor visual bugs here and there. Dead Npcs appear out of thin air at level changes, some null textures on falling objects where you look into the object in a non intended way.

- Later on somewhat repetitive as you always encounter the same types of enemies over and over in a almost reoccurring chronological order. Sometimes it felt a little to much like copy pasting to me and things could've been mixed up little better and where were the Snarks and Barnacle or turrets even?

- The ending felt a little rushed. I would have wished for a proper outro map. Perhaps 1 showing a fight between Grunts and Aliens on the surface till the explosion occurs and then showing a before and after picture once the blast has passed.

All in all a wonderful mod and a well executed release. The mentioned contra points are minor really. The gameplay, the balance and the mapping are all top notch in this exceptional mod.

My congrats to the author and what are you waiting for people. Go and play it.

A lovely remaster of a classic.

Pro:

+Smooth gameplay.

+Some NPC scripts in use

+Lovely crafted environment.

Contra:

-Enemies waiting behind every corner. Some movement scripting could've enhanced it a bit more.

-Flat cliffs which ruined the immersion of another wise good looking environment.

-Sometimes enemies are like 10 meters apart from you but still don't appear to see you despite looking at you. Increase the map visibility settings in JACK and compile the maps anew and that should fix that issue.

Conclusion: While not perfect it was a neat little package that shouldn't take you longer than 10 to 15 minutes to beat. It's pretty much a map pack like they all were in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Go and play it if you feel for some nostalgia.

Played on version 1.3 released 17.08.2022.

I must say I didn't see much of a difference compared to the 2009 release. I suspect that some architecture was enhanced and few additional voice scenes added.

In my humble opinion not much has changed since the original release except that now we get proper English voice actors doing the Job compared to formerly Russian voice actors that recorded the lines in a very broken English all together.

But what is this mod all about anyway?

Half-Life Induction is a very well made fan tale that portrays how Gordon Freeman got first employed to the Black Mesa Research Facility prior to that very fateful day which led to the Resonance Cascade.

We get to meet Barney Calhoun and Eli Vance for the first time and learn more about Doctor Kleiner who sponsored our very entry as Freshmen of the MIT to become an employee of Black Mesa. He was his Professor at MIT. (Canon)

One would assume that a purely pre casecade scenario playing at Black Mesa might be boring. But in fact it's actually quite entertaining.

We get to witness the life decisions of one of the Black Mesa Employees as well as unlocking several new achievements which weren't present in the 2009 release.

All in all while very short (about 30 to 60 minutes) I did enjoy Half-Life Induction v1.3 quite a lot. If you do like lore Strong Half-Life mods being true to the official lore of the Half-Life1 timeline make sure to give Half-Life Induction a go. I did unlock 8 out of 10 possible achievements in this current release.

Everything worked as intended. The Architecture and mapping were fine. Since there was no combat I'm skipping the balancing Category. It's a purely Story intended mod. Similar to the very prominent Half-Life: Black Mesa - Hazard Course mod.

Go and give it a try people. It's a lovely made mod but purely a fan fiction with some elements thrown in that are actually canon. Don't take it to seriously but don't dismiss it either.

I enjoyed it and if you too enjoy peace for a while instead of pure combat in Black Mesa then this is the perfect mod for you.

I concur with Urby on this one.
It is a mod that literally came out of nowhere and it was a pleasant surprise at that. How ever the mod itself is not what you'd expect. 50% of it are reminiscent with a "Jump 'n run" game and while I felt this to be a refreshing factor it certainly wasn't the first mod of it's kind that attempted that.

Still the game play for the most path was smooth and there very some very lovely levels and machinery to look at. Never the less if you expect some sort of Story then look elsewhere.

The story goes like this: We must deliver some files to a certain client. Despite the Resonance Cascade we keep up our end of the bargain and deliver the files. It's unclear as to what happens to the player after delivery as that's also the end of the mod.

If you're a fan of "jump 'n run" and like using primarily the crossbow and Revolver or shotgun and rifle in Half-Life then you will most certainly have a lot of fun with this one.

Mapping: The mapping as pointed out before was rather good. Not groundbreaking in many maps but in some others more than acceptable to offer some nice visuals for the player.

Scripting: There are plenty of scripts used in this mod. But most affect only machinery and riddles. Pity due to the nature of this mod more scripted_sequences for Black Mesa employees would've been desired. It would've raised the atmosphere of this mod even more. Unfortunately we get to see most of these scripts only in the early stages of the mod.

I had my fun playing this little mod that offers a play time of roughly 1.5 hours. Play it when you're in the mood but keep your expectations in the mid range. It ain't bad it ain't spectacular either.

My congrats on this release to the mod author. It's always wonderful to get to play new Half-Life mods.

Be advised: I was Beta-Tester.

A brilliantly executed mod that knows to convince on so many levels. The amount of time given to this modification clearly shows. Expect to see many amazing maps that are well decorated and logically constructed all together, but it won't stop here: We will also get to explore familiar areas we've seen in the various official Hl1 titles such as Op4, BS and Decay itself. But also new places like a never before seen beautifully constructed XEN Environment that no other Hl1 mod before ever accomplished creating in such a manner.

Balancing wise is this mod so well balanced that you won't have any trouble accepting the world you've been thrown into. Everything fits just fine.

With an insane amount of 10 hours play time we also get to see plenty of new npcs that are adding up just nicely into the official Half-Life Lore.

Pro:

-Texts, PDA, Custom Voices
-Well balanced
-Well designed levels
-New NPCs
-10 hours play time
-Enhanced pathfinding
-Squad recruitment function
-Good story with a twist

Contra:

-On rare cases unclear where to go to next
-Not written in best English
-Sometimes a little barren especially during the earlier maps. But it gets a lot fresher later on.

Guys play it now. I'd like to thank the Hazard Team for sticking with their mod project for over 14 years of development time. That time and the love given clearly shows. Go and play it now people you won't regret it!

I assume that this is a 1st time release and it shows..

Many of the maps remind me of the late 99 modding styled maps.

Expect nothing fancy but just a series of connected tunnels and boxy rooms.

What is good that the mod offers plenty of ammo and health so I don't think even the weakest player should've any trouble winning in this mod.

What is good is that he uses lights, door buttons and so on. Most 1st time mods didn't even provide that but his did. That's a plus.

Other than that it's an average mod with nothing memorable in it.

I hope we will see more maps of the author as a basic talent is certainly present at this time.

With "The Infected" we're finally getting it's long awaited release. The release of a mod that's been under development - off and on for over 12 years. And let me tell you: The long wait certainly pays off.

The maps are wonderfully designed in every aspect and there are plenty things to look at, not surprising really due to a total amount of 28 maps to go on.

The mod is fairly well balanced and offers easily a playtime around two and half hours.

If I had a complaint about it then only that we barely get to encounter any HECU grunts which is odd as this seems to be playing during the early hours of the resonance cascade. But the quality of the maps and the well thought out puzzles easily compensate for that minor disturbance.

I'm glad that this mod has finally seen daylight and can gladly recommend it to every true Half-Life fan out there. Go and play it people!

Pro:

- Custom voices.
- Neat scripted npc sequences.
- Long play time.
- brilliant level design.

Contra:

- Black Ops en mass instead of HECU.
- Sometimes little barren regarding audio diversity and npc encounters.
- An ending that's rather abrupt out of the blue.

All in all a solid mod experience.

I must say that this is by far one of the best HL1 mods I've played in recent years.. In my personal opinion it's even superior to the previous mods "Operation Rosenberg" & "Escape from Area 99" of this author.

Pro:

+ Fantastic level design.

+ Fantastic gameplay, plenty of brilliantly executed scripts running. Your ears and eyes are mostly entertained.

+ Plenty of secrets and Easter eggs.

+ Well balanced mod experience.

+ Amazing storyline even though some things are off lore wise.

+ Plenty of custom voices and texts adding significantly towards the story line.

+ No Black Mesa this time, kinda refreshing actually.

+ Very long mod with 26 maps plus and several hours of game play.

+ Unique charm and plenty of amazing new ideas implemented.

Contra:

- Few story elements that ignore events of the Half-Life Lore but don't necessarily contradict it either. That's open for debate. Alien Slaves for example...

- Few maps were not so well polished which resulted in FPS drops.

- Several voices lines were recorded with a silly monotone sounding Computer voice. Still better than having no voice at all.

- Some sections throughout the mod were not so well balanced such as the end fight for instance.

- Sometimes it wasn't so clear on where to go to next but such cases were rather rare.

- Few texture glitches remaining here and there but nothing serious.

- Ugly Level transitions happening next to black walls. Something that needs time getting use to.

Conclusion: In general I can strongly and gladly recommend this mod to any true Half-Life1 fan out there. There were times I felt like I was playing "TheyHunger" as the design in some maps was very similar to that of the Classic TheyHunger mods. But that's actually a good thing and should give most of you an idea about the direction this mod is taking. Later on I felt like playing Point of View when exploring vast mine shafts.

So it can be said that this mod offers a stunning scenery change. Something that not to many Hl mods provided in the past. This just adds to it by not letting the mod appear repetitive in any way. And to be honest the author succeeded with that strategy.

Both game play wise + story wise does this mod know how to convince and it's more than a worthy successor to "Escape from Area 99" & "Operation Rosenberg". The previous mods of this one here. If you don't know them yet. Make sure to play Rosenberg first & then secondly Escape from Area 99 and ultimately "Operation Rift".

I certainly hope that we will get to see a 4th mod installment of the mod series.

My congratulations towards the mod author on a job well done. Your mod is stunning and brilliantly executed. Fix the few remaining FPS drops, balance few of the tougher spots in game and you Shall see my 10 of 10. It's so close to perfection!

Go and play it people.

Pro:

- Small but well detailed mod. The levels look very lovely throughout the mod.

- Interesting puzzles.

- Funny secret area.

- 2 alternate endings depending on your success.

Contra:

- Often unclear what to do. Thankfully you provided a walkthrough along with your mod. Now that's what I call good service. Good job.

- The final battle, no matter how justified is in my personal opinion unbeatable without god mode.

- Alien Slaves still engaged me in the final battle. Could be on my end as I had to copy paste the valve dll + cl_dll folders into your mod. Otherwise I couldn't have switched weapons for some reason.

- Some FPS losses in the Lambda area. That suggests you didn't do a full compile. Flickering lights usually cause FPS losses and there are some in said area.

All in all a solid mod experience with a solid play time.