Reviews - agreenman

Thrilling scripting. Now THAT is how you do a Gonarch chase. Loved the health/HEV wall combo that gives you a chance to put those skills to the test. The age old question: is it faster to charge health and suit individually, or quickly alternate between the two like an insane person? Better choose wisely because you have maybe 3 seconds until you're engulfed in flames.

Levels are a lot of fun to play through with gameplay that keeps the action moving. Never stale.

Simple puzzles and minimal switchbacks with an emphasis on enjoying this experience.

Decent amount of ranged combat made the magnum a clear winner. Balanced enemy mix with believable placement. Encounters felt natural and congruent.

Varied environments and excellent5 pacing.

Story was kinda whatever and the final boss was a touch tedious, but Infinite Rift was overall a high quality mod that felt polished and complete.

bro I cannot believe that guy just suicided himself to kill me. I guess the rumors are true... if you see the man with the orange suit, it will be the last thing you see.

This is probably going to be a frustrating experience filled with cheap shots. I like writing reviews as I play. It's fun reading back on the early signs of something problematic. Ambushes at charging stations? This mod pulls no punches. I'm sure I'll be ambushed off a ladder next.

Puzzles were infrequent, but I liked some of the vent entrances. Though there were a few too many switchbacks with puzzle clues that force you to spend 2 minutes sprinting back to the beginning to grab those scientists and then spend 2 minutes babying bad AI to the keycard.

Clunky scripting that wasn't playtested well. The author had an idea in mind like "have Gargantua chase player", but instead it turned into a situation where the player is cornered by the Gargantua, which is then destroyed with 3 grenades. Was that it? Same deal with the scientists. I kept forgetting about them in the heat of the moment, assuming they weren't immediately killed.

Protip: scripted sequences should be done beyond the player's interactivity bubble. I shouldn't be able to break a window and shoot at the invincible HECU getting mauled to death.

The paragraphs of exposition were totally unnecessary. Let's tone down the dramatics and focus on fundamentals.

Overall an enjoyable combat-heavy mod with moments of genuinely interesting combat. Good enemy placement and challenging firefights, although a touch heavy on the low blows and ambushes. Good combat variety forces the player to use most of their arsenal to survive. It was fun playing this as if I had one life to live, even if you have to save often.

I found that aggressive run'n'gunning was often an effective tactic, meaning I had quite a bit of fun as long as I hit every shot. Sometimes it took a few tries, but hey, I think saving to replay combat scenarios until satisfied is the mark of tough, but rewarding gunplay. And boy do you feel like a badass when you nail it first try, though.

But goddamn was it annoying dragging those idiot scientists around everywhere. This really hampered the third act and caused what was an otherwise tough, but rewarding mod to fizzle out.

Worth a play if you value challenging combat. It's a little rough around the edges and could be balanced to be more fair without compromising difficulty. The ideas are there and while some of them fell flat, others were executed well. 7/10

This is a mod I wanted to love because the setting, the length, and the ambition were all there, but the polish was not.

Starts strong with janky voice line scripting. Guard to prisoner: "Hey, catch me later, I'll buy you a beer."

This is a trope I see a lot in Half-Life games, but what is with the massive walls of computer terminals in common areas? Sir, this is a Wendy's. Literally a mess hall and there's 500 square feet of equipment off to the side. What is the purpose? Who is doing work on those? Like, oh gee, I'm assigned to Supercomputer 4A today. I guess I'll see you at lunch.

Kinda strange that I can wander wherever and it's like nobody's looking for an escaped convict. Just don't bash scientists over the head and you'll fly under the radar. Totally fine to smash that gigantic overhead window all over those scientists in the mess hall. Just normal E7 Black Star things.

Holy **** I am way higher than I thought. That's not a lunch room. Those are lab tables. I guess.

Pacing is... plodding, at best. Tends to drone on, making the player antsy to move to the next area.

Almost got stuck trying to find explosives. Sometimes the author goes a little overboard in keeping the path from being too obvious.

Minimal health pickups and when you do get 'em, they're nerfed! Only 10 suit power per battery?

Imaginative environments that have a Black Mesa feel, but tainted by an ugly color pallette. Puke greens, browns, and yellows are not appealing to trudge through.

Bro secret level #6 was ********. How would anybody know to throw a grenade in the middle of the floor? Come on. I was so sick and tired of this ******** and just wanted to get back to the main story that has slowly been dissolving away my attention. But I plod on.

Level design alternated between wide open and tight, claustrophobic mazes. Can get a little exhausting. There are a ton of secrets which are kind of a necessity if you hope to not run out of ammo or health. The game is more fun when you just plow straight ahead and don't try to go down every single goddamn dark alleyway, but it's easy to get survival horrored if you don't stop to stock up.

Game really needs to chill with the switchbacks.

This guy really loves his Gonomes. Turns out they're a much weaker enemy than I remember.

Scripting was a little lazy at times. Often felt like I stumbled into a sequence lying in wait. Rarely felt natural, or part of a bigger story. Like, why put an invincible soldier that triggers well after I see him. You gotta imagine playtesters immediately unloaded an entire clip at baseline. Have him run from behind cover or something so you don't just see him awkwardly chilling there, waiting for the player. And then he just... explodes?

Was there a story? I think I had to find and kill the bad man? Plot was often meandering or nonexistent. Nothing kept me pushing forward, least of all the mapping.

Combat had good variety. HECU combat especially had well-positioned enemies and vertical layering. A little (lot) heavy on the Gonomes, which the game seemed to treat as zombies.

There's a lot of content and it was an overall enjoyable experience, but it desperately needs playtesting and more colorful/interesting environments.

Makes you work for that piepwrench. Good foreshadowing with the Gargantua and headcrab. There's so many places I want to go back to!

Bro that Gonome caught me with my pants down! Thrilling stuff.

Surprisingly competent scripting. Though I missed a couple and had to replay for the full effect. Could've done a better job directing the player with lighting or motion.

The interactable vents were an unclear mechanism, especially when you make them breakable (and not openable) later. I found items in green crates, regular crates, boxes, pretty much anywhere, which lead me to spamming my slow af wrench at every damn item in the room. Not nearly as satisfying as the crowbar. Also since the pipewrench is stronger, having one hit boxes would've been HUGE. Would've preferred better continuity of props in general.

Why was that ladder so difficult?

Night vision section was excellent. Spooky music, sinister atmosphere, and excellent use of the night vision's fog of war effect.

Challenging "boss" fights. Race X was challenging and darkness made combat frantic.

What a refreshing mod! Highly engaging gameplay mechanics with good level design. It's a shame it has the name it does, but maybe that's part of the appeal?

Incredible environments! Expansive, detailed, and immersive. Excellent intro with some tricky, atmospheric platforming to set the stage. Felt a bit like the HL2 bridge. Then the window to the gorgeous and detailed outside world? Nice homage. Already starting strong. Dammit, Andersen! Your head's facing the wrong way!

Excellent scripting, although some parts did feel like a knock-off of Half-Life and great mods like Echoes. Cut scenes were excellently choreographed.

Tough mod. Minimal health pickups and so many Grunt ambushes. Hell, too many ambushes in general. Brutal.

A few confusing "press the button" sections with non-obvious interactable objects. Kinda tiring having to mash E in a dead-end room to move forward.

Subtle, but effective music that imbues a haunting, militaristic feel.

Weird ending, but whatever. Not a fan of the jump puzzle since that's not intuitive Half-Life platforming and had me looking for another solution, but overall it was a solid mod. Loved the well-placed environments. Clearly a lot of thought went into Urbicide.

"Based on Half-Life by Valve"
*Gordon speaks*

So much unnecessary story and exposition. I wanted to play a game, not listen to an audiobook. The plot is insane, though. Not in a not good way, but not in a not not good way.

So judgmental. "Another quicksave..." Really? Fine, I'll play the game your way.

Excellent pacing. Usually I've written more about a mod by this point, but I think I haven't really had a chance to alt-tab out to comment. I'd rather keep playing. Engaging, but not cinematic to the point of exhaustion. Many mods attempt HL's highlight reel jammed into one overly small package, but Todesangst 2 captures the "downtime" aspect of Half-Life quite well. Brooding and introspective.

Remember that story? Turns out it wasn't in a good way. The plot played out like a bad fan fiction. Ex-en. I enjoyed it, though. "So bad it's good" vibes.

Voice acting was entirely unnecessary, but an appreciated addition. Some stiff dialog, but at least Gordon sounded cool. Never thought I'd say that about a Half-Life mod.

Man, HEV chargers are ugly as sin. Looks like something out of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

Throwable hatchet was rad. Game didn't give you enough opportunities to use it though, so this interesting feature felt wasted.

Quite liked the new enemies, particularly the yellow box-stacking robot from the OG HL tram ride.

Music was pretty rad. Some serious System Shock 2 inspiration with all that drum n' bass.

Helicopter battle was suuuuper janky. Awkward turret that would constantly glitch out and not function if you didn't stand perfectly still. Tedious wait for the copter to circle around so you can try to spend half a second shooting this ridiculous excuse for a turret. All the while missiles are insta-KO. Save scumming almost a requirement.

Introduction of Vortigaunts was a thrilling sequence. Gotta be quick on your feet and pinpoint with the magnum. Frantic combat that requires full use of the available arsenal.

That was a trip. The plot was like a bad action movie with Gordon a bad action star, but I loved every minute. Have not been entertained by a Half-Life mod like this in some time. Lots of fun.

XENO PROJECT I

Boy does this one kick it into high gear quickly. Short little intro, then BAM heavy HECU combat.

Nice use of music and audio effects.

Ah, a game that introduces snarks the correct way! Gimme dem self-stabbing sumbitches on top of a cliff so I can actually use them to a net positive. However, a snark still managed to stop chasing a grunt and instead turn to run all the way up the cliff path and make a beeline straight for me. God snarks are a terrible weapon. But still, this mod gives you plenty of favorable opportunities to use them, like through a window. Does it better than Half-Life ever did.

Oh my god that ladder in the final sequence. What the ****. I lost track of the times I failed to grab onto that and fell to my death. All the while the countdown is ticking and you have no idea what to do. Incredibly frustrating and stressful. Deducting a whole point from this mod's score because of this awful, directionless nonsense.

Rough around the edges, but an overall fun and challenging experience. I'm excited for part 2, and that's gotta mean something. 7/10

XENO PROJECT II

Interesting HEV suitless start. Dragged on a little too long to the point where I wondered if I'll ever even get one. HECU combat is already hard enough as it is, now you force me to use exclusively the shotgun withough a crosshair, even from across the map, because that was the last weapon I picked up and can't switch to anything else? Cool nonetheless, but will probably need to make use of that quick save feature because you have no clue how much health is left.

It's kind of jarring that there are random scientists just chilling in a wide open dead end hallway when there are black ops in the next room over, not even separated by a door. Just a hallway. And yet some are in jail? I'm so confused about what the military is doing here and why they're seemingly only after me.

Felt like far too often I found enemies waiting for me the moment I round a corner or burst through a vent. Kinda cheesy. Combat otherwise was challenging and high stakes. I had fun replaying certain encounters and felt a sense of accomplishment after blasting my way through humanity's finest.

What is this, Star Trek? Tractor beams, space laser fights, suspiciously Klingon looking ship design... and did I just get pirated?

Janky, inconsistent gravity left the final section feelign a bit lackluster and slightly frustrating. Best to just sprint through everything.

I have no clue really what happened in this mod series, but it was fun to play. I enjoyed the "Black Mesa... in space!" vibe.

Sorry, Black Metha. 8/10

Really great atmosphere. The pumping alarm, head-bobbing, and sound design really hammered home the, well, hopelessness of the situation.

Yo, mod is hard. So many ambushes and dirty spawns.

Fetch quests were kinda lame. Made even more confusing by level design no-no's such as inserting map transitions in the middle of these fetch quests. Always felt like I was going back a little too far and voila, that actually was the correct path. You'll spend a lot of time backtracking.

This wasn't bad, although it was tedious at times. Combat was high stakes and difficult, but fun. Enjoyable enough to try out the second installment...

The intro was insane. How did we get from the subtle storytelling of Half-Life to... this? Like 5 straight minutes of gratuitous exposition. I have nothing invested in this story, I don't care. Gotta get the telnorps. Got it.

Why is the security guard responsible for operating the teleporter? Like "oh I could never get those coordinates right" my ***. Sure, can't wait for next time when I'm accidentally teleported into a vat of acid or some ****.

Combat is pretty intense, even on medium. That first female assassin fight had me digging deep and relying heavily on SMG grenades. Classic Half-Life.

bruh that puke tan rock section with basically invisible baby headcrabs?

Abmitious, but lazy skyboxes. Maps cut off too early, making it look miniaturized. There's no depth to the environments.

"Sorry Gordon, but I am being on duty."

Half-Park was weird. Didn't really like it. Too many mazes and not enough action. I did like the exhibits, though. The "resonance cascade" was kinda lame and confusing. Did I just teleport up 10 feet, press some buttons, then teleport right back? Oh, and I guess that caused a bunch of chaos somehow.

Too open at times. Backtracking long, winding hallways is a real drag.

Health always threw me for a loop. Seems like every health pack looks different. Really easy to walk by that fountain thing or first aid cabinet that's the same color as the wall. Probably made the game harder than it needed to be.

Breakable door in the generator room was stupid. I actually did the correct thing and tried to blow it open with an explosive barrel. But it took more than 1, so I thought it was an invincible door. Need to communicate with the player better.

Became quit a slog toward the end. Confusing, circular mapping. Slow, painful progress with unclear direction and overly subtle clues.

Got crazy buggy too. Had to manually load the next map several times because the scripted event failed to happen. Ended up watching a walkthrough of the final 10 minutes because progress was impossible.

Not a bad mod, but really needs to trim the fat and polish things up.

Man, I've never died so much in the first few seconds of a mod. Or maybe I'm just bad at this old school Half-Life platforming thing.

Ominous soundscapes introduce the world we're in. Eerie, yet intriguing. Clever use of parking lot arrows to draw my attention to the crowbar.

bruh HEV chargers look like a wall texture. I stumbled across one by pure chance. Oh nvm there's a unit on the other side of this wall.

Combat was tough, but fair. I had issues getting through a couple encounters, but even after cheesing them it didn't feel right, so I replayed until I was happy with the outcome. Usually that's a testament to how engaging the combat is. Never feels forced or overdone. Good pacing.

That one sequence where you're better off letting the HECU fight the grunts? Made even better if you sprint immediately to the turret to provide suppressing fire. It's like we're on the same side!

Rad music, but inappropriate timing.

Creative, varied environments. Detailed and constantly changing. Again, stellar pacing and a real sense of forward progression, even if I almost got stuck in a few spots.

Plot could've been revealed throughout by scientists and clues, rather than preloaded up front. I often forgot what I was doing.

Pretty great mod. Can't believe this is from 1999. God Bless the OG modders who paved the way. At this point, Half-Life was their only inspiration!