Reviews - C.S.Madisun

I don't have many, if any, kind things to say about Episode 1.

Getting it running in the first place was not pleasant (file flagged by AntiVirus software, awful Xash'd version of HL that wouldn't run), and when I did get it going it turned out this was a pretty low quality mod that had no reason to be released stand-alone - it could easily have been a typical HL mod and would have reduced the filesize by about 75%.

As for the mod itself... levels are VERY basic, feeling unconnected and visually unimpressive (to say nothing of the misaligned or missing textures), and I had absolutely no idea what any of the locations were supposed to be.

The new weapons and NPCs aren't super great, but more importantly they didn't match - most weapons have different arms, animations that don't properly synch up and incorrect sounds (the MP5 reloading sounds like a shotgun!). Enemies are no better.

Speaking of, the combat isn't all that fun either. This is one of those mods where your inventory is reset every level (get used to hearing the HEV start-up speech) so ammo isn't a concern at all - you'll just shoot everything with your pistol/machine gun from a distance and not really engage with any of the enemies, since you'll get more ammo after the level change... and even if you do get up close and personal with the baddies, you won't care since your health will get reset as well, so who cares if you're in the red all the time - it won't be for long!

The whole thing is bland, uninteresting and dull. 20 minutes of utterly wasted potential.

After playing through several broken versions that the author was quick to rectify in updated editions, as of v9 I can finish this without cheating, and I can say this is equal parts hair-pullingly frustrating and ingeniously-designed challenge.

The author clearly prioritised making the maps fun to play over aesthetics, and as a result this is a rather plotless romp through 5 maps (plus an ending map) that's designed to test the skills of the player above all else. Want puzzles? This mod's got 'em. Want platforming challenges? This mod's got 'em. Want a series of tightly-timed buttons you need to press with absolutely no room for errors? Boy howdy, has this mod got THAT.

Even knowing what to do, this mod will take you quite a while to get through, and while I think I admire the map design more than I enjoy it, I can safely say the author is pretty good at this.

(This review is for Escape 2.0)

While I thought this was a decent return to Black Mesa and an interesting revisiting of the original Escape mods, I also felt it was dragged down quite a bit by three major issues:
- A lack of ammunition
- A lack of health
- Too many enemies

Any one of these would be an annoyance, but when combined they can result in a wildly fluctuating difficulty curve. The fact you never get a crowbar means there's no easy way to take out the lesser enemies (headcrabs & zombies), and when the mod frequently doesn't give you enough ammo to deal with all the enemies - especially early on - it leaves you rather frustrated.

The mod also has tons of Vorts pop up throughout its rather lengthy runtime - often so many that you're GOING to get hurt unless you constantly quick-save/load - and given you don't really get any armour, that makes you especially vulnerable. I played on Normal and had a rather miserable time.

It's especially frustrating because the maps themselves are actually really good! They're well designed, have good layouts and (aside from the odd bit of annoying trigger placement) were fun to make my way through. It's a real shame I couldn't enjoy them so much because the combat was so badly balanced.

Overall, if you're going to play this I REALLY recommend you do so on Easy, because otherwise the overly challenging combat is going to ruin what's otherwise a pretty great mod.

(And also, if you're not going to let us wear an HEV suit, don't tease us by letting us come into contact with several throughout the mod! That's just MEAN.)

See my comment on the actual page for my thoughts.