Reviews - TheSniperFan

9/10 is a very high score, but I honestly think this game deserves it.
Yes, The Dark Descent is the better horrorgame. Yes, the gameplay of TDD is better. However, while the horror and gameplay of A Machine For Pigs are inferior, the story, the level-, audio- and visualdesign are superior.
Thus I don't think there is a clear answer to the question which game is better. It all comes down on whether - for the individual player - its strengths make up for its shortcomings or not.
Since I am a gamer with great interest in videogame stories, for me they do. Though I can fully understand why one might think otherwise.
For me it's the same situation as with Portal and Antichamber. I think Portal (AMFP) is the better game; I like it more; It's a much better crafted experience. I think that Antichamber (TDD) is the better puzzlegame (horrorgame) though; It excells at what makes games of its genre great.

Or in short:
For me A Machine For Pigs is the better game, while The Dark Descent is the better horrorgame.

One of the best mods I have ever played. It does it the "Half-Life-way" by having the tense fights separated by calm parts in which you can explore the impressive levels. The story, while told in a stupid way (only on-screen-texts), really dragged me in. The level design was not only beautiful, but also gave me a nice degree of freedom. Yeah, I got lost quite a few times, but that made it even better, because it was somehow realistic, as neither you nor your "partner" knew what was waiting for you down there. The fights were also quite realistic. And by realistic I mean hard (considering it is you against an army). The aesthetics of this mod are damn impressive in a "Portal 2 or BioShock-way". While not being the most detailed, they fit the scenery perfectly.
It's just a must-play-mod, nothing more!

Why can't I give ratings like 8.7 on moddb? I mean this mod is definitely too good for 8 points, but giving it 9 points is a bit much considering that it had a few bigger let-downs.
Before I bash the mod, let me get one thing straight:
This mod is one of the best horror experiences you can get. It's basically what the F.E.A.R.-series could (or should) have been. Well, at least the first 75%. Once you meet the SWAT-team the mod does what F.E.A.R. did wrong: It sacrifices horror for action. Before that the mod gave me that uncomfortable feeling that I'm not as alone as I might think. And this is what makes a good horror-game: feeling uncomfortable, not startling me like cheap horror-experiences (like Dead Space for example).
Giving me nothing but an axe, a small firearm with a few bullets and a crappy flashlight, does good in making me afraid of something that I know is there, but nothing more. However, giving me fully automatic machine-gun with a nearly unlimited supply of ammo and a few mates that cover my ***, does really good in ruining that feeling.
The bossfight had tense and epic music, but was rather boring. Shot two fast-zombies, break some wood, run down a linear hallway, because your mind got ****** again, repeat.
All in all I like it and I already recommended it to some friends that liked it too. But in the end it lost so much potential.

8 of 10 for a mod with awesome style, puzzles and ideas?
Well, I would have given more but there are two things too easy in this mod:
1st. Getting Lost
2nd. Combat
Seriously, once you find out that you can just randomly move your mouse there is no more challange - at least combat-wise.
As for the first aspect. Well, I got many messages that SOMEWHERE SOME gate opened. Thanks, but at some parts I just ran in circles to find the gate that opened in the green chamber, to find out that there is still a few buttons to be pressed till it really opens.
And it's not good that the only hint that the black room with those creepy faces is "false", is visible when you load and take a look at the name of the latest autosafe. An alternate ending should be an alternate ENDING, not a way to end the game halfway through. (Spoiler's following) I would have never tried again, never fought a worm(?) made of worms(?) and never encountered the giang sphere of corpses.
Anyway, I liked it and I want MORE!

Half-Life 2 is the ONLY game that I would give a 10/10 score. Usually I avoid giving perfect scores, because that would mean that there is no way that another game could be better. However, it doesn't matter. Half-Life 2 is the most perfect game we have today and if another game is better, I'll give it 10/10 too.
Why is Half-Life 2 this good?
-Much, much longer than the average FPS
-You are in many places, without the game loosing connectivity
-Great story/atmosphere
I could go on, bug you'll better find out yourself...

It's my favourite engine, so why do I give it only 8 points? Not because it does not have the best graphics or something like that. Content-quality is something that you should find in game-reviews, not the ones for the engine.
I give it only 8 points because it is a pain in the a** to use. Why do I have to sit through a long (map)compile before I can see if I changed the brightness-value of one single lighting-enity correctly? Why can't I add materials via drag and drop and edit its properties in realtime? Besides that it's really getting old. I don't need graphics and such big maps like Dunia has, but with Source I have to cut big maps into small ones or I run into its limits if I make it detailled. Look at Cinematic Mod. It pushes Source beyond its limits and still looks crappy against Crysis, while having much higher system-requirements. That's one of the cases where you see how old Source is and that it wasn't made for the quality-standards of 2011. The standards raise faster than Source. Back then, when Source got relased, it was unbelivable that it has Radiosity, now games do that in realtime. Just as lighting. "But Portal 2...", you might say. Portal 2 still has not "real" realtime lighting, because props still arent lit properly and you still have to compile.

This review is not to bash VALVe or Source, I am trying to be objective here, because I hate people that defend Source in points where it is just stupid to do so. It's time to stop being a fanboy, stop being biased and just go on.

It was just there. There in the Orange Box, I bought because of Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. Does it matter? No, because even before I bought The Orange Box, I already purchased Portal as a standalone.
It's funny, original, innovative and just awesome. Well, it's too short, but that's no reason not to get it. It's worth it.

Before the bossfight I would have given it 8 out of 10 possible points.
The mod looks great, has new ideas and pulls them off quite nicely.
Then the bossfight started and made the whole experience of the mod even better.
I am GLaD that I waited until I have played Portal 2 to write this review. Because now I can say that this mod has the best bossfight from all Portal installments. Seriously, this mod has a better bossfight than Portal 2 and a much better than Portal.
To sum it up: The quality of this mod is between Portal and Portal 2. While it is much better than Portal, it does not come close to Portal 2.
But it is a mod that was released quite a while before Portal 2 was announced, so I'll give it a score as if Portal 2 was never there.
9/10, for a mod that is better than the brilliant game it was made for.

I would have given it 9 points if the quality of the graphics would have been constant. The Rifle looks like plastic while the Sniper looks great. The Revolver looks like it was made of stone, while the Pistol looks nice. Some detail, like the furniture right at the beginning of the game, look too blocky, while the overall look is above the "average mods" quality. Besides that, I already was halfway through the mod, before they released the patches to fix melee weapons and make it possible to disable headbobbing, because it's NOT realistic. I don't know how people get the idea that it is, because I don't swing my head to the left and right when running. The movement my head does, is negated by my eyes, that move independently. Try it, try it right now. Run a few meters, while looking at something in front of you.
So, that were the negative aspects, now let me get to the positive ones.
The lenght of the mod is good. It does not feel like it was filled with unnessesary content, to extend it, but also is short enough to make me want more of it.
The story pulled me in a way, the big AAA titles rarely manage. Especially certain "letters" in a subway...
The gameplay is full of action, while maintaining a "constant flow", by which I mean that relaxed parts and parts with heavy combat are not seperated from each other. In laymen's terms: This mod is more like Half-Life and less like Call of Duty, because all the areas are logically conected to each other.
Overall one of the best mods I played yet.