Reviews - monster_urby

It has to be said, that so far, this mod features some very poor level design. The number of times the controls are wrenched away from the player, or a text prompt appears on screen to guide you, is really quite telling.

I appreciate that every level designer has their own way of doing things, but there are still golden rules that everyone should follow. A major rule that Leon appears to struggle with is "show, don't tell." If pressing a button in a room then requires a cutscene to show me what it did, then the layout is poor. If entering an area without a key item requires a "Go back!" message, the guidance is poor. Source has the tools to guide the player without ripping control away from the player every time they press a button. Need to open a distant door? Use a monitor to show the door, or have the door in sight. Want to tell the player that they'll need a keycard? Show them the locked door first!

If the player enters your level and you have to immediately tell them, "There is a keycard in one of the buildings outside," then I'm afraid you've done a poor job.

I've heard Leon's releases compared to the boomer shooters of the late 90s, but even they had level design principles. They NEEDED to follow them, because NPC dialogue and cutscenes weren't a thing. You were always in control. You were expected to find your way and levels were designed with this in mind (most of the time anyway).

My review from TWHL:

Slimy Situation by PsyWarVeteran is a sweet little mini-mod entry that really tickles my love for some of the old classics. Life's End certainly comes to mind in some of the more wacky moments, and for the most part the goop theme is strong throughout.

There is some nice gameplay variety throughout this little campaign and there's no shortage of humour either, which I always appreciate. Some of the gags even factor in the use of goop so bonus points where they are due. That being said, there are large sections where the "mean green" does not really factor into the gameplay and the final boss fight makes use of it in a way that is a little underwhelming.

In spite of this, the amount of gameplay available here for a simple competition entry is quite astounding and of all the entries this is likely the one I would play again. A solid first place from me.

My blind playthrough can be seen here:

Be better

I fun little twenty minute romp through a section of Black Mesa.

The combat encounters are pretty nice throughout, though not particularly challenging. It could be improved by upping the number of enemies in some of the wide open arenas.

A couple of mapping issues I noticed throughout which could be fixed are a number of railings in combat areas that are func_walls, meaning you cannot shoot through them even though it looks as though you should be able to. Also, a lot of the windows in this mod are practically glowing. They are far too bright and far too opaque.

Otherwise, this is a very enjoyable, bite-size experience.

Like all mods of this variety, the "comedy" value wears thin after Anomalous Materials, after which most NPCs are dead and encountered rarely throughout the rest of the campaign.

The author is possibly aware of this as a lot of the dialogue has not been modified after this stage in the game anyway.

The simple fact is that excessively using the word "****" and poking fun at the mentally challenged isn't comedy. It's juvenile.

Bunch of model replacements with zero consistency between them.

Not a bad little map, though quite short and with some unusual level design choices.

First of all, I'm sure that this is referencing a franchise that I am not familiar with so I can't really comment on that side of things. I'm going into this totally blind.

From the perspective of a Half-Life mod and as a map pack, this is a strange one with some room for improvement. A series of incredibly short maps, some which feature action and some which do not. There is very little plot to guide the player, but basically when the action kicks off the mod is a grunt fest. On the hardest difficulty there isn't a lot of health for the player. I was stuck with 6HP for the last couple of fights (which included assassins) which quickly devolved into corner peaking, shotgun blasting tedium.

From a mapping point of view, there are a lot of little niggles throughout that make it obvious that the grid was either disabled or set really low in the editor. There are a ton of single unit gaps or lips on brushes which you can sometimes get snagged on as well as causing some ugly lighting issues.

Overall I would say this one is an oddity, maybe worth checking out but with a number of issues that can cause frustration.

I do not get it...

Released 18 years before Half-Life. Clearly something illegal going on here. I'm calling the police.