Reviews - CornetCone

Genuinely a well-made mod with an pretty good story ( Except the ending Imo, later more on that ) and well-done worldbuilding, genuinely imerses the player into the mod's world. The story and general world as well as maps are just top notch but I've some issues with the ammount of enemies and enemy variation as well as the latter chapters ( Namely Xen ).

The mod has a bit of an issue with enemies as it throws too many alien controllers at the player, the enemy that most Half-life players really really dislike ( And which is tanky / a pain to kill ) and not to mention the grunts who also are a bit of a pain but at least have a wide enough hitbox so not as much of a problem, I'd also recommend lowering the number of headcrabs too especially in the latter parts as they're more of an annoyance than anything and in dark areas they're just a chore to fight.

Less controllers and more ammo for the automatics ( Or larger reserve ) would be better ( As they're genuinely great and fun to use with pleasant animations and punchy sounds; so not being able to use them as much and mostly relying on the shotty was kinda meh.. ( IMO )).

Other than lessening the controllers and maybe an increase in automatic weapon ammo I'll have to mention the latter part of the game.. Xen, although you made it 100× better than VALVe in the original and followed the idea of a Blue Shift Xen well and created an interesting variant... it's still >too long<.. If it were the length of Blue Shift's Xen sequence or maybe a tiny bit longer it wouldn't have been an issue but most people really don't like Xen and for a valid reason - Yet again, the maps themselves are somewhat well done but the Earth ones are just far better, especially outside which I must say are just... grand! The atmosphere is 10/10!

Last part is a very >personal< gripe with the story: I really loved most of it and with Diana serving as a Dr.Rosenberg character really worked well ( Atlhough I wish that we could spend more time working with her to solve puzzles or get some story done there but that's a >TINY< issue I have ). However.. I must admit that I really disliked the ending, or more precisely.. [ SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED ] the post-credit scene where they go into the future ( Which has no combine and is just Xen flora and fauna?? ) . I respect the Interstellar inspiration but honestly if you ever do decide to make a sequel ( which I hope you will! ) I strongly recommend you retcon it and make a mod about the escape from the facility mirroring Barney's escape and add the security guard with the glasses into it too!! I'd love to play a sequel like that!!

[ !! P.S. ADDITION TO THE PRIOR PARAGRAPH:
Some folks elsewhere have mentioned the VA’s accent but >IMO< the lines she was presented with were fine and she managed to pronounce her lines accurately and with proper articulation ( TL;DR, she did good ) and honestly, if it were possible – I wish the mod had more voiced characters, maybe even the titular ‘Cool Barney’ but that’s just wishful thinking haha !! ]

All in all, to echo my first statements - The mod is amazing, great world building, great story for the most part and genuinely fun gameplay sequences and puzzles. If we ignore the latter Xen chapters and the controller spam it's genuinely a mod I could see sold ( Although I recommend against it lol ) on Steam or any similar site as an expansion pack to Half-life.

8.5-9/10, keep making amazing mods!

P.S. sorry for the ranty comment ( I just realised I can post it here nvm ) , Idk why but I really felt like I had to leave a review on this mod, bless your soul. Peace out!