Cosmonaut is a Half-Life Two: Episode Two mod that recreates the style of game-play from the Half-Life series whilst providing a variety of locations to explore as you encounter Combine Soldiers, Antlions, and a wide range of other enemies. The mod sticks to the formula that worked in Half-Life Two in the hope that it is fun to play, and brings about many nostalgic memories. The mod is set on earth with a very loose premise. You play as a cosmonaut who has had to abandon their space station, but upon arriving back on earth, discover that the place has been overrun by the combine. What happens next? Do you give in to the Combine army, or do you resist and use your skills to find some way of escaping? The mod was initially made for a mapping challenge that took place on RunThinkShootLive.com, called NostalgiaVille. After the challenge had been released, the current maps where updated and new maps where created to give some closure to the mod.
A stunning little map pack with a full range of Half-Life 2 gameplay elements included throughout. Quite fittingly, Cosmonaut will see that you run, think, shoot and indeed live to the best of your ability. Chock full of fun little easter eggs and probably the only example I have ever seen of a comedic jump scare, this mod deserves your attention.
One thing that did bug me overall was the lack of any dialogue, save for the finale. The player is consistently heading in the right direction with no input from citizens or combine alike. The shuttle is simply conveniently set up with only the trivial final steps needed to get it into orbit. That and there is very little in the way of downtime that we are used to seeing throughout the Half-Life series.
Overall, a lot of fun to play through but lacking any truly memorable characters and a very loose albeit highly convenient plot.
A fun romp. Well thought out maps, nice visuals, decent music... you can do alot worse than play this!
Minor complaints - nitpicking really
1) Not enough NPCs - double them!
2) Gameplay is very predictable, from NPCs placements to progression. Something different from the norm would have been nice.
One of the best mods that I've recently played. Well-structured maps, well-balanced gameplay, good visuals, a nice amount of puzzles to keep the player engaged. It does feel like an official HL2 addition from Valve. Even gnomes are there with a similar role.
I did not find any flaws that would warrant my attention.
One of the best mods I've played in a long time, well worth the download
This is probably the best source mod I've ever played in a long while. It almost feels like an expansion pack.
Excellent, varied gameplay, overall a great and fun mod to play.
Good
pretty good
Very well polished mod!
Solid mod overall with decent pacing and level design, although there could've been more combat.
Nonsensical story. As if you could escape the Combine, an interdimensional species capable of traveling through space and time, by scooting out to lower earth orbit. It was amusing finding a random rocket to NOPE tf out of there and back to the safety(?) of space.
I did find the concept interesting, assuming the Combine wouldn't immediately nuke all communications (read: satellites and space stations).Imagine arriving from space years after the Combine invasion. Was he aware? Though picking the HL2 setting seemed a bit far-fetched. As if our cosmonaut would've been out there for 20 years. I would've chosen a slightly less aged timeframe, but I also understand the modding difficulties, so no points subtracted.
Puzzles were sometimes not intuitive and could've been better executed. The coolant puzzle needed a walkthrough because the textures in no way indicated the solution, and the missing puzzle piece was inconspicuous enough to miss entirely. Another one where you had to stack I-beams in a pulley had me stumped because there was no clue to the player about how to solve it. I mean, the platform should've dipped slightly when the player is on it to show that weight has an effect.
A bit heavy in exploration, but the scenery was great and felt high stakes at times. Good environments and atmosphere with intuitive level design for the most part. An engaging mod that keeps your attention until the end.