As Corporal Shepard, you are part of a platoon of marines supplying additional security at Monte del Oscuro (an astronomical research facility). Things never work smoothly as usual. Find a way to escape and lead your men to safety. There is a flashback to a Balkan Town to rescue a UN Representative from some warlords. Finally, Ice, a massive set of levels set in Antarctica. Something has been found in the ice and a number of foreign powers desire it. After the little accident at Monte del Oscuro, you have been given a hardship posting. Defend the base against hostile forces and rescue the scientists! (well that last part isn't necessary... if you don't believe in good or evil or are just plain bad) Good luck -Peter Lok
Fallback, Fire and Ice are three different mappacks created by Peter Lok who decided to combine them into one big episode. Being released only two years after HL it has some interesting parts for the release year but also many problems.
Since they are seperate adventures with no real ties, I will review each of them individually:
Fallback
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This portion of the pack is mediocre. The maps feel too disjointed. You start at a lab, get teleported to a back-alley, travel to Xen, visit a lobby and then some Mayan ruins. No map feels like it's a logical continuation of the previous one. Aside from that, the general quality of the architecture is decent. It's a bit blocky but it isn't bad. There are some mapping leftovers or mistakes here and there such as being able to open the doors inside the computer room at the first map, revealing a button that triggers those very same doors or the giant crystal at the ruins being a func_door that can be "opened".
The playtime isn't that long but it's not short either, there are five maps full of action. No puzzles besides finding an pushing a few buttons here and there. You have some friendly grunts you can use but I didn't find much use for them as the mod gives you tons of different weapons. One advice I will give everyone to save frequently as there are no autosaves anywhere, if you die, you go all the way back.
6/10
Fire
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Fire is a single map gruntfest that's very short, all you do is kill grunts. Despite the length, I liked the mapping here better compared to Fallback. It feels like multiplayer map turned singleplayer. The starting are is reminiscent of Italy from CS. You mission here is to rescue a UN representative (which is G-man) from a warlord. You find the hostage in a church and getting closer to him loads up the next chapter, Ice.
I love a good gruntfest, even better if it takes place in an urban or town-like setting so I liked this portion. Too bad it was so short and monotonous.
7/10
Ice
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Another hit and miss. Ice feels like where the most effort went into and it shows in some sections. Generally, it's an improvement compared to the previous chapters. The playtime is the longest yet and some of the best looking maps are found here, though it's still inconsistent. Some locations look fine others not so much. Just like Fallback some areas feel disconnected to the previous ones. Especially at the end where you arrive at an underground temple for no apparent reason.
The action takes the front seat once again but this time there is some keycard hunting too. Towards the end you have to escort a scientist to open retinal scanners, you abandon him once you're done with him to fight one final battle with the aliens and that's it. The ending is very abrupt and unsatisfying. There are still no autosaves so save frequently.
6/10
Overall, Fallback, Fire and Ice is a mediocre mappack with good action and not so good design. Though being a 2000 release it's somewhat admirable. I have seen much, much worse before, during and after that date compared to it. Play it if you're looking for non-stop OP4 action.
оч хороший мод