Point of View (POV) is a new single player Half-Life MOD where you will play as a Alien Slave named Xonxt. You will have new weapons to use, be able to explore new and old areas of Back Mesa and of Xen in a MOD with a story that will allow you to (re)visit areas of Half-Life, Opposing Forces and Azure Sheep but, this time, with a different point of view. Humans will try to kill you, xen forces will ignore or attack you and you will have to survive to all this. Friends will now be your enemies and enemies your friends now that you play as a Alien Slave...
I was very impressed by Point of View. The mod really captures the same premise of the Half Life expansions, playing from the perspective of another character, and takes it much further. It lets you play as an entirely different race, giving a completely new point of view on the story.
I really enjoyed Point of View's story. Instead of relying on visuals and dialogue, it reveals exposition in the form of a journal recording the Vortigaunt Xonxt's thoughts. While some might find the entries too long and bad for the game's pacing, I loved the insight into the writer's view of Half Life's aliens. It contradicts Half Life 2's lore a little, having been written before HL2, but that didn't prevent it from changing the way I looked at the Xen creatures.
The gameplay of Point of View feels unique among Half Life mods. The player is given alien weapons exclusively, including a few new grenade types that are more or less variations on the Snark. The Vortigaunt's main attack regenerates the player's health. The result was that battles felt almost backwards compared with other Half Life gameplay; I started with very low health and ended with high health. It changes up the game a lot. The downside is that there aren't very many weapons to uncover. I found myself only really using the main attack and occasionally the duel hive hand.
I liked the way Point of View uses retail Half Life models alongside Half Life HD models and even cut content to give more variety. A lot of the cut Half Life beta characters and creatures make appearances. I was confused by the change of appearance in the Black Ops Soldiers, however. They look very similar to the HECU and are given pulse rifles instead of silenced MP5s. Yes, pulse rifles. From the movie Aliens. It even has the correct sound effects.
Overall, Point of View was a fun Half Life mod that shed some light on Xen, the Nihilanth, and the G-Man. There were a few difficult or frustrating sequences, but not enough to make me put it down