AT 30,000 FEET... you are almost 6 miles (9.7 km's) above sea level. The human body is not made for these conditions. Temperatures can plummet to -60F (-51C), the brain is starved for oxygen and each step is a new experience in pure agony. It's difficult to breathe. It's difficult to think. It's difficult to move. And you still have to endure another 444 feet (0.14 km's) to get to the peak. So much for the good news. STORYLINE: SURVIVE the SUMMIT ...The rebels are losing the battle against the strider onslaught that keeps growing. To help turn the tide of war you need to destroy the source of the Striders. That source is at the summit of what the rebels call, StriderMountain. There is only one way to get into the mountain geography and it's extremely dangerous terrain. The danger proves to be too much and you are forced way off target. Now, you must fight your way through the Combine Mountain Base Camp because it's the only entry to the mountain...
This mod has both good and bad characteristics to point out.
GOODS:
+The maze-like level design. Today's FPS games opt for a linear design which I consider dull and not giving you the sense of having a task to complete. This game on the other hand offers you a variety of DOOM-like tasks each roughly one map long which might feature using an area in more than one way ( as a compat space and a puzzle ) and/or back-tracking
+The length of this mod. Not only does this mod have over 16 distinct maps, every map is also very long. As I said, the level designer did an excelent job using every bit of a map in a variety of ways all giving a bit of length of gameplay . However, apart from that and the fact that each map is of brobdingnagian scale, the developers also used some kind of ancient wichcraft not having the source engine lag throughout the game
+The music. Many of the tracks were original and did a great job ameliorating my experience however I feel some tracks were misplaced and could be used more appropriately
BADS:
-The cutscenes. Cutscenes only work in certain types of games like for example GTA. Should a developer utilize this feature in a Halflife-ish type of game, at least he should do it only when truly needed. On the other hand, this mod has numerous cutscenes which apart from some few, interrupt the action and the gameplay, add nothing whatsoever to the narrative and the story and consist of ungly (supposed to be fancy but they are not) bird's eye scenes of different places on the map supposed to indicate to the player where to go or some foes spawning. The best part is when gordon takes damage because he can't move away from the enemy until the cutscene is finished.
-The Narrative as a whole. Throughout the game I was not sure why I was to fight or why I had to collect these portal data and the few and far between dialog lines didn't help in the least bit
-The new skins. I my opinion they were unnecessary and are generally of a bad quality .