Sand Production presents. The Dark Secret 4 (c) (2002 - 2024) Release date: January 10th. | About the story: It's a secret... |
I was intrigued by the other review. I was hoping it would be one of those So Bad It's Good mods. No, this is one of those So Bad It's Horrible ones. I lasted about 10 minutes before I had enough.
When you begin, you see the stock Episode 2 background with some missing textures. Oh, and there's a weird flashing on the menu textures too.
Not a good start, but maybe it's just a map pack right? A few maps where you run around, shoot some Combine, and you're done. I could work with that.
When you start, you will see a bunch of assets ripped from Nightmare House 2. Actually no, that's not entirely correct - I did notice an admittedly okay apparently original zombie model that had a buggy right shoulder. The rest is ripped.
There seems to be at least two voice actors in this: A guy and a kid who seems to be 10 years old. I think your character is voiced by the 10 year old? So you're probably going to want to shut off the VO quick.
The maps are a bunch of blocks glued together that somehow still have trouble with player navigation. In the first 5 minutes, you need to open a chest that has the NH2 axe in it. I tried smashing it, picking up every key-like thing in sight, exploring the map. Couldn't find a solution. So I just noclipped in there.
The maps are also tiny and a bit broken. I think the game forgot I had the suit when it turned off the lights in the prison level. Nothing a little console commands can't fix.
Things happen with no context. It seems to be some Silent Hill inspired place? I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
The save text is also messed up too.
The mod has cutscenes. Didn't know what anyone was saying because 10 year old kid, but they're there.
So yeah, the mod isn't good.
Throughout the years I've played several bad (or at the very least poorly made) mods made for the Half-Life series, Boom, Half-Life: Before, The Real, Dark World, Prospekt, and Hunt Down The Freeman are a few that come to mind when I think about bad Half-Life mods, even though the latter technically is a standalone game running on Source engine.
I honestly thought it couldn't get any worse than this, but oh god was I dead wrong, The Dark Secret 4 easily has to be one of the worst (if not the definitive worst) Half-Life mods that I've ever had the displeasure of playing... >.>
A long-term construction mod that could have turned out to be the best, but it came out unfinished and almost impossible to play. Not only did they slip us the first part of the mod, but also stupid puzzles. In short, the main candidate for the worst mod
Update 1: Looking at the screenshots from 2011 to 2014, I realized that all this was not presented in fashion, but it could have been a remake of the trilogy and a continuation, but not like a stub. It's a pity that you lost those sources due to some kind of virus
dude, this one is maybe even worse than the previous chapters... :\
I wait about 2 minutes or so for the first cut scene to get done. After waiting forever I start in a room that appears to be fullbright. Not sure what I need to do as I spent 3 minutes trying to figure out how to open a locked door. I restarted and thought I messed something up. Nope. Same thing again. After looking at the vmf, it turns out there is a crowbar inside a physbox that after breaking it, opens the door. Oh and pressing +Use doesn't open it up. Not sure why I even bother playing moddb maps anymore.
Compared to your prior mods, this is a MAJOR improvement!
Significantly different then the now ancient demo from, sheesh, almost 10 years back? It's obvious that the mapping and pacing standards have gone up.
That being said, there are a lot of problems. For one, it's too damn dark! And the constant removal of your weapons and suit abilities are a real pain in the ***. Coupled with distracting camera changes and some adventure game logic, it can be a bit of a hassle to get through.
Maybe I'm being too nice but I'm genuine when I say this is the best mod you have made, in no way deserving of the 1 it has received here so I am actually looking forward to more! Let the player keep their items and lighten up the rooms some more!