TUM:Remod is a HD pack for the stealth-themed mod, "The Unknown Menace"! This Remod tries to improve the models, sounds, sprites, the text, along with adding an extra easier difficulty for accessibility.
I think it was quite good, had fantastic gunplay and also a cool sneak mechanic. None of the puzzles were cryptic and you always knew where to go after a bit of searching.
I also liked the new voice lines for the terrorists.
The mod is fairly short and the ending is ****. You also don't find a lot of ammo for some weapons, while arguably, the SMG is the best weapon, the terrorists carry it and you'll always have enoght ammunition.
The ending is very anticlimactic and idiotic, I would say. Play for yourself to see.
Stealth is the key to your survival in this Remod. The weapon skins are extremely well done. A total half life conversion mod. Brings to mind the game franchises, Metal Gear Solid & Splinter Cell. I enjoyed it.
So I'm gonna rate this based on what it sought to achieve, and then I'll talk about the original afterwards.
-HD models: 9 - I love it!
-Detail textures: 9 - I love it!
-HUD changes: 8 - Well made
-Map entity changes: 8 - Well made
-Map texture changes: 8 - Well made
As you might expect from ZikShadow's remods, this is a very good looking compilation of models and textures. I'm fond of how they went for an assortment of SMGs for the various automatic weapons, it felt more fitting for a terrorist cell to be outfitted with those and it makes sense for our sneaky protagonist as well.
-Text changes: 8 - Well made
ZikShadow basically gave the endings *some* substance where there wasn't much before. Originally there were like three sentences about how you saved the world, but TERRRORISM is still out there, so... y'know. At least now there's a bit more to it.
-Sound changes: 7 - It works
It's fine, nothing stands out to me.
-Music changes: 8 - Well made
So I watched a video to listen to the original music, it fit adequately, but once again I can't blame ZikShadow for switching it to HL2 music, just to be on the safe side. I actually found the selection of music to be very good, and it was used well, one moment that stood out to me is a track that played while I was inside a vent, after witnessing something happen in front of me, a track played that sounded rather melancholic, maybe I'm reading too much into this, but to me the music made it feel like our character felt a bit of guilt and doubt over the possibility of having caused the thing he had just watched. A nice little bit of circumstantial story telling.
-Addition of difficulty settings: 10 - Groundbreaking! (Within context)
This is a big one, this remod has an easier difficulty setting that puts you on an even footing with the enemy, while I appreciate what Evan3k was going for with the original mod, I don't feel like it's much fun to die to one enemy after having cautiously killed the rest of their team, just because they lucked out and landed a good shot on you. The easier difficulty preserves the idea that you'd better not go into shootouts like you're Gordon Freeman, but it's a bit more forgiving and enjoyable, at least to me.
OVERALL: 8
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The following is an abridged version of my review of The Unknown Menace, it isn't the responsibility of ZikShadow, since they did not develop it, I just figured I should include my thoughts about the gameplay and the experience itself here:
A problem that arises is that there is only so much you can do with the very limited AI of Half-life, so even with the changes to the difficulty, the player can still take advanage of corners to shoot at the large hitbox of enemies and stun lock them in a flinching animation until they die, that is if the player simply can't just aim for their heads and kill them instantly. So then that trivializes stealth for most sections, except for those where killing an enemy turns on automated turrets, but even those can also be killed with the same tactics, and they are rare. Unfortunately the unforgiving difficulty makes this more of a corner shooter, and personally I didn't find that to be as fun, but I understand that the Evan was working with the limitations of the engine.
I really love how the levels are designed to be locations, with areas that don't really contain anything for the player to pick up, but that serve as a room that exists, independently of the player, I'm particularly fond of the dark, silent lobby area located between the base and the surface, it truly feels like you're inside this space that hasn't been used for months, I imagine Evan drew some inspiration for it from some real life experience, having seen a place like this before, and I always love it when those small little touches make it into a game. I also really like how you can basically walk back from the final area of the game back to the beginning, and that there are multiple paths to use to do so.
Unfortunately there are a couple obscure puzzles, one of them that comes to mind is a certain control room protected by turrets, which are linked up to a laser grid at the entrance, I simply had no idea how to deal with that, until one time, when using grenades to try to kill the turrets, I accidentally destroyed a power box located between two consoles, I reloaded my save afterwards and discovered that it was linked to the laser grid, I basically lucked out and discovered the solution to the problem by accident, I would have *never* gotten it right on my own.
The voice acting was a little difficult to understand near the end, when the terrorist leader talked to one of their subordinates, I still have no idea what they said, but I can only assume he told the other to stop me at all costs.
I'll give The Unknown Menace a 6, it's creative and unique, and the author did what they could with the resources they had, but it could use some polish.
looks cool...