Review by Mkilbride - Underhell mod for Half-Life 2

Underhell is one of those mods that comes along every so often, that makes you look at retail and remember when they used to make good games like this...and saddens you a little that the industry can't turn out gold like this these days.

In a world of MMO's, Call of Duty FPS's, we get a classic game with a good story, incredible atmosphere, and depth to boot. Fun gameplay on top of that?

This is a lovechild, and that is what makes it amazing. This is the result of someones vision come to life. They didn't do what's popular, or what could make them money, they made what their vision was...and it is glorious. So often these days you see a promising game, turned into a ****** game due to this, like Alan Wake, for mere profit. Developers used to take risks, but now they have franchises...that make them easy money, so why take risks, why innovate?

This is the first game to have genuinely creeped me out since I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which is the scariest game ever.

The atmosphere is so amazing I got lost in the world, I felt like I was exploring my own house. Level design for "The House" is top tier. It does not get better than this, basically, it is at a level where few games go, especially retail games.

The action part of the game, while not as good, surprised me. I thought I'd get sick of it fast.

I did not. It was intense, tactical, it felt like Swat 4 gameplay meets Counter-Strike...it had a feel that I couldn't run and gun, but I could be a badass. Which I like. No regenerating health either, so it makes you play the game more scared. Checkpoint system, so no save, reload, save reload, ect.

Also, console commands are mostly locked, so cheating, noclipping, anything really is hard to do, which helps preserve the majesty of the world that has been crafted.

Overall, I want more games like this to be produced, and I am eagerly awaiting the episodes to come.