Reviews - c---5

Delta Particles will undoubtedly enter the pantheon of legendary singleplayer Half-Life mod campaigns and stands right alongside classics like Echoes, Poke646, and Minerva as a shining beacon of what Half-Life fan creativity can bring.

If you like the vanilla Half-Life gameplay loop but want something a bit more challenging, Detla Particles is basically perfect. I'd describe the gameplay as "Vanilla plus", it has the same rhythms as the original, but the enemies feel more aggressive and the weapons feel more powerful. The result is a good thinky shooter where you have to take care of how you enter a scenario, but not so difficult as to become frustrating or cheap. Every combat encounter is beautifully paced with particular care to throw interesting combinations of enemies at you which really makes you prioritize who to kill first and which weapons to tackle a scenario with.

The basic premise that there's a competing lab facility who just happens to be doing an experiment at the same time as Black Mesa and that's part of why things go south might be a bit fanfictiony for some, but the different vibe that the Delta Facility brings is worth a bit of narrative cheesiness. This mod almost completely uses original environmental textures and assets which gives a very different vibe from Black Mesa, and I liked exploring something that felt like it could exist in the Half-Life Universe while not being yet another previously unseen section of the Black Mesa Facility.

The more militaristic feel of the Delta informs both the style and substance of the mod. Your weapon lineup is a bit more "tacticool", you've got a beast of a sniper rifle, a desert eagle, and an amazing railgun that makes quick work of alien grunts. The new weapons feel right at home with the old, and even old favorites have been reworked and reskinned to feel a bit meaner, which is reflected in the chunkier gibs. The smaller, more claustrophobic level design also reflects that military bunker feel while giving the gameplay loop a different feel from Black Mesa's more sprawling, sometimes abstract facilities. It all feels a little more clandestine, a little darker, and that tightness forces you into closer proximity with enemies which makes the fights faster and harder. Even basic headcrabs can be a threat in this mod which was a pleasant surprise. The core Valve principles are all here, you've got your classic "loop to where you came in from" design and exploration is always rewarded, but it's done with a unique style that makes it stand out from the source material.

Rounding things out is one of the best Xen sequences I've ever seen, I won't spoil much and I will say this is coming from someone who actually loves the original Xen, but there are some really cool setpieces with it and they captures what I love about classic Xen while downplaying and eliminating the common criticisms people have with the original.

Delta Particles is an amazing accomplishment and a fine addition to the great legacy of custom Half-Life campaigns. Every single moment is solid, and it's a good meaty experience too. I'd say it probably took about 5 to 8 hours which is on par with the length of the official expansions and every moment is all killer no filler. I was surprised to learn this has been out in this form for about a year because it only seems like people are really reporting on it now, so spread the word because this deserves as much attention as it can get.

Extremely dank

Really nicely done mod, people tend to ignore the 2002/2003 era of HL2 development in favor of the darker 2001 aeashetics, but the 2003 builds had a lot of interesting level design going on, especially in the Prospekt and Coast areas, and this mod does a really good job taking those aspects and meshing them coherently with the final product. Handily one of the best beta-themed mods I've played nad I look forward to seeing what else thsi team comes up with.

Absolutely fascinating time capsule of unfinished and reworked stuff. The episode betas weren't nearly as different as the main HL2 game's beta, but there's some interesting stuff to explore and the one little bit of the Junction Point episode you get to play is like having a new, official slice of HL2 content, which was a great thing before HLA came out.

If you're rating this or trying to play it in the same order you would a proper game or mod, you're doing it wrong. This is basically an interactive museum of cut content and in that regard, it excels. The only reason it's less than 10 is because there's still some stuff that can be added, hopefully we'll see it sometime.

I was lukewarm on this mod's initial release, but after playing Division 2, I have to increase my score. They've clearly taken feedback into account and the result is destined to be one of the great Half-Life mods, up there with Black Mesa and Dark Interval. Areas that previously felt oversized and empty are now teeming with visual detail and interesting setpieces that move the narrative along. There's a lot more story now and it doesn't just feel like you're playing retail's story with a beta theme anymore.

You'll notice iconic layouts from the actual Beta maps blended seamlessly into new designs. Combat seems is massively rebalanced, I never felt annoyed like I did before and the encounters flow beautifully. The weapons are stellar with some really slick animation going on and the game is a joy to interact with. As great as it is to see the Division 1 levels in fine form, the new Division 2 content is even better, with not only some great takes on HL2's chapters, but compelling story beats that get me caring about this version of the narrative. Route Kanal is much more fun and engaging than Retail Route canal, Water Hazard is gorgeous, though the boat is a little too sluggish for my liking compared to the airboat, and Ravenholm has some brilliant setpieces that end the current slice on a high note. The thought I kept having over and over while playing this release was "this is near Valve quality, I'm playing a proper game".

There is still a bit of jank. Early on I got softlocked by not walking past a Combine vs. Rebels fight quickly enough and one guard just stood in the way under some scaffolding and wouldn't let me pass (this was right after the underground part with a cremator walking around if the devs are reading). Turns out you have to go by before the sequence starts or you're out of luck and I lost some time trying to figure out a puzzle that didn't exist.

While the Division 1 levels are almost completely improved, the area shortly after the Manhack Arcade needs work, in my original review I said it felt like "taking a level design from the original Doom and putting realistic textures on it without considering it as a real space" and that still applies here. You go into what seems like some kind of condemned combine bunker, but there's also bits and pieces of apartments, random vehicles and highway tunnel and combine wall and it just feels like random geometry wtih props and textures vs. something that has a purpose in the world. It's the one part of Division 1 that doesn't seem to have really changed at all and it still feels like a low point, but the rest of the mod is just stellar with a real sense of place and purpose.

Despite the small issues, this is an incredible experience and it took me about 6 hours to get through the current chunk of content which is pretty hefty. I haven't followed this mod as closely as I should have because that initial impression left me cold, but now I'm incredibly hyped to see how the rest of it goes and I'll be paying much closer attention. This mod has really grown from its humble beginnings and become something special, the finished version will no doubt be spectacular, but even this slice of it is pure Half-Life bliss.