Reviews - Raising the Bar: Redux mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

I think the main problem I had was the intro before kleiners, some were good but the rest was just stale with citizens not doing anything at all, but damn once **** goes down it goes down really good, the gunplay, models (make a pack for vanilla half life 2 ;V), environment works fine fine, I think this mod compared to the other (beta related mods) should focus on action and set pieces.

Make more little details to the environment, to make the intro better maybe add more dialogue for citizens and a little quest-puzzles and a chase sequence

Music awesome keep it going baby it was fitting with that half life vibe, voice acting was good some people don't like barney but he was fine at the end not as good as the others but OK.

Overall it was Good I think a solid 8.5 FOR NOW, because i know it will only get better.

Edit: It got a lot better xD

This is such a great piece of work, I've followed mods for over a decade and many "beta" mods have fallen as quickly as they've risen.

Of course, this is just a quarter of the mod, maybe less... We've still to see the Wasteland, AirExchange, Kraken base, Borealis... !!

But still, we now see what we could have only imagined or seen in a rough state for 15 years : the original City 17, the original Citadel... the cremator in action, the manhack arcade...
Of course DARK INTERVAL has been released before but it took a much more personal take on that Beta story, turning it into a gloomy and nihilistic state, while RtB appears to be really more faithful to the RtB book and other canon things about that beta we can see on HL wikia.

What's very pleasing is that not only we can wander on the streets to admire that old Eastern countries' design, but a special attention has been given to the fights, be it new weapons such as stunt baton, redesigned guns, enemies, but also unpredictable events such as that hide-and-seek battle against a Chopper on City 17's streets.

Really, it's hard to be harsh towards this mod, of course we can criticize some "place-holder" citizens frozen on different positions, some paths badly foundable, but overall it's a fun and interesting experience for die hard HL fans which want to finally get a true taste of what that beta thingy HL2 was.

Keep up the good work.

This was such a fun experience to go through. So far, it's definitely the most complete and fleshed-out Beta recreation mod, and the work put into it is very impressive. The gunplay, especially, is very satisfying and fun. The levels also feel very distinct and are highly detailed, making them fun to explore every nook and cranny.

The only real downside for me is that the beginning feels like a bit of a slog. I enjoy seeing more of City 17, but in comparison to a mod like Dark Interval, the early exploration of the city feels a little less interesting with not as much to do and taking a lot longer through more winding and twisting locations.

However, after that, the rest of the mod shines with IMO some great level design and fun gameplay, especially in the later chapters as you get some more weapons.

Very much looking forward to Division 3 and the rest of the mod in the future.

Raising The Bar has a complicated development history when the original mod started and got cancelled due to the ''lacks of interest'', RBTR has a nice level design art style really feel like if I was on Dishonored or it's either Bioshock but with Half-Life.

So why I am rating ''9''?
I don't want to sound it rude but I'm going to make it in a good honest way
the first chapter feel really awesome in term of aesthetic it can be a bit long if you're especially lost but don't worry the combat is a banger experience and the exploration too, I really love the voice acting with the characters and the ''Overwatch'' the RTBR team made a amazing achievement with the project I cannot much express how I was impressed by the works and the aesthetic that inspired my game career work as a learning disabled and huge fan of Valve & Half-Life ^^

So I saw that it got a ''division 2'' update I look forward to play more on RTBR! It's understandable that some combine models were changed ex: ceilling turret I am mentioning and it's alright I'm not mad :)
otherwise this is my most anticipated mod alongside OBM, GD, Peer Review and more :)

Raise the bar it did!

What I can say! amazing.

Just AWESOME. Good job ! (but the Kleiner's lab scene is too long, too boring, make them talk less, please xD)

I plan on possibly making a youtube review of this mod. But to give a reason or two as to why: the level design is excellent for the most part, perfectly captured the atmosphere of what Valve was going for in the early years, the excellent voice acting, and much more. The reason I give it a 9 instead of 10 is due to the fact that it still has some kinks to still work out with both pacing and general polish. Devs, if you are reading this please don't stop working on this project, you have something truly special on your hands that the world needs to experience!

Suprisingly good voice acting. Good weapons sounds and animation.Lighting is pretty good,combat is small improvement to the original. 9/10

Alright so i just played the whole demo of this game and i gotta say Nice work for all the developers that worked on this game this game can actually be the best remastered hl2 beta mod i ever played so i gotta give it 9.5 there are still few bugs which they are small bugs which most players probably seen it but 2 level loading and seeing city 17 the main level and seeing citadel is like i am back in 2004 when this game was made by a valve but better graphics better look and specially the part where you fight against combines trough the whole city just damn amazing soundtracks are also cool and i can't wait for chapter 2 this game is already looking cool and i can't wait to see more i gotta thank all the developers for their hard work of this game and keep up the lovely work of this game this is just amazing!!! <3