Experience Half-Life 2 like never before. Return to City 17, held within the iron grip of the Combine and the Consul. Reunite with old friends, and enemies. Traverse vicious canals, make new allies, and brave the horrors of the Quarrytown. Immerse yourself in a revitalised combat system featuring old arsenals made new again, with added features to raise the bar in gameplay. You've been waiting for quite some time, now. It's time to climb aboard.
I just played through the entire demo (which was a lot longer than expected), and I have to say I enjoyed it!
I'll admit that my hopes weren't that high when I started. The beginning train station level specifically just wasn't that good, it was by far the least polished area in my opinion, it just didn't have that "lived in" feel that a level should have. But goddamn, when the sequence of entering the city plaza with that original HL2 soundtrack playing in the background occurred, I could tell I was in for a helluva ride.
Combat was very similar to HL2, I personally LOVE HL2's rather simple combat mechanics, so there's no issues here. Animations were smooth and satisfying, and the addition of the stunstick was pretty cool.
There were a lot of areas that needed some more polish, not as bad as the train station, but it definitely felt unfinished in certain areas. I noticed that a lot of the areas needing polish were levels where intense combat took place, which shows that the devs clearly focused mainly on scenery in this demo, a lot of areas where you're just supposed to take in your surroundings looked pretty complete, while areas with combat just looked basic and generally incomplete.
The art style was all over the place IMO, it was just a mish mash of HL2, HL2 beta, and original content, all three of which sort of colliding with each other. It was EXTREMELY jarring to see a default HL2 zombie being controlled by a custom, high poly headcrab model. I sincerely hope you guys plan on remaking most NPC textures like you did with the citizens, being forced to be that close to the original low quality GMan face texture was not enjoyable.
There were some engine bugs, though it wasn't that common. Usually it would just be a lighting bug, such as a chair seemingly glowing in a dark room, however I would occasionally find a citizen or two just randomly crouching or cowering in terror for no reason. Also, was the Cremator supposed to be hostile? Originally I thought I had to sneak by it or else I'd get incinerated, but I soon found out that it just... ignored me, despite the fact that I was on the run in an area a citizen probably wasn't allowed to be.
Voice acting was decent enough. GMan and Barney was passable for a free mod, but goddamn whoever voiced Kleiner was ******* amazing, you guys genuinely struck gold with whoever you casted. Mossman was also pretty good, she didn't sounds like Judith, but considering they're completely different characters between beta and retail I can imagine the difference was intentional.
Overall, it wasn't flawless, but I enjoyed it. This has HUGE potential. If you guys just fixed bugs, focused on one art style, and ran some levels through a few more layers of polish, this could rival Black Mesa in quality.
7/10
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.
Everything I could ask for.
Youtu.be
this is only the demo version, however needs a ton of work at this point. the lightning feels obsolete, and has a lot of low poly models...you need to redux the redux a little bit :D
music and sounds (and voiceacting for the most part) are 10/10 tho. whoever making those dont let him go.
mod has defenetly huge potential, but cannot give more then 7 at the moment.
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
Think I'd rather play Dear Esther than this. Levels are way too long and confusing which make it feel like a literal walking simulator and if you're one that hasn't seen HL2 beta stuff in the past then good luck finding out where to go.
There also seems to be very little originality in the map design. A few places actually feel like they were pulled from the old beta content and mashed together very lazily. A couple I immediately recognised was the Terminal Plaza and the "Free TV" (haha yes funny meme) map which has been ported to GMod near countless times to the point where its burned in my brain. Adding to that some of the lighting in these maps don't make sense like the sun colour and which way its casting, could be wrong but it feels very off. Also some of the other areas like the "factory district" seem largely unchanged from the beta content.
On another note on originality, during the sequence where you first meet Kliener, is that dialogue actually original? Having played a very similar mod Dark Interval it almost feels like it was ripped straight from that, I could be wrong but some of the lines seemed almost word-for-word.
The mod does seems to do a pretty decent job of capturing the old beta feel and atmosphere, but its very much the same with how other mods have done this in the past.
I was going to write another paragraph full of blah but honestly I don't know what else to bring up apart from "come back later until its better". Though that seems somewhat unlikely from what this first release contains, unless the dev team REALLY get their game together starting from now its gonna be a very bumpy ride. I could go on about the some of the voice-acting, textures and materials etc used but I'm just going to leave it here. As of right now being a first release its very sloppily put together and unfortunately feels like another one of those wannabe beta revival mods from years past (that rarely work).
For a demo, there's more than what I expected. I would've given a 9.5 or 9.9 out of 10 if that was an option. There's a lot of content in this demo so I'll try to break this review down into a few sections:
Atmosphere: It really captures the dark atmosphere of the original story ideas. There were some moments I was actually surprised by some of the background story moments. One that caught me off guard was passing a metrocop, hearing a noise, and then gunfire as the assailant was gunned down and nearby citizens fled in terror. Another memorable moment was walking through the "Free TV" area and seeing the street skirmish between the metropolice and disgruntled citizens.
Level Design: I was honestly expecting to get lost more but that only happened about a few times. Great usage of lighting to help guide the player. There was a moment or two that I couldn't figure out "What to do" but they were only brief.
Gameplay: Really satisfying once the player acquires the HEV suit and weapons. I really liked the chaotic moments where the player is going throughout the city, battling metrocops and dodging fire from the multiple Hunter Choppers while weaving in and out of multiple buildings and areas. The weapon I liked the most was the MP7, not sure if it was the model or sounds or both that won me.
Characters: The most memorable and funny moment was Kleiner making puns/jokes about soda before pressing the button to reveal the HEV suit inside the soda machine. The only thing that threw me off was Barney's voice. I don't blame the VA, he sounds like a great actor, but it's a noticeable difference. Despite that, combined with Barney's dialogue from the original story, still works. I feel all of the VAs involved did a great job with their performance and staying in character.
Overall: Definitely an amazing first impression. Even if you aren't a beta fan but still enjoy great action and the default HL2 gameplay, I really recommend giving it a try. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Raising The Bar Redux in the future. Fantastic job to everyone involved!
one of the best beta mods out there. keep up the good work!