It is my first mod created last year (2008). I remembered about it just now and decided presented here.
Really great combat. Fighting HECU was incredibly fun with moments of run 'n' gun, taking cover, and attricious standoffs.
Fast pacing with good enemy variety and placement. It was a blast trying different strategies to take advantage of this explosive-heavy arsenal.
A quickie that packs a lot of content into a small package.
Immediately you can tell the creator was heavily inspired by the cut content of HL, but instead of making a beta mod, he instead used the discarded ideas and integrated them into an original experience. I mean it when I say cut content inspired. If something is cut, this mod has it show up in one of the maps one way or another. Cut enemies, usables like antidote, oxygen tank and keycards, unused textures and animations, the list goes on. If something is cut, it makes an appearance here in some way.
The actual enemies you battle and the weapons are the same, but there are two weapon re-skins. Fitting with the alpha / beta theme we have chumtoads replacing snarks and stukabats replacing the RPG. You just point the alien bat to the enemy, release it and watch it blow things up. It's a nice and simple way to integrate yet another removed creature into the game.
The mapping isn't anything special for the year. While none of the areas are ugly to look at or a chore to play, we've also seen much better level design by 2008. I can clearly say this without feeling bad because the creator, Freeslave, has went on to create many fantastic maps for various projects :)
Over the years I've seen people say that there is no story in this mod, which isn't true. Short cutscenes and other events show that a (or THE) kingpin creature being behind the attacks. It teleports other aliens in etc. Also, one section further on has a glass cage that's broken with bodies everywhere. I think that's where it broke out and started the attack. Long story short, the mod has a simple story, it just doesn't spell it out.
Overall, this is an action heavy, old-school mappack with a cut content focus. It's not super impressive but besides the very abrupt ending, there aren't many problems here that'll diminish the fun factor.
bullet sponge
Buen juego en general se siente bastante realista y acorde con las ideas y conceptos Del Half-Life Original, Excelente para ser tu primer Mod.
This one was short and sweet. The combat was both challenging and fun. Not really big on puzzles, but you're still expected to find something or figure things out. Only one "new" weapon (I've seen it in several other mods), but otherwise a limited selection. No real new enemies. You pursue a funny looking Xen alien. That's the extent of the plot. The ending was anti-climactic. Overall, this is great if you want a fun, short set of Half-Life maps.
+ It's got good ammo supply, enemy amounts, and placement.
+ The level design was pretty good, while the evironments are what we've come to expect from HL, we get a little sewage, mostly storage facility textures.. it still felt a bit fresh.
+ Medium length
+ Boss battle, I'm not to fond of that, because enemies can be extremely predictable unless you use the environment to their advantage, here I felt a tad bit of danger as the garg was heading in my direction with no place to hide back the way I came, rather the new area to the middle was the place to go (but filled with enemies so you have to act fast) I liked that dynamic.
It doesn't try to be anything but a short detour from what we've come to see as the holy grail that is the original HL. Yes its not innovative or exceedingly beautiful or particularly hard, but it was fun and fairly well designed.
asd