With Operations 1942, we develop a Half-Life Singleplayer mod which is the first to have a high standard of realism and quality. All missions, the player will have to face while playing the game, will be based on historical events which will give the game additional atmosphere.
This mod is by no means bad. I remember playing it way back when it was just reskinned half-life models but now it makes use of DoD content it adds a nice degree of polish to the mod.
The difficulty is off the chart and that is why I give the mod such a high rating. A lot of people complain about it being too hard but I reckon these will be your pansy gamers who are used to modern releases which spoon feed players to an insulting degree. This offers something unique.
In the sniper mission in Normandy, I was actually using cover and flanking the enemy, rather than charging in head on. I found myself feeling genuinely tense as I navigated the corners of the ruined town.
This is a really nice change and I don't think the mod is getting the praise it deserves. If it's too hard for you, go play Call of Duty and kill off the last of your brain cells.
In some places the stealth element is a little unfair since Half-Life is not coded as a stealth game, but otherwise I genuinely enjoyed this.
I got to say, for a mod developed by a small team with few resources, Operations 1942 is not a bad work. It has a well achieved realistic ambience that fits remarkably with the WWII theme. However, while it combines war game elements with the main features that differentiates Half-Life from other FPS games, it only gives an awkward, short-lived gameplay experience.
The ambience is exceedingly good, maybe the best aspect the mod has to offer. With a simplistic modelling and texturing, it sets the WWII atmosphere on point. Not only that, but the music synergizes well most of the time, although at some parts is a bit loud. I really have to applaud the fact that the jazzy music in the headquarters fits the theme so well you don't even realize it is a sample of The Sims construction menu soundtrack.
But the ambience is also enhanced by the fact that the mod is set on places of iconic battles of WWII, contributing to a higher level of realism and even giving the opportunity to explore from an historical point of view the deserts of North Africa, military bases from Northway, the urban setting of Germany and the ruins of the french Bocage.
The gameplay takes the fundamental elements of Half-Life through simple movement puzzles and generally fast-paced shooting, which contrasts with most war FPS games focus almost exclusively in walkthrough in battle settings and a varied arsenal of weapons to take down enemies. This is because the player is a secret agent who resorts to stealth and sabotaging tactics. While it looks good on paper, the mod doesn't implement well this concept. Real stealth is almost impossible because of the messy AI pathfinding and shooting range, which makes german soldiers to take a lot of time to turn around and shoot, or they can spot you from impossible distances and mortally shoot you in a matter of seconds. Even when in some places you can turn off lights to enhance your stealth, soldiers shooting range seem to bypass this. Also, the ammo can be a bit scarce if you make many mistakes in clearing rooms and the maps are quite short. It seems a wasted opportunity to not include melee weapons (a feature I realized the second time I played Operations 1942). It is good the mod support custom created maps, but if they ever existed there are nowhere to be found. Also, the North Africa map seems to often cause a game crash in newer machines.
I'd recommend this mod only for those who really like the WWII theme and are willing to endure a not-very-pleasant stealth gameplay. It could also get better if it got a better tutorial, and not one for only shooting immobile targets.
Pretty decent mod but cut short too soon. The Bocage mission was the best while the N. Africa one was the absolute worst.
It's a shame you're only given something other than a pistol for that one mission. Could've used a more expanded arsenal with BARs, Stens, MP40s, M1s, grenades, etc.
Original. (Nothing more to say)
Among the very few WW2 mods for Half-life.
The level design is superb and the custom content is top-notch, with 4 campaigns offering differing locations and objectives.
If your a fan of WW2 shooters then load up Operations 1942 on a long weekend or on your coffee break. :)
Its an okay mod... but too hard, the enemy AI eliminates you easily. Lastly, there are Half Life Launcher errors logged into the ''Reliability Monitor'' when you launch this mod. No harm, it's just something that happens in the background. You won't notice it.
pls dont create his mod like his it makes you nervous create something new but not stealthy
I love this so much, the hard but fun gameplay just drive the entire game through. With the realism and immersion in the environments, it is beautiful graphically and gameplay wise. A well deserved 10/10.
very hard mod, but good work.
I'm very liked the mod, the only problem is that most of missions are too short, but idea and realization are very good. Also there are not so many realistic/historical singleplayer mods for Half-Life, so this one deserves that to be played.