100 Half-Life 1 Mods: page 10

Hardman - in the City

Hardman - in the City takes place in an unknown city, whose streets are full of drug addicts, police officers and armed members of a criminal organization. Gameplay takes place on the streets and inside buildings, with both types having extremely simple geometry, a lot of flat surfaces, and a small number of elements. I also disliked many invisible walls, which could be solved much better by using barricades. The impression is slightly corrected by use of fairly high-res textures, which could often be placed with better precision. The beginning is relatively linear, but eventually the number of side paths increases, and there are also some secrets. The traversal through the maps is pretty varied, as you will be crawling through the sewage and vents, riding with lifts and trains, breaking barriers, overcoming obstacles, pressing buttons, etc. In any case, it's much better than the author previous creation: Pimp My Car.

You will only fight soldiers in this mod, and you will be able to ask numerous street policemen to aid you in this task. Artificial intelligence can often be clumsy, and is sometimes placed away from you when you enter an area, but this only slightly reduces the general action. Soldiers mostly attack in teams, they often charge you from multiple directions, and are also well hidden many times, so prepare to be surprised. The situation gets quite intense when grenades, explosive charges and secondary shotgun shots get used, and let me tell you, the soldiers are not afraid to use these combat techniques. You weaponry is gradually unlocked, and consists of a rather limited reskinned set of weapons from the original. The goodies and ammunition are plentiful enough to play on Hard difficulty. The game ends by throwing you back to the main menu, and I needed about 45 minutes of gameplay to experience this.

Idol Hunt

Idol Hunt takes place in the ruins of an ancient civilization, located somewhere in the South American Andes. In their experiments Black Mesa researchers discovered a mysterious energy signal coming from the ruins and sent a research team there to check it out. A few days after setting up the base, contact with the group was lost, and the administrator has appointed you, Gordon Freeman, to investigate what happened. The story is full of clichés, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I liked the fact that information about objects or events was displayed during my exploration. but it is a pity that this was not more abundant. In particular, I would like to find out why the ruins are full of aliens and what are the soldiers doing there.

The visual impression is appropriate for the age of the ruins and is nicely done. The things that contribute the most to the visuals are the use of high-quality textures, proper lighting and the elements themselves. There are also modern items lying in the levels, which were left behind by the research group during the exploration. Your journey will take you through temples, you will swim in the caves, climb the ladders and enjoy the fresh air. All this means a quite varied experience, but it's pretty much fully linear. Because of the setting, I expected some secrets or alternative secret passages, but I was very disappointed to not find anything. The game contains quite a few puzzles that involve activation of switches, search for objects as well as some jumping trials.

During your advancement through the ruins, you will be hindered by a pretty modest set of enemies. Among the beings of Xen, the most prominent are Headcrabs and Vortigaunts, the human forces are mostly represented by soldiers. Factions are constantly fighting, which can be used to save on health and / or ammunition. This avoidance is almost necessary, since the weaponry is very limited, and ammunition and goodies are fairly rare. There are also some surprises where enemies storm a place, but the most difficult situations are those in which you must hide from the Gargantua and at the same time solve puzzles. For these reasons, I advise you to play on Medium difficulty, at which you'll spend about 45 minutes to complete the mod.

Operation: Nova

In Operation: Nova, you play as a cleaner named John Skinner, who works at Black Mesa. You start the day as usual by cleaning a chemical spill, dressed in your H.E.V. suit for safety reasons. Your task quickly turns into a nightmare when the incident in the original Half-Life game occurs and Xen aliens flood the complex. You and your colleague are hiding in the toilets to stay safe until the situation resolves, but then the army storms in, and they are allergic to anyone with the H.E.V. suit. The story is quite interesting, and you discover gradually through conversations with NPCs who have nicely recorded custom speech. I also liked that the story occasionally relates to events from the original.

The levels consist of a mixture of external and internal maps, with the latter being more abundant. The maps have a good architecture with enough detail, and the impression is sometimes improved by a good choice of colors and illumination. Your way to the end is almost completely linear, but the game features many backtracking moments. As the areas are changed when you return (they are transformed or occupied by opponents), the experience is all but boring and I liked it very much. Puzzles are certainly one of the key features of this modification, as they are not only diverse, but they contain also some extremely original ones in the set. This way, you will often have to intensely think about the situation, but fear not, in the toughest of riddles, the game also gives you tips, so pay attention to texts displayed on screen and listen to NPCs.

The enemy types contain a varied mixture of Xenian and human opponents, and everything is spiced up with machine guns and aircraft. Fights are pretty demanding, due to both good opponents' positioning and scripted events. Because there are a lot of goodies and ammunition, I recommend playing on Hard for ultimate fun (and prolonged playing). The weapon selection is very limited. You get the crowbar, pistols and guns, but explosives or more exotic weapons are nowhere to be found. You can also exploit guards to help you with their guns, and you can also mount a static machine gun. It's a pity that the experience is so short. To finish the mod, I only spent around 45 minutes playing it ...

Breakdown

In Breakdown you play as Jonathan Wood, who works at Black Mesa. The game takes place in parallel with the original, and thus you encounter the incident that caused the invasion of the Xen creatures. There is no real story in the mod, as you just need to go from start to finish, and you will do this in largely linear fashion. The beginning is quite difficult, because you have to find the crowbar without H.E.V. suit, and this becomes your sole weapon against Headcrabs and Vortigaunts for quite a long time. Towards the end the Xen enemies are reinforced by Alien Grunts, but the varied rest is not really worth mentioning. A bigger threat will be the soldiers who are cleverly placed in container labyrinths, and in some cases, they must also be avoided by sneaking past them. The weapon set is fairly modest, but there are enough bullets and health to provide a enjoyable experience on Medium, despite considerable fluctuations in difficulty.

Levels consist of a mixture of interconnected external and internal maps. Architecture is quite rough at the beginning, but it has to be said that this is contrasted by quite some details, and also, that the situation improves with the progress towards the end. The course of the game, with the exception of a large number of hallways, is quite diverse, as you traverse through offices, laboratories, sewers, sandy and rocky deserts, and there is also plently of climbing and jumping challenges. Puzzles consist not only of pressing buttons, but you also need to find keys, hidden passages, guide NPCs to open the doors, etc. Playing is also enriched by scripting surprises and occasional music. I needed around 45 minutes to reach the end, which was just an invitation to play the second part of the mod.

Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory takes place in a secret state laboratory about three weeks before the Black Mesa incident. You play as Gordon Freeman, who is researching the chaos theory together with a team of fellow scientists. Unfortunately, in one of the experiments something goes wrong and you get teleported to a location, unknown to you. When you reach a specific goal in this area, you get teleported to the next map with an unrelated theme, and so on. This concept is used by quite a few modifications in this mod list, but none of them explains it in such a sophisticated way.

The modification consists of six very diverse maps that have a rather unfortunately chosen order, making the fluctuations in difficulty pretty significant. The introductory fun battle against Gargantua is followed by a walk through flooded corridors with plenty of Vortigaunts, but then suddenly you will be teleported to the (too)easy stage on Xen. After that you will have fight yourself through a massive corridor maze, which contains plenty of well-placed soldiers and machine guns, making it certainly the hardest part of the game. This is again followed by a very easy level with zombies and Headcrabs. The end is devoted to the elimination of a helicopter, which is otherwise demanding, but is made easier by a big supply of goodies. The game provides you with massive amounts of ammo, and there's also an abundance of medkits and batteries, so I recommend playing on Hard difficulty.

The architecture of the maps is mostly fairly simple and full of flat surfaces. The boring labyrinth of corridors in the offices and the not impressive Xen stand out the most in this regard. On the other hand, for example, the introductory map is very nicely made, as it is filled with details. In addition to fighting against opponents, the game mostly contains fairly standard puzzles, but among them you will find some very innovative ones. I really liked the map with a helicopter in which containers are unlocked gradually and slowly lead you to a rocket launcher, which can be used to destroy this dangerous opponent. To complete the mod, I spent about 45 minutes playing it.

The Xeno Project

The Xeno Project takes place on Xen, which is under the process of terraforming to make living on it more pleasant to mankind. On one of the asteroids there is a laboratory complex named Xeno Project, in which scientists are researching portal technology and in which our hero - Gordon Freeman - is also employed. Due to the general secrecy around the project, relations between the different factions are very tense, and one day, during one of the experiments, soldiers break into laboratories and start with slaughter. Will you be able to escape? The path to your freedom will be hindered by a wide range of enemies, consisting of people, monsters and mechanical enemies. You will meet various creatures from Xen, soldiers, female assasins, tanks, helicopters, and machineguns, and on top of that you will have to avoid traps. Due to the extremely good positioning of opponents and brutal ambushes, the game is all but simple, but at the same time it offers an extraordinary experience to players who love action. In spite of the considerable amount of goodies and varied selection of weapons, you will have to approach the situation the right way to survive.

Maps consist of both internal and external levels, which are constantly interchanged during gameplay. Due to the adapted gravity resulting from terraforming and human structures, you will feel like playing in a reskinned environment outside of Black Mesa. The appearance of external maps is excellent, as it impresses in both architecture and color. The internal maps on the other hand do not stand out. They are well built in the beginning and have enough detail, but some parts are also boring and desolate, and there are also duplicate sections that give a false impression of non-linearity. The situation gets considerably worse towards the end, when the wrong proportions of the elements gets added to the list of mistakes. Too bad. The puzzles are pretty much nonexistant, the most noteworthy being jumping challenges, which are upgraded in the second part of the game with the long jump module. I spent about 45 minutes of play time on Medium difficulty to get to the end.

Times of Troubles

Times of Troubles takes place in an alternate timeline of the original Half-Life story. When you wanted to visit Xen via the Lambda Complex teleporter, you surprisingly landed in an unknown part of the Black Mesa complex. It seems that the scientist mixed up the coordinates. After a long time of unconsciousness, you wake up and find out that you have lost your H.E.V. suit as well as all of the weapons. The latter are gradually regained during gameplay, but the full selection is fairly modest, as there are no biological and futuristic weapons among them, as well as no crossbow, and explosives section contains only grenades. Nevertheless, the amount of ammunition is sufficient for Hard difficulty, and the same goes for healing packages and batteries.

The maps rely heavily on the designs from the original, which is not so unusual as the story happens in the same complex. Nevertheless, the author has differentiated the mod enough to make it stand out. The maps are excellent and contain a diverse and sophisticated architecture, which is complemented with good layout of elements, a suitable choice of textures and a well-chosen illumination. A great addition to the visual impression are numerous scripted events with combination of skillful editing of sounds and speech. Gameplay is very diverse and contains a mix of fighting and puzzles. You will fight against soldiers and various monsters from Xen, with the difficulty being pretty well calibrated, the only exception being a big difficulty jump at the end. The puzzles are quite interesting and include jumping challenges, searching for hidden paths forward, exploring, escorting NPCs, pushing buttons and switches, and also backtracking. Unfortunately, the mod has a big Achilles' heel in form of its length, which is only 45 minutes.

Dav Train

Dav Train takes place after Gordon rejects G-Man's offer of co-operation. Gordon gets placed in a locked cell on a train and is transported to a secret base where his memories will be erased. During the stop he successfully kills his guard and escapes from the cell. Outside, he will not only be challenged by angry soldiers, but also numerous Xen monsters which roam the area. You will be mostly fighting with four types of opponents: soldiers with machine guns and shotguns, Vortigaunts and Alien Grunts. Due to their number, good positioning, cover and clever map design, the fights will be full of action. Teleportation and well-placed machinegun nests will take care of additional surprises. Your weapon set is limited to human ones, but there is enough ammunition for them.

The levels consist of almost exclusively internal maps, which contain offices, corridors and warehouses. Some initial actions also take place on wagons. The map design is fairly good with quite a few details, but unrealistically narrow passages and certain wrong proportions ruin the impression. The course of the game is mostly straightforward, but certain parts of the maps are open enough, therefore you do not get a sense of linearity. There are some side paths with loot, but be careful when breaking boxes, as they sometimes explode and injure you. The game visuals do not contain any surprises, but I really liked are the interesting scripted events, in which the opposing factions are fighting each other. On the difficulty of Medium, I used about 30 minutes to complete the mod, but you can squeeze additional 15 minutes out of it by playing on Hard.

ETC

In ETC (or Earthquake Test Center) you play Gordon Freeman. The scene is Black Mesa which is full of soldiers and aliens. Your task is to get to the Lambda complex, which is located on the opposite side of the base. Your mission will certainly not be easy, as numerous opponents will stand in your way, with very well-placed soldiers of all sorts being certainly most memorable. They will attack you from multiple directions at a time, and you should also prepare for a lot of evil surprises. There are several types of enemies from Xen, but their numbers are pretty low. Headcrabs are again the most annoying ones (soldiers seem to dislike them too), and Vortigaunts are also worth mentioning. The difficulty curve could be set better, as the start is more difficult as it should be. The weapon selection is very varied, as it is missing only biological and futuristic weapons, and the amount of ammo on Medium difficulty is more than enough. A different story are the amounts of healing packages and batteries, because they are just right.

The maps are inspired by those from the original and are quite well-made in terms of geometry and lighting itself. The selection of textures did not impress me, since they come mostly from the greyscale spectrum, but the game redeems itself with a number of excellent scripted events, which greatly enrich the gameplay. Occasionally the background music turns on. I also thought the NPCs mustaches were a pretty humorous addon :). The progression through stages is mostly linear, but here and there there will also be moments where you need to do something and then go back, and sometimes parts of maps get modified. Puzzles are limited to pressing buttons, but in few instances you also need to take advantage of NPC help. The weak point of modification is definitely its length, as I spent only 30 minutes to complete it.

U-Life

U-Life is a hybrid created by the transfer of some visual features and mechanics from the legendary Unreal, while still being Half-Life in the core. The levels consist of internal maps and have a typical Unreal touch, which is not evident only because of the use of very sharp textures from the game, but also because of general architecture and color scheme. Although the complexity of the maps could be better, the visual impression is very good, and is additionally enriched by special effects and scripted events. Maps contain quite a few alternative routes, which contribute to the impression of non-linearity, and some also have secrets with goodies. The puzzles are quite rare. Most of the time, you will need to activate a certain mechanism (door, lift), which works by hitting the area with your body.

The enemy selection is (somewhat surprisingly) copied directly from Half-Life itself, and consists of both Xenian creatures and human opponents. The placement and the abundance of the enemies are satisfactory, and there are also some ambushes - too bad that the opponents appear pretty late in the game (after the first fifth). The fights between the various factions make the gameplay more diverse and also save you some ammunition and health. The weapon set is quite modest, as it contains only a few weapons from the original, but it has to be said the ammunition is plentiful. Amounts of medkits and batteries are just right for the Medium difficulty, but careful players might also be able to complete it on Hard. The modification is not finished and ends without a warning immediately after an epic battle. It's also really short, as I barely accumulated 30 minutes of play time.