100 Half-Life 1 Mods: page 7

Boreality

When Half-Life 2 fans read the name Boreality, they will immediately get their hopes up, for it being a hidden reference to the Borealis research vessel that should be seen in a never-issued third episode. Unfortunately, it is probably just a coincidence, since the modification was published several years before the mention of Borealis in Episode 2. You play Gordon Freeman, who, after an unsuccessful evacuation with the helicopter, is forced to jump out with a parachute mid flight. He lands in an unfamiliar snowy place, which has a small cosy-looking cottage in the vicinity.

This game is pretty appealing architecturally. The upper living rooms pass well into the giant complex underground, there are several paths to the next level, which means that you will have great freedom in exploration. Many people will dislike this openness, so this is a double-edged sword. There is some walking around in the dark and swimming, but the amount is low enough to not make it frustrating. Puzzles are interesting, although they are not overly difficult. Levels include Xen monsters: Headcrabs, Alien Slaves, Bullsquids, which can result in several surprises. Unfortunately, they definitely exaggerated with the Headcrabs and as you near the end, you will probably get annoyed by them. Your arsenal includes a crowbar, a revolver, and shotgun, that is all. Ammunition is just right, and the same applies to medkits and batteries, but if you play wasteful, you could have problems.

With the exception of snow and ice, there are no visual surprises. Occasionally, the background music is turned on, and a there are some custom speech parts. You will need approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the game on Medium. The Training room and the bonus level are the same, so I recommend that you do not start the first on it's own, because the HUD will be missing.

Infinite Rift

Infinite Rift takes place about 3 days after the incident in the Black Mesa complex. The military forces led by a villain nicknamed The Administrator took control over the complex and are now killing everyone who stands in their way. One of the survivors is dr. Larry Hoot, who manages to get in touch with our hero, Gordon Freeman. Together, they plan on how to spoil administrator's plans and destroy a mysterious device called Infinite Rift. I liked the story very much. It is revealed during gameplay with help of communication with Larry.

Although the modification takes place in Black Mesa, the game does not reminisce too much on the original, as the style is quite unique. Maps do not architecturally impress initially, because they are made pretty rough.  but the picture quickly changes after the transition into the world with a mixture of Xen and human elements. The overlapping of the elements between the maps is excellent in this part, and the colorful illumination also impresses. In general, maps are very well connected, there is some button pushing, back tracking, and non-linear elements. In the puzzle list, you will also find parts in which you need to stay hidden and not touch the sensors, which is very well done, but its unfortunately really short.

You will encounter a vast array of opponents from the original, which includes all human and almost all Xenian opponents. Their positioning and abundance are mostly good, and there are also some scripting surprises. The fights are not limited to progression only, but also include other interesting elements. One of the gaming segments, for example, requires from you to defend a certain area while enemies storm your position. The very good pace of the action from the first part is slowed down considerably in the last third, as the focus shifts on jumping challenges. Too bad, this decision disappointed me quite a bit. To fight your way to the end you will be able to use a limited arsenal from the original. Amounts of ammunition and goodies are just right for better players to complete the mod on Hard difficulty. To achieve this, you will spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes playing the mod.

Ispitatel 4

Ispitatel 4 is the third released game in a series of modifications about Ravil Unisovich, who was once employed in the secret Russian research laboratory LIPM. Those times are long gone, but he still loves telling stories about the past events to his colleagues over a game of dominoes. The story is completely crazy, therefore you will either adore or hate it - I thought it was brilliant :). You uncover the story during gameplay with the help of video sequences and excellently recorded Ravil's narration, which is in Russian, but fortunately has English subtitles. Everything is packed in about 1 hour and 15 minutes of play time, filled with humour and wow moments.

The maps are extremely diverse and comprise of both completely imaginative and realistic levels, among which you'll find levels where both worlds are mixed together. Architecture is quite simple, but interesting ideas combined with scripted events and exceptional background music greatly enhance the gaming experience. The puzzles are very varied, you often get them in the form of quests, so it seems like you are playing an adventure. You will control certain events through control panels and cameras, pick up objects, guide NPCs, perform jumping tricks and try to find hidden tasks that improve your life points. The latter are superfluous, because the fights in the game are extremely simplified. You will pick up weapons when needed, but you will fight against miniature dogs that can barely harm you, even at the highest (Normal) difficulty.

Moonwalker

Moonwalker takes place in 2090 on the interplanetary space vessel with the same name. You play a researcher named Gordon Freeman, who is more a janitor than a scientist, if you would judge him by his tasks :). Your first mission is to reactivate the generators of one of the sections. After you complete it, you get a message that a crack has appeared in one of the portals. This leads to emergency evacuation of all personnel. Will you be able to escape? The story is revealed to you through messages on screens and through intermediate sequences, and in my opinion, it has more holes than Swiss cheese :).

Maps represent a very mixed experience. The architecture of the majority is satisfactory, but it could contain more details. Despite custom textures and special effects, it would be difficult to say that the visuals are above average. Then we have a tiny amount of rooms, which in my opinion are perfectly illuminated, have great selection of textures, and they also stand out as far as details are concerned. The last part is represented by visually appealing, but boring labyrinths of corridors that give the game a sense of incompleteness. The puzzles are quite diverse and include jumping challenges, finding cards, pressing buttons, backtracking, and there are also some traps you will need to avoid.

Your path to the end will be obstructed by varied Xen opponents, as well as soldiers and female assassins, which have the help of machineguns. Their numbers are generally small, so you should not have any major problem, even on Hard difficulty. Ammunition for a limited set of modified weapons is a ample for the mentioned difficulty, and there are also a lot of batteries and medical packages available. However, there are exceptions. There are quite a few brutal jumps in difficulty, which will make you reload more than you would wish. The last quarter is pure disappointment as far as the action is concerned, and I was also disappointed with the ending. I needed about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the modification.

P.I.Z.D.E.C.

I did not discover what exactly the acronym P.I.Z.D.E.C. means, but the vulgar abbreviation will certainly be understandable to most of the Slavic speakers, even if they do not know Russian. The game takes place in Black Mesa in a timeline that is parallel to the one in the original. You play one of the scientists who should be Gordon Freeman judging by how NPCs address you, but on the other hand, Gordon can be seen in the initial section having a conversation with G-Man. Anyway, after a fairly long (and really boring) run through the corridors, numerous riding with lifts and painful waiting for security guards to move their behinds, an incident occurs in which you lose consciousness. When you wake up, laboratories are flooded with enemies, and the only way to survive is to get to the surface.

The maps are exclusively internal and reminiscent of those from the original, but they are sufficiently adapted so that you do not have a feeling of playing the same thing over again. With the exception of a rather tedious introduction, I liked the visual appearance of the maps. Not only because of their pretty good geometry, the layout of the elements and the textures used, but also because of the parallel scripted events that give you the feeling that you are not alone in the complex. I also liked how parts of the maps are connected to each other, because you will frequently be visiting different areas of an section via alternate paths. Often, you will need to use the crowbar to pave your way, activate a terminal, find an access card, crawl through the ventilation, guide NPCs to doors, climb ladders, do crazy jumps, swim, etc. To sum up, I could say that diversity is certainly the trump card of this mod.

The fights are seemingly pushed into the background, because of all the things that you have to do, but the reality is different. At the appropriate difficulty (Hard), you will have quite a hard time fending off a varied mix of opponents consisting of Xen creatures, soldiers and female assassins. The fights are nice because of the good layout, ambushes, and scripted surprises, but an important factor is also abundance of enemies. Opponents will mostly attack you in pairs, so you will have to use a tactical approach to survive. Since the parts in which you need to protect the NPCs are especially critical to your success, I advise you to always have at least one explosive charge in reserve. The weapon set is very modest, and consists only of the crowbar, pistol, revolver, machine gun and the shotgun, but on the other hand the ammunition is plentiful. The game also provides you with a lot of healing packages and batteries, and in critical moments you can also use scientists as health reserves. On the toughest difficulty, I beat the modification in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Poke646: Vendetta

In the original Poke646 our hero Damien Reeves got stranded on Xen. Despite it looked like a situation without exit, he managed to create a functional teleporter and successfully blindly teleported himself to a research vessel orbiting around the Earth. Now it's time for vendetta ...

The design of the maps follows the recipes set by original, which surprised with detailed high quality levels. The venues are varied and extremely well made, but unfortunately the non-linearity of the original was absent. With the exception of some very simple puzzles, a pinch of well hidden paths and jumping trials, the path through the mod was somewhat too simple.

The set of enemies is also pretty trimmed down. In addition to soldiers and machineguns, the levels contain only a limited set of Xen monsters. Their positioning can be good, but their numbers are mostly too small to be really threatening. The teleportation surprises are non-existent, as enemies take several moments to appear, so you can just shoot them before they even begin to attack. Too bad. Nevertheless, I would recommend playing on Hard only to the most experienced players, since the soldiers are already a very decent opponent on the Medium difficulty.

In the sequel you retain most of the weapons from the original, I was however disappointed that the acid spitter and nail shooters were removed. They were replaced by a machine gun, which includes a grenade launcher. This gun also changes the way ammunition is collected, as you can pick it up from the fallen soldiers. This replaces the fine tuned quantities of ammunition from their predecessor. In addition to healing packages, healing stations are also available, but they are one-time-use only.

The graphics of the game are so good that it's hard to believe that this is a Half-Life 1 modification. Some parts of the map are perfectly color balanced, the geometry is full of detail, and the sharp textures and quality models make the game look even better. Sound is also commendable, not only because of the custom music, but also because of the environment sounds which create a special atmosphere. Unlike the very long predecessor, Vendetta finishes after what seems only a warmup. It only takes about a hour and 15 minutes to finish the mod.

Run from Hell

Run from Hell is (very likely) a Russian modification that takes place in the Black Mesa-like complex. The game contains some kind of a background story, but since the speech is in Russian and there are no subtitles, you will probably not understand it. Nevertheless, I recommend that you do not interrupt NPCs during their talking, since the scripts can break and you will get stuck. Most maps are indoor and extremely simple, made up of flat surfaces. They have barely any details, the elements are very rare (with the exception of the huge amount of boxes), quite a few size ratios are wrong. Outside maps are rare, but I liked them a bit more, despite the unnaturally cut cliffs. Parts of the maps are connected to one another by countless doors that open with a button locally or at some remote location, and some of them are also connected with vents. Pay attention to time-limited switches, because sometimes you can also get stuck! The way forward is often obstructed by boxes that have crazy resistance to weapons and will anger players (solution: install my patch). The box smashing is especially annoying under water, as you will have to constantly go back to the surface to reload your air reserves.

On the way to the finish line you will be hindered by standard enemies from the original (Xenians and humans), who are alternating in appearance during your progress, but unfortunately, without any care for keeping the fights balanced. The difficulty curve will therefore have crazy peaks, but fortunately, there seem to be no shortages on health and ammunition, as the game supply is quite generous. You will fight against several types of Xen monsters, soldiers, female assassins, and heavy machinery that includes machine guns, a tank, and a helicopter (you do not get enough rockets to destroy it on everything above Easy ...). The positioning is definitely good and cannot be criticized, as you will encounter several demanding situations. The same goes for abundance of enemies and scripted surprises. You unlock weapons gradually, and for additional help in fights you can use Barney, who is armed with a deadly revolver. On the difficulty of Medium, I finished the game in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Survive in Catacombs 2

In the second part of Survive and Catacombs, you play archeologist Neil Harlock, who is investigating catacombs under the city of Rosenwill together with his group. At a moment of madness, you decide to visit the catacombs alone, and, unfortunately for you, the dead awaken. Language and speech in the game are again in Czech, therefore it is difficult to understand what is happening, but the predecessor definitely had better and more logical flow of events.

The maps are architecturally superior to the first game, as they contain more detail, sharper textures and improved lighting. Unfortunately, the improved looks tax the engine heavily therefore you will see a lot of stutter during gameplay. Locations are again diverse (catacombs, train, countryside, mines), but some of the passages between them are very rough and illogical. For example, the train transition seems to happen without a good reason, and there is also a boring map with a teleporter, which seems to only serve extending the game time. I really liked the map where you had to run away from toxic gases, but its potential seemed untapped. Compared to the first game, I did not notice so much secrets, since virtually everything was revealed during normal progression.

In the game, you will again slaughter enemies from the first part, but this time there are more variations of them. Several zombies were added, including armed ones, but unfortunately, Vortigaunts were removed. Their positioning is satisfactory and their numbers are again extraordinarily high. You will fight them with six weapons, which are impractically grouped in only two groups. In the first one you will find a pitchfork, a signal pistol and dynamite, all taken directly from Monolith's Blood. In the second group you have a revolver, a machine gun and a shotgun, which are much more efficient than in the first part. Ammunition is plentiful again, but the game is generally more difficult, so I recommend that you play on Medium.

The appearance of the game has made significant progress, but the atmosphere is simply not comparable to the first part. It's also interesting that the game borrows some sounds from They Hunger ... I am generally disappointed with the sequel, because the authors did not take ideas from the original and improved on them, but they focused too much on the looks instead. You will need about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the mod.

Underground

Underground takes place after the events in the original. You play Gordon Freeman, who is sent to explore bunkers in the northern part of Black Mesa. During your visit, the deactivation of the safety system causes a serious error in one of the reactors, causing the destruction of certain parts of the complex. Your escape will not be easy, as the bunkers are full of Xen monsters, and the soldiers are also there to clean everything up. The enemy selection is very varied, as it involves virtually all opponents from the original. Additionally, you will also fight against machineguns, tanks and helicopters. The positioning of the opponents is good, and in some places excellent. Additional drama is caused by situations requiring rapid decision. During the game you will be gradually picking up all the weapons from the original. The ammo is enough for the Hard difficulty, and the same goes for healing packages and batteries.

The starting maps do not impress. The corridors and passageways are claustrophobically narrow, most of the rooms are tiny, and there is too much crawling in the vents full of Headcrabs. The visuals of the game are not bad, but the lightning is too dark. The situation improves considerably in the last third of the game, as most of the disadvantages of the previous sections are corrected. Maps are more complex and more open, possibly due to the inclusion of a long jump module. You will spend most of the play time inside, but there are also some outside areas, and a tiny Xen section. Although the game seems quite diverse, there are practically no puzzles. Due to the almost complete linearity of the levels, you won't need to think a lot how to advance. The thing that stands out are the jumping challenges at the end. I spent about 1 hour and 15 minutes of play time to complete the mod. Do not forget to play the very interesting Hazard Course, which also includes a fun mini-game.

Case Closed

In Case Closed, you play a janitor named Bob Dewey, who works at the Black Mesa facility. What seems like a normal working day quickly turns into a nightmare when Black Mesa is flooded by aliens from Xen. When you finally wake up after the elevator crash, your survival instinct is activated. You want to get to the surface as soon as possible, but the task will not be easy.

The maps are architecturally satisfactory, but they could contain more details here and there. The most problematic areas are certainly boring corridors with concrete texture. The mod contains both internal and external maps, amongst which I really liked the levels with a hybrid of Xen and laboratories. With the exception of events tied to switches, there seem to be no puzzles in the game, which is unfortunate. Some events that are triggered with switches are rather logical, others seem to be pretty random. Several times you need to destroy parts of the levels to progress, which is pretty well done. I also liked the many scripted events. The course of the game is almost completely linear, except for some side paths which contain goodies.

The opponents mostly consist from all kinds of military forces, but there are also a lot of different Xen monsters. Excellent placement of enemies and various sneaky surprises will give you a lot to do during your advancement, so there are barely any opportunities to catch breath. Opponents almost always appear in pairs, so you will have to use a tactical approach, especially if traps are around. In some places, you will also encounter fights between different factions that you can take advantage of. The weapon selection is standard, but it contains only human weapons. Ammunition and medkits are abundant enough for Medium difficulty, but on Hard you will need some skills to get through.

It's only a pity that the game is so short. To get to the ending (which made a strong impression on me), I only needed 1 hour of play time.