100 Half-Life 1 Mods: page 9

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.

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness takes place after Gordon's successful escape from Black Mesa. After the events he gets enlisted into the Alien Counter-Insurgency Bureau organization, which is trying to protect the Earth against potential new threats from Xen. Your mission is to eliminate the mysterious dr. Smith (G-Man), who tries to take advantage of the portal technology and take over the world with a personal army of Xen monsters. If you have ever seen a spy movie (eg James Bond) or played a game with this subject, then you will quickly familiarize yourself with the story.

The maps are very diverse and contain enough details for the game architecture to be quite visually pleasing. I really liked the parts in which human elements are combined with extraterrestrial ones. Additional visual enrichment of some places is achieved by good color schemes and numerous scripted events. The areas are very well cross-linked, which contributes to non-linearity. The game also contains quite a few traps and time-limited events that, with other challenges, provide a pretty varied experience.

The set of enemies includes both soldiers, as well as female assassins and monsters from Xen, and everything is spiced up by machinegun nests. The positioning of the enemies is very good, so prepare for fierce fights that are made even more difficult with help of scripted surprises. The difficulty curve rises well, so there will be enough action to the end. During play, your enemies also talk to you, which is done through an extremely skillful montage of existing voices. The weapons selection is varied, but taken from the original. There are enough bullets around, and amount of medkits / batteries is just right to play on Hard. On this difficulty you will spend about 1 hour to complete the mod.

Conundrum

Conundrum takes place after the final fight in the original in which Gordon Freeman defeated Nihilanth. Stranded in Xen he decided to enter a random teleporter, which has taken him back to Black Mesa. Here he found scientists who wanted to escape from the complex but did not dare, because the facility was flooded with soldiers. Gordon decides to help them, and in the process, discovers a mysterious room which teleports him into the land of the Egyptians, full of monsters from Xen and soldiers. Even though the story sounds very promising, you will soon find out that it does not make sense, and that you cannot call some place Egyptian just because it has sand and pyramids ...

The architecture of the maps is extremely basic and simplified: there are plenty of flat surfaces, empty corridors and rooms that are just cuboid spaces. External maps are not much better, and the same holds for caves. In each of the levels you will have to solve a puzzle, fight a battle, or do a combination of the two, then move to the next level. The puzzles are quite diverse and include swimming, jumping challenges, button pushing, orientation, searching for hidden paths, traps, ladder climbing, etc., but also have a huge number of flaws. Let me list a few examples: to open a door, you must go to a specific corner of the room, which in no way indicates that it contains a trigger; some teleporters lead to certain death, which can't be avoided without trying; a jump into the water is sometimes softened, sometimes it kills you; some jumping challenges force you to take damage, etc. With such many inequities, fun quickly disappears.

On the way to the finish line you will be obstructed by practically all opponents from the original, which includes both soldiers and creatures from Xen. Due to the abundance of ammunition and medical packages, I recommend playing the game on Hard difficulty. That way fights will be much more interesting, but beware of the final boss at this difficulty. The appearance of the game does not excite, because the textures are too monotonous, and the impression is not improved by the buggy video sequences. Here and there the background music pops in. To complete the mod and the Hazard Course introduction, I spent about 2 hours playing it, and in the process I had to use the official game walktrough several times.

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.

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.

Half Secret

In Half Secret, you are playing a chemist named Dyson Poincare, who works in Black Mesa. One day during your train ride to work, an incident occurs (which is probably related to the one in the original) and in it, you lose consciousness. When you finally wake up, the complex is full of enemies, and that's basically all of the story this modification has. All the maps are internal and, as far as architecture is concerned, very simplistic. There are plenty of flat surfaces and the elements are scarce, which makes the levels look pretty empty. Some improvement is provided by flooded and barricaded sections, and also by quite some scripted events. Although progress is mostly linear, several sections are circularly connected and get split into a new section right before re-connecting to the old one. Puzzles and skill challenges are virtually non-existent. You need to push some buttons, and find and use a security card a couple of times, but that's about it.

Interestingly, a completely different experience awaits you as far as the fights are concerned. Your skill will be tested by all kinds of monsters from Xen, and also soldiers which have the support of machineguns. Lots of action is achieved by nice enemy positioning and their abundance, and everything is spiced up with scripted occurrences. The latter deserve a special praise, because they are often performed in such a way, that the opponent with a long range attack appears only when you are already placed in front of a stressful close range situation. This challenge will require a quick reaction, but at the same time it is balanced enough to always be fair. The weapon set is quite varied, as rarely seen extraterrestrial weapons are added to the classic firearms. Instead of Snarks you will use Chumtoads, and the rocket launcher is replaced with explosive bats called Stukabat. Amounts of bullets and healing packages are at the boundary for the Hard difficulty, so I definitely recommend it to more experienced players. On this difficulty I ended the game in about 45 minutes.

Affliction

Affliction takes place in Black Mesa at an unknown time. You start the game unconscious and wounded on a truck guarded by two female assassins. Your H.E.V. suit once again turns out to be priceless, because it rejuvenates you. In another lucky moment an alien bomber attacks your position and allows you to escape. That's all there is to the story of the modification, the rest is just fighting yourself to the goal which you'll reach in about 45 minutes of play time. You will be attacked by a very modest set of reskinned opponents, which contains only the weakest species from Xen and both types of soldiers. Their positioning is good, and there are some scripted surprises, but their numbers are low, and thus the action will only barely meet the needs of better players (even on Hard). There are plenty of bullets and goodies around, especially for those who like to explore, but on the other hand the weapon selection is quite modest.

It would be hard to complain about the quality of the map design, as the levels are mostly visually appealing, they have good geometry and lighting, and there are some interesting scripted events that transform the surroundings or otherwise enrich the gameplay. Parts of the levels are well connected to each other, and you will also backtrack a lot. In the latter case new opponents will appear on the already visited parts, or the maps will be otherwise transformed. The mod relies heavily on maps from the original and other games (for example, Uplink), but does not significantly upgrade them, which is unfortunate - I would like more originality. The puzzles are practically non-existent, as it's already clear from far away how to continue. The exception can be some buttons that look like a light. There are also some rude traps in the game that you can not detect until they trigger.

Half-Life: Infestation

In Half-Life: Infestation you play Gordon Freeman, who has been locked in a cell at an unknown location all the time since the original incident in Black Mesa. One day he is approached by G-Man, who wants him to finally clean Black Mesa of all the Xen infestation situated in it. Gordon must fight itself through the complex, find one of the not yet detonated nuclear devices and activate it. An explosion will destroy the entire complex, and thus clear all evidence of the event. You can find more details about the story in the Readme.txt file which is located in the archive.

I had mixed feelings about the map architecture. On the one hand, I really liked how elements from Xen were intertwined with the human Black Mesa ones, but on the other hand, I disliked the simplicity of maps and disproportionately large elements present in them. In particular, Xen is the most problematic and also quite monotonous. The maps are well connected to each other, there is quite a lot of non-linearity and back tracking. The two long and equally interesting paths to the ending deserve a special mention, as they together contribute almost a third of the playing time. The gameplay itself is very diverse, because you will need to solve a lot of interesting puzzles, overcome very entertaining jumping challenges, and you can also find some secrets.

On the way to the nuclear device, you will encounter practically all the enemies that are present in the original: humans, military equipment and creatures from Xen. Due to good positioning and abundance of them, the fights are very tense, full of action, and additionally intensified by many surprises. The modification contains all the weapons from the original, and there are just right amounts of ammo available for them. Batteries and healing packages are kind of scarce at Medium, but fortunately you will also be able to meet scientists and dip yourself into healing pools. I needed around hour and a half to complete the mod. Keep in mind that I decided to take both routes to the ending :).

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.

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 ...