PlanetPhillip

Firstly, welcome to my site. The site lists and reviews single player maps and mods for the Half-Life series of games. In fact, that’s actually not as specific as it could be because it really only covers first person shooters and maps and mods set within the HL universe.

So, total conversions, third person, and other style mods are not listed. However, since it´s my site and I run it alone for no profit whatsoever, I occasionally add maps and mods that I like, even if they don´t fit the exact criteria above.

No registration is required to access or use ANY of the site´s features.

Every reader can post comments, reviews, questions/answers on each and every map and mod listed. There is also something called Recommendation Images, that you can easily add to your comment to give a quick visual guide to your thoughts.

I update the site almost daily, so there is plenty of new content.

I highly recommend using the site´s various RSS Feeds, to completely customize your interaction.

More details about everything to do with the site can be found on the ABOUT page.

If you are new to maps and mods you are standing on the brink of some incredible gaming experiences.

So, what are maps and mods?

Imagine Star Trek for a moment. As we all know it has plenty of fans. Well, some of those fans have written stories within the Star Trek universe, some have drawn comics, some have even taken the “bold” step of creating their own movies.

Maps and Mods are the gaming community´s equivalent of fan fiction and fan movies. People like you, yes just like you, have created something that other players can add to their game and play. Sometimes it´s very detailed and is hard to tell from the original games and other times it´s very simple and is just an area to play.

Whilst not technically and perfectly correct the difference between a “Map” and a “Mod” is complexity. A map is often just a location and some simple objectives, whereas a mod often modifies the game in some way. In fact “Mod” is short for “Modification”.

I will assume you have finished playing at least one game in the Half-Life series. I won´t go into details here but installing a map and playing it can be as simple as copying a file you have downloaded from PlanetPhillip.com to the correct location and the starting it directly from within the game.

Some maps last 5 minutes and some can last over 10 hours.

The more complex ones feature new voice acting, new characters, weapons, enemies etc etc. The only limit is the modder´s (the person or team creating the work) imagination, ability and time.

Some mods, called Total Conversions, don´t even look or behave the same as the game and their story and setting is not related to the game.

PlanetPhillip.com lists maps and mods for single players. This means that you play against the computer. Other sites cover maps and mods that are meant to be played against other humans. The term for this is Multiplayer.

Okay, I will assume that you know what a Single Player First Person Shooter is. If not, please read the section below before continuing.

There are quite a few SP FPS games and even more MP FPS games, so what sets Half-Life apart from them?

Quality. One word, easy for me to type and easy for you to read, but much harder to produce or even define. But really that’s what sets the Half-Life series apart. They are not perfect but they do every incredibly well. The graphics were/are great (remember, things like graphics change quickly in gaming), the gameplay was inventive, carefully planned and nearly always challenging, the story was simple yet detailed, slowly revealing itself to be like most great stories – a battle between good and evil.

Some games have better graphics, some have more detailed storylines, some may even have better basic gameplay (although I don’t personally think so), yet no game has the balance between all three.

Another important aspect to consider is the ability to create community made content. This allowed thousands of players to create something extra for the games. The Half-Life series certainly was not the first to offer this but its community was the first to really embraced the challenge.

Valve Software, the company who developed the games (Except Opposing Force, which was sub-contracted), understand the community very well and continually create new games in the franchise that push the boundaries of gaming.

The Half-Life series of games offer me the story and depth of universe of a great science fiction novel, the action of a Hollywood blockbuster and immersion that only a game can bring, coupled with a community that both inspires me and scares me with the quality of production.

I have NO hesitation in saying that if you like SP FPS gaming then this should be the first game series you should play. No, even more than “should” I say MUST play. You will not regret it.

A LITTLE HISTORY
Whilst not really part of this section I have written a little history about the games to help new readers understand the background of the games. It’s not particularly detailed but should be considered an introduction to the subject.

Half-Life was originally released in November 1998. You play as Gordon Freeman, a scientist whose actions cause aliens from another dimension to appear on Earth, specifically at the secret research facility where the accident happened.

The player, playing as Gordon Freeman, attempts to reach the surface and get help. However, on the way he meets aliens and even humans, who try to stop him. The game is a roller coaster ride with incredible graphics (for the time!) gameplay that varies between intense battles to thought provoking puzzles, story development that is slowly revealed to the player, whilst keeping some aspects hidden. It really was a complete gaming package.

It did what no other game manged to do and that is really draw the player into its world. Never before had a game caused so many players so much enjoyment.

The game was followed by two pseudo-sequels. I used “pseudo” because neither game allowed the player to play in the role of Gordon Freeman.

The first, called Blue Shift, put the player in the shoes of a security guard called Barney Calhoun, who was seen in Half-Life. Here the player has to do more or less the same as the first game. It was not as well received as Half-Life but is still a good game.

The second, called Opposing Force, put the player in the role of Adrian Shepherd, a marine sent in to clean up the mess at Black Mesa. This game is generally considered the better of the two sequels. It featured new enemies and weapons, which was a nice addition.

In 2004 the true sequel was released to much fanfare and appropriately was called Half-Life 2. It used an updated engine and featured vastly improved graphics and physics. This release continued the tradition of allowing the community to make custom made content.

Valve then decided to rework the concept of release games into something called Episodic Gaming. The idea was to release smaller games with shorter development cycles. At the time of writing Episode One and Episode Two have both bee released. Episode One follows on directly where Half-Life 2 finished and Episode Two follows on from Episode One.

Episode Three is currently under development, with few details available.

Wikipedia.org provides extensive articles on all the games and is highly recommended. Although being Wikipedia, I also recommend using alternative sources if you are going to quote from it.

The best way to define this is to break it down into manageable pieces.

Single Player
Put simply, this means you are playing against the computer. All the enemies are controlled by the game engine and follow predefined behaviour patterns, called A.I.; Artifical Intelligence. That doesn’t mean the enemies are stupid, but they are limited. Single Player games have different difficulty settings allowing you to have an easy time of things or face a very stiff challenge.

Single player games are often based around a story and the better ones have well-developed forms of story telling techniques.

As a comparison, Multiplayer means playing with and against other humans. You could play in a team against another team or less commonly against one other human. It is an accepted fact that human opponents provide a greater challenge than computer controlled enemies.

The SP and MP games have different styles and objectives. With MP games the story is much less important than the gameplay and action. Generally these games are more popular than single player games and hundreds of thousands of players play against each other every night. There are even some professional players and leagues, as well as World Championships.

There is also another game style, called CO-OP. This is short for co-operative. This is where a group of humans play against a group of computer controlled enemies. This is the least popular playing style.

So, to summarize: when you play Single Player games it’s just you and your skills against the computer.

First Person
There are many possible views when playing a game and First Person refers to the view. In this case it means you play as if you are the character. You play THROUGH their eyes. You normally see a gun in the bottom right hand corner, which you control. There is also something called the HUD, short for Heads Up Display. This HUD, keeps you informed of your health status, ammo left, weapons available and other details depending on which game you are playing.

Other views include Third Person where you view the action from over the shoulder of your playing character, Top Down where you view the action from directly above. This view is normally used for strategy games where seeing a very large area is important. Another view is Platform, this is where you see the action from the side.

If you play a first person game on a computer then you will probably control the movement and actions of the character through both the mouse and keyboard. If you play with a console (PS3, PS2, Xbox, Xbox360, Wii etc) then you will use a controller or game pad.

Each game genre has a preferred view and some games are impossible to play in different views.

The benefits of the First Person is that it can be easier to become immersed in the character, story and game. Personally I find other views very distancing. I can’t feel part of the game. However, many millions of players love other views and I understand their choice.

Sometimes games even switch view within the game itself. An example is that often when using a vehicle it switches from First Person to Third Person because it’s easier to control the vehicle that way.

So, to summarize: First Person simply refers to the view you see when playing the game.

Shooter
Just as there are other views, there are other types of Gameplay styles. Shooter refers to what you do, although not necessarily all the time, just most of it. You will be required to locate targets and hit them as accurately as possible. As mentioned earlier, you will view the game through the eyes of of character.

Shooters often combine the challenge of hand-to-eye co-ordination with tactical awareness and immersive story telling. Another style of shooter is called the Arcade. Essentially this means that there is little or no story, no tactical elements and generally that the player has limited movement. Games like this are simply designed for the thrill of shooting at something.

However, don’t let the title fool you. Many shooters have complicated physics puzzles, where shooting is not always the best or preferred option. Shooter just tells you that this is an important aspect of the gameplay NOT it’s only attribute.

So, to summarize: Shooter refers to the fact that a lot of the gameplay includes shooting things.

So, let’s assume you are completely new to video gaming. I am sure you have heard lots of negative media reports about gaming. I am not going to evangelize about gaming, all I ask if you keep an open mind.

Video gaming has plenty of benefits depending on your age group and type of game.

They allow you to develop hand-to-eye coordination, moving you character around the screen with you mouse, joystick or gamepad, takes practice.

Many games help develop team work. If you are playing in a team you need to balance your skill and actions with your teammates. They allow you to easily and quickly experience things from other people’s perspective.

They can be very educational. Most people know that for learning to be effective it should be fun. Incorporating information within games allows players to learn without knowing it. There are clearly many levels of this sort of thing, from helping young children learn to count or spell, or teaching maths, physics or chemistry, or even something as complicated as learning the details of certain aspects of the Second World War.