Archives for September 2009

• Please note that these are publication date on this site, NOT the actual release date of the maps and mods

A never-ending map, with a green hue in the back from where zombies are spawned.

You and your fellow rebels are at the other end waiting for the onslaught.

Father Gregori is in the middle, doing his best to help you.

Welcome to Challenge Number 03.

If you don’t know what the Challenge Series 2009 is all about, please read the Introduction.

Onto the third challenge.

A simple orange textured room with spawning enemies and your own spawn control centre.

This never-ending map allows you to spawn a few types of enemies and plenty of ammo and allies

Spawn the crates to build a tower to reach the top room and make life really hard!

I have a background in skill acquisition and performance analysis. For me the concept of continually trying to improve in everything we do is natural. For many, applying this concept to gaming is strange, especially single player gaming.

I have written about this particular subject before with Cybergame players need coaches too and more to the point of this article: the Single Player Playing Guide.

Strider Mountain has to be the longest/largest/biggest mod ever made, don’t you think?

As you can see from the comments, it’s received a mixed reception, with most giving it a Personal Favourite recommendation image.

This poll isn’t about the mod itself, but about how you played it

A small map made for a competition. As you can guess from the title, it is supposed to be scary.

After starting in a small room, you make your way through a larger building.

The question is, where do you finish? The place your started?

Welcome to Challenge Number 02.

If you don’t know what the Challenge Series 2009 is all about, please read the Introduction.

Onto the second challenge.

This is a PlanetPhillip exclusive! This mod contains two maps that were built as proof of concept maps for the 99 Bolts: Chasing Winona mod.

Your main weapon, as the name suggests, is the crossbow, although you do collect other weapons on the way.

The first map is an open area with irradiated areas that you must avoid, it also contains friendly and enemy rebels. The second is a labyrinthine collection of corridors that you must traverse to get some grenades that allow your rebel friends to enter in the city.

Starting in a room, you have no idea what is about to happen!

Get on the walkway and all hell breaks loose. Even with plenty of rebels to help you it’s hard to survive.

Can you survive and find Alyx and her waiting Jalopy?

To be honest I can’t remember what the official word from Valve is regarding this.

I thought they had said that it would continue after EP3, but I’ll be honest with you, I am starting to think that EP3 will be the end of an era.

Let’s hope it’s just silly emotions of an old fool.

You play as a Combine soldier, who is part of a squad sent to destroy a rebel missile base.

Your objective is to set two charges deep within the base.

You will also need to stop the launch of a missile and then make a hasty escape from the base before it explodes.

I had the opportunity to have a chat with Brian Roycewicz AKA Tundra_Cool, the author of provenance.

We chatted for just over 30 minutes and covered a number of topics.

In fact, there is exclusive news about Provenance 2!

Welcome to Challenge Number 01.

If you don’t know what the Challenge Series 2009 is all about, please read the Introduction.

Onto the first challenge.

Left to our own devices we often fall into a rut. We do the same thing, over and over again.

The thought of changing seems painful and hard work. Sometimes situations force us to do something in a different way and it’s great, we wonder why we didn’t make the change sooner.

There is a phrase in English: “A change is as good as a rest”.

The thought of resting from gaming is a scary one for me, so let’s try a change!

Starting outside a small cabin, isolated in the woods, you make your way through various areas and rooms, some with traps.

Use your observational skills to locate the solutions to puzzles and progress.

A treasure chest awaits those skilled and smart enough to find it.

Here is another short map from Miigga.

It’s no different from the others posted so far; keep going until you find the end.

No story, no clear objective, bu fun nevertheless.

Plenty of action in this one.

It’s Ours Now takes place shortly after the defeat of the Combine striders at the end of Episode 2.

The level is set in White Forest at a base formerly used as a Combine base of operations.

The player must fight off the Combine that is attempting to retake the base. The objective of this level is to provide the player with a three to four minute transition between one map and another while giving the player a shooting mini-game in the process.

AT 30,000 FEET… you are almost 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) above sea level. The human body is not made for these conditions. Temperatures are can plummet to -60F (-51C), the brain is starved for oxygen and each step is a new experience in pure agony. It’s difficult to breathe. It’s difficult to think. It’s difficult to move. And you still have to endure another 444 feet (0.14 kilometers) to get to the peak. So much for the good news.