But I got stuck on the second puzzle. I mean I couldn’t move once I used either console to move the magnetized rocks, or whatever they were. I couldn’t jump as suggested; I couldn’t even noclip.

Is the end where Barney unplugs the rocket leads and then says “we showed ‘em didn’t we” ?????

If so, then I finished it!

Interesting and different – funny in places, but I’m left with the feeling that I don’t really know what’s going on, and a little confused.

But you should play it!

Phil

I would look forward to a more conventional HL mod from this team with topical gameplay and Barney portrayed the same way.

The first real challenging one was the gates falling down that you have to stop to let Gordon sneak past — that one took me about a dozen tries to figure out on my own what to do (my 8-year-old daughter gave me the idea — “Daddy, hit the gates!” — glad genious runs downhill!). The second was the TV screen. Read the board there — once you realize there are five intersecting paths, and two balls, and knowing that the balls cause an electric shock if they come within a certain radius of citizens, it’s simply a matter of moving up to each monitor, and using your regular move buttons to move each ball, and “jump” to get out. Finally, the last real head-scratcher is the two rotating dynamos that you have to get going fast enough to cause a spark. I thought this was real genious, and I could see this in a real HL2 level.

I certainly don’t think this is the best mod we’ve seen, but the author has put real effort into taking the puzzle portion of HL2 to another level, and deserves kudos for that. I’d rate it about a 3.75 for effort.

*One major puzzle (Involving TV screens and people) , totally broken. Had to noclip past it.
*Sudden / No ending

not only that, there seems to be a lot of audio and other things I never seen used EVER while playing. It’s a great start, good concept. If the author ever gets out of the class room, he should take a second look at this.. fix it up a bit, But until then it’s getting a “Think twice” (Think Twice by playing this mod, but don’t let it totally let you down.. it’s.. somewhat interesting.. for a class project and we seen our share of really great class project mods with HL2)

Getting somebody to voice act can be hard enough but I felt that the author could have put him to better use. For explain, by explaining what to do with some of the puzzles.

It was great to see some new style puzzles but I got the feeling that the author built the weak story around the puzzles, which left it feeling a little unconnected.

It also could have done with a little more testing becasue I found myself stuck once when a small change in the design could have avoided it. Unless of course I missed something obvious!

I also felt there were too many doors that didn’t open and the corridors were another thing that simply seemed to joining the puzzles together rather than be a part of the layout/design.

The end was a little unfulfilling but there’s no doubt the author put a lot of work into the whole thing.

So far I have only mentioned the negatives and if I were followed a textbook appraisal I should have sandwich the bad with the good at beginning and end.

You should be asking yourself why I have given this mod a Play Iy Now! if I am only going to complain and point out what I think are negatives.

Well, becasue even with the negatives it’s a great mod and everybody should play it. I’m not a big fan of puzzles and prefer to run and shoot but sometimes we all need a change.

If the puzzles had been part of a shooting mod and woven more into the whole design I would have been happier.

Go play it now and enjoy something different for a change.