Pro’s:
-Own hazard course
-Interesting egyptian setting
-Some puzzles
-Also some nice ideas (3D Tetris elevator xD)
-Fair combat

Con’s:
-Some boring-looking areas, not very detailed
-Long walkways
-Weird scripts

Quite honestly I enjoyed this mod up until the Nihilanth battle and afterwards. This was made by the legendary DM mapper DocRock, the same person that also did the terrible mod Challenger Deep, which featured earlier in the 100SDoN.

This mod was WAY too easy, and I think I only got hit by enemies on 3-4 occasions in the whole mod. There are a lot of areas that aren’t very clear and a lot of guessing had to be involved in some areas. There was also a massive lack of direction at times (and not the good kind like in Yume Nikki) which caused a lot of confusion, but at least there is a walkthrough to help you through it.

If there are any regular DM players from Half-Life and Opposing Force, then they will probably be aware that some of the con DM maps were from this mod. There were three that I noticed in the mod, and they are worth checking out if you haven’t played them yet.

I couldn’t actually get to the end of the mod due to a series of game breaking bugs. First of all, after killing Nihl the door didn’t open, then I was stuck in camera when the pyramid sank and finally I crashed when loading the map after the sunken pyramid one.

I don’t think it is as bad as some of the reviewers have said so it’s worth a try.

I could feel the main lack of this mod was precisely into those pyramids structures, i mean HL built and that style is just a bad combinantion, i’d prefer, and i would give a higher rate if this mod would have been just into the egyptian style, some of the hallways were too empty and some doors got stucked, maybe the alien’s liar map was cool designed thinking in alien slaves but then we have lots of ups and downs in the gameplay.

Also and finally having Nihiliat or whatever it calls the big guy, as the final boss it was a little bit odd and, having to combat him and dirctly kick his ass, was rough and a little annoying, i mean if u put that boss let me shoot some crystals in order to weaken him first, don’t just give me alot of medkits and weaponery to kick his ass, and don’t even kill him, because that’s what happened i put alot of ammo on him and arround 10 min latter a big wall.door got opened and i just get out of there!!, what a really suck final battle, also this mod abused alot on useless cut scenes that explain too few of the plot so i preffer not having them there please, so in conclussion there are worse mods than this and u can give it a try but u wont die if u don’t play this anyway….

Now let’s have a look at the mod itself. We start at the labs with monotonous texturing and slapdash design. At first I didn’t understand how to progress, but then I found the invisible trigger which temporarily opens one of the doors.

There’s another such trigger in the next location, but the author was more generous this time: the door stays open and we see a cutscene which shows opened door.

In the mountains I felt that I should ride in the truck, but an invisible wall showed that it’s not what I was supposed to do.

After the room with crystals the way is blocked by the grate, I couldn’t advance without noclip.

Later there are obstacles similar to Egyptian Trials, but harder. Sometimes the light comes out of nowhere. The distances are too long in some outdoor areas.

In the cavern there will be another couple of noclip places.

Near the big pyramid we’ll have to make a choice like in the training course. It’s like in the mod Betrayal, but boring this time.

At one point, another door led me out of the map. I returned and found that I missed the changelevel.

In the end we’ll make a choice, and as a result we will be teleported to tentacles or to Nihilanth, and nothing happens after that.

Conclusion – the mod contains interesting ideas, but their realisation is slapdash.

Much of Conundrum is Egyptian themed, but it totally lacks atmosphere and believability (for example, that is a Sphinx in screenshot 51 above). The so-called puzzles are hit a button (or happen to wander into an invisible trigger) to open a new door somewhere – and repeat. The combat never gets tough, even though you’ll face just about every alien in HL and grunts. And something about the Nihilanth battle was glitched for me, I unloaded everything I had and he didn’t die.

Luckily I didn’t come across many bugs except the Nihilanth and some level changes that fail to trigger reliably (particularly if you like to jump a lot). There’s no detail, no polish, and nothing particularly attractive about the maps. I can’t think of much good to say other than I’m sure it took a lot of work to make Conundrum and I’m glad to be done playing it.

There’s not a lot I can say about this other than the author tried to be more clever than he actually is. This was by no stretch of the imagination, either fun or enjoyable. Some of the others in the 100 that required manual map changes I’ve finished but this one I cannot and will not go on with because what I’ve seen is in my opinion awful. Judging by the screen-shots I’m about three quarters through but I can only stand so much.

The whole Egyptian thing didn’t really make sense either. The combat was generally about the right level and a lot of time the route is unclear.

There’s one part I remember clearly, where you are in a huge cavern with a waterfall. Normally if you hit water you lose no or little health, but in here you died. I jumped into the waterfall to see what would happen and found the exit. Sure, there was probably another route but the fact I just jumped tells you something.

Definitely not looking forward to the second part but at over 25MB it won’t be for the 100SDoN.

Just like Timefall, this is a mod to take your time with and play slowly and carefully.

All in all it’s more complicated than it needs to be and two gargs in one small space is overkill.

Then you look up and see the crates floating above you, and say, ‘Oh. Thats how…’ Anyway, there is a loose story in this mod, and I belive it’s that you have to get out of the ‘puzzle-world’, and get back to the real world. Its a fun mod, and a good break from the non-stop action of Half-Life.

Good: Makes you think; challenging puzzles; nicely done overall
Bad: No new textures or models; playable only once in a while; somewhat buggy
Rating: 3/5