To sum it up in an analogy, this mod is like a skeleton. It functions, but it needs a lot more work — to be “fleshed out”, so to speak — before it can be considered something special. It needs some playtesting, the maps need a lot of polish, and the dialogue needs English subtitles. If there’s no chance of this being updated in these ways, that’s a shame, because there’s potential for a very nice mod here.

My most memorable annoyances were misbehaving doors, combine with mismatched weapons and combine that didn’t drop their weapons when I iced them. Minor, but certainly off-putting. Overall it’s a good mod, but it needs a little more oopmh.

Can somebody please make a video of this map pack? (just to showcase gameplay).

Why?Download and try for yourself although I’d wait for the new file.

Il this can be fixed, it will be one of my favorite games. Still, I give it a PIN!

“It’s nice for a first map release” I suppose it how I’d paraphrase it.
Most of the textures are not aligned correctly and many of the displacements are not Sewn. Each map it littered with areas the player could climb into and not be able to escape from. The buildings follow no logical layout in the outdoor areas and most of the indoors sections are bland two color squarish rooms.The scripting is constantly breaking, causing me to have to noclip through doors that won’t open. Some random doors throughout the “Black Mesa” section are not even solid. The lighting doesn’t seem to come from anything most of the time and a mood is never set.There is little to no thought put into enemy placement. They just seem to be waiting around every corner for you to come along to them, an innumerable amount of times the NPCs were not even facing the direction of the player as they turned the corner. NPCs would also randomly spawn in dead-end rooms long after you cleared them out the first and second time. There’s no Node graph for any of the stages so the AI just runs at you and never uses cover or anything resembling tactics. Many times you’ll be swamped by seven or eight elite guards all rushing around a tight corner giving you no chance to respond.There is almost no cover throughout the game, causing you to stand in the open during shoot-outs. Combined with a constant starvation of health and ammo the player is usually forced to hide in doorways to pick off the onslaught of combine guards.

The player was given little to no idea what step was to be taken next resulting in the quick-save button being used nearly as often as the fire key. The driving sequence turned into a shooting gallery with no warning as elite combine tore the car and player to shreds as they rounded a tight corner. In fact the game starts with breaking it’s own rules. After a long and unneeded intro you are shown that windows do not break, until you go a single floor down and now “Some” of the windows break though there is no rhyme or reason as to why.

Any extra areas usually have no benefit to them. There are many trucks with enticing though empty trailers behind them. Huts with nothing but four walls and a roof while supply crates lay randomly thrown across the map. The map-pack starts with every hidden turn having a prize at the end, but like most other “laws” they establish this is quickly broken as well. Even a large monitor room with rows of desk in the “Black Mesa” serves no function. You may go into it but it contains to items, no new weapons, just.. somewhere to go and kill two more zombies.

There are a few memorable moments. The beginning of the driving sequence is fun, though many areas seem pointless. Plenty of soldiers to run over and dips and turns to keep the pace somewhat quickened and interesting. The final fight with the combine gunship was unique if not for being plagued by too many elite combines and too little health. The final fight with the turn-table stadium was easily the most intriguing part of the map. If only the other 5 levels had been as well thought through.

Think twice before you download it and give an hour of your life though.

This is yet any ambitions project, that’s two posted over last week or so. With this mappack we get treated to the big outdoors and whilst not all the exterior settings are prefect it does afford the player the luxury of space and scenery. With it we also get to ride the bugger, however there were sequence prior to the buggy ride that appeared to have been designed for a road bugger and the water bugger, I tracked back a couple of times thinking I must have missed them.

The combat encounters are not the best stage affairs; here the author opts for throwing gangs of Combin at the player as opposed to constructing more thoughtful engagements so building-up the intensity of the action. Little thought to concealment and emplacement of troops is present with them spring-up from no where. However I did grow to enjoy the sniper encounter which took a few attempts to achieve and relies on the sequence of actions you take with the entire foray around.

If you like wandering around then some of the depot and warehouse site settings will be to your liking, here you can search for stores with the old skirmish thrown-in. This aspect of the game is a welcome relief after playing so many minor games of late that don’t give room to swing a cat. (I am a cat lover, just a turn of phrase)

The bugger ride was good, is seems ages since we were treated to one in a custom mod, but then this represents the size and ambition of the mod, and coming from an author that appears to be happy mapping the big outdoors in the grand scale of things. On your travels you have the option in most cases of taking on the Combin out with your bugger gun or opting to encounter them on foot, I opted to do both that way extending the action.

I don’t know anything about the mappacks background, whether it was created by a sole mapper or a team, I think the former, if so it’s clear that the author heart is with designing the big outside but appears neither to have the time or patience to detail to perfect the large set which show obvious faults, misalignments with unfinished terrain. Coupled with these errors there appears to be a weakness in creating gameplay and staging combat, these all appear to be reason to expect that the author would benefit working with a team for any future projects.

Except for one door that did not open, near the encounter with Breen which I never saw the point of, was he meant to open the door for you? I did not experience any bugs or crashes or major slow-downs throughout the mappack

Whilst this mappack is in no way a classic and I can’t imagine it ranking in anyone’s top ten, nor featuring in the honors list for 2009, if it does that will only reflex the weakness of new year release, however having said all that, this is still an admirable mappack with plenty of content to keep most players immersed. Its well worth the download and play through being a much welcome relief to the mediocre short and sloppy release of late.

I would say the buggy ride in this one is exellent like Chris said but the author could have spent more time on all the other areas just making it more playable. The maps are great, just tough to figure at times. The big open areas are fun to run around in but hard to know where to go. Several times in the big industrial complex’s I found my self sitting in the buggy having just killed all the snipers and not knowing which way to go. I reallyt enjoyed kicking the buggy into turbo and flying over the ramp and right into the two Combine. Now that was fun! Legal vehicle homicide.

I really hope this mod maker keeps doing these but will spend just a little more time on the finished product before releasing it. But then this is how you learn right?