Ex Town - Half-Life 2

Hmm… Not particularly impressed to be honest. It seems like this map was not tested at all before it was released. I had to noclip through 2 doors because I couldn’t find a way through and wasn’t enthralled enough to bother finding a solution. The combat is frustrating due to cramped spaces with lots of debris, and poor enemy and item placement. The level design was nice-looking in some places such as when you first get outside, but apart from that it’s nothing special. The first few rooms were really awkward and confusing as there were invisible walls preventing you going where the designer didn’t want you to go.I also had a problem where my health would not drop below 1 (Buddha mode). Not sure if that was the map’s fault or not.

Architecture: Good for the most part. Some areas do seem blocky but over all its decent enough for you not to notice.

Layout: The planning behind the layout is good; the execution needs some work however. The level is very unintuitive and at various points I found myself re tracing my steps trying to figure out where to go next.

Lighting: Fitting with the zombie theme. The lighting was well done and non linear.

Atmosphere: Some moments are very tense, although this is in part to the designer not giving the player enough ammo for their weapons. I assume this was intentional to force the player to make use of the gravity gun, it worked. A few times I found myself thinking “Oh ****, I’m so dead” and a slight spree of panic kicked in.

Difficulty: Impossible to complete without cheats. The map has many bugs and I found myself clipping through nearly all of the level gates simply because they didn’t trigger.

Other notes: The final fight was satisfying and well executed. This map is let down a lot by simple in-experience or naivety on the part of the designer. You can ‘break’ the map in the first few seconds of game play as the use of invisible walls to hinder the player isn’t very well done. For the most part it was enjoyable but tipping onto the edge of frustration. As a note to the designer: Next time use play testers. A guide on where you are generally supposed to go would also be good.

bkadar Said:

I am not sure what problems other were having but I had zero. I made it through the whole map with no problems at all. I managed to open all the doors once I solve the puzzles. The hardest part was making it through the initial zombies but with saves and keeping stuff within range of the zero gravity gun, I made it through without cheats. If you want a hint on how to open doors let me know. One: when you get outside, you need to activate the generator to open the large metal garage like door. You will have to find batteries…… but not all the batteries work! There are a couple of duds. You will have to break cabinets and search around to find the 3 that will work. Any more just ask. I enjoyed this little map. Not the greatest but good enough for me to have a little fun. I would say play it when you have the time.

got to agree no problems, fun

well one complaint , over way too soon, all this action could have been spread out alittle more

I havent finished playing this map but heres my view.
I was glad that the gravity gun was on hand since their wasnt much ammo to go around i believe thats what the author intended altho i had to do alot strafing in the 1st area & then again after dealing with the combine soldiers near the generator these areas were a bit cramped.
the generator batteries were in a order thats wasnt really given much instruction yes all the batteries worked properly just in a odd order of placement.
This map has its moments still worth playing

Screen-shot - first picture second row, not got pass this point, am I missing something?

Not very impressed up to now, just gangs of zombies

If you like killing zombies then you may enjoy this one. I found it very limited in gameplay and a bit of a bore.