My only problem with the mod is the teleporting enemies behind you with no teleport sound :/ but thankfully that only happens a few times (this isn’t a horror movie).
I liked this more so than the original,

Pro’s:
-Interesting continuation of part 1 (but spirit gone quick sadly)
-Story, cutscenes
-Puzzles
-Secret areas
-Decent combat action
-Tough difficulty
-Few good, surprising scripts

Con’s:
-Illogical (see blowing up helicopter, assassin spawn, etc.)
-Partly too dark
-Too long walkways / shafts / tunnels and / or shaftmazes, sigh!!
-Maybe at some points too hard for beginners (1st firefight with soldiers definitely is)
-Unfair enemy placement and spawns (no spawn sound)
-Unfair scripts
-Boring leveldesign
-Closed doors are annoying
-Sometimes absolutely no action but puzzling or “hours” of shaftcrawling

The biggest contributor to the tedium was that I didn’t know where I was supposed to be going half the time. There were just too many obscure transition between areas and I found myself needing to use a walkthrough like a map to navigate from one area to the next. I was so annoyed that I couldn’t work out where to go by myself that I almost quit half way through.

However, there were some interesting parts that persuaded me to press on. The initial escape start was one. I thought that it was quite an interesting idea once I worked out what was happening and I felt pretty good about myself too because it took me a while to work exactly what to do.

Another part was the lab section near the end. The set pieces at that point looked pretty good and the combat through those areas were intense but fun. There was plenty of variety in the enemies and some areas were set up so that you could just kick back and watch alien and marines fight it out.

I think what really annoyed me was the maze/labyrinth sections between those parts. I spent so much time going around in circles and it was only by shear luck that I found my way out. I could happily cut those sections out and I believe that the mod would be better for it.

If you don’t mind sifting through tedious gameplay for a few gem moments, then you may want to try this one.

This could have been so much better than what it actually was, as the puzzles and action were both pretty tricky and fun. The one major downside was the lack of obviousness, and while I don’t want the mod to spell things out for me I spent about 10 minutes before figuring out that I was meant to blow up the Osprey, and another 5 before I realised that there was a hole below it. The truck puzzle at the beginning was fantastic, in my opinion, and I think the author did a good job of coming up with that one. The underwater maze was incredibly easy, and the mine maze was just annoying. The one thing that frustrated me was that snark cave which was incredibly annoying and just seemed to get worse the deeper you went in, there was no point in leaving that in.

I know it’s already been said but the custom textures used were a breath of fresh air to the ordinariness of the usual ones. I thought that the spinning G was pretty cool, as well as the temple.

The ending was just bizarre, I still can’t quite work that one out.

Overall I give it a “Play it Now!”

My thoughts on this one is that some ideas were underused whilst others overused, the temple would have been good to explore (or did I miss something?) and the tunnels/mazes really got on my nerves.

At the end of the day, forget the technical details, for me when I’ve finished a map/mod the question is “Did I enjoy it?”, this offering is very much like the curates egg, but overall I didn’t enjoy it.

But there are several sections where it’s unclear how to proceed, and the solutions are not really intuitive, though there are subtle visual clues even though they aren’t very sensible. I hated most of the underground section, and the maze of water tunnels was just maddening. The final battle was tough but reasonable, and the epilogue was odd but I think it should be taken with tongue in cheek.

I think if this pack had some judicious editing, it could have been a tight, enjoyable conclusion to Part 1. As it stands, it’s a bit long with some high points but also some very tedious sections. Only play if you’re really a Half-Life single player fan.

Just Maybe rating? Those mazes, oh boy… I just hate those so much. First that underwater place, why it is there, cant see any reason. And you are halfblind in caves with your poor flashlight, but looks like all mobs having nightvision goggles, they dont have any problems to hunt me.

At first I was going to give it a play it later. The first puzzle of escaping from soldiers is excellent, but then after I tried to enter G-man’s mansion, a fight with ninjas occured. And it was impossible. Quickload+wait for luck or cheats. And the puzzle about getting out an area around the mansion – this is pixel hunting. I thought that was bad enough. But how about complete darkness + pixel hunting? That’s what happened at the mines. I completed both these puzzles, but had to explore the maps with noclip beforehand.

But after the mines it became easier. There are many spectacular cutscenes, sudden events and interesting locations. It is so entertaining and well directed that it really rehabilitated itself for me.

This mod is disputable, but for me its merits overbalanced its drawbacks, especially when I found out that it’s possible to skip that fight with ninjas. Play it now, but be ready for difficulties.

In between all this I found the mod very challenging, the combat was brutal at times and some of the puzzle were far from obvious. The mid sections with the water then the two mining sequences were some what tedious, and throughout these maps I kept getting frustrated with endless tunnels and restricted gameplay.

I was fairly happy then it was all over, I had played it before, but have no desire to play it again, it just did not work for me second time around.

However, I am sure most players will want to play Part 2 and nothing here should deter you, this is a major piece of work with the author throwing done a challenge that will test new and experience players alike. I will keep to my original rating of Play It Later, there is much good work gone into the mod and in some ways it was a bench mark of a mod in its day.

There are some nifty cutscenes in this mod which is a plus. I also congratulate the author for taking the time to make an actual ending. No slam cut to menu or fade to black on-the-scene. I think you’ll be pretty satisfied after completing this mod (especially since it takes about 13 maps to do so)

This is one of the weirdest endings. By the way, this screenshot was used in PC Gamer.

Sometimes the route is not too clear and the subterrainin levels drove me crazy. I know that there are lights but for some readon I completely missed them until near the end. I attribute that to playing in a bright environment and not being able to see properly!

The snark has officially become my most hated enemy and I hope I never see the damn things again.

It’s clear that the author tried to do a lot more with this release but I feel it was at the expense of some really well designed challenges.

Anyway, it’s worth your time but for me this is a good example of “Bigger is not always better!”