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Someplace Else - Half-Life

Sci- Fi Single Player First Person Shooter mods/half-life-1 Half Life Unreal UT2004 Quake Mods

About

Pay attention - things are more complex than they might first appear. Intrigue, subterfuge, and mystery predominate. An ancient machine tainted with human technology, guarded by a vicious pack of Nihilanthi aliens. There are few answers, but many questions. Will they ever be resolved?

With a plot which links in to Minerva Metastasis for Half-Life 2, Someplace Else is possibly one of the stranger single-player Half-Life maps around. You’ll never look at Xen in quite the same way again…

Basic Details

Title: Someplace Else

File Name: someplace-else-steamver.zip

Size : 3.63Mb

Author: Adam Foster

Date Released: 04 January 2006

Download: PlanetPhillip Filecloud Server

Screenshots

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About this entry

Published:: 28th August 2006 at 11:20 am

Category:: Half-Life, Single Player Mods and Maps

Responses:: 14 Comments (add)

Tags:: Hybrid Logic, The Abandoned Workshops

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Syndicated Review 28th August 2006 at 11:49 1

The Abandoned Workshops Syndicated Review

Gameplay:
A lot of difficult fights which can leave you low on health a lot of times but not impossible. Lots of respawns after doing important objectives, but still enough health and ammo to survive the waves of enemies. The messages that get emailed through to you as you play adds to the story and excitement of the map, and well thought out messages too.

Design:
The map is fantastically detailed, with very well made layout and a good structure to the map with well made large rooms with great lighting throughout. The areas have a very high tech look to them and the colour theme helps achieve this too. Textures have been used well, and aligned perfectly to where they have been assigned. The map also has a nice smooth atmosphere throughout, that I especially liked a lot. Another thing I really liked about the map is that there are no air ducts which get boring, and crates which are bad to detail rooms.

Conclusion:
Great map with fantastic design and gameplay.

Rating: 92%

Copyright:
This review was written by Ryan “Quakis” Rouse and first appeared on The Abandoned Workshops and is republished by permission.
Syndicated Review 28th August 2006 at 13:23 2

Luke Lanchester Syndicated Review

I’ve Been Someplace Else
Half Life. First time I played it was many years ago now, but it was simply the best gaming experience I’d ever had or have had since. The levels, story, everything was just brilliant. Recently I’ve been going through my old back catalogue of steam games, replaying all the old classics like Blue Shift, Opposing Force etc etc. However, once that was done I was at a loss, I wanted another single player mod (very rare now, they all seem to be multiplayer).

I wanted a new and fresh storyline, I wanted to have that feeling again I did when I played the original. Then I remembered Minerva, my current favourite single player mod for Half-Life 2. However it wasn’t this that sparked my memory, it was the fact that it had a predecessor for HL1 that I had never tried. So I downloaded Someplace Else and fired it up.

Let me start of by saying, this game is weird. The messages that sporadically pop up are highly cryptic yet add a sense of mystery to the whole shebang and the mapping is simply excellent, especially considering the mod is many years old now. The puzzles are hard, that is the first thing I have to point out. Forget your usual block and button pushing (although that is what you do here) the sheer scope of what you are doing actually means something. Push a button in Doom, it opens a door further down, big whoop. Here you are slowly figuring out the mystery and finding a way home with every turn of the little tri-pronged buttons.

And that is what the best thing about this mod is, you don’t feel like you’re following a path laid down by some teenager who just wanted to learn a few Hammer skills. You feel like you’re following a novelists best piece of work, you feel as if the world into which you are peeking is a living, breathing, alien place and the only semblance of sanity comes in the form of a helper who never reveals themselves and yet you must trust implicitly.

Now, back to our reality, this game is hard. I’m not talking your usual difficult, this is back to the wall, guns blazing hard. Unless you play it smart (grenades are most certainly your friends here). Also as you finish you are left with just as many questions as you begin with, none of which have been answered in Minerva yet either. This makes me wonder if this is turning out to be like Lost, a new plot twist every week, but no sense of any clues coming any time soon.

Overall, Someplace Else does not feel like your usual run-of-the-mill modification. Perhaps the best way to understand just what makes this game so different is to simply play it. Oh, and the ending credits are a nice touch. My rating: 95%.

Copyright:
This review was written by Luke Lanchester and first appeared on Hybrid Logic and is republished by permission.
Zockopa 28th August 2006 at 19:27 3

Adam Foster is a very talented and skillful sp-mapper. I would like to see him involved in a larger project - with Koumei Sato.
Afro-Dude 1st January 2007 at 09:46 4

No crates, no airducts, no loading screens either, this single map is one of the experiences I wish I had more frequently.

Do you want quality over quantity? Download this.
Noel 21st April 2007 at 20:48 5

Hmm… the archive I’ve downloaded is called “someplace-else-steamver”. Since I don’t use Steam (and simply refuse to install it for any purpose), will it work for me?
Goddess Alyria 22nd April 2007 at 01:18 6

It will work for non-steam versions too. Simply put the “someplace else” folder into your Half Life directory.

Make sure to read the readme for any hints/tips.
geekofalltrades 26th June 2007 at 05:00 7

Wow, wow, wow… this is quite possibly one of the most unique maps I’ve ever played. New textures are utilized to create a Xen environment unlike any you’ve ever seen. The archaic text transmissions from an unkown sender serve to add mystery and intrigue, which leave you begging for more (hopefully more will come in the author’s episodic Half-Life 2 mod, Minerva!). In spite of the map’s relatively small size (environment-wise, not filesize-wise), it manages to provide a pretty hefty chunk of gameplay goodness. This map had me riveted… right up until the end, when it closed with one final, profound transmission. A must play for everybody.
Neal 7th August 2007 at 20:02 8

Steam is not recognizing the folder and isn’t adding it to the games list. I have tried putting in different folders, and yes, I did restart Steam. Anyone else having this trouble?
shawn 21st January 2008 at 13:09 9

Much ado about… not as much as I would have liked. The metaphysical element doesn’t tie in with the gameplay at all, and so doesn’t make any sense. Because of that disappointment the game is less than it’s attractive bones would have it. Once past the window dressing, it’s adequate running and gunning in an unusual environment with interesting textures.
TheRipper 4th February 2008 at 21:59 10

It’s very good. Although it was years ago, that I played it, I immediately recognized it.
However, it is already listed. It is part of one of these collection mappacks. I just can’t remember if it’s CWC mappapck, Project Quantum Leap or Issues.
tox (dev) 12th February 2008 at 22:54 11

good : well made structure & remaked texture

bad : un-balaced level design

(I have too many died here - because,

It’s very very hard to me!) very well made,

but really hard. I’m not veteran
mel 4th April 2008 at 00:10 12

A stand alone version of one of the better maps from ‘Project: Quantum Leap’. It’s hard but good
slyr 3rd July 2008 at 01:10 13

whats project: quantum leap? can i get a link please?
planetphillip 3rd July 2008 at 11:15 14

planetphillip Said:

whats project: quantum leap? can i get a link please?

Please search before asking for help that is easy to find.

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