Two quick HL2 mod reviews

I just played two HL2 mods that I think are worth mentioning despite my rants about them.

The first was was called "Final Project Diary", by Leon.  The mappack is long, contains new weapons, sound and music, and a fresh storyline.  The plot is interesting, in that there really isn't one, except you're an addicted HL2 fan making a map pack play-testing the maps you built, with levels ranging from haunted houses, to zombie infestations, to wierd hallucination scenarios, to skyscrapers.  Some maps look good, a few look awful, but overall, a good mappack.

It suffers from the usual disease "Leon-itus," that is, a bunch of obvious invisible walls, cutscenes that freeze the player and make you die, and annoying 'stealth' section.  You'll lose count how many times you have your weapons taken away only to have to re-acquire them.

One thing I liked was the option to choose an 'easy' or 'hard' path at the beginning of each section. The ending was funny and nonsensical, and I'm glad the author chose not to take the mod seriously, because I was starting to get really irritated towards the end due the faults mentioned above.

The next is a mod called "1187".  It's a total conversion that's made like a sequel to Halflife 1 with seemingly little reguard to HL2 (which is a nice, fresh idea, in my opinion).  You start out in an apartment (seriously people, apartments and jail cells are the two most cliched map starts in mod history) and meet a new friend named John.  He is more annoying than Alyx, complains alot, has an annoying voice, and is really worthless.  He isn't Urkle-annoying, but I hope in 1187: Episode 2 they tone down his chatter.

"Videogames are art" - Wrong

Are videogames art? An interesting (but very wrong) article from the Wolfire games blog after Roger Ebert caved in (no pun intended - just kidding, it was) to the masses of mindless gamers who insist videogames as an art form.  So when a developer can crank out three sequels a year and have hundereds of programmers, model makers, sound designers, or what have you, designing a game then it is a manufacturing process at that point. I'm not saying videogames CAN'T be art, there are definitely some good examples out there, but to imply all games as an art is absurd. The same could be said for movies.

Bloody Good Time (PC)

This is a pretty fun game if you play with people you know.  I wasn't able to to play for more than an hour of deathmatch.  I played about fifteen minutes with bots, which was pretty underwhelming, and another round with some friends.  It's very different from other deathmatch games.  The object is to kill other players without being seen by the police, so I guess there's some stealth element there.  It feels weird without a run or crouch button, so it's very slow paced.  A few negative points - there's only three maps, but the price was five dollars American, so I suppose you get what you pay for.  Another thing is that the Director's voiceover repeats the same things over and over again.  Real annoying.

For the modders out there, you should know that there is no SDK available (and probably never will be with Ubisoft's history).  Additionally, this is not Garry's Mod compatable, nor does it come with Source SDK Base (which comes with all VALVe Source games and is required to play source mods)

All in all, a fun little diversion.  I guess I can't complain since I was gifted this game through Steam friends.

Cheat in Starcraft - Lose your game

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/blizzard_starcraft_ii_cheaters_will_be_banned_single-player_and_multiplayer

Blizzard has been banning players online for cheating for years (which is good, in my opinion), but now there's a new twist - the ban extends to singleplayer.  I find it strange how fanboys are willing to defend Blizzard's actions no matter what.  Blizzard could jump off a cliff and I'm sure their fans would blindly follow.

E.Y.E - A new Source game coming soon?

Check this out.  A source engine first-person RPG.  Watch the video on the main page, it looks pretty awesome.

School Shooter North American Tour 2012

How about a school shooting mod?  Seems lame they'd do something like this for the sole purpose of getting attention, but I guess any publicity is good publicity in the world of videogame mods.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/school-shooter-north-american-tour-2012

It's been done before, anyways.  Anyone remember Pupils of Cyberdemon's School Doom 2?  It was a pretty enjoyable Doom 2 total conversion, and it was made a few years before Columine.

Another MustPlay map for HalfLife, Episode 2

http://www.planetphillip.com/posts/research-and-development-half-life-2-ep2/

Research and Development is a puzzle-centric mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two featuring an unarmed player but plenty of violent mayhem.

 

The player has NO weapons and there is no shooting at all. However that doesn’t mean you can’t kill things, but 95% of the mod is about solving the puzzles that are presented to you in a very natural way.

Level design is Valve-style quality, clever puzzles, and interesting combat with no guns.  Very good use of scripting and a fun blend of humor to top it off.  This could be map of the year.

Gabe Newell flipflops

...and no, I'm not talking about his massive breasts whenever he jumps up and down.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=251909

Gabe Newell had previously stated that the PS3 was a waste of everyone's time.  Now he's doing a 180 and saying the exact opposite.  I seriously can't stand this guy.  Funny how all his fanboys are also jumping on the PS3 bandwagon by praising how great it is.

"Carbon Stars..."

Tom Kranis recently released his mappack containing rejected levels and cutscenes.  I was first made aware of Tom Kranis when he released his very interesting Halflife 2 map entitled "A Dog Was Hit In The Head With An Ax".  Of the cutscenes, included are scenes of Dog getting hit in the head with a BSP-designed axe, Dr. Breen giving his famous 'Carbon Stars' speech in various locales, and lots of other stuff.  If anything, I'd say that 90 percent of the mappack is rubbish, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're into mapping as there are really cool effects, gameplay concepts and ideas that have not been seen in any other Halflife 2 mod (remote controlled scientists, an automatic oil drum launcher, npc who follows you and wears a machinegun on his head that you can control, just to name a few) in addition to humourous cinematography (most of which I've recorded so you don't have to go through them).

Be sure to watch this video walkthrough of "A Dog Was Hit In The Head With An Axe."  Worth checking out if you can't bring yourself to finish the map all the way through.

The Organic Indie Preorder Pack

I gotta admit - I'm not hip to the 'Indie' games scene, the 'Indie' genre, or their dozens of stinky, sweaty, beardnecked fans, but one game company has certainly grabbed my attention.  I first heard of these guys when I was searching for information about Natural Selection 2, the sequel to the award winning Halflife mod.  A while ago Natural Selection 2 and Overgrowth were being sold as a pre-order bundle through Steam.  In addition to saving a significant amount, you get to preview and test early alpha builds (plus a special secret bonus for NS2 players.)  Both games use their own unique game engines.

What really grabbed my attention is how user friendly the interface for the level editor is for Overgrowth.  It's similar to Garry's mod, in that you can click an icon, place the model into the game world, and scale them easily to build set pieces, levels, buildings, etc.  As of right now, the alpha is mostly a ghost-town/desert landscape simulator, but the final product promises to be very mod-friendly.  Pre-ordering allows your money to go straight to the developers and keep development going

Humorous Garry's Mod parody

JBMod was originally made because the nerds on HL2World wanted to get back to making sexual poses with the ragdolls in Half-Life 2, which they weren't able to do anymore since the physgun had been removed from the final game. Both prior to the release of Half-Life 2, and after the release of JBMod, just about every screenshot involved Alyx Vance.

http://www.jbmod.com/

If you're still playing that oudated Garry's mod 10, then you truly are not living life to its fullest. Become a man and grow a sack, comb your pubic hair, have lumber for breakfast and download JBMod TODAY!!

It will bring pride to your family name!