“Our hero has become very bitter toward the government for sending in the storm troopers to kill every living thing at Black Mesa.
He locates another installation where the government continues experimenting with the world of Xen. With the taste of blood still fresh in his mouth, his path is clear.
His HEV suit, torn and battered, is of no use and he must penetrate the lab complex to get a new one.
If he can blast his way through the gauntlet of enemies, an F-16 sits poised for his escape.”
Nova Exhange: “After taking a wrong turn on the way to Lighthouse Point… Gordon stumbles on a Combine secret”
Takes place between the chapters Sandtraps and Entanglement, replacing Nova Prospekt.
Delayed: The strider at the end of Half Life 2 Episode 1 destroys the escape train, leaving Gordon and Alyx stuck in City 17 as the Citadel goes critical.
Blast Pit: A re-imagining of the classic scene from Half-Life.
Total Downloads: 4,9839th May 2015
31 Comments
and 13 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"
Unless you have been hiding away, you will no doubt have heard about the release of Black Mesa on Steam. It has received a lot of in-community attention and probably deservedly so.
I don’t have any problem with the team behind it selling their work and as a side note it would be interesting to know how many of the people who said that they wouldn’t buy mods have purchased it. It started as a mod but I digress.
Like some other RTSL readers I was a little disappointed by the price of 19.99 Euros but as Jason Gimba has said if releases like Stanley Parable sell for 11.99 Euros then it doesn’t seem too unjust. However, compared to Episode Two it doesn’t seem such good value.
I haven’t bought it yet for a variety of reasons but the main one is the lack of Xen. I won’t play it until I can play the whole game through and there’s no reason to buy it now. What are your thoughts on the pricing and your purchasing plan?
9th May 2015 34 Comments
After the exhaustive, confusing and deceitful experiences that you suffered during your first day at the Black Mesa Lab you finally arrive back on Earth. The mysterious man in the suit had left you little choice but to agree to his “offer” of joining the government department that he worked for. Without the knowledge of who, exactly these employers were, you nervously stepped into the teleporter.
On Earth you materialize in the “incoming” portal of your employers military station. Scientific work extends only to fulfil the military needs of your employer, but at least the workers include some familiar faces that put you at ease.
Total Downloads: 3,7088th May 2015
20 Comments
and 17 recommendations with no significant bias
You start in a prison cell with a crowbar and vent.
Perhaps guards have given you some sort of drug.
Are you dreaming or is this real?
Does it matter?
Total Downloads: 1,6767th May 2015
17 Comments
and 12 recommendations, 6 say "Maybe?"
After seeing your friend, Jack, the security guard, die in a terrible accident, you must find a way to escape.
It seems as if the base is out to kill you though, as everywhere you turn is potential death.
Use you powers of observation and fast reactions to survive.
It’s rumoured there’s a ladder in part of this base that leads to the outside.
Find it and find it fast.
Total Downloads: 1,6406th May 2015
13 Comments
and 11 recommendations, most say "Play It Later"
You are a scientist called Gordon Freeman, following a convey with some high-tech weapons to a secret base called “Black Mesa Research Facility”.
The convey got ambushed by a group of revolutionaries.
The way back is blocked.
Forward is the only possibility, as is fighting for your survival.
Total Downloads: 1,7165th May 2015
12 Comments
and 10 recommendations, 3 say "Play It Later"
Half-Life 2 has a lot of props, from benches in the train station to Chinese take-out boxes. As a mapper, you become familiar with them over time and develop a mental index of the different models, names, sizes and your own practices for how and when you use them.
One thing I’ve noticed is that some of the textures on these props are based on real world brands. Sometimes Valve altered them, such as the detergent bottles of “606” (instead of Formula 409), but some escaped that treatment or may have been left intentionally. Because we can zoom so closely to the props in Hammer Editor, we can view some of these details that are difficult to see in-game.
Let’s take a look at some of them!
4th May 2015 11 Comments
I want to remind registered members that in order to sue a recommendation image your review must be of proper length.
If the map lasted 15 minutes and you write a short paragraph and use a recommendation image, that’s fine.
However, if the mod last over two hours and you write a short paragraph and add a recommendation image, that image is removed.
I don’t expect everybody to write detailed, in-depth and insightful reviews but if the best you can say after playing something for a few hours is “great mod, loved it”, that’s not enough to warrant a recommendation image.
The image is supposed to be a visual representation of a proper review, not a replacement for it.
If all this seems a little harsh, it’s because I want to avoid situations like ModDB where people can come along and rate something a 10 or 1 with no justification. That makes my faith in their system zero.
I want people to really trust the system here. Yes, you might disagree with my “soft (I say passionate) reviews, but at least I try to justify that recommendation.
I have emailed a few people over the years, but haven’t received a reply.
If you have posted short reviews recently with recommendation images, you should check to see if I have removed it, because I probably have.
If anybody has a problem with that, it’s pistols at dawn!
4th May 2015 8 Comments
Who didn’t enjoy the scene near the beginning of Half-Life 2 where you ran along the rooftops?
It was a great start and let you see the city from above. I enjoyed it so much I wnated to play more maps like it, so I ran a mapping competition with “Rooftops” as the theme. here are the 8 entries I received.
I hope you enjoy playing them as much as I did!
Total Downloads: 8,1104th May 2015
100 Comments
and 19 recommendations, most really enjoyed it!
Type your search here:
Total Downloads: 5,70910th May 2015
27 Comments and 12 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"