Enter the mind of Filip Valkas, who lost his parents in the Seven Hour War, and take your revenge on your Combine captors in a new story centred on the Half-Life Universe. Pick up your own crowbar and force your way out of Citizen Containment Zone 19, and lead in the uprising against the alien aggressors.
Filip was born and bred in the countryside before the portal storms began. After losing his family in aftermath of Seven hour war, he was forced to move into citizen containment zone 19.
Years later, Filip makes the difficult decision to join the Human resistance in order to help smuggle forbidden goods, like clean water and food, into the city and organize the underground resistance. Soon after, he becomes the political prisoner of the Combine.
In January 2009, Sauli released a mod called Joutomaa. This is a remake of that, based on feedback from PP readers AND a continuation from where the original finished. Sauli has decided to release this one with the same name. I have decided to add the ““Redux” to end any potential confusion.
- Title: Joutomaa Redux
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-joutomaa-redux.7z
- Size : 72.14MB
- Author: Sauli Saarimaa AKA Mephasto
- Date Released: 18 December 2010
- Copy the Joutomaa folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Joutomaa should now be listed in your Library tab.
Please Note: Panoramic images only are available in full screen mode. You can either open one by clicking the image link above or by saving it to your computer and then opening it locally.
How to use: Once the image is open and your cursor is on the image, press and hold your left mouse button and move around the image. Use your mouse wheel to scroll in and out of the panoramic image.
The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer. See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 81024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers and should be consider a form of visual walkthrough.
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7,459Overall
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0Today
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2Last 7 days
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16Last 30 days
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173365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 4 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 22 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 50 Mins by Stef
Longest: 2 Hours by Steve
Total Time Played: 6 Hours, 50 Mins
This release is currently not in a collection
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
This is a First Seen On PlanetPhillip.Com mod. It’s available here a few days before ModDB, so get it while you can!
Onto the review.
Well firstly, the intro sequence is pretty cool, made me wish I were fighting in the Citadel again. The maps have been updated from the original but without sitting down and playing both I couldn’t remember the differences. Some things are obvious, like some of the buildings in the square at the beginning and the changes to the Antlion guard sections, but others are more subtle.
I always seem to be in a rush to review mods I post quickly and never can express how I feel properly.
The overall feel of the mod is very professional and it looks fantastic, there’s no doubt about that. The voice acting is excellent but I’m not sure how I feel about having a different voice for the G-man. In principle I am against that happening but accept that it makes telling stories easy.
I feel it could have done with a little more beta testing, but when do I not say that?
If I look back, I suppose I felt it lacked a gameplay WOW factor. I said WOW a few times because it looked nice but no particular battle really hit me as exciting. I hate Antlions at the best of times, so that was just an annoyance.
That’s what this mod needs to elevate it to Personal Favourite: a WOW battle.
Overall, it’s very, very good and the story is cool, but I want excitement as well.
Let’s hope the next part has that.
How long is the mod, Phillip?
Took me about an hour to play. For future reference you should check the TAGs, they should always contain an average play time length, making it A: easy to see approximately how long each map or mod is and B: easy to find mods of certain lengths. The TAGs are listed near the bottom of the post, before the comments.
I’ve always “forgotten” Joutomaa cuz” I’m not fond of Antlions. Seeing that the author is going to release the sequel, and that he has re-done the first part, I’m trying it now. Hope I will be pleased 🙂
(And maybe it will become my MOTY 😀 ).
I am getting a “corrupt download” message from filefront,,
Yours works fine Phillip 🙂
Okay, I’ll re-upload it. Thanks for informing me.
Okay, FileFront link working properly now, sorry for the inconvenience.
i remember played joutuma some months ago and I thought it was short and too simple, so I hope this overpass that, I think it sure it will, so im going to download now!
I loved it. A big improvement on the first one which I also liked. There is so much visual variety and beauty in the landscapes, lighting etc.
And puzzles are perfectly integrated into the overall game, a few times I said to myself “clever” and “fun”. I have a huge problem with designers taking “time out” of the flow of a game, trying to make a puzzle THE topic, and often difficult to the point of frustration. Not so with this.
I agree with Phillip about the gameplay factor and the hope for improvements there in future releases, however the G-man voice being different didn’t bother me.
I give it a PF as its right up there with the best, in my view.
Great mod! Compelling story, which was similar to HL2’s, and a great atmosphere throughout. There were a few little glitches with level design that annoyed me, such as a box that just kept on getting in the way. Moreover, there were too few health kits, so I was forced (forced!) to cheat twice; there was too much ammo, as well, which was simply not needed. If there had been more enemies and the game longer, then the superfluous supplies of ammo would have been justified. But as it was, I didn’t feel a squeeze at all because there was no ammunition.
Another complaint would be that there weren’t enough great firefights. A lot of the time, there were antlions and other enemies battling, but all you could do was watch. There was a missed opportunity for a battle when you were faced with that antlion guard who you just had to run away from. And again there, the enemies just killed each other before you got a chance. That lack of involvement ruined some of the fighting for me, and again I just didn’t feel that there was enough fighting to warrant having that much ammo. In the first few chapters more ammo was used killing those CPs and long distance, and I missed seeing more of that throughout. Having enemies both far and close to take down adds an edge to battles, but like I said it just wasn’t seen.
There was no climax to the mod, really. I would have liked to go around in that Airboat for a bit to reach a final destination, preferably where there was a climactic boss battle. But it wasn’t there. I didn’t even know where I was headed for the entire game; I just kept running around going wherever I needed to. There was no organic and non-linear gameplay, and very little exploration. Half of the time I expected a helicopter to fly over and that I’d have to fight it, but I was disappointed every time. Many of the areas felt like they needed a battle, but they didn’t have one, and that was really disappointing. A lot of missed opportunities that would have made it much better…
Besides from that, I loved the environments. They were reminiscent for me of the Water Hazard chapter of HL2, and I loved all the skies, the water, and the concrete, which work together really well. Many of the sewer maps were too dark, though, and I had to turn up the gamma settings. Despite the missed opportunities, I still enjoyed it, and it was refreshing to see something that polished in terms of design. It would be great to see an expansion of this, as the story was compelling, and I know that the designer can do better if he takes into account some more feedback.
I gave the 1st release a PIN mostly because it was nicely mapped and the combat required a bit of thought and good timing. The potential for a classic mod is there.
This add-on chapter was OK and the mapping is excellent but the combat, dear me.
In fact I got bored.
The Intro video was waaaaay too long and deepest ennui set in.
The background sounds were far too loud and you could barely hear what the friendly NPCs were saying.
Had I have known, I would not have played but waited for the next chapter where, hopefully, we get darned good battles with the same excellent mapping.
…really liked it, and nice to see your name on the credits…can we have some more please ? (oops, sound like Oliver there)
Not bad. I liked it.
I really like this mod, but I got a problem with it. When I enter into the base where the women says “Over here” or something like that right after loading I go to the man and he gives me ammo but game crashes with memory error also says “The memory could not be read”, can anyone help me, this happens only on mods, when I play SP everything is OK. Thanks again.
The mapping itself is well done. It had a decent arrangement of minor offshoot paths to find extra ammo and health. The “puzzles” were not terribly complicated, most involving breaking supports to wooden scaffolding, with a few other things thrown in like “recognize that you can use a fusebox” or “find the wheel to crank the door open with” and there were a few puzzle/combat merges where you could get an advantage in a battle, but most of those were just the basic “shoot the explosive barrel”
Perhaps the most telling statement I could make is that I was most impressed with the one “crane” section that you needed to ride across. The fact that you didn’t have to wait for it to finish getting from one side to the other, but instead it would start moving the proper direction as soon as you got onto it, took out a lot of frustration, and that it didn’t turn that scene into “enemies attack while you’re an easy target, fight to keep from getting knocked off the crane and survive while it CREEEEEEEPS to the other side” situation.
But the catch is, that was the most impressive thing about this mod. No combat stood out as being particularly impressive, not even the Antlion guardian, which I did choose to kill instead of running from. (You can kill them with just a crowbar as long as you stay close and strafe them carefully)
The intro was… disappointing. It took what felt like 5 minutes where I just sat and watched, while an incredible tone and atmosphere were created that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the part of the mod you actually get to play through. (NOTE: If it’s supposed to be foreshadowing, then don’t put the foreshadowing in when you DON’t ACTUALLY GET to the part that is being foreshadowed) The whole scene could have been cut down to 15 seconds and accomplished just as much without wasting the player’s time.
The next biggest disappointment was the large open area where you can spot the hunter. This area was a perfect layout for a HUGE battle (Perhaps even an Antlion/Hunter skirmish?) but you ended up with NOTHING showing up to fight at all.
Gman’s voice was a little offputting since it really doesn’t match the pitch of Gman’s official voice at all, but it at least tried to mimic the funky speech quirks. It wont win any medals, but it at least lets you get an idea for how it SHOULD sound if it was being voiced by someone who could mimic gman’s voice better. What bothered me more was how it feels like Gman is giving the player a pep talk about how damn important they are even though the player hadn’t really accomplished, nor accomplishes, anything of significance during the course of the mod. I mean, come on, sure “Filip” apparently is part of the rebel resistance and successfully avoids capture, but hell, so does Barney, and I don’t get the impression that he’s been visited by gman on any particular point in time. It just comes across a bit as unwarranted self flattery.
It’s worth playing, but don’t expect this mod to stand out at all from anything you’ve played before.
Very nice maps. A bit claustrophobic in all (I like more open air scenes) but fine mapwork.
This could very well become a PF for me if the story continues, Sauli has a lot of talent and ideas as a mapper and I applaud that. Yes it does have some really nice areas that a good battle could take place so that was lacking but the atmosphere and flow of the game play was well done.
The intro might be a bit long for some players but for me it just adds to excitement of preparing to play and kinda gives a glimpse of the “inner” workings of the combine, dropships etc etc. Overall very well done.
Played the first Joutomaa and there certainly is a considerable increase in the level of refinement. I like like the new additions, such as the scripted sequences and puzzles. The quality of the voice acting is quite good I’d say (I hope the fact I was one of the voice actors doesn’t bias this opinion). The scripted sequences could have been done more “tightly”, but the effort was evident. The gunfights were not particularly long or extravagant but I enjoyed them. It recreated the HL2 feel very well in a number of the areas, such as the canals. Definitely worth a play!
Well, this was a pretty good mod, but I was disappointed because I didn’t expected the ending coming, and it was so cool for this sequence!!
The map’s are beautifully done, but there are far too many loading points. There are many bullet crates but so few health kits to found. But overall, there are various fights, and also you managed to make some interesting “story points”, I really liked the lonely man in the sewers with his “pet” headcrab 🙂
This is in fact a short-to-medium mod, and I really, really hope you will release soon the sequel to this mod. You’ve done a pretty good ending, it leaves us expecting more.
About the G-man’s re-voice, it’s a pretty good job, too!
I remember playing Joutomaa when it first came out, was never able to finish it though as it kept crashing on me.
I went on YouTube to see the first Joutomaa Map. The author really tried to improve some elements. I don’t think a story can make it “all” *cough* 1187 *cough* however it really can increase the quality. This mod is a fair example of That.
I do not even download many HL mods anymore this was fun, not disappointing nothing broken, but was too short. I played this last week I think it was about a 2 hour mod play max. I remember a part were their was no ammo cause I am not an ammo con server, it is a game right, so I got my own, sorry.
easy to install if that is a concern for you, as it is for me I do not play any mods that you have to type a map to play; I just do not have time for the extra step.
I believe I have played a map like this before but it was still fun
Well, it’s an improvement over the first version. Back then, Joutomaa was that weird mod that unquestionably looked fantastic, but was completely lacking in the gameplay department. I said something about how across four maps, there were about as many enemies.
This second version is longer and has a bit more combat going for it, but still feels empty and too short for what it is. And by “too short,” I don’t mean in physical length. You do cover a lot of ground here. But the fact of the matter is the mod could easily be twice as long if the combat was more successful. Staging multiple waves, having some kind of blocking mechanism to force battles, things like that.
Once again, it’s very nice to look at. Sauli pulled out all the stops to push the visual bar. His use of reflective water, in particular, is very nice. There are tons of little details to be found everywhere.
But combat is still the main problem. There’s more of it, and none of it is bad, but much like what Phillip was saying, the mod really lacks that “WOW” gameplay moment. There are a few set pieces where you felt something was going to happen, as Bramblepath and Grey Acumen alluded to, but nothing did. Almost every encounter is on a very small scale – the kind where you can pew-pew with your pistol and survive anything it throws at you. And while I love a good explosive barrel moment in combat, it’s a trick used too frequently here. For that matter, the breaking wood gimmick got kind of old too.
The Antlion Guard is still a non-battle. The space you encounter him is way too claustrophobic both for him and you, let alone the smattering of Combine. You can easily waste him with a few shotgun blasts, and despite the exciting boss music, the battle was over quickly. In fact, towards the end of the mod where the Hunter shows up? That’s where you should fight him!
Speaking of sound, one observation I made – some of the areas in the mod are missing soundscapes. This is especially true early on, such as in the area where you first encounter Civil Protection. It gives the map a lifeless feel because it’s completely silent. Soundscapes are definitely present in the later maps, however.
The intro is far too long and doesn’t really communicate anything. At least, nothing that seems relevant to the mod as it stands right now. You’d be better off if you cut that portion to a quarter of its current length and had the G-Man talking to you as you went forward using that “talking head” effect.
The G-Man impersonator was decent. He got the point across. I think one thing that was working against him was that much of his intro monologue consisted of slight variations on lines the real G-Man says (abiding by certain re… strictions, wake up, etc), so the comparison is unavoidable. In the final scene, I admit I had trouble hearing him amidst the music, but he was appropriately cryptic. I felt like I was watching Agent Smith having an existential conversation with me.
The choreography between you, the G-Man, and the various rebels you encounter was very good. As others have said, many parts evoke that same feeling you get in Route Kanal when you’re going from waypoint to waypoint, finding little rebel bases along the way. In that sense, Sauli was very successful.
So, in conclusion, better than the first version. Still visually awesome. Still lacking in the combat department. More worth your time, though. 🙂
The mapping was perfect. However, the wasn’t enough combat or challenge to give me any sense of accomplishment. I was low on health for most of the mod, but that didn’t seem matter. I was really expecting more out of this mod. The visual aspect of the mod definitely makes it worth playing.
Yeah, the intro was too long, compared to the overall playtime.
Also, I’m not sure, but I thought I saw a hunter off in the distance in the last open area. He (or she, I guess) just disappeared. Was I seeing things?
No, it was there, you just never got to fight it, which was a bit of a tease.
Okay, here is my penny’s worth. I gave it a PIN as I believe you should give this a go just to see some of the lovely map work, especially the larger area at the end. Yes, it is short, but my main niggle is the ending. It is abrupt without an explanation. There is HEV and a health charger so I was expecting more but then nothing. I did like the Hunter teaser though. People have commented on the amount of health packs being scarce but I don’t know why. There isn’t that much action (after the very long and “seen it all before in HL2” intro) and if you need more health, then you must really struggle with HL2 and its episodes. Overall I enjoyed it and it did waste an hour in a pleasant fashion. Puzzles aren’t new, lack of action, lonnnnng intro and nothing really new, but it did leave me with a feeling that the creator has a talent that has yet to be fully unleashed, hence I can’t really slate this mod. I believe that with the comments and criticisms that people have made, he could create a mod to rival the likes of Strider Mountain. Well doe Sauli, and hope we can see more from you soon.
Edit: As for the G-Man voicing, I am not normally a fan of revoicing a known character but I did like this one. It sounding similar and I did like the pattern. A thumbs up for this and all the voice acting within the mod.
Well this is a play it now! for sure, because this mod is now corrected and upgraded, so that’s good, the GMAN voice was ok and into the style of the Gman, i’d only like to see some subtitles that could be fit perfect to the dialogue sentences and would add some more quality to the mod, the part added, prior to the cannals part where u find the cmb outpost was good, but that part also let me think in a possible part 2?? I ask to the developer that last question. So I hope we see some kind of joutoma2 soon, cause it’s a good story line and a good mod title!
I was reticent about this early mod because that recent ” Valve” update had made so many not work that I gave up for a while. So when I saw the ” redux” version here on PF I decided to give it a go.
I must say a ” WOW!” for the fantastic opening sequence. I know some people have moaned about its length and relevance to the mod, but I loved its depth of detail and the ability to look around on your journey into the bows of “The Citadel”. Here, captured and helpless Mr Valkas finds rescue of a sort in the job offer from the ” Gman” where we cut to a later point in his story.
The mod gets going with a wander off to church where the going gets darker. Textures are very good and the eerie sounds set a sombre mood in the dankness. Combat is straightforward and relatively easy, even with the wretched “antlions”, but medpacks seemed few. The two ” Hunters” I saw were no problemJ
Overall sound and visuals were ace and the gameplay interesting and enjoyable. Some light puzzle work also added to the fun.
The crane-house section stood out for me, as it was visually stunning. Great textures, water reflection and shadows made for great atmosphere. Watching the ” poison antlions” from behind the armoured glass of the crane control room was a hoot. They were going ballistic outside while the man I’d just freed kept telling me to duck! Then I fell off the crane three timesL
Ending at the ” airboat” station was a good way to end this chapter, with a snooze and a chat with the “Gman”.
I loved this first chapter and eagerly await the second so I reckon it gets a ” personal favourite” from me.
Enjoyed playing this mod.The intro was a little long,maybe more gunships entering and more combine military activity would create a little more atmosphere.
The combat was good but could be avoided by out running it.The guardian never chased me.
As mentioned health was scarce but not really needed as damage was low.(not a fan of low health mods).
Thanks for the mod Sauli hope you continue with this type of mod.
I’ve been asked to play this again, so I might aswell post my thoughts about it.
+ good voice acting
+ the mod was generally well made and executed
– but average on all area’s, combat wasn’t interesting enough for me
– way to long intro sequence, /2 please!
– dissapointed you didn’t use more of the city
– occasionally strange switching in environments, church basement to industrial canal to name one
The lighting was relativly bland, especially in the early parts of the mod but improved toward the ending. Found some texture allignment errors aswell.
The thing I personally loved the most about this mod was the old guy at the final rebel station, who was fishing and using a tincan as bait. It made me laugh and wonder how a person with his intelect would have survived this far into the combines occupation of earth. All fish would be dead because of the leeches, pollution and draining of the oceans.
I ‘ll give it a play it later.
I’m only beginning to realize now that I might be having a problem running a few mods, and this is one of them. Previously I had thought that the mods were simply broken, because some worked and others didn’t, so this one obviously works but I’m having a problem. If anyone could help please do!
Alright, I put the mod in my souremods folder, and it appears in my library like normal. When I launch it, though, it opens half-life2 ep2. It has the same background map and everything, and the game… well, it simply is half-life2 ep2. So… how do I play Joutomaa and not ep2?
That’s pretty strange. I can’t think of anything to try but if I do, I’ll post it. Hopefully a reader can’t be more helpful than I have been.
The only thing I can think of is that some mods need an SDK.
There’s 3 of them and this probably needs SDK 2007.
No bad plan to have all 3 though. They’re free of charge.
Open Steam. Tools tab. You’ll see them listed.
It’s worth having them in any case.
Alright, I’ll give it a try and see what happens, thanks
I’ll be really surprised if this works, because normally if a mod needs an SDK it either tells you or starts downloading it. Can’t see why it would start the game. That said, it’s worth a try.
You’re right, Phillip, I know.
Anon might play off-line though and Source defaults to EP2?
This mod works just fine and is not affected by the Valve update.
Ah. There might be a clue there. Can it be the mod only works with the updates; perhaps Anon_238668 is not up to date but this mod works with the updates?
I hope Anon returns because it would be handy to know.
Excellent point Jasper.
Another thing worth trying is to create a shortcut on desktop and see what the path is. Please post the sanitised (personal details removed) link here and we’ll see if that sheds some light on the issue.
You were right about downloading the SDK not working, but it did make one of my mods work which was funny, I was playing that. Alright, I made a shortcut, but I’m not sure what information you want me to post, I’m not computer savvy at all. Do you want the URL? That’s about the only thing I could find in properties. Oh, and I am online, and I’m pretty sure I’m updated? I don’t know why I wouldn’t be when it does automatic updates to steam, and the games in there.
Anyway, here is the URL, I’m pretty sure there are no personal details. steam://rungameid/10530914782200988068
Well, I have just installed the mod and created a desktop shortcut and it’s the same as yours “steam://rungameid/10530914782200988068“.
When you run the game does it say “Starting Joutomaa”?
Do other EP2 mods have the same issue at the moment?
The only thing I can suggest is to delete the folder and try downloading the file again.
A last thought. I have a 64 bit system (Windows 7).
Steam appears twice. Once in the 32 bit progamfiles and again in the 64 bit programfiles (x86).
A while back I mistakenly put the mod “Unexpected Conclusion” in the 32 bit directory – it did not work (don’t know why).
Moved it to the 64 bit directory and it was just fine.
It’s worth a look anyway.
Okay, when starting it, or launching it, it says starting Half Life 2 Episode 2. Like you Jasper I have a 64 bit system, Windows 7, except steam doesn’t appear twice for me, it’s only in the programfiles x86. hmmm… I’ll name the list of mods I have in there, and if they work or not, maybe that will help. Oh ya, and it really does seem to only be a problem when it’s an EP1 or 2 mod, and not just a Half Life 2 mod, I think.
The ones that work:
Combine combat
Dear Esther
Final Project Diary
The Citizen
The Citizen 2
The ones that don’t work:
Smod (Which actually used to work and than stopped, I think when the update happened, now it just goes to normal Half-Life2)
Minerva (Goes to EP1)
Joutmaa (Goes to EP2)
Sebastian (Goes to EP1)
I’ll try re-downloading a couple, see what happens. And thanks for your trying to help me on this! If not for you I wouldn’t even know there was a problem and just keep skipping over some of the best mods out there.
After re-downloading a couple I still have the same problem… If you have any more ideas I’m open to them.
Okay, based on this…
Minerva (Goes to EP1)
Joutmaa (Goes to EP2)
Sebastian (Goes to EP1)
It definitely sounds like a problem with you set up rather than the mods themselves. I am certainly not an expert but you may want to try this: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7241-EYON-2343
I did as it said, but the problem is still exactly the same. Is there maybe something basic I’m missing? I read on your instructions that maps work differently than mods… are those maps and not mods? They come in folders though, so I would doubt that, but I also wouldn’t really know.
No, all of those are mods, and the fact that they appeared in your Library suggests you installed them correctly. As a last resort you could try uninstalling Steam and deleting everything related to it, but that really depends on how important playing mods is and how fast your Internet connection is.
I wouldn’t rush to do that just yet, other readers might have some other suggestions.
In fact, take a note of one of the map names within the mod, start it, even if it goes to Ep2, open the console and see if you can run one of those maps.
After taking a look at your instillation instructions I had opened up the consul to search for a map from the mod, but it doesn’t exist, just the normal half life 2 ep2 and ep1 maps when I’m on either game. I am reluctant to reinstall steam, cause downloading everything over again is going to take forever… This is really interesting though, I haven’t been able to find anyone else having the same problem as me… is there anywhere I can go with people dedicated to fixing problems with mods?
Yes, I compeltely understand.
Well, this is probably the best place. However, you could try the Steam Forums, they have a section for MOD discussion, but it’s not specifically there to help support issues.
One thing you could try is to delete Episode Two and try and run the mod. I know that it would work, but it might reset something, so that when you download the game again it stays reset. Might be worth a try.
What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in its execution. The voice acting is superb, the environments are all painstakingly designed, and each combat seems to me thoroughly playtested. A boss battle at the end would have been welcome; the sound of choppers and gunships overhead was constant, but none ever confronted me as the player. Healthkits and ammo were scattered about sparingly. I played on normal difficulty, and felt much more challenged than I have by other mods.
To sum up: It’s great, definitely play it, but don’t expect anything new gameplay-wise.
Well, this is probably the best place. However, you could try the Steam Forums, they have a section for MOD discussion, but it’s not specifically there to help support issues.
One thing you could try is to delete Episode Two and try and run the mod. I know that it would work, but it might reset something, so that when you download the game again it stays reset. Might be worth a try.
—————————————–
Alright, I’ll keep hoping that a reader here comes across this with some help, and I’ll try the forums. I guess I can try deleting EP2, and trying it that way. It doesn’t reset achievements when you do that does it?
Great mod! Taking a pod ride threw the Citadel was pretty cool. I loved being on that square, it reminded me of Point Insertion. We fight lots of Metro Cops, a couple of Scanners, only a few Manhacks, lots of Zombies and Headcrabs, several Antlions, a few Combine Soldiers, and no boss battle. Striders, Gunships, Hunter-Chopper, and a Hunter was shown, but not as battles. The environment and story were alright, but not enough enemies to fight. It wasn’t a challenging mod at all, but it was fun to play!
I got to give this a “play it now”. If you liked Water Hazard and Route Kanal, your gonna love Joutomaa Redux. Basically what you have is the two legendary HL2 chapters rolled into one…minus the airboat. Actually, you see the airboat at the end which is a bit of a nasty tease, since you never get to use it. Perhaps the author is planning another release and you will get to use it after all? Hope so.
The battles are fun, and there are several…but there could of been a few more. However, this increases the “adventure of explore” factor. The antlion guard could be circumvented, but I like the choice! However, a “hunter” or “chopper” battle would of been good. The puzzels are not too hard so you can keep a good pace, and the map offers “off paths” or what I call “dead end routes” that the player can explore, usually for some much needed goodies. But these routes are not really hidden well enough to be called secret places.
Fun factor is high here. Replay value is also here. The sewer areas underground and large pipes are usually somewhat dark, and there are the bright outdoor canal areas which are a direct contrast…and that is about the extent of the enviroments, although the underground areas have different “sub-enviroments”. The player spends much time in the underground enviroments, but the author keeps it fresh by bringing the player into the light of wide open canals, periodically. The beautiful “concrete aganist the sky” vistas have that gritty, urban-esc feel, and fantastic visual (and audio) candy that delights. A must have for even casual players of HL2, and espicially the hard core players.
90/100
I forgot to mention a major problem if your a player that wants to get from beggining to end without dying on hard. You cant. The beggining is simply too difficult and you have virtually no weapons.
So I decided to give this a go after remembering darrenweeks” “Finishing HL2 is just the beginning” presentation vid and I can’t believe he puts this on the same shelf as M.I., Minerva and especially R&D. Later I watched his playthrough of this and found out he was mostly doing it from a visual pov, but even so, I don’t remember any wow moments either. If I did, I would’ve screenshot them as I recently do with maps/mods when something impresses me.
The level design is great, the attention to detail is there and I’m quite inclined to decompile some of these maps if I didn’t lack the creativity (or maybe due to that reason alone) to make a map myself. It does set examples for other mappers, I give you that. But I also don’t agree with some contrasting features, like very tight spots followed by great outdoors, or very dark! places compared to bright daylight. I can never excuse that, for instance Precursor plays out very well in enclosed areas with the player having no flashlight at all and tbh not ever needing to have one and turn it on to get across..
Onto specific likes and dislikes:
– the intro gave me the impression that the author did a better job at creating combine interiors than the initial devs did, for a pod ride, that is
– Phillip’s voice can’t be heard because of the loud background music (same goes for the final GMan speech)
– GMan’s intro speech ended with a nice touch by using the “wake up” line; btw I got an Agent Smith style from him, too, but it didn’t make me feel less of the voice acting; I honestly think all monologues were pretty good!
– “Beauty, soul, midnight”..? That’s what I heard the overwatch announcer say 😀 anyone got a take on that?
– too many zombies lying around, that can be crowbared before they even get up
– I totally skipped the “extend the pipe” part because I managed to jump on it from the left side! I saw how it should’ve been played in Darren’s playthrough so thank God for those; and of course this shows superficial betatesting as it wasn’t that long of a jump; can’t believe Au-heppa was one of the testers himself, I get a more rigorous vibe from him 🙂
– aren’t grubs usually found underground?
– haha nice pet headcrab
– too may weapons are given too fast and way too loosely to the player who throughout the mod is actually starved for ammo on some of these weapons and who can definitely use a lot more health; the game and many mods taught or spoiled us with at least 1 health pack after a big fight, therefore it was frustrating to find 2 crates of suit + pistol ammo instead of HP
– the rebel that opens a gate for us mistakes us for Gordon F. which breaks the immersion
– low fps (13, to be exact) near the airboat.. tsk tsk
– map isn’t free of some lighting bugs either
– nice free man allusion
– and an anti climatic ending
The mod is scripted sequence/exploration driven rather than combat/puzzle so it’s a matter of taste, but by now we learned that most players hate having so little control over their player model. I didn’t get the full story either, I was sold by the text but when I was actually in game, the cutscenes and the timeline didn’t make sense to me. I also didn’t have much of an incentive or direction except go on, don’t die. For instance if you want to mimic an intro tram/train/pod ride, why not put some text on the screen with info about our character.. It’s a thin line between giving the player too little or too much insight in a readme and it’s tricky deciding exactly what the player discovers about the character(s) during the game.
It’s already been mentioned that we would’ve liked more (good) fights in this and interesting puzzles here and there and I definitely support that opinion. It’s also quite large in size, over 250 mega for 1 and a half hour of gameplay, so many and long loading points I was actually expecting a chapter title to come up next. Indeed the maps depict huge areas but if I only get to look at it and get teased by visions of potential enemies then it’s really a waste.. a damn shame.
So yea, play it for the mapping, because that’s all the fun you’ll get out of this, just looking at it.. and that’s IF you turn your brightness up.
Turns out she says “duty, sword, midnight”, thx hlwiki: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Overwatch_Voice
Hey Phillip? Why @ 6:13 did you go the “regular route”? There is an easier “alternative route” you can take!
*Route exploit* (alternative). You cannot jump from the end of the big pipe to the other, BUT…you can go off to the side, put a crate on the edge of the wall, get on top the crate, and make the jump to the second pipe! This will take you into a different area you have not been to before.
Give it a try 🙂
Good mod, well worth the time. 🙂
I found it much harder than most other mods. It was refreshing. The graphics are really good. The intro is a bit too long, it feels like something I have seen before, in the original Half-Life 2, and not something I need an extended intro about. The Gman voice feels off, but the cut scenes are pretty cool anyway.
I wish there were more gameplay or duties in some of the areas. Like the city plaza in the beginning. It was beautiful, but I was there for only seconds. In the beginning I could skip a big sewer area if I make a long jump. I dunno if this is on purpose, risk/reward thing. But it felt off, as I noticed during 2nd playthrough that this chunk (that I skipped) is quite long.
A weird thing with this mod was that I had to enable the crosshair through console. It wasn’t enabled for me? Maybe disabled during intro or a poor game design choice..
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
so, is there anything after Filip reaches the station? because i’d been low (more like, OUT) on ammo for a while, then suddenly get a crap ton of AR2 and .357 ammo, then the mod ends, (as well as seeing that Hunter in the background, watching me) so, what i’m wondering is, does anything happen later? or is there another part?
WOW. This was a great mod!
Everything in this mod feels like it was made by Valve. The mapping, apart from some issues, is excellent and sometimes the scenery looks simply astonishing (G-Man sequence). Also, the intro is cool, however I think that it could have been shorter. The G-Man sequences are great too, but the certain voice actor wasn’t the best choice for the role.
Combat-wise, this was an excellent map. The enemies never spawn out-of-place or in a cheap way. It felt great.
The ending is also very sudden and it happens in a way where you thought it wouldn’t. Very cool.
Overall, you should definitely play this map. It has everything a HL2 based-mod needs, amazing visuals, great combat and incredible mapping.
Personal Favourite time again!! WOOP WOOP!!!
I utterly loved this mod. What a great, well balanced and well designed game this is. The intro was really nice but kinda slow and went on a bit too long for me, but from that moment onwards it was amazing.
I was worried during those ant lion moments because I’m a big cowardly chicken with those critters but each time it was done perfectly. Never was it overcooked with a boring constant stream of those annoying bugs! I hate that aspect in other mods but, here, it is done perfectly and very well balanced so it flowed well and didn’t spoil the adventure for me.
However, I did feel that moments in the game need “more to it”. The maps are tremendous and lots of outdoors areas which I love but (sometimes) I felt a little meh by these areas too. I was loving them BUT i was also disappointed a little. Probably because I expected a little more action by more soldiers? I’m not sure…. So, with more combine that would have worked. Perhaps a crossbow to pick off (even more) distant soldiers would have been great also? But I’m just nitpicking and the last thing I’d need in those places would be a worried mapper simply banging in some hunters or an Antlion hoard. That wouldn’t beef it up but ruin it!!
The final area was a disappointment if I’m honest. Here i was looking for a crossbow – which would have worked so well in such a huge area but alas there was no baddies. It would have been superb to see distant combine to pick off one by one. Roaming zombies here would have worked brilliantly…. But, the ending is left open so I wonder if there is a WIP coming? (after 7years) :{
Overall, a great adventure. Needed more soldiers and those open areas always needed roaming zombies but otherwise this is pure gold. One i loved playing and will do so again, on hard! Amazing mod.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
Nice scenery, well-designed map, and HL2-like feeling! Awesome mod!
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
I really had the feeling that this redux version is highly polished ans sometimes it suffer from that.
A lot of attention was put to the intro and outro scenes but in the meantime the gaming experience felt a little short for me…So in terms of enjoyment I prefer the normal version but it’s still a ‘play it now!’ rating
Using Gauge
Medium
50 Minutes
Looks great. Plays good. Only down side is it takes a bit to get going.
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
Looks great. Play is boring. Worth a play through.
The mod is pretty great but a bit too anticlimactic for the ending. As for the story, I pretty much did not understand what was happening, really. All I did was simply just fight my way through, killing a bunch of combines, civil protections, zombies, and antlions. I was expecting a hunter boss battle, but it didn’t do anything after spotting you. The combat is quite difficult to say the least, good for a short mod. The puzzle is very easy to solve. Some puzzles are so easy, you could skip the whole thing. I remember where you have to help the guy activate the crane for you to progress. But all you need is to stack some crates and climb on it and skip through the whole part. Also, you are Filip Valkas the entire time. Hearing other citizens call you Gordon Freeman does ruin the immersion, and it made me forgot who I was. Might wanna fix that. Not much to say about level design so time to summarize. Combat is far the best among the puzzle, story, and level design. Puzzle is too easy, I didn’t pay much attention to the story, and the level design is okay.