Perplexity

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

6th November 2013

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Here we go again with another of “Miigaa’s maps”!

Follow the route through various puzzles and combat until you reach the final battle.

As with all of his maps, enjoy the beautifully lit and composed areas but be aware that your sightseeing could turn into fighting for your life at any time.

Enjoy!

Basic Details
  • Title: Perplexity
  • File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-perplexity.7z
  • Size : 42.90MB
  • Author: Miigga
  • Date Released: 06 November 2013

Download Options

Download to your HDD [42.90MB]

Installation Instructions
  • Copy Perplexity.bsp folder into your ep2/maps folder.
  • Run Episode Two and open the console
  • Type map perplexity and press return or enter.

If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.

Videos

The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer. See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

19 recommendations, average score: 4.74 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.19 (what's that?)
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 17 comment(s) with meta review data.

Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 17 Users

Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 46 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 30 Mins by MisterAddy
Longest: 2 Hours by 2jel
Total Time Played: 13 Hours, 9 Mins
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46 Comments

  1. Phillip says Play It!

    I always enjoy Miigga’s work and this is no exception.

    It’s a collection of areas, each could be mixed and matched within any of his maps, all of which are so nicely made. Lots of attention to detail and layout.

    There are some nice puzzles here and one stunning area that I was expecting to be the finale, but wasn’t.

    HE knows what he likes to build and is good at it, there’s no denying that, but building such isolated areas only gets me so excited.

    There’s little doubt you should play this and I have no doubt you will enjoy it, but without some driving concept or objective behind it, it never really “involves me”.

  2. Play It Later

    The puzzles in this map are top notch as per usual. Migga continues to use clever new game mechanics to introduce new puzzles that the player is mostly well trained for. At no point did I give up although I did die a few times before I got the message which isn’t the best way of training the player.

    The mapping is excellent with a fantastic attention to detail and some nice twists on your expectations (the second section hole in the world effect is brilliant). This is probably the best looking Migga map so far. Great work.

    The music is atmospheric and brilliant for playing to. I liked the music very much.

    So why the Play It Later?

    The combat, it’s frustrating and dull. I’m on a real mission at the moment to find some well set up combat and it seems that no one is giving it the time it deserves. Combine spawn, and just run directly towards the player until they’re toe to toe and trying to smack you to death with a shotgun.

    I’ve noticed that the way we fight in mods is different to the way we fight in the official HL2 games. In mods, most battles end up as close quarters, dance in strafe circles around combine blowing them away while they struggle to keep up. You can go through 20 of them in this way and really never break a sweat. It’s not challenging or fun and it’s not how they were meant to be used.
    Simply throwing more combine at the player doesn’t up the difficulty.

    I hope we’ll see better set up in future Migga maps.

    1. JG

      It’s because everyone uses the familiar aiscripted_schedule set !player as target and goal, interrupt only after death trick. Which is good for some enemies (Combine Shotgunners, in particular), but not all.

      If you really want the Combine to do some fancy stuff, you need to make use of some of the rarer entities, like ai_standoff, the often confusing assault system, and enabling/disabling info_node_hints.

      Course, even then, one always has to remember that outside of scripted_sequences, the most one can do is “suggest” what the Combine ought to do. Their AI doesn’t have a tremendous sense of self-preservation on its own. Because Half-Life 2 came before Gears of War, which got everyone thinking about cover and chest-high walls, the Combine don’t exploit cover very well, even with info_node_hints set to cover (I’ve read some sources that indicate that Combine only naturally seek those cover points when they need to reload, not when they are under heavy fire. That is sort of in line with my own observations, although limiting an individual Combine’s network to those hints can encourage them to use them more since they have nowhere else to go).

      Instead, their general strategy for “cover” is to run away from the battle, which is incredibly obnoxious for the player because either they are led away from the action just to kill that one guy, or they sit and wait for him to come back. At worst, you clear out the main room of bad guys and move on to get shot in the face by that one guy you forgot about who fled and never came back. An annoying “Oh, by the way” parting shot.

      Survivability is, of course, another problem. The Combine simply don’t have that many hitpoints to begin with and because they don’t tend to take cover, that leaves them open to take the brunt of the player’s attacks head-on. So, I think the logic in the minds of many modders is “If he’s only going to live for 5 seconds, he should do everything he can to attack the player.”

      1. I’ve never even considered using !player as the target for aiscripted_schedules, I’ve always just used a path_corner at whatever place I want the combine to go to.

        That being said, I probably should look into better ways to create battles against the combine.

        1. I had some issues with the path corners where the enemies wouldn’t shoot me or react to my presence till they reached a certain point. Using assaults would probably be the best option for giving npcs recommendations of where to go. Just having an assault that clears upon arrival would function a lot like your current system, but the npcs can now deviate if they need to reload or avoid a grenade. You should check out the way valve does it sometime; it’s very rare for them to use a complex assault path. Often they just put down all the stuff for an assault and just leave it at one spot.

        2. JG

          I’ve never had much luck with the “Target Path Corner” setting. I get what it’s supposed to do in an ideal scenario, but there was always some weird reason why it never worked for me (which I’m sure I’ll rediscover the next time I try to use them).

      2. In most areas of my maps I get around this by using NPCClip brushes to ensure that the combine do not advance past a particular point. In Deep Down theres only a handfull that can ever reach the player when they’re first encountered (aside from the ones I wanted you to run over!).
        If you place combine behind a medium distance fence that the player has to scale, or on a raised platform, or behind npcclip brushes, the battles are always much better. No need for complex assaults. Make the player advance on the combine and make them stand their ground. This is especially tough if the player is on lower ground and has to move uphill.
        Use mines to make it harder.

        Block off small side rooms with clip too. No way a smart soldier would walk in there and get shotgunned. They’d lob a grenade in.

        Mixing up weapons helps too. 2 AR2 troops and a shotgun guy all in a single squad can be tough to beat as they can cover all ranges effectively.

        Were all so practiced at this game, we have to make it tough when it comes to combat. Tough but fun!

  3. Play It Now!

    Overall this was a great installment. I really liked the reuse of the green field. It was a nice way too expand a mechanic players had already learned earlier in the map in interesting and new ways. The battery puzzles were good too, it took me a while to realize there was a battery wedged in the ceiling, maybe having the case on its side could help that problem. I had actually found an alternate solution to one puzzle, but a clip brush stopped me. I’ll just have to save that idea for a future map *evil laughter*.

    I really didn’t like the green goo platforming puzzle. I had missed timed a jump twice and died instantly. Then, when I made it to the platform, it collapsed beneath me! I actually really liked that, but the first time it happened I fell in the goo and instantly died. Worst of all, I had finally put the battery in place when I missed the final jump and had to start at the beginning.

    As a side note, you get the gravity gun early on, yet in the beginning a lot of physics props are immovable. During the first combat encounter I started running low on ammo, so switched over to the gravity gun, but I couldn’t pick up anything nearby! Which brings me onto my final point, the combat.

    The first encounter with metrocops was a little tough. I didn’t realize I was playing on hard, but they just seamed too strong to fight with just a pistol. I think they had their post-uprising health amount of 40 instead of the canals amount of 27. Some more extra cover would have helped a little too. They ended up grouping up at the bottom of the walkway, so they and I had little cover. I noticed the concrete barriers, but they were at an angle where I couldn’t use them as cover.

    The hole-in-the-world combat was the weakest of the mod, in my opinion. I like the height variation, but I ended up getting pinned on the upper catwalks. Once the combine started throwing grenades I got in real trouble. I got caught on a couple outcroppings on the railing and died a couple times. At this point I realized I hadn’t reset my difficulty.

    The final combat space I really liked. Unlike Partridge, I actually do like making circles around the combine. The combat got really intense when I was low on health, trying to reload my shotgun, and grabbing the rollermine to toss into the nearest shotgunner. (I did run into the path_Corner issue I mentioned with the antlions as well). The ending was a bit sudden, but I’m fine with that.

    Great puzzles, great visuals, but lacking a little in combat. Overall, still worth the play!

  4. Play It Now!

    Oh man this was a brilliant map. I am just amazed at how fun Miigaa maps are. The lighting design in particular was all kinds of good. All the clever twists and turns, and just raw artistry here… amazing!

    I *adored* the rollermine. That had me giggling madly. The fights were tough, but not too long and certainly not too short. Hunters, I remembered when it did so, can follow you up stairs. O____O

    I do have a couple critical points:

    I couldn’t make the jump on the block puzzle, I had to noclip there. Saw what needed to be done, but just couldn’t actually DO it. I give up after a certain point in frustration and move on, because I’d rather finish the map happy than ragequit because of one thing I can’t get my hands to do right.

    The transition from one part to another lost me the pair of companion cubes… um… boxes that I’d carried around – I am not at all sure why I wanted them, aside from ‘they were stacked up and there when you have to cross dangerous dark chasm” so I assumed I’d be needing them later. Never did.

    Though there was a lot of interesting use of props and location shots, I wish that there was more reward for exploring the areas (particularly the one with the rounded glass “outside” area… very pretty, but very empty).

    Just keep making these things, man. I love them so much! Cheered when I finished off the last of it, just like the sound fx 😀

  5. Play It Now!

    Great map!

    Pros:
    There’s a lot of gameplay in one map, and it’s fun.

    >The puzzles were interesting and not too hard like some maps!

    >The combat built up until the final battle which lasted a well decided amount of time.

    >> The puzzles gave good rest time between the combat, giving the map a good flow. All in all a good mixture of combat and puzzles.

    The lighting, brushwork and detailing were very well done.

    con:
    I got a sudden death after jumping onto the metal walkway which fell into the deadly water, however there was an autosave just before this part so there was no problem!

    other comments:
    The new puzzle element, the green shield texture, seems to be original, and is a nice breathe of fresh air.

    The gameplay far outweighs the lack of sense in the map of the design of many areas. Actually, I enjoy the parts which make the least sense, like the division between the sky and darkness, that looked very interesting. I actually enjoy miggas maps because the map is designed to create enjoyment not follow “rules” or conventions that some critics might make (such as: no story, no sense in design).

    final comment:
    The main thing is that it was enjoyable and apart from the minor con above, the map was very smooth and fun to play.

    Play it now!

  6. Hec
    Play It Now!

    I like Migga’s maps. Most of them always start so smooth and peaceful with some clever cool puzzles in the middle, and then they end up with a BLAST!! I mean powerful heavy combat and hordes to fight to end them, and also most of them include hunter combat, which I love.

    This was not the exception, here we have maybe one of the best recent Migga’s maps and also in some places of the map they look just so surreal like a crazy dream, that part where the map seem to be broken into the black space was really beautiful.

    Overall this one was one I liked, I Hope to see some more Migga’s work in near future hopefully.

    Play It now is pretty nice to play!

  7. am I doing something wrong .. I used WinRAR and directed the maps ( and graphs ) to the correct target however when I run ep2 and open the console I cant see the either of the maps ….
    I have all hl2 related games installed and have recently played them ( half life 2 ,ep1 and ep2 ) .. I also have source skd,base 2006 and 2007 ) … so what am I doing wrong
    do I need to install source sdk base 2013 singleplayer …. I will give it another go but can anyone see were I may be going wrong ?
    cheers guys !

    1. If you are not seeing them when you open the console that would suggest they are not there. Are you sure you have the correct folder now that steam has been updated?

    2. Pedro_The_Swift

      also wont install
      has the maps folder changed?

        1. fixed the problem phillip … instead of heading to steamapps>myname>hl2 ep2>ep2>maps …. I went into the common folder and then to halfe life 2 >ep2> maps …. and copied the Perplexity.bsp folder into there …. theres also a graph folder there when this is needed
          I don’t know why the maps folder moved to there,however it works ok and that is all that matters …..
          while on the subject of maps/mods not working …. is there any fixes for slums extended and leons coastline to atmosphere ..( final project works ok )
          thanks

          1. Yes, that’s why I linked to the post I did. It explains all of that and the reason why.

          2. Hey Brian, thanks for posting this info so I didn’t have to waste time searching for it

  8. Play It Now!

    Miigga, a name you can trust!

    This map bears all the good characteristics of his work. Visuals are amazing as usual, and I like the fact that detail is not created by just spamming props, but instead there are loads of complex and clever brushwork involved. The map feels very abstract, almost like you’re dreaming, and there are some parts where your sense of reality just gets nuked…

    Gameplay is very good as well. I really enjoyed the new green forcefield and the new gameplay it brought. Puzzles are very straightforward but also very entertaining. I wonder if Miigga has ever taken in consideration creating Portal 2 maps? Combat is just hard enoungh to make it interesting and to make you actually afraid of the combine, instead of making them look like pigs at the slaughter. However, next time please be careful with detail sticking out of walls and railings. In the building in the “broken sky” part it is very easy to get stuck because of all the tiny details on the catwalks, I suggest making smaller bits that stick out non-solid next time.

    My only real complaint about combat itself is that I think combat in Miigga’s maps needs a revamp; don’t get me wrong, it is good, but all scenarios seem to be the same areana-type area with some combine spawning from shielded entrances. I’d like to see something new, like a boss fight (gunships, striders, etc… I know Miigga has already created a map with a gunship fight, and well, I want to see that again!), or just a different, original (possibly non-areana like) scenario.

    Music also deserves a special mention here. Edward Rizo, who composed custom music for the map, is a very capable musician. The music is driving and intense in combat, and weird and mysterious in puzzle or surreal areas, just like it should be. However, Miigga should have tried to get his environments to match the music more closely. When Zeal, the almost militaristic piece, came up when I entered the “broken sky” area, I expected the building in front of me to be some sort of command centre, or a place where you do something heroic, but no, it’s just another building with random things in it, nothing really memorable inside. Good custom music = +1000 awesomeness points, but good custom music with perfectly matching environments = awesomeness is over 9000!

    All in all, this is a very good map that definitely deserves to be played. As usual there is no hint of story or sense whatsoever, but none of them are strictly necessary to enjoy the level. It’s pure gameplay, and of top-notch quality too!

  9. Personal Favourite

    First of all I managed to sort out the installation problem… look in your common folder and then in hl2 .. for some reason that’s were the ep2 maps …
    anyway,wow,what a map …. well you expect quality from migga but why hasn’t valve given this guy a job… ok adam fosters Minerva was good and he deserved to get a job…but I believe miigga is only going to get better and theres many years of quality mapping yet to come
    his puzzles are legendary and theres some excellent ones in perplexity . but anyway another quality map from miigga,so what about a mod … ?

    1. > “so what about a mod ! ?”

      I did make a mod, it’s called Baryonic Predicament

      Not planning to make another one, I’ve been running low on mapping motivation and a mod requires a lot of work.

      1. agree,the problem with mods is they require a interesting storyline … get this right and your half way there …. but the amount of work required is massive …
        another way would be the dissect some of your maps and rejoin them as the mod … with the amount of maps you have created there must be a way to join some together.. and maybe create some smaller maps to stitch them together
        the problem when playing your maps is you don’t want them to finish ( yours and leon brinkmans are my favourite ) ..
        lots of luck for the future miigga !

  10. Play It Later

    Once again, Miigaa’s mapping is fantastically detailed and has those trademark wacky puzzles, which are really cool and enjoyable as always. There’s always a definite style to these maps, and in this one the surreal theme complements the other elements. I also love the custom music choice, it fits really well.

    But the combat – ugh! The whole thing feels really predictable: after completing a puzzle, you run around a big empty arena for a while until you trigger something that causes the Combine to come in. There are a few waves, always ending with hunters, and something will explode or open to let you continue. In this map there are just large amounts of NPCs thrown at the player, who injure you by sheer numbers rather than acting intelligently (I know I also struggle with balancing this when mapping).

    It feels just like going through the motions every time combat happens so some more variety is definitely needed. Perhaps just do something other than an arena, because by the final fight I wasn’t really interested.

    I know it sounds like I hated the map but that’s not true. Again, I loved the puzzles; the green forcefield was inventive and the rollermine gave me a real “aha!” moment.

    What Phillip said about the areas being isolated and not part of a greater goal is true, but I think this is the case with every Miigaa map/mod so we just have to accept it. What I would personally like to see in the next instalment is either a better variety in combat or a focus more on the puzzles and exploration instead.

  11. I’m stuck at Screenshot #15. Any Help (spoiler)?

    1. I have no idea how to do spoilers here but I am just going to explain explicitly how to advance.

      So yeah spoilers ahead.

      Press button to turn off green forcefield. Take the crate out of its hole. Press button again to turn on green force field. Place crate on the green forcefield in such a way that you can jump onto the crate from the small staircase and then jump from the crate onto the elevated area. This is a bit tricky.

      1. Thanks, miigga1. I guess I just can’t jump, since that’s exactly what I did. Now that I know, I’ll learn to jump even longer:)

  12. Too bad I can’t rate it because I can’t complete it. “Them’s the rules”. People who hate excessive melee situations and rate maps accordingly don’t get to vote.

    I believe I’m in the final battle. The big crescendo ending. Ugh. The ESC key on my keyboard has received enough damage. Up until then it was a very enjoyable map but then it became an aggravation.

    1. I got frustrated too and ditched during the last battle but I still gave a rating.

      Give the man a rating!

  13. Play It Now!

    Great MAP!!! The puzzles were a little hard, and I did get help from another post on one of them.
    The action is great! Although a really difficult on hard. I have managed to make to the last room and I’m getting my but kicked!

    Has anyone been able to finish this on Hard?

    One negative – please don’t include soundtracks during battles! They kill the ambient sounds. Kinda of important when you have a combine with a shotgun bearing down your neck.

    1. Do you mean playtime of 2 hours?

      1. Ok, maybe I over exaggerated on the play time. But I lost count on many times I’ve been killed in this map. The last battle is a bit annoying. Right when you think you’re about done, another way of combine come out to play. Just can’t finish!

  14. Play It Now!

    This is my first Miigga map I have played and I must say I was very impressed. The puzzles did have me perplexed at times but not so much so that it became frustrating. The combine fights were not dull in the slightest.
    I for one was impressed by the music that accompanied the map which I found to be perfect in adding to the atmosphere and also to the adrenaline rush of the gun battles.

    The ending battle was quite tough, but if you dive in and out of cover and get supplies, you can survive it. I like a challenge, so I will have to say I enjoyed playing this map.

    Only downside I will give it is the abrupt ending, otherwise it was great!

  15. Play It Now!

    Very enjoyable and similar to the author’s other maps. Except I didn’t see any watermelons! The puzzles were actually pretty simple if you are familiar with the author’s style. Definitely worth playing

  16. Ade
    Play It Now!

    Even tho I already tested it and gave most of my feedback, I still enjoyed playing this.
    I start off with Node graph message, tsk tsk. The exploding barrel coming at me made me laugh, I’m glad I didn’t play this too much so I can still enjoy these little surprises.
    The glass texture is unchanged and stuff thru it is seen weird, I guess the author wanted to stick with it. In the same map, it’s not clear what the button did. But he bridge now has a higher glass which is good, I can’t snipe like in a previous version. Except now I’m not so sure it has the difficulty increased at the right level, I died twice already if I just go into the arena, it really is a hard fight with barely any health around. And like The_Blazer, I too got stuck in certain areas on the catwalks. That would’ve been revealed in a beta test for another iteration hehe!
    The vent drop was unexpected. And I almost forgot about the manhacks, another surprise that made me giggle. Some of the combine in the prison still felt like they would just not attack til they got close enough, idk if bug or intended, after reading the other comments and about path corners. Once I finish the battle it’s not clear where to go but then I see the hole in the wall that the hunter did. I lol’d at the corridor getting thinner and teleporting me, crazy map.
    As soon as I saw the crates dispenser I knew it was another arena.
    The manhacks were actually stuck in the vent for as long as I was under them, cus they have player tracking device, not sure you can do much about that.
    The end is too brusk for my taste, and the credits are weird/confusing, HoliestCow for instance isn’t in the BTC.

    Overall it’s a really enjoyable map, the music is nice and adds to the atmosphere but not sure all songs fit that well in the given situations. The puzzles are new and never too hard, but the combine battles are a real challenge.
    It’s a Miigga map and like all of his maps, this is a must play.

  17. JG
    Play It Later

    Another standard Miigga map. If you like Miigga’s other work, you’re bound to enjoy this one. If you are a bit more apathetic about it, then it’s a Play It Later.

    Much like Leon Brinkmann’s maps, I feel that Miigga’s are a bit of an acquired taste and it’s one that initially impressed me at first, but has grown stale over time because it’s basically been the same map, same visuals, same puzzle style and same combat style for the last two years. As harsh as it sounds, if you’ve played one, you’ve played them all. I like to watch modders grow and get better at their art, and really push themselves to top their previous efforts. This doesn’t necessarily mean Miigga should create a mod with a full story, but it does mean I would encourage him to break away from his comfort zone once in a while and try a map that isn’t set in a grimy, nondescript warehouse.

    The biggest weakness with this map is the combat. Twice, we have the scenario where we fight swarms of brainless Combine who have no sense of self-preservation and then we kill some Hunters who conveniently open the way forward. I first recall that combination back in Elevatorville and while Hunters are often a great way to escalate a battle, they can be abused in the same way that Striders are. Also, I feel that push-button item dispensers are a rather kludgey way to help the player in the middle of these battles. The flow is smoother when the enemies themselves drop health vials and ammo.

    The other weakness, and this is just a general criticism of his maps, is that the combat and the puzzles don’t complement each other. There is a hard delineation between “puzzle” and “combat” instead of an attempt to blend the two in an interesting way. Wouldn’t it be neat if you could somehow turn the laser beams against the Combine? Not only that, but if done well, it would help add authenticity to the puzzles. When I see a red laser shot around a room with mirrors, I think of how contrived it looks. Why is this here, who would build it, what does it do? If it was a wacky Combine gadget with a blue laser that seemed like it had a purpose beyond just letting me open a door, I would totally buy that.

    Other puzzles simply don’t work that well, with insistence on platforming being the main culprit. The first scenario with the box on the green forcefield was remarkably tricky to jump. Likewise, the section with the shifting platforms in the muck has some odd timing with it. If the platform suddenly begins to lurch backwards while you’re trying to jump forward, bad things happen. The part where you had to “leapfrog” props across a pit was agonizingly long. And unfortunately, the penalty for failing these tasks is instant death most of the time. This creates a real my-way-or-the-highway adversity with the player, rather than letting them gracefully fail and try the puzzle again, or approach it from a different angle.

    So why a Play It Later if I’m so negative about it? Because it’s still fundamentally a good map, there was effort put into it, and it’s worth your time to play. I just wish there was a bit more to it, a bit more surprise. And I know that, for my part, these are the remarks I would like to hear because they help inform me how I can make my next creation even better.

  18. Joe_Freeman

    This Map will NOT show up in my console! I put it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\username\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps and not only does it not show up neither does any other map in that directory.

    I have the latest steam updates.

    I am thinking the problem is the “gameinfo.txt” file. I have changed it so many times I don’t know what it is supposed to be any more. Steam forums have so many versions my head is spinning!

    Can anyone please show me a working copy of “gameinfo.txt” that works with this and other new maps? PLEASE

    1. Joe_Freeman

      Ok, I was partially wrong. There are 22 maps that the names begin with ep2_ that do show up from that directory. No OTHER maps will show up…..

    2. Joe, the gameinfo.txt is only valid for mods.

      Have you uncompressed the .7z file? You don’t just put the .7z file in that folder, you have to uncompress it. Due to the fact that you talk about the name beginning with “ep2” makes me think you haven’t uncompressed it. The actual filename of this map is “Perplexity”

      Have a look at the install instruction on this page, there is a link for more help there if you need it and let me know what happens.

    3. Is that actually where you extracted the map or did you make a mistake when typing it into your comment?

      The .bsp is supposed to go in here:

      C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps

      Notice that there is no \username\ there after steamapps.

      The .ain file is supposed to go into maps/graphs, but it’s not necessary for running the map. (If the .ain file doesn’t exist, the game will automatically create one when the map is launched)

      Make sure you have actually extracted the .bsp from the .7z and also make sure it’s in the correct location, the one without any \username\ in the file path.

    4. Joe_Freeman

      WOW! Two replys, one from Miigga himself and one from Phillip himself!

      Well, it is fixed now. Miigga was right. I didn’t even know there was 2 different “common” folders, and yes I was in the wrong one under the username folder.

      And thanks for the tip about “gameinfo.txt” only being for mods. I did not know that either.

      Thank You Phillip and Miigga!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. Play It Later

    I enjoyed the puzzles. Quite clever and some misdirect the player when he thinks he has the ‘obvious’ answer. Made me smile when I realised what I really needed to do.
    I have said before that I do not enjoy combat against overwhelming odds; it becomes frustrating and that is not enjoyable. I want a reasonable chance of survival. I had to cheat to complete the game, which I am not happy about. If the combat had been toned down, I would have said play it now. In my humble opinion, a good map spoiled. Sorry.
    PS. I love Leon’s maps. Not an acquired taste, just very well done.

  20. Personal Favourite

    Wow! I enjoyed this map really. This is a good mix of awesome fights and some tricky puzzles. The map design was really detailed and you saw that he did his best to make it look good 😀

    The puzzles weren’t hard and a little bit easy to solve. The next time do it a bit harder.

    I really like fight in Half-Life 2 but here they were too much enemies and you hadn’t so many resources. But it isn’t that big of a problem 🙂

    At the end i just want to say…..PLAY IT GUYS! 😀

  21. Personal Favourite

    I have played most of Miigga’s maps, but this one could be his best!

    I liked everything. I mean, EVERYTHING. The mapping is some of the best I’ve ever seen, the combat was ace and the puzzles were better than ever. The bridge part is simply amazing and the whole map itself is a great way to showcase the power of the Source engine. There’s also some custom music, which is also pretty cool. And all of that is included in ONE map.

    Overall, this map is just amazing. Just play it for yourself and see. You will love every minute of it. 😀

  22. Play It Now!

    I love the visual and puzzles! Nice mod.

  23. Play It Later

    Looks good as always from Migga. Puzzles are just enough. Don’t care for the end. Kitchen sink style.

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