As a (semi-) follow-up to LVL2, here is a challenge that asked mappers to create a boss fight or climactic finale of some sort. It could even be a sequel to a previous Map Labs entry but wasn’t required. Think BossVille.
Here are 7 bosses to face in The Boss LVL!
As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord.
- Title: The Boss LVL
- Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-bosslvl.7z
- Size : 541 MB
- Author: Coralilac, Zen, AttackSlug, ArctixSnowpup, beefbacon, samisalreadytaken, .HAL9000.
- Date Released: 6 September 2023
- Make sure you have the Upcoming branch of the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer installed in Steam and run at least once. (Properties – Betas – select upcoming from the dropdown list).
- Copy the the-boss-lvl, mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic folders into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- The Boss LVL should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the file below as a template:
Boss-LVL-Review-Template.txt
Listed as they are displayed in the mod itself:
Coriolis by Coralilac
Storm Drain by Zen
Ironclad Renegade by AttackSlug (bonus map)
Antlion Mountain by ArctixSnowpup
CrowbaRing by beefbacon
Swarm by samisalreadytaken
Tripod 1.5 by .HAL9000.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots. Thanks to ArctixSnowPup & Commando Booce for providing the screenshots!
1600 x 900
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1,012Overall
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1Today
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4Last 7 days
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22Last 30 days
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308365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 1 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours
Shortest: 2 Hours by daXepicXdude
Longest: 2 Hours by daXepicXdude
Total Time Played: 2 Hours
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Some entries are good, some are bad, but at least the mod is fun to play.
This might’ve been my favorite boss fight. In fact, that’s gotta be the smartest sniper I’ve ever seen. Out of all the boss fights in this mod, this is far the most challenging one, throwing grenades at every window while he moves, bunch of reinforcements coming right after you.
Platforming, no boss fight. The controls are very hard to get but eventually I got along with it and beat the level.
In terms of visual and level design, this takes the cake. But how ironic the level enemies are harder than the boss itself.
The level is too linear and very amateurish. The boss is very tedious. An antlion guard with very big hp. It takes forever to kill it. The boss fight gets annoying when the citizens keep blocking your way. Add more creativity to it.
Gameplay is fine that is if you’re familiar with Dark Souls. The boss battle is pretty challenging too but very easy compare to the sniper boss. Visuals look great as well.
Visuals and gameplay look good as well but unfortunately I didn’t finish this because this is not my type of gameplay. Sorry I didn’t like it, but good.
Now seriously, how did this end up in this mod? The level is unfinished, literally no enemies I’ve encountered. Controlling the strider is nauseous, and its controls are so delayed, almost unresponsive. You should’ve removed this because of how unplayable it is.
Two entries I did not finish. Tripod 1.5 and Swarm. That is all, the rest are good. Boss fights are challenging, some are easy.
Another bad pack. The only maps I liked where the one where you played a mech, although it had multiple crashes during the boss fight, and the one with the sniper, although the twist got really old in the end.
Always welcome to your opinion. Never anything constructive to say though, too bad.
Hey! I took the screenshots for the “Ironclad Renegade” level!
Right, now credited!
The only worthy entry is CrowbaRing, so this Avoid recommendation doesn’t apply to this one. This entry was brilliant and original in combat dynamics, and maybe boss fight lovers will love this one.
Also, the sniper entry is great…
So apart from those, I dare say this competition is the most bland and technically terrible ever made as a whole. As I had annoying bugs in the Arrack Slug entry, and also the last Tripod entry was a total offense to any gamer, You just don’t show a map so poorly finished like that one even if its a proof of concept or some sh*t like that YK. Don’t get me wrong, the project idea seems cool and I hope the developer finishes that one someday and releases it to the HL2 community but as it is is just terrible, just hideous to play!
Yeah sorry, but don’t waste your time on this one at least you are a “Cuphead” kind of maniac…
And I mean, building any game focused on a boss or bosses, is possibly one of the most difficult genres to develop, so here you will find most entries are a total puke fest. Sorry for the expression but yeah apart from the ones I mention, the rest are just dire.
TLDR: This modpack is pretty sweet and you should definitely try it out, there are some pretty impressive entries here, and one that I’d ask that you give a chance for the novelty of it’s concept.
Corialis: Loved it, the fight is gimmicky but in a good way, this is a boss fight format I would love to see in a fully fleshed out mod
Storm Drain: Neat lil’ platformer adventure, I found it to be hard, but the controls are tight and cool, hopefully you’ll do better than me at this, lol
Ironclad Renegade: Conceptually and visually stunning, loved every second of being a mecha bouncing around stepping on cars, this one has a similar dashing feature to Storm Drain, but you can use it more freely, there’s also scripted destructions and a badass fukken explosion setpiece, and all of that without even mentioning the final boss, which is extremely impressive
Antlion Mountain: Short and intense chase sequence where you have to make a mad dash down an active volcano-thing while a huge block of minecraft lava chases you, short and sweet, the final boss at the end has a ittle too much health, but it’s all a quick thrill that manages to keep you entertained without overstaying it’s welcome
CrowbaRing: Souls-like type level with amazing visuals and a cool cutscene at the start, the NPC’s even have delayed attacks to give you some space to use the dodge mechanic, still, the combat doesn’t truly shine until you get to the final boss, who was clearly designed with the combat in mind. My personal favorite in this pack.
Swarm: it’s a top-down bullet hell type boss with three guns to choose from and a randomized list of power-ups. The thing that makes me sad about this level is that I’m not technically proficient enough in the source engine to properly grasp the work that this took, also, it could do better with a song and some fanfare when you win.
Tripod 1.5: I take it this is a sequel to that one map where you solved puzzles with your strider friend in a barren city. I’m gonna leave a wallkthrough to this level at the end of my review, why? Because for as janky and unwieldy as it is, i really DO love the mechanic that this level and it’s predecessor have, and while it is certainly the low note of this level pack, I think Tripod, if properly polished, is an idea that really could be very impressive, however as it stands, it does require a bit of patience to figure out, and a bit of resilience to withstand having an invisible wall in your intended path.
You jump down to the water, go through the sewer, lower the bridge pressing the weird orange totem thing, call over the strider using middle click + left, tell the strider to kneel using middle click + up to hop on it’s back and hop back off while near one of the open windows in the building that’s connected to a combine lookout via wire, go in, let the strider handle the zombine, press the buttons, hop on the strider and step off of it on the train tracks, go into the broken building, grab the valve from upstairs and place it on the pipe downstairs, go back up and activate the gas flow and use it to detonate the wall, go up and walk along the small pathways over the fire, get on the combine tower and press the button to detonate the containers, get back on your strider and continue, you’ll come across a parking lot-like building, go through it to the roof, then down one level by the ramp, there’ll be a walkway with an invisible wall blocking your progress, but if you crouch you can enter through the lower right and continue, go through the unfinished airport and kill all the rebels, once you’re done your strider companion will slowly walk around the building over to a window and break it, get on it and continue slooooowly walking over to the one intact airplane in front of you, I won’t spoil the ending, it’s not good, but it was so sudden that it was surreal and laughter inducing for me.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours