You have received a call to a tower. The guy you meet there is not very happy just to see you.
He thinks he needs a team. Little does he know how effective you are.
Follow his instructions and do what you do best.
Then get to the roof and escape.
Basic Details
- Title: TWHL Tower
- Filename: hl1-sp-twhl-tower.7z
- Size : 36MB
- Author: Urby, 2MuchVideoGames, Dr.Orange, JeffMOD, NineTNine, Malle, Tetsu0, Jessie, TJB, The Mighty Atom, Strider
- Date Released: 07 January 2016
- Related: Cenodrome: The Lost Sub-Basement of TWHL Tower
- Related: TWHL Tower 2
- Related: TWHL Tower: Source
MapTap Users
Download directly into MapTap [36MB]
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Download Options
Download to your HDD [36MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
Manual Installation Instructions
- Copy the twhltower folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- TWHL Tower should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Videos
Screenshots
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Reader Recommendations
Total Downloads
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6,348Overall
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4Today
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13Last 7 days
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53Last 30 days
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409365 days
Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 28 comment(s) with meta review data.
Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 22 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 18 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 30 Mins by PsyWarVeteran
Longest: 2 Hours, 14 Mins by ZikShadow
Total Time Played: 36 Hours, 34 Mins
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 22 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 18 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 30 Mins by PsyWarVeteran
Longest: 2 Hours, 14 Mins by ZikShadow
Total Time Played: 36 Hours, 34 Mins
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This is a pretty well done collab, most of the maps really have a very great looking office architecture to it, with the golden one being the stealth based one.
Puzzles in this mod aren’t too difficult, a few searches here, a gauss jump there, overall not too frustrating.
(Though it still took me a while to finish, hence the 2 hour mark.)
Some maps did lagged my computer a bit, with the one that troubles me the most being the area where you’re hunted down by jef_lasiter.mdl since it was so laggy, but i think it was just my computer being weak.
In Hard mode, combat was arse, the really closed up space and the lack of ammunition/powerup really puts a dent in my progress a couple of times.
I even had to run from a lot of enemies, leaving them in levels (so much as the cleanup “team”, am i right?).
Giving me a 9mmAR and glass for cover against the 2 hgrunts (one of which carries a shotgun) was probably one of my most frustrating moments in this mod along with the other one being the roof (reminds me of SoF II’s hospital roof, terrible memories).
The health charger cans was pretty helpful though.
A crash unfortunately was inevitable, with the one i encountered asking for a missing “valve/models/metalplategibs.mdl”, turns out i literally have to make a valve folder inside the twhltower mod folder and copy over the metalplategibs.mdl itself over to get through.
Not sure if it’s just me though.
I also noticed the 9mmAR having the BS/OP4’s problem of the old “sped up idle animation with no muzzleflash event named deploy” as one of the shooting sequences.
The starting NPC (dearest urby.mdl) doing a sudden 180 turn was a bit hillarious.
Still though, the mod overall is a fun experience that i do recommend everyone to atleast try.
Manually
Hard
2 Hours, 14 Minutes
Did you submit your status report to the administrator today?
Did YOU submit your status report to the administrator today?
Btw, compliments to NineTNine for the additional horrible flashbacks to Quantum Leap’s Doughnuts.
F*&k off
“Do you know who ate all the doughnuts?”
“NO, GET BACK! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
What a good compilation! Each map has its own style and gameplay quirk, and all are great! There was one particularly hard section though, a room where you grab the MP5 and are immediately rushed by two grunts, one with a shotgun. I had to circle strafe the shotgunner to take him out. Poor bastard couldn’t turn fast enough >:D
The last floor was very impressive. I’d enjoy a full mod like that, with expanded gameplay of course.
Manually
Hard
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
I can’t go any further in the room after image 27, is this what ZikShadow is referring to. I’ve tried every combination of hitting red button(s), Reset, Tip, running back through the temporarily raised grates, jumping etc., at least 70 tries overall. In the following room to that screen shot, the green light does not stay, it turns red and the door won’t open. Once, somehow, I managed to reach it while still green (usually it turns red before getting into the room, just guessing from the sounds that it had turned green) but the door opened with a platform above me when in crouch position, nothing moved, then shortly after an invisible moving ‘something’ crushed me.
Too bad, up until then I was really enjoying this mod. Anyone else experience this?
SPOILERS
——————-
In order to get past the green puzzle, you have to NOT touch the floor that’s not blue.
In order to get past the crushing ceiling, pay an EXTREMELY close attention to the floor.
Seriously though, most puzzles in this mod are pretty fine, but you need to really pay attention to things and have a bit of HL knowledge, particularly in the time room (gauss jump).
Thanks. The color shading differential was so little, ie; opposite from the colors elsewhere in this map, I never would have figured it out. An obvious problem, so its too bad the mapper wouldn’t listen.
I apologise for the ‘puzzles’ on that floor. The author of the floor in question was not one to take criticism well… I did what I could to make it a little less awful, but apparently it wasn’t enough.
A good little HL mod! There were quite a few interesting puzzles and I only got stuck once by the laser gun. Luckily I watched Phillip’s recording to get past that. The status report and stealth levels were my favorite. I also liked the reset mechanism in between floors as it makes each level a completely new challenge.
Manually
Easy
2 Hours
The funniest part – “This is why we can’t have nice things – Bossman”.
😀 Thanks! That was my map. I was totally distracted during the making of this and I had wanted the player to figure out what to do via notes scattered about the office. I had to simplify it quite a bit to make the submission deadline.
TWHL Tower is a very interesting mod, the mod is separated in different levels, or floors, each with a completely different type of gameplay, like puzzle, action, stealth and platforming, every single one of the floors is very differently themed and all have a interesting quirk to it. All of the floors were very well made but all of them felt too short, none of them really left an mark for me because of that, and the gameplay in some of these floors may feel unclear or a little fiddly, like the use of different lighting on the ground to indicate a path but it being far too hard to see, and sometimes buggy, one case of a bug that I found was me being able to consistently go through laser without being killed.
It’s overall an very interesting mod that could use some work, a lot of it I’m sure is more fault of the GoldSource Engine and the quirks in the original Half-Life but some better Map Design and more clear objectives would help.
I sure would like a full stealth mod in the spirit of the stealth floor, with some changes.
Using Gauge
Easy
1 Hour
Well a new hl1 release and possibly the first decent one in 2016.
This map pack contains lovely looking maps with various different game play. Though while nice to look at I believe the actual game play itself isn’t that spectacular. Also of course it was a mapper compilation so this mod follows no major story plot. But for a 2016 release I clearly expected more of this especially considering that some of the top remaining hl1 mappers were involved in this.
pro:
-Contains some nice maps
-Refreshing as it is unrelated to the Black Mesa Theme
-Some neat riddles and gags throughout the mod
contra:
-No real story
-tiny maps
-2 maps contain 0 combat while nice in the respected maps it shortens em even more
-few minor bugs remaining
Never the less it’s still nice and provides some entertainment. So I’d say play it later.
Manually
Medium
35 Minutes
So frustrating. Figured I’d ask before deleting this mod.
My next seemingly insurmountable problem, floor 8, lasers blocking the way. Why is this mod the way it is, what’s the benefit of hiding a way forward so much.
I’ve watch Phillip’s video many times, after tried to figure it out myself. Watching the video carefully I see Phillip was about to curse the maker and throw in the towel, but got some audio instructions through his headphones. How can other players expect to get the same…..
Anyway I can’t seem to jump as in the video, have tried every combination of laser gun mouse buttons including holding to build energy, ctrl, space, s movement backwards etc. I am well familiar with the mechanic from another mod with the gravity gun, and had no problems that time.
And this raises the obvious question about the accuracy of the rating system. Lets say 100 people try the mod and 90 quit out of anger/frustration before completing the mod. Lets say 10 give it an average rating of PIN. Is the rating accurate? You know how I’d rate this mod right now, but its not allowed as I haven’t completed it.
I have to say that after I got to the floor with the “reset” buttons after the incredibly laggy prior rooms, I’ve given up. If what I have to look forward to is even more extremely frustrating levels with poor design even if there’s a “payoff” somewhere along the way I’m afraid this mod won’t be for me. It had a lot of promise, but if the puzzles could be cleaned into shape and made so that people could actually both figure out what to do AND be able to do that thing in a reasonable time frame, that’d be the only way I would go back to it. Sorry guys. It looked awesome at first, but … disappointing and too difficult.
I’d like to apologise for the issues some people are facing with this mod. There are a couple of issues that I am hoping to iron out in a patch in the coming weeks. The primary issues seem to be relating to a couple of floors specifically.
Time Labs – Jessie
While the floor itself has a tricky little puzzle, it seems that most people get the “Aha!” moment pretty quickly. The Gauss jump to pass the laser fence isn’t immediately obvious, but a lot of people got it eventually during playtesting. There were talks of adding a sign, which will be included in the patch.
Riddler’s Complex – Malle
This caused some major issues in the playtesting phase and has been significantly improved upon. Things like the card suits for the first button segment were added following playtesting. The jump puzzle was made to be much easier than it was, but I know still isn’t great. The room with the crusher ceiling did not feature any form of hint on the ground and was purely trial and error.
Even with these improvements it seems that this floor is still one of the major faults in the mod and it is upsetting to see it having such a negative impact on the overall project. I didn’t want to resort to writing it out, but right now it’s looking like that would be the best option…
I think the *first* bits of it were quite good – exploring and finding the right places to look, the buttons (definitely with the card suits) became a goal to look for and work with. After that though… It was just randomly trying things, and *how many things do we know how to try*?
The ‘gauss jump’ I don’t even know what that means. Was I meant to have a weapon I definitely do not have? Or is that in a spot after where I’ve gotten?
Also… the lag. The laaaaaag in the ‘office’ areas was so impressively bad. I didn’t know that a Goldsource game could BE that laggy on a machine designed for modern – current – games. some kind of optimization process needs to be looked at for that area, it was like a slideshow.
Yeah, there were a couple of mentions of lag on JeffMOD’s floor, which I never actually saw for myself until watching Phillip’s stream. I’ll be investigating that.
Alot of people I saw lagged on Jeff’s floor, including me. However, playing in WON in D3D video mode gave me no lags. Another reason valve shouldn’t have removed the D3D video mode from Steam HL.
Many of us don’t have any other way than Steam to play these. Having a very, very old version of the game doesn’t work for a ‘fix’ in other words. I’m still baffled as to how it lagged at all. I’ve never seen a goldsource game do that at all. It seemed like it was trying to do … something? Something that just couldn’t be done or was trying a way that my card can’t process. So yeah if there was another video 3d process that could be accessed in the steam version, that’d be a fix.
I also lagged quite a bit.
Toss some hint brushes on each doorway entrance / ceiling / expanding up to the walls. This should clear it up.
I think it’s stemming from the brushwork window blinds.
This is one of the best HL mods I’ve played in a long time. A range of enviroments with some puzzles and strange floors. The quality is really good.
Manually
Medium
50 Minutes
Ok, it was a funny “mappack” from some good old modder’s I’ve known since several years now, it was globally short, and the challenges were varied and fun.
THE GOOD :
1) Riddler’s Complex (Malle), interesting maze with some nice tip’s when stuck, it was various and inventive.
2) Chairman (Strider) : again, some nice puzzles and the use of “stealth” in an 1998 game is pretty nice. Also, the japanese design.
3) Status Reporting (Ninetnine) : just fun 😀
4) Bernier and Co (Tetsu0) : nice little challenge with some humor;
THE AVERAGE :
5) Cristalline Energy (Urby) : average challenge.
6) Roof (Urby) : a sympathetic final battle but just “classic”.
7) Recreational Area (2muchvideogames) : funny in the beginning but then it was a little boring.
8) LAB COMPLEX (Dr Orange) : frankly, I barely remember.
9) Upper Management (the mighty atom) : long and various but too hard, either on the puzzles and on the fights
THE “BAD” :
10) Time labs (Jessie) : too long for nothing and a “meh?” ending
11) Rebellatrix Media (JeffMOD) : the map was cool but I quickly lost interest until the lame end.
12) Aerodynamics (TJB) : There was nothing. At all. What the hell was that??
Globally, it was a pretty cool challenge, thank you for this.
(besides Aerodynamics)
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
A pretty solid collaborative pack of maps here. A simple idea, with pretty restrictive rules (at least on physical space allowed for each map) – executed nicely. Each floor is made by a different author, and has its own setting and layout. Some have puzzles, some combat.
The maps have some ups and downs but each one has interesting things to offer. I didn’t encounter any bugs except for a dll crash upon loading one of the maps, but it worked the next time after loading my last saved game.
I would have to say my favorites were Time Labs by Jessie, Upper Management by The Mighty Atom, and Chairman by Strider. Time Labs has a clever design and pretty good execution. My main complaint is the gauss jump to exit the map. Even 18 years after Half-Life’s release I have not come across a map that required the player to gauss jump. Skill map? Sure. Multiplayer? Definitely. But I’d wager that less than 10% of Half-Life players know how to gauss jump in single player. A simple sign or maybe some type of explanation or easier puzzle to demonstrate it to the player is needed in my opinion. That said, I still like the idea of this map and its execution.
Upper Management is a little more straightforward puzzle and combat map than Time Labs, but there’s a little more than meets the eye which is why I like it. You make your way past a couple of minor environmental puzzles to get the key card that you spot when you enter the floor – only to find out it’s only 1 of 4 key cards you need to collect. A good mix of (cramped) combat and find-the-keycard puzzles here.
Chairman is the most visually attractive of the maps, and a good example of stealth done right in Half-Life. You have to avoid and disable camera throughout the floor. Straightforward but nicely executed, and it looks great in the process.
Overall, definitely worth playing for the good examples of creative differences showcased within the given restrictions.
As a mapper myself, I would have loved to see more people taking advantage of what Spirit of Half-Life offers. You can really bend and break the standard Half-Life rules with Spirit, and I am still hoping to be blown away some day.
Always hope to see more like this from the TWHL regulars. Who knows, maybe I’ll participate too some day. 🙂
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Nice to see that there are still high-quality mods released for good old HL1!
There are a few points that made be consider giving this a PIL, instead of a PIN:
– Lagging in Jeff’s map.
– Is there any logic behind the crate puzzle in “Time Labs” or is this just plain trial-and-error? I really don’t see how the player could foresee the (odd) effect of moving the crate to this particular position.
– Fully agree with Unq about the Gauss jump. Mods like these are really not the right place for such things – at least not without some further hints or explanations.
– In its current form, the jump puzzle in Riddler’s Complex is plain stupid. Make better use of colors on the floor, drop the puzzle or drop the map.
– TJB map is pointless and has basically zero gameplay. Honestly, what’s the point of such a map? NineTNine’s map is pointless, too, but at least it’s really funny.
– I find sentences in the readme.txt like this quite irritating: “There are reports of certain maps crashing in the WON version of the mod. Since I have no method of checking or fixing this, you should consider getting the Steam version of Half-Life. It’s 2016!”
Yes it’s 2016, but you are making a mod for a game from 1998. IMO WON 1.1.1.0 should be the gold standard for HL mods. It needs just one patch or other fancy modification on Steam to completely break your brand new 2016 Steam-HL mod. (In the recent weeks I played about 100 mods and maps and not a single one of them did not run under HL WON.)
Btw, I had no problems with playing this mod using HL-WON 1.1.1.0. There was just some missing .mdl file. To fix this, you should add \valve\models\metalplategibs.mdl to the mod folder.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 35 Minutes
The crate puzzle in Time Labs isn’t trial and error, if you realize that the crate is permanent while the rooms change as you walk around in circles. Thus in the earlier rooms you can see where you ultimately need the crate to jump on, and you just have to visualize where it needs to go when you are in the final room where you first grab the crate.
Good that you had only one problem playing in WON, but I strongly disagree with your complaint about not designing for or testing the mod on WON. WON is dead, I’m sorry. Yes, people cling to it for various reasons but Steam is the objective standard for Half-Life, even if you think otherwise. WON was fine in its day but the vast majority of the players out there are on Steam. As a mapper that is what I design for as well.
The game crashes and asks for a metalplategibs.mdl. I tried what ZikShadow did, but I couldn’t find this model in the mod’s files. What do you suggest?
Never mind, I was an idiot.
Wow. I have years to play a HL1 mod this great.
The idea of this mod is great, and the way the maps are connected is similar to PQL, Issues and ReIssues, so if you liked these mods, you’ll love this too. The maps were all varied, from a Vanilla-type action map to a puzzle-filled challenge. Also, the length is just right for me (50 mins). Not too long, and not too short.
This would have gotten a PF from me, but I decided not to rate it that, because some of the entries, like Aerodynamics, didn’t have that much gameplay and were mostly based on running around. Apart from that though, I didn’t have any major problems.
The final battle on the roof is great too. Just classic HL1 action.
Overall, you should definitely play this mod. It’s great, fun and has a lot of variety, just what a great collab needs to be.
The first levels, I really liked. At the time I thought it wouldn’t be that hard. Until you have to gauss jump to complete a level. Which in my opinion is kind of stupid. Otherwise the levels are fun and challenging. So, if you know how to gauss jump, be my guest.
Manually
Easy
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Some maps a bit laggy, however this is a recommended play. Thanks to all who contributed to this mod/map(s).
Manually
Hard
2 Hours
Bump I getting error for an .mdl file thanks anyway
So I really liked this. The idea is really good to. Having people design a floor each, then pasting them together to make a full mod. The only thing bad about this mod is that on one floor the game starts lagging like crazy. I don’t know what it is, the rest of the game plays on a creamy 60 FPS.
I really appreciate the work that has been put in this mod and I will definitely replay this at some point. Would love to see more like this!
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
TWHL tower is a weird but fun mod, it doesn’t really make much sense but I think that really adds to the mod, each floor has different textures and different ways to play it, in one of the floors you will be sneaking around cameras, in the next, you’re fighting aliens
If you just play for fun then this mod is amazing, if you want a mod that makes sense then you might want to pass on this one.
Manually
Medium
50 Minutes
TWHL Tower is one of if not my favorite half life mod because of the absurdity of the levels. The concept is simple that different floors of this tower are given to different people to make their idea of a unique floor. What you get from this design is the most dysfunctional mess that works perfectly in every aspect of the measure. The game has the unique mechanic that after every floor is completed the game takes away all of your weapons and heals you fully getting you ready for the next level. Each floor is unique and fun to play but i did get a bit frustrated with the last floor before you get to the roof but i eventually made it through. This mod keeps you on your feet with awesome and colorful environments that just make the mod a blast to play.
Overall this mod gets 5/5 stars and a “Personal Favorite” for the RTSL review rank
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
I was excited to see another collaboration project, I have fond memories of playing “Project Quantum Leap” and “Issues”.
Since TWHL is a tutorial site for Half-Life mapping, it is no surprise that these maps are somewhat basic.
The levels were quite frustrating. Some maps were interesting, but ‘interesting’ doesn’t translate to ‘fun’ in this instance.
Half-way I had enough and quit, but I felt I had to finish it in order to give it a sincere rating.
Using Gauge
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
good
Using Gauge
Easy
1 Hour, 7 Minutes
That was a great map collab but I had some issues with some of the maps:
1- Rebellatrix Media: It was quite detailed and maybe that was this map’s downfall, it was pretty laggy, but good.
2- Riddler’s Complex: Puzzles were average but the ” jump on the blue colors ” puzzle was invisible for me.I just could not see it. I first thought the laser conveyor belt puzzle before that was the answer , like maybe I was supposed to touch only blue ones or something but no, it was pretty simple but pretty vague as well.
3- Aerodynamics: There was nothing to do in this but it was very detailed, especially the machine with many holes, but nevertheless it was pointless.
4- Upper Management: Very well made and detailed map, but can be easily exploited by pressing the door button through the wall.
Aside from those it was very fun.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
That was a great map collab but I had some issues with some of the maps:
1- Rebellatrix Media: It was quite detailed and maybe that was this map’s downfall, it was pretty laggy, but good.
2- Riddler’s Complex: Puzzles were average but the ” jump on the blue colors ” puzzle was invisible for me.I just could not see it. I first thought the laser conveyor belt puzzle before that was the answer , like maybe I was supposed to touch only blue ones or something but no, it was pretty simple but pretty vague as well.
3- Aerodynamics: There was nothing to do in this but it was very detailed, especially the machine with many holes, but nevertheless it was pointless.
4- Upper Management: Very well made and detailed map, but can be easily exploited by pressing the door button through the wall.
Aside from those it was very fun.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
Basic detailed maps. Good stealth. Interesting puzzles. Original Idea. It was fun to play.
Review in 5 sentences.
Using Gauge
Hard
1 Hour
The Recommendation Image has been removed because for 1 hour of playtime, the review is not detailed enough to allow it.
A fun map-pack but not without its flaws (if you lump them all together).
I’ll review each floor with a quick summary of my experience and rate it on a scale of 1 to 3 stars:
A pretty challenging start to the mod. Features Headcrab ambushes and a fight with Alien Slaves while armed only with a crowbar/a handgun with limited ammo. Pleasing enough to the eye. But I’m only removing a star because the desk worker sometimes has his speech interrupted by one of the scientist’s idle lines, which is annoying and forces you to restart if you wish to hear what he says in its entirety.
Rating: ★★☆
The map lacked details, and had odd map-making decisions such as making the boxes of soda cans act as health dispensers. It took me quite a while to figure out that you had to break through the curtained windows, which were not very obvious. The end sequence have you make a mad dash for the exit, since you’re clearly ill-equipped to fight off the alien ambush. I didn’t like this sudden conclusion to the map because of this.
Rating: ★☆☆
It’s a combat-oriented floor that requires quick reflexes by the player as Xen monsters try to catch them unawares, such as aliens breaking in through a wall or teleporting in almost next to them. Besides that, not very memorable.
Rating: ★★☆
I normally prefer maps with a focus on combat, but I’d say this plot-centric one is my favorite. You enter a quiet office and look through the workers’ desks for clues. Some scary static sounds play in the cubicles next to you, and then you read disturbing notes… Then you stumble in on a SPOILER: murder scene, complete with a custom-made enemy that looks like the Demoman. Not the best map for gameplay, but memorable for its theme. Though the author might want to stop labeling his file cabinets with the duplicate texture in the future.
Rating: ★★★
Similar to his introductory Ground floor map, the author heavily invests on Headcrab and Alien Slave ambushes, but this time in greater numbers to wear the player down. The initial HGrunt encounter is quite challenging also, as the cover is almost non-existent (which could lead to an early death). Map detail is well done, same as the first map. Also, nice Marlowe cameo.
Rating: ★★☆
Rating: Did you submit *your* status report to the Administrator today?
A map based on environmental hazards. Deadly insta-kill lasers abound in one of the first rooms you come across, so rev up those Quick-Save/Quick-Load keys! The conveyor belt section however was disappointingly easy, especially after that first set of wall-mounted lasers. Contrary to some of the players here, I did not have a problem with any of the floor puzzles and found them quite enjoyable enough for what they were (perhaps it’s because I’m already a veteran of the Half-Quake series…).
Rating: ★★☆
An exploration map where you try to find 3 batteries scattered around the map in order to progress. Some notes try to add a bit of storyline to the map but they wound up going nowhere. Map detailing is there, but nothing to write home about.
Rating: ★★☆
A puzzle-solving map with no combat. Each room you enter is actually the same room, just in a different stage in time. The idea is to position a crate in the past so that it appears in the proper place in a future “timeline”. The last puzzle in the game (and a source of major headache with other people) is jumping over a laser gate with your Gauss gun. It didn’t take me too long to find this solution though. Personally, I think these are some of the techniques that people playing HLSP on a regular basis should know about. This includes other obscure things like boosting up to higher places using NPC’s heads and Tripmines as stepping platforms, for example… In any case, a fine tech demo map for Spirit of Half-Life, if anything.
Rating: ★★☆
A decorative(?) map. No combat, no puzzle-solving. The wind tunnel machine (and the mesh at the back) is nice to look at, I guess.
Rating: ★☆☆
An item-hunting map with combat against alien lifeforms. One of the best maps in this mod in terms of quality. It’s also topped with a funny scientist scene which I enjoyed. One bug I found is that the first Headcrab you meet – if killed too closely to the door leading you to the next room – can jam it completely and force you to restart the map, since the Crowbar is only found in said next room. Besides that bug, this map could’ve been #1, if not for the next one…
Rating: ★★★
This item-hunting map is, visually-speaking, the cream of the crop of this map pack. You’ll go through a wealthy Japanese CEO’s suite, which he also seems to use to show off his 古美術品 (antique arts) collection. Unfortunately, you don’t get to steal any valuables… The map is only intent on making you avoid cameras and showing off its sweet custom textures, so no combat or storyline development for you here. Just take a moment to take in the visuals before the end of the mod.
Rating: ★★★
No rooftop map is complete without its own helicopter fight, and this map is meant to fill in for that role. Quite frankly, the map is not that visually appealing… It’s simply a labyrinthine concrete corridor where you go back and forth to kill HGrunts and Alien Slaves, all while avoiding an Apache. As in his other maps, the author does not give much cover for the player to play with against human enemies, and so the map can become rather difficult for less seasoned players. However, finally taking down the Apache after all the running back and forth to unlock the room leading to the RPG feels very satisfying.
Rating: ★★☆
Manually
Hard
1 Hour
Overall This was a great well-assembled piece of joint work. And despite every map felt unique on its own terms, The whole feeling was like actually, you were fighting your way up to the roof of a tower.
Some maps were beautifully crafted visually, like that Japanese one at the end. And others had a clever old-school fetch the key dynamic.
Playing This, indeed was a great rush of nostalgia, especially if you remember Project Quantum Leap great joint works. It also reminded me of the great “Night at The Office” mod.
I know there’s another section it was never released which it features the basement level of the tower, which it’s called “Cenodrome”, but it was quite difficult and in my personal opinion I didn’t like it, and I feel like if it would’ve been integrated to this original project would’ve been kind of out of place.
So overall, this offers a nice more than 45 min, joy, and HL old-school entertainment. So go Play it.
Using Gauge
Medium
1 Hour, 20 Minutes
I’m a fan of these kinds of collaborations that have some form of cohesion, so I’m not shocked at all that I enjoyed this. Overall it seems that it was a bit more on the novice end of mapping as some of the designs were quite boxy and simplistic, but I don’t have an issue with that, rather I think the assorted level design idea is what makes things like this fun (take for example Sven Co-op, where you could be playing a very detailed recreation of the mansion from Resident Evil, only to play a Black Mesa theme next map where your sole objective is to destroy and Apache). Personally I think these types of mods should strike a balance between the more traditional HL style of play and levels that are more ambitious and venture outside the game’s comfort zone, and in my opinion TW HL Tower mostly succeeds at this, however I do think it could have benefited from one or two more puzzles themed levels in between the more action-oriented ones. I don’t see much point in breaking the levels down one by one because I feel like I would repeat myself a lot, most of these are on the more normal style of HL play, and by that I mean you shoot enemies and do a few puzzles here and there, however I will talk about some stand-outs.
Rebellatrix Media was a standout due to how beautiful it looked and the vibe it gave off, it told a minimal amount and let your mind fill in the gaps however you wanted. Time Labs is perhaps the most interesting floor here, on the surface it seems like quite a simple series of rooms but with some trickery manages to make full use of its limited space and create a puzzle around it. Chairman is definitely the one i had the most fun with, it has a Japanese theme that looks superb and has a cool stealth styled gameplay, this was a nice change from the previous few Black Mesa maps and it’s a great way of rounding the mod off.
I do have one big issue with this mod, and that is the 6th floor, Riddler’s Complex. It starts out as with decent puzzle/platform type of gameplay, but the reset button door puzzle near the end is so intuitive that I had to resort to looking up what the solution actually was. This could have been easily fixed if the door frame was a bit higher and there was a window that allowed you to see through the wall and I’m not sure why the mapper didn’t try and fix this.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
Unfortunately I played TWHL2 before this and so my expectations were too much high for this first chapter.
Maps are good but too little, it finishes too soon.
But all in all, it’s a very good pack of maps.
try it!
Manually
Easy
2 Hours
Collection of little fun maps! I enjoyed playing.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
It was a really fun collection of maps, my favourites were map 6, 9 and 11. Although I found some maps underwhelming because they took too little time to go through I still liked their overall layout and aesthetic. Some of the maps had some solid ideas and were really fun to play.
Manually
Medium
58 Minutes
I meant map 8 not 9 sorry
Have you submitted your status report to the administrator today Gordon?
A fun collection of maps where each map has its own identity. Well worth the download.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
A very good compilation of entries in one mod however there are some maps that are totally bad and should’ve been removed.
This level is bland but it has some simple puzzle in it. As for the combat, there’s pretty much none unless you count killing scientists and security guards.
It’s another one of those generic Black Mesa maps but at least it’s not a bad entry. I gave this a low one because there’s nothing new to see, although the combat and layout is fair.
I would’ve say this is a bad entry but the visuals look good. Though the combat is almost non-existent for a moment but eventually there will be one. This is more of a puzzle based map so this is pretty okay.
Well this is a good map at least, facing a bunch of marines and aliens, obstacles like lasers, combat is very well balanced.
Don’t ask me why I gave this a very high rating. FAT GOUF
Puzzle based map which is very well designed. There’s not much combat other than turrets and headcrabs and there is one puzzle that frustrates me. The part where you had to reset a puzzle is where I got stuck until I used the walkthrough. The reason why I did that was because the placement of reset was misleading and misorienting. But eventually I get past it without noclipping.
This is an okay map for me, simple puzzle basically find the batteries, go into that room, and that’s it.
Visuals look really good as you explore. Puzzle is simple as well but the part where you go around as the environment changes is what got my attention.
This map should’ve not been in this mod because it serves no purpose at all. Idc if the visuals are good but there’s no combat, there’s no puzzle, exploration is worthless because this is another one of the generic Black Mesa type designs. And don’t expect NPCs in there, the map is lifeless unlike the previous ones. This is the most dire map I’ve ever played in this mod.
Another item hunt just like in Bernier & Co. Combat is fairly balanced as well, and finding items are quite easy. It didn’t take me awhile so it’s not very bad.
Amazing visuals with its own textures. I love the layout where you sneak around and find an item to progress through the level. Sadly, there are no NPCs to do stealth kills but hey, this is Half-Life not Hitman.
The helicopter boss is really perfect in this one. The combat is quite challenging at this point, barely able to take cover from the helicopter but not impossible to avoid it.
Some levels are pretty basic and novice while some are really good. And that’s about it, I’m leaving this a “Play Now” rating because this is worth a play.
Great mod for both novice and expert players.
Manually
Hard
35 Minutes
What do i have to do after getting out of the flooded electricity room im stuck