“The city you’re currently in is under attack by Combine forces. They are controlled by a Sky Captain, a malicious being (possibly artificial intelligence) flying a helicopter and with a role in the Combine hierarchy similar of that of an Advisor.
However, the Sky Captain seeks direct confrontation with members of the resistance and can be very persistent and aggressive. Escape the city and try to avoid this Sky Captain.”
Due to a busy real-life and some trips abroad, the development of Aerial Harassment has been stretched over several months and therefore may appear somewhat incoherent. This fabrication has received some visual polishment but probably will still come across as somewhat blocky. So while Aerial Harassment is technically finished, I fully realize it lacks detail and displacements here and there. Gotta admit I’ve ran out of steam regarding development of this map/mod and decided to submit it.
I would like to thank BadPeaceDK for pointing out some glaring errors in gameplay btw … !
- Title: Aerial Harassment
- Filename: hl2-ep2-sp-aerial-harassment.7z
- Size : 9.54MB
- Author: Mark A.K.A. Strontvlieg
- Date Released: 27 September 2016
Download directly into Gauge [9.54MB]
You MUST have Gauge installed before using this link.
Download to your HDD [9.54MB]
You can still use it with Gauge once you have downloaded it.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
- Copy aerialharassment1.bsp and aerialharassment2.bsp from the maps folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps\ folder.
- Copy aerialharassment1.ain and aerialharassment2.ain from the maps\graphs folder into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps\graphs\ folder.
- Launch Half-Life 2: Episode Two
- Open the console and type map aerialharassment1 and now press ENTER.
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Sorry, no screenshots.
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1,693Overall
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133365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 8 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 24 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 10 Mins by Reaven Teh Derg
Longest: 1 Hours by TheRipper
Total Time Played: 4 Hours
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Hello, author of this fabrication here,
Could you please inform me if the pilot of the helicopter utters threatening one-liners at you? I’ve used Pakrat to pack certain custom sound files but I’m not 100% sure if this was done correctly.
Without the sound files, certain actions of the helicopter may come across as odd.
Hello?
What’s the deal with the vortigaunt in the container? Doesn’t seem to be doing much except staring at you?
Nice dark tunnel, pointless though without a torch…
Have you tried to play your own game before publishing?
Stopped playing after 5 minutes.
Hi Shark. I think you have been playing Map 2 before Map 1. If you play Map 2 first you have no HEV suit or weapons and you start near the deserted shack. Of course that means that you have no flashlight and the Vortigaunt cannot charge your HEV suit. If you play this map through Gauge it defaults to Map 2 first and that is probably what happened when you played it. I suggest going back and making sure that you choose Map 1. It is much more interesting then.
Thx, that was it. Much better this way round!
Not bad, a bit difficult, but i managed to play it through to the end. Yes. i heard some lines from the pilot, but i wasn’t really listening, so i couldn’t repeat them…The fight with the strider was some what original, instead of the usual rpg appproach, i liked that. Keep it up!
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
A short pair of maps with some nice combat but ultimately unsatisfying. Shooting down the helicopter using the mines while under heavy fire and with explosions all around is ridiculously difficult to do. An RPG would have been more fun. Warning: If playing from Gauge make sure you select Map 1 before starting.
Using Gauge
Medium
30 Minutes
Thanks for your reviews thus far. I wasn’t aware of the fact that Gauge could cause players to start in the wrong map by default. Is this something I could prevent?
I’m beginning to get an image what the pros and cons are of Aerial Harassment; I’ll use this knowledge in my next project, but I’ll also tweak and polish Aerial Harassment somewhere in the near future … !
Nothing you can do, it’s just a quirk of Gauge which will be fixed soon.
A short couple of maps that were reasonable to play. I thought the health kits were a little scarce at the beginning and the tunnel at the end of the first map didn’t look right. The voice acting for the sky captain was excellent though and the section where you have to avoid the water while driving is actually pretty clever. It took me a while to figure out what to do for the big fight but it was very manageable after that. The outdoor areas needed a little work though, as the edges of a lot of spots were just one flat shape. Still it’s a decent 15 minutes or so of play time.
Manually
Easy
20 Minutes
A short set of maps that doesn’t do much more than being average.
Let me point out my flaws so I cut it short and avoid further chit-chat. I’m not exactly in the right state of sobriety as we speak.
– The Rebels seemed to have appeared out of nowhere
– The Strider boss fight was not only badly designed as an arena – but the arsenal itself doesn’t help much. After enough tries I begin to doubt that the AR2 can destroy the Strider whereas the SMG will do that in no-time. You have to get close enough in order to easily launch grenades on top of it though and that is really, really hard. My only strategy here was to take refuge behind the ammo boxes and hope I have good aim.
– The Pilot, also, is very unbalanced. You have the wrong arsenal, unpleasant conditions (I understand getting taken out of your comfort zone but this is just plain wrong) and most of all he can be downed instantly with the secondary fire of your AR2.
– There is a defined start but no ending. Once you down the Chopper you are left by yourself, unable to climb back to where you started.
Ignoring that the level design isn’t that bad (just nothing remarkable – was that snow or ice…or some other disturbingly-innocent creature…?) and I liked how the difference between common materials like wood, steel and Combine metal was shown.
Overall I will have to say that Aerial Harassment doesn’t offer anything special, has a lot of flaws but is good enough to deserve a try in the future.
Manually
Hard
32 Minutes
I have to admit that the final arena is geographically ‘neglected’. I primarily focused on the design of the boss-fights in that area and tried a variety of options; one of them was 20 manhacks coming from all directions at you when the chopper appears on the scene, but ultimately decided against it as I deemed the environment unsuitable for these types of enemies. Another option was a Strider delivered by a Dropship, but it turned out this cannot be animated.
When the final iteration was in place, I wanted to get things quickly done by scattering trees and rocks around with much planning, resulting in gameplay that can be (too) brutal.
You can actually destroy the Strider with alt AR2 fire. I think it takes 7 or 8 hits on medium difficulty, while only 5 SMG grenades are enough to do the job.
Did you manage to take down the chopper instantly with the AR2 Altfire?? I tried to do this before but the orbs bounce off and do no harm. I’m gonna look into this … !
You mention there’s no ending. Did you had to end the game manually after shooting down the helicopter? I’ve set Aerial Harassment to end exactly 14 seconds after the helicopter is destroyed.
The white stuff on the ground is indeed (melting) snow 😉
Once again a general thanks to all for your reviews and criticism; I’m now getting a clear picture regarding the issues of Aerial Harassment, and the fact that the final arena probably deserves a complete overhaul … !
Runs under Linux. But without the Rocket Laucher its for me not possible to win the last fight….
this is a fun romp, a place we can litmus where we go . so all on all not a bad place to start at.
Aerial Harassment is a good starting point, I’d say. The indoors need more detail, brushwork needs to be less blocky and some gameplay aspects need to be refined.
WARNING: Spoilers Below.
Aerial Harassment Demo Files
I was playing on Hard, so I died quite a lot in the courtyard Combine fight, but I would say that introducing a few more crates would be a good decision, as well as more things to hide behind (otherwise, it’s just a run-and-jump fest). The helicopter pilot’s voice acting is a bit cheesy, and it didn’t appear to me that it serves a bigger purpose than the regular attack chopper would in HL2. But there is definitely more potential there, if the helicopter interacted with events happening on the ground more substantially.
The first vehicle area is quite short and narrow, and considering Source’s not-so-great vehicle controls, that was a bit of an issue. In general, I feel like maps should introduce more spacious driving moments, instead of having the player exit to do something often. Also, as seen in the demo files, the only way I found to get into the second was by piling up 3 barrels and climbing over the fence using that. And I know for certain that only a small fraction of players could perform that without failing. Therefore, if that is how it was planned, I believe a different route would be more suitable.
Sadly, I wasn’t able to complete the boss fight because I had no idea what to do. I thought that I have to hide behind the rocks until the strider comes out, so I can go through the hole that it came from, but it appears that it came from nowhere, and the space behind it doesn’t matter. I later noclipped out of the map (not without some figuring out, of course), but I couldn’t find an RPG or anything to counterattack it.
Overall, I’d say that ambitious projects like this one are a good way to continue. With more detail, and more interesting gameplay (perhaps a few more puzzles, as well), the next published map/mod should be better in all aspects! Good luck to the author.
Manually
Hard
23 Minutes
Well this is a strange case of those where reviewers believe a mod or mappack deserves a PL when it’s actually lower than that.
For me is a TT because the feature of that Pilot of the Helicopter threating at the player every time is quite annoying rather than creative.
Besides some access to some areas are hard to pass and you have to climb some barrels that are very unstable…
Finally the end is just terrible. Very hard and overwhelming all the way.
Sorry but I didn’t have fun playing this.
Using Gauge
Medium
15 Minutes
As the author I can say that Aerial Harassment is the result of too much ambition, too little playtesting and mediocre mapping skills. My goal was to deviate a bit from ‘traditional’ HL2-gameplay but the outcome is a bossfight that is a torment for many. The mapping in Aerial Harassment was too expansive, with little detail, rough displacements and a ton of flaws.
However, I’m planning to ‘renovate’ Aerial Harassment. The given feedback by you and others on this site helps me to pinpoint the elements that need to be improved, and there’s a lot to be improved … !
Yeah that sounds great! I think the whole work have potential, and you should add some more maps, maybe turn it into a bigger mod.
You know, I’ve always think that helicopters in HL2 are a great asset in the game. You know I’d love to see a mod built around that helicopter topic. Maybe to steal a helicopter for the rebels, or why not even flying the helicopter would be just great, I know this sounds more like a classic CoD stuff but it would be terrific flying the chopper and killing CMB!!
As author said in “Author’s Note” section he had real-life things to do so ı know that feeling ı just released a little mod too its not on rtsl yet anyways.I think last part was rushed because it gives me unnatural feeling.
Even with suit ı still dont get why there is a vortigaunt in the container ı assume you just tried “vortigaunt gives suit to player”.
Anyways its still has work on it so no need to give low rating but ı really cant give “play it now” sory 😛
Manually
Medium
10 Minutes
Not exactly what I’d call a good map. Both the levels are pretty bland and blocky with locations that don’t look like real locations so much as they just look like a game map. The sky captain was an interesting idea but the voice lines were honestly a little silly coming from combine gunship. The courtyard battle was okay but it was over before I knew it. After that it took me some time and a few deaths to realize that the boarded up underpass was meant to be driven though.
The strider fight was pretty interesting in that you’re given no rpg to deal with it, forcing the player to be more resourceful and kill it with ar2 energy balls and grenades. The fight with the Sky Captain was your typical gunship fight in which you fire his bombs back at him and was honestly a bit underwhelming. The area in which you fight him is also pretty unimpressive and empty.
In the end its an interesting concept but unfortunately not executed very well.
Manually
Medium
15 Minutes
Yeah this has its issues yet I see potential in the ideas. I would have enjoyed more health knocking around a slap more weaponry too perhaps. Good but overly hard at times I thought.
Manually
Medium
15 Minutes
This was fun for the most part, but there are quite some flaws.
Firstly, the visuals are just too bland overall, especially the beginning, where it is just a square room without any other geometry. The outside area looked really weird as I see with other maps. Use textures and props like trees on the edges of the map to make it feel bigger.
After driving the car a little it got stuck in a big water pool, and a voice line said something with “run” in it, so I stepped out of the car and just ran through the rest of the map. This would become quite an issue for me in the next map, as you actually need the car to proceed.
The final battle was very tedious. The Chopper battle was fine, but the fight against the Strider is one of the worst Strider battles I have every played. You have two ammo crates, with alt-fires for the AR2 and SMG, even though you will definetly only use the AR2 as the crates are very distant from the strider. And then you have to hit the thing with the Combine Balls. This is really annoying as the Strider can take a lot of them so it gets really repetitive. It also doesn’t help that there is no cover except the crates (which actually blocked 90% of incoming fire) and the Strider will sometimes crouch meaning your Ball will fly over him.
Even with all these flaws, I quite enjoyed this. It wasn’t bad, but not great, so I can’t really give this a higher rating.
Manually
Medium
20 Minutes