I am pleased to announce the release of BeginningVille.
A collection of 5 entries, some with two maps.
All contain creativity and imagination.
Read on to find out more.
This map will “set the scene”Ā and at the end give the player the feeling they have travelled a long distance. It is essentially getting the player to their destination. Of course, there must be proper gameplay, action and/or puzzles too.
The map must start with the player receiving instructions. These can be via voice (a radio, an NPC etc) or even just text on the screen.
The player must feel he has travelled a fair distance. I am looking for something with plenty of movement and hopefully not too linear.
They need to feel as if they are in the middle of something out of their control and are glad to leave it behind.
What’s really important is that feeling of going somewhere. Suggestions include a tunnel, conduit, mining shaft, coast, or even a rush through a city’s streets with a tank chasing you.
The use of a vehicle is recommended, but not compulsory. The “movement”Ā could be a series of lifts (up or down) fast moving water, a train, a boat along the coast. The choice is the mappers’.
The player must stop at least twice to open a gate, solve a puzzle, help a group of rebels, change means of transport and/or setting etc. Simply, getting them on a train and then ending the map will not be good enough.
The map must finish with the player underground but about to climb a ladder to reach ground level via a drain cover.
- Title: Beginningville
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-3x24mc-beginningville.7z
- Size : 59.4MB
- Author: Mark Allan, Alastair Toft, Tony DeBlasio, Miigga and George Campbell
- Date Released: 10 February 2012
- Copy the Beginningville folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Beginningville should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The file above comes with 5 grid view images; one for each entry. They are lcoated in the beginningville folder. To use one, after you have installed it, select “Grid View” in Steam (top right corner). Make sure you have saved your chosen image to a location on your computer – you can”t use it from the compressed archive directly. Right click on “Beginningville” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to where you saved the image and choose it. Then click “Set Image” and that”s it.
Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.
A random game will be awarded to the winner by EpicTimez.Com. See below for the winner.
The intro video was made by Spartan301
This mod is part of the 3×24 Mapping Competition Series. It”s aim is to allow modders a chance to create 3 map scenarios that can later be merged into one whole mod. After each competition, modders are allowed to polish the entry in preparation for the next stage.
A final prize will be awarded to the best whole mod.
The playthrough below is provided by Podcast 17 Let”s Play. ĆĀ See more of the playthroughs on this site: VP: Podcast 17
The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer. See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer
The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer as part of The Ville Retrospective event.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image. Each entry only has 10 images irrespective of how large the entry was. I did this to make it fair for all.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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This was another tough competition to judge.
To a certain degree, all entries had issues. Some trigger issues, some areas not very details, some gameplay issues. But they all had potential.
There were two stand out entries; Collector”s Compound and Retreat.
Collector”s Compound is huge and contains some excellent battles and areas. The problem was, it was perhaps too intense for the first part of a mod. Yes, I travelled a long way but I don”t feel it managed to have the feeling of setting up the next part. I also felt the helicopter stopping all the time needs addressing.
I quite liked the scenario and the whole thing was fun to play. I did get stuck at one point and died quite a few times but nobody can complain it was too short.
Retreat on the other hand suffers from other issues. The initial start was perfect and I really felt under pressure to escape and not fight. I had trouble with the second map load but I am sure that will be addressed in the polish.
All in all I felt Retreat did a better job of following the guidelines and setting the scene.
Therefore the winner is Retreat.
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6,228Overall
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192365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 14 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 50 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 20 Mins by kingdruiduk
Longest: 3 Hours by Avantgarde95
Total Time Played: 25 Hours, 35 Mins
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Well, overall I felt this was a pretty good competition. I certainly didn’t do enough to organise it the way I planned, but sometimes Real Life gets in the way.
Anyway, it’s done now and the mod has been released. I am looking forward to the next one and seeing how each entry, assuming the modder decides to continue, develops.
I have already explained why I chose the winner, but below are my thoughts on each entry.
WOW, what an entry. Huge! Plenty of action and lots of interesting design. The helicopter stopping or pausing was a bit of a shame but you can only be amazed at how much work went into this entry.
If this were released on its own then I am sure we would all be loving it and I have a feeling this will be the readers” choice but I felt it was the right sort of entry for the start of a mod.
It’s always fun to play Miigga’s work and the train/puzzle combination was really well done. The main open area was also nicely arrange with plenty of great lighting and action.
Certain not a bad entry but just do enough to win.
This was a late entry and consequently not eligible to “win”. To be honest, there were just too many empty areas and places to see out of the map. That said, it followed the guidelines very well and I look forward to seeing what some polish can do.
I definitely enjoyed the start and again it followed the guidelines very well. I think Tony needs to change his nickname from Starman to Trainman, as all his maps seem to feature trains!
There is maybe one issue with a trigger and the strider which could be a gamebreaker, but all in all it was pretty fun to play.
This featured a great start that took a while to really get “going” but once it did I felt it had everything I want in the first part of the mod. The toxic lake are was really well done and I definitely felt I travelled some distance.
Again, it wasn’t without its faults and the level change definitely needs some work.
Manually
Easy
2 Hours, 35 Minutes
– node graph out of date, rebuilding
– interesting story! but doesn’t play out that well
– first time I see turrets I can’t get near them for an invisible wall pushing me away
– I don’t understand who am I playing as and why are the rebels attacking me also, it just makes the entire mod really hard and frustrating
– once I get the vehicle I have no idea where to go and that happens more than once in this entry
– plus I can get the car stuck in places and not even the ggun can help, it’s just really a lot of stuff that haven’t been tested for this, plus it’s hard as hell
– very low fps which makes it even harder, and some areas are extremely tight like the bridge with the white concrete blocks towards the end, of course I died a few times trying to go with the car through there, then said ok let’s just kill everything first and then pass and this way it still took me a lot of time to get pass that tight area and right before the gate there I even managed to get car stuck again as a wheel was outside the bridge and so to push it with the ggun I would’ve had to literally stand in mid air
– the game doesn’t end and go to main menu
– overall I enjoyed smashing fine art but the textures and blocks are, well, too blocky, too many straight lines and odd corners.. it’s a really long mod and not sure that’s a good thing and in the end it just doesn’t get the feeling the competition needed, which goes for most entries
Playtime: 1h5m
– as I already tested this I went through it a bit faster now and had the feeling I missed a ggun but I could mistake it with another mod and sorry misteraddy if i’m repeating my feedback
– The first map is actually better than the ChaseVille entries in my opinion and it kept me in a rush even after I stopped running, I kept looking back from time to time for some reason.
– the strider part now is awesome
– Nice way to climb out of a mine and I liked the crab on the wall too
– The levels have nice progression, but maybe a bit rushed, well not taking in consideration the small boat which gathers invisible rope and goes on pulling even when I’m out of it to get those supplies. I just felt I’ve come a long way, which is good, it’s what Phillip intended, but without making much trouble/damage, and the weapons come easily and fast. But it’s enjoyable, specially the beginning. I wasn’t expecting so much work in so little time and for it to be actually good is even more of a nice surprise.
In my opinion this should be the winner because it actually implements the intended feeling and on top it’s really fun to play and already looks polished. GJ
Playtime: 18m
– the style of the author is the same and has consistency in illogical things like what breaks and what doesn’t. as any other tony deblasio map, this is a frustrating one, in the train area I am literally surrounded by invisible walls. since I got up a ladder I thought well maybe this is the end, but being given an rpg im thinkin mmmno. and my only guess was a bad trigger since his maps are full of those. And when I do find it, im thinking waht a stupid place to put the trigger in, it’s 1 square for a player model to get into, right near the lock on the shed which I didn’t go near or touch it since none of the locks in this map broke (with weapons) so it’s literally a pixel hunt that can break the game, but what’s new
– I died by train cus the time window for jumping is too small, but til that point was nice to keep looking back and seeing the train was gaining on me. that’s the only nice thing I had to say about this mod
Playtime: 28m
– crowbar production, well that gave me a laugh! I thought Miigga was just kidding when he said this in chat, but he actually put it in the map hehe
– In the first large area though I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or where to go and went up the ladder by accident, died 2 times without seeing it cus im attacked from all sorts of places and I start up with just the crowbar
– and here same “ride train then jump to the left fast or die” thing hahaha I must say I hate it and died again cus I didn’t know white bars kill lol
– but the next puzzle is genious, as always
– then jumping gets easier and the 3rd time jumping down was actually nice
– too short level! Enjoyable overall but doesn’t induce the intended feeling
Playtime: 13m
– some AI on a bridge don’t attack
– I can jump and see outside map; plus the mapping is really poor
– the heli got stuck in a building, twice
– the radio was creepy! in a good way
– the car can easily get stuck in places so please provide a ggun so I can unstuck it and not reload
– seethrough building here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=126038912 and here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=126039235
– and I see dev textures tsk tsk
Playtime: 17m
So yea I already picked a winner and I’m sure it’s the obvious choice for all.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 20 Minutes
Thanks Phillip, I’m really glad you enjoyed my entry. I thought some of the others were great too, particularly Crowduction and Missed Flight. I look forward to the feedback from other readers, and I will definitely try and enter the next competition. Thank you again for organising such a great event.
Manually
Hard
2 Hours
This wins the price for the most creative story. Lots of action and story elements and some beautiful areas. Sometimes, the action can get a little too much though. The areas when driving the car can sometimes, not often but sometimes feel a little cramped and you can’t clearly see where you are going.
The first thing you see when playing a Miigga map is the stunning visuals. This one was really short though and as usual had some very interesting puzzles. Fun to play but not enough to win.
There was hardly any action or puzzles at all in this map, just lots of walking and some driving. I can’t really review this since there is not much to review. It may just be the Author wanted to be in the competition so badly that he rushed through the map.
It seems like Tony have his own visual style since this is really similar to his Elevatorville entry. Its fun to play, you feel like you are progressing. Its a really good map.
Begins with a very nice chase sequence and then, plenty of action. Followed the guidelines good. Really liked the strider part. Then through a forest wich could be a little bigger but its just enough. Really enjoyed the Mines. I enjoyed everything about this map. -WINNER-
So, all did very good but if you are a mapper and not a modder, you are not used to making maps with a story. I agree myself, it was a challenging task.
I can’t judge people but I think pretty much all maps needs some polish but they get the chance later.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 50 Minutes
This was a pretty cool idea, I did like the lighter tone of the map but I died more than usual on this map and the deaths felt a bit cheap, enemies would grapple in silently behind me or en mass in a room with not enough cover and the fact that rebels are shooting you as well didn’t help. I resorted to sniping with the magnum because driving in was suicide. But it was a fun style and seeing how much in property damage you were costing Dr Breen was a nice touch.
As always Migga’s map is quirky and creative the start of the map is an interesting interpretation of the rules although the novelty does wear off after a while but immediately after the beginning sequence Migga throws you straight in the shit, which was pretty cool but the actual path you’re supposed to take isn’t as clear as it should be leaving you running around like a loony trying to find the exit. From that point the map has you solving puzzles then running for the train this is cool but the puzzle-train cycle quickly starts feeling very formulaic. Still, very cool.
The idea behind the starting area was pretty cool although the brush work is too chunky to pull it off effectively more detail was required there’s a section early on where a road is blocked when an APC rolls up and starts shooting at the player, perhaps a combine wall or a crashed truck would have worked better as this solution penalises the player for exploration. Also there is a long section of train track that the player must walk along in order to progress in which nothing really happens perhaps getting the car from the broken bridge would have worked better. This generally has the feel of a rushed map, there are plenty of cool ideas here but they don’t seem to have been fully realised.
This map is pretty cool, I loved the train section although it looked to me as if the train had more speed settings…. it does not. Afterwards there is a long pause in the action as there is no clear way to progress and the trigger to progress doesn’t really make much sense. When you get out there is a driving section but it is slightly marred by the tunnels that you drive through being too small. The battle sequence after that is pretty well thought out and fun but just before the end I got stuck and had to noclip to get to the ladder at the end, not sure if that’s just me not getting the puzzle or of the puzzle was broken though.
Very well paced start, a few npc’s weren’t quite orientated right for the start sequence but that might just be npc’s being npc’s there were a few issues with invisible walls, some where perhaps there shouldn’t be but I managed to break the first lock puzzle by going around it so maybe there weren’t enough invisible walls. But overall the map was fun, well paced and it had some cool ideas.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
I agree with everyone here that Retreat is the clear winner, although it had some minor issues, like blocky yellow fog over the lake and visible skybox lines there too. Or maybe this was just my system! Collectors Compound started very original, it was fun destroying art ;), but then it got weird and kept repeating its own design so I lost interest already during the second map.
I feel the other maps, “Collector’s Compound” I didn’t finish because it frustrated me with it being TOO large and having so many enemies with no clear path, and “Missed Flight” I just felt was too difficult, I had to both noclip and god-mode a lot; the home-made train was really awesome and was really tense.
Retreat
“Retreat” on the other hand was awesome, the start of the map is a very-very-very tense flight scenario and I really felt like I went a long distance with the longish drive and the whole irradiated lake scene. I was actually disappointed when the “To be continued” showed up.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 10 Minutes
Did you all write the reviews in the alphabetical order they’re listed here? Or that is how the mod lists them too? Cus mine were in the order I reviewed aka random. I’m now questioning my Windows” way of sorting by name.
I really enjoyed this competition! So much creativity, so much variety and great gameplay! So THANKS to all the modders who make this possible. Its probably fair to say that the more time the modders get, the better, ie; the time between when the details are announced and when the deadline is?
My personal choice was, Collector’s Compound, although Retreat was a close second. The others were close too.
If asked why I picked Collector’s Compound, the initial answers might suggest it was a loser! Things like some HL era graphics (vegetation mainly), a Heli to do….what, give Breen a cameo part?, and numerous art works that break so I can see who created them, their name and what they are worth. I settled in to the idea that it was quasi comedy as well as an excuse as to why the props that get used are there.
I loved the gameplay mainly, and the size. So many wide open spaces and different ways to deal with the enemies. And I find there’s far too little around to play these days, so its great to be engrossed in a good large map.
I’m sure looking forward to the next competition!
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
Phillip says: “To a certain degree, all entries had issues. Some trigger issues, some areas not very details, some gameplay issues. But they all had potential.”
Which is why I give the mods as a whole, only a PIL. I could go one by one, but really dont want to. Most of the issues with the mods have already been mentioned in earlier reviews.
The hard work that must of gone into these fairly enjoyable mods must of been immense, considering the driving sections. I saw a lot of creativity in every mod I played, and most of that has been mentioned as well. The mod as a whole deserves a good play-through, and is appreciated by us real HL2 fans.
Ok Phillip. Now we have proven that driving sections are do-able. Time for a proper “Highway 17ville” š
Who would have EVER guessed that watermelons are a byproduct of crowbar production. Huh. Learn something new everyday!
I had a lot of fun playing these entries, as I usually do for the contests. My thoughts are as follows:
The Collector’s Compound: some fantastic ideas, but bogged down by the sheer size of the maps and the repetitive spawning of enemies in certain areas. That lowered the enjoyment factor for me
Retreat: very enjoyable, with combat that was paced well, excellent scenery, and a logical path to follow
Missed Flight: another very good entry. The intro was terrific, I loved the train scene, and the [spoiler]Duke of Hazard horn[/spoiler] when you make the big jump was a nice touch
Crowduction: very difficult to complete and not really that fun to play. I didn’t like that the Hunter seems to be invincible because I wasted a lot of ammo on him. The description of your job at the beginning was amusing though.
Evasion: this one was pretty rough around the edges. I managed to drive the car past an APC that was moving towards me and hit areas of the map where I “fell off”. Driving the car through such small spaces wasn’t really enjoyable, and there is no real ending to speak of.
My overall winner is Retreat, with a close second for Missed Flight. The Collector’s Compound could be fantastic if some of the gameplay issues were addressed.
Thanks again Phillip for running the contest!
Yes, it’s definitely a good idea for the contest. I would not have been able to do here, but there were five brave souls. Well …
Collectors Compound by Mark Allan AKA Officer_B
The idea is good, but the execution is too low. Simple humor, combined with a simple and good-natured mapping. A lot of flaws in the script, it is unfinished. All in all, worth playing. Costs a bit to finish.
Crowduction by Miigga
Like almost all Miigga’s maps, there are excellent mapping and puzzles. But I found it a bit boring, like the previous few of his works. A bit of cubism, but overall a good brashwork. However, not enough to win.
Evasion by George Campbell
I have the feeling that the author did not have enough time, and he did everything very quickly. Already seen in the screenshots curvature skybox. The work is not very accurate, but shows a steady hand. I found a few places where you can go beyond the map. A lot of bugs that prevent a gameplay.
Missed Flight by Tony DeBlasio AKA Starman
Yes, it’s definitely a nice trip! I find it hard to find fault with anything. Unfortunately I was not able to fully appreciate all the advantages, constantly flashed console errors, and it’s probably related with Steam. But mapping is excellent.
Retreat by Alastair Toft AKA MisterAddy
I would say a lot, but a lot has already been said (c). Great job, and I can call it the best. Mapping in some areas require improvement. I like beginning of the game, just fine.
Thanks to all the mappers.
Manually
Medium
55 Minutes
Well here’s another proove PP. competition villes are getting better. As a whole I think it was an excellent competition I didn’t have the privilege to play and review untill now I had some time to play as crazy all the maps and mods I haven’t played yet.
I voted for retreat as a winner, because is the more polished entry of the 5 we have, it has a solid begining where the only goal is to get the hell out of there and then the forest trip is just beautiful and the mine is pretty well set in there scenario. I love to see this as a completed mod soon if developer decide to keep on working on it.
Then I think collector’s compound is the second best, because it feels as a huge combat arena more than anything else, tough the whole thing feels very un real if we think in HL2 CMB universe scenarios. Here I also would love to see the whole thing as a mod, I hope part 2 is on the way.
Missed flight was also really cool and the musscle jalopy is really well used in the whole map, battle against striders is allways fun and here we also battle some hunters in the forest road, so I think is the third entry I liked.
Crowduction from Migga is the worst migga’s map in his all collection, sorry migga but I didn’t like this map at all, the beggining was so dumb and then the whole thing was a puzzle after puzzle and so on an on like that. I get used to have very cool battles in miggas maps but here the combat is near to 0 level, just hectic and ugly puzzles all the way…
Evasion is the plainest and boring of all. evade the cmb is what is all about forget about combat you get 0 nothing of combat action…, then the use of jalopy is cool but feels so used and the whole map street design on that city was blocky as hell.
Overall a good competition, altough I think many of them doesn’t achive the goal of having a clear instruction path way the gamer should to follow. Anyway play it now as is a great PP comp.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 20 Minutes
I could not load this. After installing it manually and running it through the steam library I get a white screen with music. I wait and wait but it never clears (the music does die off though). If I push the windows key to go back to desktop I see the steam error: Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf
(Same problem with middleville, halloweenville, verticalville, forestville, crossbowville. Similar problem to sniperville: black screen, missing file is _01_widescreen.vtf)
Endville works fine. Go figure.
I’ll mainly echo the previous reviews: for me the standouts of this pack were Retreat and Collector’s Compound. What I like was that even given the guidelines of the competition, each map is unique and we really get different experiences in each one.
Retreat was a fairly polished, mostly outdoor pair of maps with a good mix of evasion, combat, and minor puzzles. The highlight is definitely the huge toxic swamp area near the end; I especially liked how effectively this huge area was used for several battles including the final stand-off. My favorite of the bunch.
Collector’s Compound is also a 2-map set, but of humongous proportions. It’s a lighthearted tale that casts you as an art dealer double-crossed by a prospective buyer. Soon all hell breaks loose and doesn’t really relent until an hour or so later when you finish the maps. It’s fun and varied with a few puzzles thrown in – but it can be damn hard at times since the combat rarely gives you a chance to catch your breath. The spawning enemies (and the fact that both the Combine and the rebels are shooting at you) become frustrating pretty quickly outside when there’s little cover from their long-range fire. This entry has its flaws but if you can avoid getting too frustrated there’s a lot of fun to be had. I liked the addition of the price tags on all the pieces of art you destroy along the way.
The other maps were all in the next tier for me, they all had merits and they all had frustrations. Crowduction had a humorous setup and a nice set of sequences on the trains, but frustrating bits in between. Evasion had an interesting setting but it’s certainly not polished – not to mention that it’s really frustrating driving the car in tight urban areas without room to maneuver. Missed Flight also had some memorable sections – racing the train, driving the car around the forest (and some challenging strider encounters), but the author’s complete disregard for Half-Life conventions is really frustrating. I’m talking about unbreakable padlocks, odd texture choices, and unmovable/unbreakable crates that look just like the ones in the game itself that are movable or breakable.
Overall, worth playing since the strength of the better entries really solidifies this competition.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 30 Minutes
Beginning/Middle/EndVille was a great idea and it’s a real shame that only Mark and Tony decided to continue their BeginningVille entries in MiddleViddle.
Retreat
I agree that this is the clear winner of this competition. It’s looking great, has nice gameplay and just the right length. I really, really would have loved to see its continuation in MiddleVille! You should definitely download BeginningVille for this alone!
The Collector’s Compound
I really loved many aspects of this entry: the story, the humor, its general design and layout, its size and many aspects of the gameplay. Unfortunately there are two quite not-so-small problems: Firstly there’s a clear lack of direction, especially after getting into the car. The route you have to take is quite awkward and there’s much bumping or crashing into. The car is part of the story, but I feel gameplay-wise this mod would’ve been better off without the use of a vehicle, especially on a map like this. However, the bigger problem is the combat: Not only are you fighting against two groups, both coming in large numbers, but they are also shooting at you (and hitting you) from absurdly long distances, which is quickly becoming annoying and frustrating. Constantly being shot at or being killed while looking for the correct path to take is just a very bad combination, especially as there seem to be some infinite spawns. I also got stuck at the beginning of the second map, so DON’T leave your car at the closed gate, but take it with you, through the window!
This one’s hard to rate. If you have patience and if you don’t mind lack of direction and challenging/annoying combat too much, this one can easily be an “It’s WOW”, while if you’re easily frustrated it may be an “It’s okay” at best. In the end I enjoyed it enough to give it an “It’s great”.
Missed Flight
While Tony’s entry isn’t as polished as the best parts of Retreat and Collector’s Compound, I still enjoyed it throughout. There are Tony’s usual unbreakable padlocks or strange triggers (before fighting the strider), but I don’t feel these are ruining the map, mostly because they are used in small places and situations where you haven’t too many alternatives anyway, so it’s not like you were running around for hours in some large map. Also Tony was the only modder to enter all three Villes, so you could do worse than saying thank you by playing his entries.
Crowduction
Easily the most disappointing Miigga map I’ve played thus far. The initial crowbar in/melon out setting is good for a laugh, but after that it’s a very short and partly quite boring map. Combat is virtually non-existent and the few puzzles are a bit lame. Especially considering the very high standard of Miigga’s general work, this is barely okay.
Evasion
Honestly, this is looking quite terrible (more like HL 1), it’s very short and it has hardly anything to offer you could call gameplay, so really not much to say about this.
Conclusion
A small, but worthwhile Ville! You MUST take a look at Retreat, you should definitely try The Collector’s Compound, and there are good chances you’ll also enjoy Missed Flight.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours, 5 Minutes
Retreat was expanded into the full mod, Uncertainty Principle, which is also available here on RTSL.
Thanks for letting me know! I’ve already downloaded it and will play it this weekend š
I thought this was an interesting concept and felt old skool too in many ways. I liked the frantic build up at the start before I could get tooled up and everything that followed was pretty much well done and exciting. Perhaps the distances were too great and stopped it feeling like HL2 to me, but thatās just me. Once we are outside I felt this did not work well. The balance, or rather lack off, came into show here. I dunno, it didnāt work for me. The mapās design also didnāt work because it didnāt fit together for me.
This is one of those maps which I can see turning into a full-blown mod in its own right. But it needs work to feel ārightā. Especially the outdoors parts which suffered framerate drops and their cluttered design meant I was often getting myself into troubles, like getting the car jammed stuck lol.
Wow!!
Where do I begin? What a brilliant map and one Iāve played more than once. The start is incredible and I donāt normally like situations like this which leave you feeling trapped and helpless without any weapons. But it was superbly done. Loved that you got the crowbar just in time and how everything wasnāt overly drawn out to be too long. Top marks.
The driving scenes are superb but Iād have liked a little more illumination as i felt it was too dusky. Well, imho! The only moan I have is that I left the car behind before getting the cave area with the antlion. Pretty daft and I realised my error once on the road at the other sideā¦ Doh!
Got the gun, like this part even with the annoying headcrabs and the cramped attic which didnāt helpā¦ The mines were cool but the battle was a little annoying. Dunno, that didnāt work for me and was umm okay but not brilliant. Everything else was ace.
This then moves onto more fun gameplay across superb environments. I can think of nothing bad to say during all these areas. I really really enjoyed play here and I also thought it was well done during the raft part. The action wasnāt OTT and very nicely done all in all.
Was I gutted when this was overā¦ sighā¦ A brilliant map.
Alyxās words didnāt really fit and seemed naff but Iām being picky, I know. It felt a little cheap. However, the area was nicely generous with pickups and I escaped through the vent. Lots of traps I fell into overall throughout these areas and I was glad to get away from the scary sewers lol.
That damn train. This took so many attempts. A very cruel part of the map!
But this leads nicely onto a great scene. I liked the design of this entire area which had a little combine action but not too much to be boring. The explorer in you is needed to get the rocket/ammo and was great fun. Perhaps the entire area was too small for a Strider scene, but it still worked I thought.
I actually expected to drive off and the map would end. But no, it continues down the tunnel to an entertaining Hunter battle. Loved ramming into those!! The next Strider scene doesnāt seem obvious but look around for ammo. Tight shots and good aim. Loved it!
Make the jump like something from the Dukes Of Hazard š and we STILL continue on with more gameplay. I liked how the car becomes dead btw, good idea! Kill the combine and open the door for more sewer action. The door down thereā¦ ugh! It got me for more than a few seconds, so thanks for making me feel dumb!
I would have given this a āWowā rating but I thought the Train scene, although a GREAT idea and well done, was a little too restrictive. It was fun the first timeā¦ Otherwise, for me, this was an excellent map and I loved it.
Oh boy, if ever there was a map that made me feel like I was back at work. This is it!! lol. The frantic invasion that followed was done superbly but I died a few times until seeing the darn ladderā¦ Anyhow, this gets me the gun and a train journey too. Sadly, this is a killer journey so ya gotta hop off and take a few shortcuts to avoid the lasers. Great idea and I liked that first puzzle which was easy, even for me!
However, the second was just frustration and hell. Hated it. No matter how much I tried, I sucked at it and the method didnāt for me and was way OTT so I noclipped like a coward! I do like a challenge but I just felt this was too fiddly.
Loved the burning building at the start, really well done even if I couldnāt escape without getting a little burnt. The outdoor areas where lame if Iām honestā¦ Eventually, I realised I had to take the tunnel and enjoyed dark walks until I saw an old container, sadly empty. The car/gunship scene was nice and I sneaked inside through the floppy doorway. Those other doors were annoying but I guided the car through in the darknessā¦ I liked the drive that follows! Not a bad map with nice ideas but it was rather bland and needed lots more, felt rushed. But it was late, soā¦
Super awesome mod! I love the visual of the museum. It’s so awesome! I like that we use the objects in and around the museum to make the road for the car. I also enjoyed the fights with combine and civilians.
I love the escaping part at the intro. The small boat and the cable car are very interesting. The fights are not too difficult and fun!
I like the scenes using the striders. I also like the fights, especially the fight with the hunters!
I love the crowbar production at the start. And I also enjoyed the train ridings and the puzzles between them. But the parkour puzzle was a little bit difficult for me so I just used noclip…
I like the escape from the building at the start. The outdoor scenery looks not perfect but not bad.
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
Retreat was the only one I liked and it was a good one. Looks good and plays good.
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
I played this again, I just had to mention how beautiful entry 2 is. Retreat. I hope there is part 2, or I’ve missed it. To be honest, all the entries are awesome. I’ve had so much fun. “say’s the Grandad gamer”
Manually
Hard
20 Minutes