“One of my first HL2 maps. I never released it mainly because it was just too big back then, in file size that is. Anyway I decide to release it since I’m not going to finish Dawn of Terror any time soon. You should be able to turn your graphic settings up and probably the brightness also. I changed the screenshot to something better. Type “map sew1″ in the console. I don’t include a readme any more. Enjoy”
- Title: Airboat Sewers
- File Name: hl2-sp-airboat-sewers.7z
- Size : 4.86MB
- Author: IMUS
- Date Released: 25 May 2006
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Click on the thumbnails below to open a medium size image. WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010
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44365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 11 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by Daken50
Longest: 0 Hours, 16 Mins by JellyBeanDude27
Total Time Played: 0 Hours, 21 Mins
This is a 3 map collection. The rooms and genral architecture too large. I can see what the author was trying to achieve but when he made these maps he just didn’t have the skill to match his vision.In fairness they were one of his earlier works and as such he was still learning.
Gameplay is a little on the repetative side but if you enjoy driving the airbaot you may have fun with this one.
Don’t expect anything fantastci. Play it if you wantt 10 minutes of thoughts shooting and driving.
My Recommendation
My Five Word Review (What’s This?)
NO, too much driving again!
Since this is the author’s first mappack and has released other(s) (Including one single map which I actually rather enjoyed!) I won’t be too in-depth, but I will be blunt — This map is not fun. At least not entirely.Gameplay starts off as very much unfair. The author chucks you in a huge area with specks of cover and swarming with Combine —And he expects you to kill them all with a shotgun and 6 shells! I had about 20 health by the end of that.
But overall, gameplay is average to below-average. Also, you’ll easily notice that it’s very much styled in an arcade-like fashion. Enemy placement is horrible for the most part. The author tends to crumple a tone of soldiers together in bunches and also chuck turrets into some of the strangest places.
I’ll admit that some of the airboat runs were quite fun to rush through, but again the author is unfair on his part. He expects you to run through every obstacle and bottleneck perfectly. Muck it up — And you’re pumped full of lead from ceiling turrets. it’s an annoying little niggle that just breaks any sort of fun one may have been having at that point.
The last stretch of gameplay (IE Map 3.) is decent, if not a tad boring. To be honest, it had heaps of potential gameplay wise, but falls short of its design.
Overall, gameplay: Unfair, repetitive but at least it’s not too boring.
Now onto design itself which — Is not very good at all. Like Phillip said, the author must’ve had some fantastic ideas and set-ups in his head, but with his level of skill (At this point, at least.) he couldn’t pull them off. Everything is way too big and under detailed.
Brushwork is decent but is still average for the most part. Like I said, everything is too large and everything seems so bland. Texturing is bad. Everything seems almost out of place (Except for map 3.) and textures are continuously repeated. Trimwork and detail is nonexistent, which makes matters worse in terms of these maps huge stature. Lighting is mostly quite average. Nothing too special.
Map 3 was probably the best in terms of design. Although it looks awfully bland, it’s still quite decent to look at. The very last part of map, the little rebel shack, (Screenshot #20.) is arguably the best looking thing in the entire mappack. it’s looked quite decent, but still seems bland and out-of-place.
Overall, a mappack to hate. Bland and repetitive, big and under detailed. At least it’s not boring, but even that’s not enough.
If you want something good from this author, go and play ” Water Burials” for some 10-15 minutes of decent fun! Otherwise, step away — There’s nothing to see here…
My recommendation:
SPOILERZZZ
To be fair he’s not. There’s a secret cache with a pulse gun and batteries.
Did anyone experience graphical errors in map 2? I did.
Yes, I got lots of HOM effects and I forgot to mention that in my brief review.
Thank you, PP. So, now this is finished I can give my verdict. The HOM effect didn’t last long for me , only in the area with the poison zombie. The boat ride isn’t bad. For the rest it’s pretty bland and average.
Not bad for a first release. Design is a bit boxy, textures are confusing on the eye and the sets are too large with scaling issues.
Airboat ride is ok, but you can just speed through most of it without a need to take on the Combine or look for keys to progress.
No structured ending and there just was not the content or gameplay to keep the player interested. But none of the above should stop the author from releasing more stuff; he obviously has plenty of ideas and a basic knowledge of mapping.
I had a lot of fun with this mappack. The airboat has always been a very fun thing to use in both the main game and mods (see Combine Combat). The maps are kind of massive and empty but that’s what airboat maps usually are. There’s both Combine and zombies but more combine than there are zombies. Then again, it’s not very easy having variety in an airboat map. There are also some “puzzles”, but in quotes because they’re just find the button/valve/ladder puzzles. The environment is nice too, it reminds me of the Blooper Race from Super Mario Sunshine. The final map takes place in a nighttime environment similar to the map Rock from Team Fortress Classic. It’s pretty atmospheric too. I love how high up the place you come out of is. Either that wasn’t a real sewer or only the top of that building was used. My only complaints are that there’s some pointlessly long stretches to drive across and it’s rather easy. I also don’t get the “Death, Betrayal” ending, I didn’t see anyone kill or betray me or the Combine. Was the main character actually some random Metrocop I killed? Was his name Benny? Joey? Beowulf? Either way, even though it’s an easy mappack, I had fun with every bit, even in the first map with no airboat it was a pretty cool battle royale with a large arena to fight in. I definitely recommend you play it.
Manually
Medium
16 Minutes
Not a fan of the airboat. Levels are big for no reason.
Manually
Easy
5 Minutes