“Our hero has become very bitter toward the government for sending in the storm troopers to kill every living thing at Black Mesa.
He locates another installation where the government continues experimenting with the world of Xen. With the taste of blood still fresh in his mouth, his path is clear.
His HEV suit, torn and battered, is of no use and he must penetrate the lab complex to get a new one.
If he can blast his way through the gauntlet of enemies, an F-16 sits poised for his escape.”
- Title: Freeman’s Revenge
- File Name: hl1-sp-freemans-revenge.7z
- Original File Name: revenge.zip
- Size : 1.71MB
- Author: Dave Waters
- Date Released: 03 June 1999
Download directly into MapTap [1.71MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
Download to your HDD [1.71MB]
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Copy all the *.bsp ffiles into your …\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life\valve\maps folder.
- Launch Half-Life.
- Open the console and type map revenge1 and press ENTER.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
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WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 6 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 32 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 21 Mins by Unq
Longest: 0 Hours, 45 Mins by Qwertyus
Total Time Played: 4 Hours, 51 Mins
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:'(, it was the first single mod which I played. First of a very long love 😉
*Bad Mod:
Constant Crashing during load
Not Steam compatble
No Config File
Missing Model files (Whatever)
Sounds like you installed it wrong. Too bad, because this is a great map pack!
I think it’s unfair to complain that it is not Steam compatible when it was released in 1999.
Completely agree.
Half-Life was released before Steam, so there could be some mods not compatible with the Steam version.
That is why I have both Steam and WON version.
Most mods are instant Steam Compatible, it’s only the other modders who think it’s a cool idea to boot there mods useing BAT or EXE files.. thats where things go wrong.. I am makeing an attempt to make a steam patch, but so far I failed muti-times..
I guess this is one of the earlier good map packs.
Great Talent was shown here.
Black mesa feelings are back! One or two hours of gameplay in early valve-quality.
For the age of this mod the quality is quite good, a few maps, and some minutes of action with soldiers & aliens, nothing really special but pretty fast action without that big delays.
The leveldesign is solid, but also a lil boring, only in some places there are ideas to find.
Alienspawning is a bit cheeky but that’s okay.
I had the best situation as I was about to recharge my health in some hangar with tanks (APC’s) as suddenly the lights gone out and I lost health again: “WTF?”
Ninjas! – That was great moment, but also like the only one exciting.
If you’re in need of a decent SP mod for HL1 and you haven’t seen this yet, go play it!
This release represents the first from the group of established Quake II authors now trying their hand at Half-Life editing. Dave’s previous work, Defiance, was a good unit with decent gameplay and a few impressive areas. It was pleasing to see that he’s successfully carried the skills he acquired from working with Quake II over to this new domain.
It becomes quite obvious as you work your way through Freeman’s Revenge that he was trying out a lot of things here. I kind of imagined Dave sitting in front of Worldcraft with a list of different entities, ticking them off as he included them in the level. This wasn’t really a problem as such – it was just quite amusing to see him playing with all his new toys. Unfortunately, he has allowed a few bugs to slip in here and there along with all these little features. Quite a few things didn’t seem to work quite properly, my suspicions confirmed when noclipping back through the maps afterwards to get screenshots: bizarrely, this action caused several elements to function properly, allowing me to see a few bits that I missed out on the first time around.
These flaws were relatively minor, though, and didn’t actually detract from the gameplay which is a lot of fun. Dave’s integrated a lot of really neat scripted sequences and set-pieces into the maps – including the first proper ending we’ve seen [including the proper game…] One level transition in particular was very cleverly implemented, showing some real ingenuity on his part. All these little extras serve to spice up what is already an excellent chapter in the ever-growing Half-Life story. Other diversions keep you interested all the way through. The brief sortie into Xen territory, for example, was a nice surprise and the minature aquarium was an inspired touch. Little elements like this – which seem to be a fundamental part of the Half-Life paradigm – can’t make or break a map on their own but they do make a significant contribution to the overall effect and Dave has used them well.
More basic elements of gameplay have also been given full attention. Enemy placement is of a high standard throughout, with plenty of unexpected encounters to keep you on your toes. I didn’t think it was hugely challenging – I fairly breezed through – and I think this was the only area which Dave didn’t implement with consumate professionalism; he probably needs a little more time to get to grips with the AI and its differences from the Stroggs in Quake II. The balance is just about right through the levels despite this, perhaps slightly over-generous in terms of equipment but the enemies were just about right, even if it was a little easy for my tastes. I was pleased to see he kept the use of the ninjas to a minimum – far from my favourite enemy, rather too reminiscent of the type of enemies added to low quality TCs for Duke Nukem and the like.
What we have here, in a nutshell, is the best 3rd party Half-Life release so far. I wouldn’t say it was better than Uplink but then it would be completely unreasonable to expect that anyway. It is certainly worthy of the amount of time Dave spent working on it, however, and I’m sure you’ll find it excellent value for those few minutes it takes to download.
Notes
This review is republished here by permission and was originally published Monday, 1st March, 1999 by Morgan.
This review was originally posted on the Ten Four website, which is now offline. The full review is republished here by permission and more details can be found on the About page.
One of the best short episodes for Half-Life, IMHO.
Manually
Hard
45 Minutes
It’s blocky and rough around the edges but I enjoyed this quite a lot. This is a good example of when a modder tries to show new things and present interesting gameplay it can override and minor faults.
There are some creative areas and the glass and steel raised corridors is a favourite of mine.
All in all a fun thirty minutes of classic HL gameplay.
Using Gauge
Medium
31 Minutes
At first, I thought that this would be mediocre, but no. It’s not bad at all, actually.
The gameplay is great, the combat is fluent and the mapping is mostly good. As I mentioned in some of my other reviews, I really don’t like combat BEFORE equiping the HEV Suit. It’s really annoying people.
Overall, a great mappack that you should try out.
Some of the older mods are a little tricky to get running but it’s worth it. This one is one of my favorites.
All the ones I have been added work perfectly with MapTap, so that might help.
While I can see that this might be a fun mod, I think there’s something really broken with mine. A couple of these very old mods and maps have had an issue where you can’t get the weapon interface on the screen, you don’t have the ability to key the selected weapon, even if it’s in the options, and there’s basically only the crosshairs as the UI. Is there something that can be tweaked or done to the config, the files, or?? to fix this? So far as I’ve played, it’s not rating very well because of the extremely buggy nature of the issues I’m having.
Replying to this very late, Zek, but it might be particular to this map pack because you don’t start off with the HEV suit. You fight quite a few grunts before you pick up the HEV, which means you don’t have a HUD and you can’t easily switch weapons (i.e. you have to use the mouse wheel). This is not typical in HL mods for that reason: it makes simple things difficult.
If you want, you can cheat yourself the HEV suit (give item_suit) when you start this pack since it really doesn’t do anything for you except give you the HUD and weapon switch capability.
Well I really loved this mappack. Probably it was launched as a proper mod for HL WON version, but as is dated from 1999 I think that’s why we have it as a mappack now Anyway this is not important as I really liked the maps and the overall gameplay on it.
This mappack have pretty nice sweet touches that just fit perfectly into the pace of the mod. I really liked that Xen part that you can take if you access the read beam in the chamber. This work apparently have some details that we rarely find in a HL1 mod. Like those snark ambushes, or take little but cool detours from your path.
The end seems to be right and that F16 is just very well modeled. I really don’t know, my only complain about the mod would be that is kind of hard to find the HEV suit right from the beginning. I also find pretty interesting to read the 4-10 reviews, because he pointed out this mod was made from some modders with a Quake 2 school, and also how this modders wanted to give an alternative end to the original HL1 plot. That’s pretty cool as is a source for inspiration to develop interesting mods like this one. Also one of the mods I loved the most: HL Invasion also treats about an alternative sequel of the original ending of HL1.
Using Gauge
Medium
25 Minutes
A pretty solid map pack from the early days. I recall this being a decent pack although Dave Waters went on to make Mission of Mercy which is an all-around improvement.
This was what you got back in the day: decent mapping, tough-as-nails combat, plenty of weapons to play with, and pretty linear progression. There are some nice touches here and there, but the focus of this map pack is the combat. There’s a little bit of everything here but you should have plenty of weapons and ammo to take care of it.
My god, those snarks in the vents, though. Pure evil.
Using Gauge
Medium
21 Minutes
Well since Unq is going back through old mods too I decided to give this one another shot, thanks to his advice.
I still definitely didn’t like not being able to switch weapons at all, once you find a gun in a crate, you can’t bring the crowbar back until later. The fights were quite challenging and pretty fun, though I’d prefer to have seen more ammo rather than more different kinds of guns. Didn’t use anything but the grenades so I’m not sure why either of the other explosive devices were given out. Pretty straightforward but tough fights.
Aside from the fights, I liked the maps. They were pretty fun to look at, though very small. Unfortunately the down side is that only after being told to try again did I *find* the HEV suit’s room. After that, I spent much more time trying to find new rooms, went to Xen albeit briefly, and came back to fight some more.
It’s kind of like a longer, more comprehensive mod, only shrunk down to lego-mini size. Not bad, though frustrating. Don’t expect a lot. Definitely liked the clever bit in the truck though.
Manually
Medium
35 Minutes
Wow, you went to Xen? I totally missed that. I also heard a garg breathing at one point but never came across him. I wonder how much I missed.
For the record, you can actually change weapons without the HEV suit, you just have to use ‘next weapon’ and ‘previous weapon’ which are by default bound to mouse wheel up and down. It’s a pain in the ass and not seeing your health means that the HEV is mandatory for HL mods. Thankfully not many mods take the approach that this one does.
The text file Revenge.txt in the archive says:
“There are two hidden areas somewhere among the levels if you can find them.
Both present a challenge when you get there and a small reward.”
So far I’ve only found the Xen area on map revenge3. Can anyone tell me what the other hidden area is and where it is located?
A short handful of maps that will take you less than an hour to complete. Takes you through mainly a military installation with mostly corridor shooting, but some medium-sized open areas to battle in. You’ll mostly be facing the human grunts (which is great as the soldiers in Half-Life are still a joy to battle to this day!), as well as Xen, plus witness both sides battling it out. Played it on hard mode and it’s been a little challenging, with grenade-launching happy grunts and sneaky snarks hidden around.
There’s a few bugs that stand out, such as the lift, and also it’s really weird getting thrown into combat nearly straight away without the HEV suit (note: weapon switching can’t be done with the number keys, but can be done with the mousewheel with some guess work), and the crowbar at the beginning was very easy to miss.
Overall, a very enjoyable and short section of maps that throws puzzles out of the window and let’s you get down to corridor combat!
Manually
Hard
45 Minutes
This was really good, tough fighting hecu’s without your h.e.v. at the beginning was really tough but then it’s really balanced even on hard.
There are 2 secrets:
1. screenshot number 10, the red lighting thing just go to it and you will reach Xen.
2. in the last room with the plane where you escape, you will need to destroy the fuel storage, this will open a room with a portal in it, go to it and you reach a place where you meet gman and fight 2 hecu’s.
Almost a personal favorite, but the tough beginning was frustrating on hard which is why i give it a play it now.
Manually
Hard
22 Minutes
Freeman’s Revenge is a fantastic early mapset by David Waters. It’s a direct continuation of Half-life’s storyline and it starts with the end scene of HL with the Gman on the train.
After refusing the Gman’s offer you assault a military installation as revenge for the government/HECU’s slaughter of Black Mesa personnel. I have to say, the brushwork and detailing are almost pitch perfect for me. Revenge is a fantastic execution of the classic Valve style of mapping and detailing with just a bit more fidelity. Dave makes brilliant use of colored lighting and is quite restrained with it (rare to see in early maps).
The set starts off by denying the HEV suit but it actually works reasonably well. You do have a few grunts to blast through but you’re given enough weapons and ammo that it’s comfortably doable without the suit. I did have to make tactical decision about which weapon to pick up when (you can’t switch weapons without the suit) but it wasn’t overly difficulty.
I very much appreciated the few optional side areas (check out the anti-mass spectrometer with the red beams!). Optional areas are also rare to see, most mappers try to ensure that the player experiences every single thing the map has to offer so it takes confidence to have optional areas.
The combat is fine/enjoyable, usually nothing overly interesting but it does the job (which is enough for a ’99 map). One encounter of note was the helicopter vs controller fight, that’s something I hadn’t seen before.
One small gripe is that bodies are set to fade after death which I really don’t like. I’m sure it made sense in ’99 but in ’23 I want see the carnage I caused!
In closing, Freeman’s Revenge is an enjoyable and visually pleasing early mapset that everyone should play.
Manually
Medium
37 Minutes
The second one is hard to reveal you have to destroy the fuel storage and also launch a grenade into green box or even at the radio I don’t know why you have to throw it there too but definetly reveals the secondary totally missable area.
Recommended Difficulty: Medium
In the first area, use grenades to spook the soldiers area and then shoot them out.
Snarks are very nasty in this level, try to stay away from them. They appear in several sections of the map. Before taking the elevator, you can take the ladder to reach the first extra area which is xen, and if you must enter the portal. In Xen don’t skip whepons guarded by tentacles. Gargantua, it can be skipped, but also can be killed with explosive weapons.
Before going inside truck, make sure you have picked up everything.
If you’re lucky you might kill both alien grunts with trip mines.
Let the chopper eliminate all the alien controllers. And then you eliminate the chopper. If not, with what are you going to shoot? In further areas you might encounter more grenadiers. It would be best to be ready to run away from their grenades. In the last area with the plane if you blow up the radio with explosives over the green box you’ll reveal the second and the last secret.
Manually
Hard
30 Minutes