The earth still rests in peace, no one would dare to interrupt the all day business of the human race and imagine the intruding of an alien force on earth…Although you have a dangerous job as a member of a special unit, trained to handle inconveniences in the international research and science competition, your day starts quite normal.
Your mission seems to be kind of routine – nothing complicated.Your code is 100X345 – and this code was chosen to infiltrate an abandoned research facility on a small island in the pacific. Your mission is to get
some information of higher concern out of the facility.
Unfortunately, agents of an enemy country got into possession of informations about the location of the facility. But they still did not find the entrance – so you shouldn’t really encounter serious problems. After all – that’s what you are trained for, isn’t it?
After landing on the island and eliminating a small unit of an enemy force, you find the secret entrance to the facility and hope for a fast ending of your mission.
But very soon you find the first strange thing: A dead scientist is not only very unusual in an abandoned research facility, but also indicates a whole bunch of problems – and these start right away!
Not only dead scientists and soldiers is what you find, but also creatures you never have seen before – the bad thing about these lifeforms: they are alive and not too friendly.
Now you really begin to feel curious about the whole thing and step by step you realize what has happened, what is happening and what will happen – and to be concrete: What will happen in 2 days.
Until then you never heard of a Black Mesa Research Facility or a scientist named Gordon Freeman… but these two names are definitely bound together with the horror you found on this small island.
And suddenly you realize the great danger for the human race and your possibility to save humanity. So what’re you waiting for, soldier 100X345??
- Title: Mission Failed
- File Name: hl1-sp-mission-failed.7z
- Original File Name: missionfailedsetup.exe
- Size : 12.3MB
- Author: Manuel Schmitt
- Date Released: 13 October 2002
- Copy missionfailedsetup.exe to a location of your choice.
- Run missionfailedsetup.exe
- Select your Steam/Half-Life path.
- Restart or start Steam.
should now be listed in your Library tab.
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WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Is a nice experience to be called “Half life Maps”. 4/5
A shame it’s a little short.
This mod is fairly short… and also not of very high quality. On the bright side, the storyline is solid, and if you hang around until near the end, you’re treated to a very cool (if far too short) TRON-like level. Download and play if you’re looking to kill 45 minutes, but don’t expect the earth to move beneath you.
Why can’t I get this to install properly? All I get is a Start menu listing and a desktop icon. Click on either and I get the option to browse. Look in the Sierra/Halflife folder where mods usually reside – nothing. An explorer search yields- nothing. Eh?
In answer to my own question. The installer creates a superfluous “Half Life” folder. Install to your desktop and drag the mod’s folder into your Sierra/Halflife folder if you suffer the same problem. Now that I have finished it I must say I find it hard to recall anything memorable. There is a Tronesque, VR Metal Gear Solid section that is interesting. But, it’s only two maps and nothing too challenging. The ‘memoirs of an Invisible Man Mixed Up Universe” (c) theme turns up again. Though, nothing like “Infinite Rift” (that I still haven’t finished, see the post). On the whole I would say that this an amusing little jaunt and, a shame it’s original idea isn’t further expanded and polished.
It’s decent, to put it bluntly.
Real short though, but not too bad for a quick play.
Fortunately, some surreal and interesting levels await you near the end. Minor crashing problems, but nothing game-breaking.
As with all short, but good mods, I say:
Funnily enough, the name of the mod didn’t prepare me for the ending at all =P
I’m suprised at the low ratings here.
First, it’s not that short. Play on hard! There are many ‘mods” on PP that are much shorter.
Second, The quality may be average to start with, but it’s much better than most as the game develops.
Third, The installer creates a folder in your Program Files (C:\Program Files/Sierra/Half-Life/MissionFailed), just put it in the right place. This is not the only installer to do this.The gameplay is solid, mostly puzzles with a few fights thrown in. Play on hard and you’ll have to be careful with your ammo early on.
The graphics, later in the mod, really are very good. The original design is miixed with difficult puzzles and fights.
A real story with tasks to complete and a real ending.
As mentioned above, this had real potential to be a much longer adventure. The environments show a good level of skill from the unknown mapper.
This is an old mod that you took your time getting round to play piledriver. I looked up my old records and found I rated 5/10 but did not make any remarks, I also noted that the old site H16 rated it 6/10. So I guess on these scores it worth a play but dont expect too much.
I take my time getting round to most things! I ‘ll comment on the maps/mods when I play them.
Let’s face it, there aren’t many recent HL1 mods but there are hundreds of older ones to try.
I’ve noticed you’ve been the first commenter on several mods, piledriver. It’s like you’re dusting the old ones, bringing them into the light once more;)) I, too, had a system once, namely to play them alphabetically, but there are too many comments that say Play it now or complaining that a certain mod is challenging, and from time to time a new mod appears. It’s easy to forget the old ones. END of offtopic.
Oldish and nothing above average, but a nice waste of time.
It’s an old mods but I enjoyed it.
Proposing a sequel to HL1 with a correct story. Basic building with good action and some puzzles. And an amazing trip on Xen.
I am a little surprised by the reviews above. I really enjoyed this, part from the Xen levels, which were just frustrating.
The author really tried to build a mod that is realistic in its objective, story based and fun to play. For the most part he has done that.
There is never a truly exciting scene which is probably the reason I haven’t given it a WOW recommendation but there are some great moments.
The puzzles had me scratching my head a few time, which is how I like them, but the combat was never too hard.
I died about 15 times on Xen and for me that’s wrong. Sure, players should die, but dropping away platforms that make no sense are badly designed gameplay elements in my opinion.
All in all it was fun to play, about the right level, offered enough variety to keep it interesting.
I recommend you play this.
Introduction
Half-Life Mission Failed is a prequel to the normal Half-Life Singleplayer. In Mission Failed you play as a human warrior that has been dropped off at an island to seek out information hidden deep within an abandoned science facility. Soon you find out that the facility is not abandoned after all, and the G-Man is using it as a rally point to teleport his alien army to the Black Mesa research facility. If the G-Man succeeds he will be able to teleport his alien army onto Earth so that he can retake it for his own. You must stop him before it’s too late. Since this is a pre-quell to Half-Life you already know he makes it to Black Mesa hence the name “Mission Failed”.
Gameplay
Most of the gameplay in this mod was very smooth with some discrepancies. Throughout the game you must solve many puzzles to progress and some times you may even have to backtrack through levels. This makes the game seem longer and bigger than it really is. The puzzles can get hard at some times, but will oppose a challenge for even the medium skilled Half-Life player. Although the mod was very smooth there are some times where you would get stuck between two boxes and you can’t climb over. This was very annoying because the game also doesn’t auto-save until the very end. Overall the mod was very easy to navigate through and the story line was easy to follow.
Graphics
Although there are no custom models, textures or sprites in the mod; the map designers made use of what they had. Not even half of the weapons that are used in Half-Life were used in this mod. Since the mod was very short and small there is no need of new weapons or models. The maps were very well done with nice flow and connectivity. Also there were some great sequences involved with this mod. Little things such as grunts smashing through an over head window or a big machine animation made this mod worth playing. Also included in the maps were text messages that were very informative and gave the mod an extra kick. A major plus was noticed later on towards the end of the mod when you enter a virtual world. This type of environment was very unique and I enjoyed it very much. Lastly, the mod designers were able to include new enemies without adding new models. They did this by making enemies in their maps (such as stationary weapons). Once again this was a major plus. Unfortunately there were bugs with some of the doors that could only be avoided by using no_clip. Overall the 14-map mod proved that you could have a great mod without having so much extras.
Sounds
The mod only included 2 new sounds (each were different people). There really was no need for any new sounds. The sounds made the story line much easier to follow due to the information they provided. A major down side to this was that the voices would often change. For example: When you meet the scientist you would hear him explain their situation using the sound included with Mission Failed but when it finished his voice returned to the normal Half-Life scientist voice. If you are going to add new sounds to the scientists you should change them all. Also there was a music file implemented into the mod, which played at the beginning and the end; this was enjoyable.
Lasting Appeal
Since this is a single-player mod there isn’t much lasting appeal because no one plays the same single-player mod over and over. I can see myself playing this mod again in the future because I really liked the Xen environment and the virtual reality environment. While playing this mod I really got into it and didn’t really want it to end. This mod was great to just spend an hour playing.
Overall
This single-player mod will definitely go into my top 10 favorite single-player mod list. Even though it was small it still delivered the same quality as a normal sized mod. I would have to give this mod 4 stars!
This review first appeared on HalfLife.org on 23rd October 2002 and is republsihed here by permission.
Mission Failed has an interesting concept: “Be the hunter, not the hunted.” This unit then puts you in a different sort of game, one where you are the one after the G-Man. What’s he got? Information, of course. On this note the story is rather threadbare because it doesn’t quite explain everything, but at least there is a story, and it’s somewhat integrated into gameplay to boot—noteworthy, since most HLSP maps have a poor excuse for a story, let alone integrated.
The unit starts off promisingly with a killer hook for an intro—the camera sweeps around an area, Apache on approach, against a thumping music track. There are a few more music-backed camera-sweeping moments that are equally well-done, but the unit is distinctly imbalanced when it comes to atmosphere. Some music tracks off the Half-Life CD and more background sound effects would have gone a long way to synthesizing good, balanced ambience. It’s also the shuffle of level design & gameplay that inevitably leads to the frequent lulls—there’s a lack of compelling set-pieces, interesting scripted triggers/sequences, etc.
That aside, Mission Failed is pretty much mission accomplished in what it sets out to do. This is not your typical Black Mesa romp. Although Black Mesa-esque level design is recalled, for the most part it’s an original environment—an Alcatraz-style complex of sorts. Level design is consistent with this theme, and there’s a good variety in the maps that keeps things interesting. Architecture is generally well-conceived and well-built, but some areas noticeably lack detail and/or suffer from other deficiencies like the “square” methodology.
Gameplay has its own annoyances (like the aforementioned lulls, a rude opening, and scripted camera shots that interrupt gameplay for no good reason), but overall it’s a solid challenge for those who play on Difficult. Enemy placement and sorting is such that the skill levels are effective—Medium recommended. Lots of aliens and Marines that continually provide a good fight in engaging scenarios, and a good diverse mix of puzzles too. Marine generators exist though, be warned! No decent set-pieces, but the more closed-in feel actually helps remind you that you’re the infiltrator after the G-Man. There are two trips to Xen, one involving some highly aggravating gameplay, but there’s a bit that kinda makes up for it—digital sci-fi! No screenshot provided on this area since it’d spoil the experience, but let’s just say that it’s probably the highlight of the map pack with some clever gameplay ideas to boot.
And then there’s the ending. As the title might imply, there’s no positive note to it, and it’s rather disappointing. But it is conclusive while leaving the possibility of a sequel open. Much like how Half-Life itself ended, actually.
As it turns out, Mission Failed is a solid but flawed foray into making a completely new adventure that doesn’t stray far from the Half-Life scheme of things. It stands up well amidst higher-quality HLSP episodes, and it’s here to remind us why we play custom HLSP maps in the first place—to get new and different experiences. Its flaws can be overlooked; what’s here is an enjoyable romp through some unfamiliar territory.
Notes
This review is republished here by permission and was originally published Wednesday, 14th October 2002 by Calyst.
This review was originally posted on the Ten Four Website, which is now offline. Permission has been granted to republish the full review and more details can be found on the About page.
Overall pretty good. My only 2 issues were that is an installer instead of zip file (I hate those!), and you could get yourself stuck in areas like the stacks of boxes in the warehouse with seemingly no way out. Overall though it was fun to play in the different environments and the puzzles were slightly challenging but not impossible.
We are a member of special unit, and our mission is to extract valuable information from abandoned laboratories. The beginning causes hope for an interesting and original game – we are in the ruins on the island, but the ability to jump out of the map through the window and too hard puzzle lessen this hope and the simple design of the labs destroys it completely.
Another record this time: biggest First Aid and HEV Charger ever. This somehow didn’t add more energy to them, though.
Two times there was a fun moment: a soldier descended on the rope directly on my head, which made him taken aback.
Later the design gets better, but I still didn’t find it pleasing. However, our way forward is not straight and quite interesting.
Then it gets interesting and original. There are some nice cutscenes with new music. The supercomputer levels are cool and unusual. But why the virtual weaponry made it to the real world? I would enjoy this blaster if its beam didn’t bounce back at the shooter. Is there a mod which disables this bad feature?
Conclusion: consider this mod, knowing that the second part is cool, but before it you’ll have to sit through not really fun first part.
I played this about 3 years or so, and I remembered it inmediately by the futuristic lasts screenshots which I liked, this could be a little bit puzzeling at the first but then it’s much more fluid and, u have the perfect ammounts of combats and action to be a respectable mod, so I liked it to and deserves a play it now!
A variety of environments with the usual enemies and more fun than many in the 100, but something I can’t put my finger on was missing!
The author appears to be a Sci-fi fan, the teleporter looked like it was from Stargate and as geekofalltrades has mentioned one section looked like it was from Tron. This was never too difficult apart faffing about on Xen and the look and feel was OK, but apart from the inside of the computer not very original.
For the most part it was standard Half-life fayre and as such for the most part I enjoyed this.
This mod started off boring but ended up being pretty good.
I didn’t like the first part of this mod. It was only when the Vortigaunts and Hound Eyes got involved that I started to enjoy it. This mod also had a pretty good story which is rare to see in most mods. The gameplay was pretty fun too as well as being challenging in some areas with a few puzzles thrown in too.
I also noticed that a lot of areas could be skipped easily by a few well timed jumps. The Tau Cannon made things too easy towards the end too.
Worth playing if you want a more serious mod.
I didn’t really have much fun in this pack. It’s kind of a mixed bag, with some poorly mapped areas and some flashes of cleverness and creativity. In the end the experience was middle-of-the-road at best.
Mission Failed pits you as an assassin on the trail of the G-man. As the title suggests you don’t actually get to kill him. This one got better as it went along, until the final map on Xen which was awful. The early levels are Black Mesa style for the most part, and then you take a trip into the virtual world which was well done and then Xen which was jumping puzzles mixed with the malevolence of Half-Quake.
The story was decent but sometimes the cutscenes were jarring and unnecessary. And in the final area if you don’t take the author’s intended path you can run right up to the G-man and unload everything on him and he of course doesn’t get a scratch on him. That’s the way the G-man is coded in Half-Life, but the mapper should have planned for this situation. When you approach him the “proper” way, a cutscene triggers and the game ends soon after.
This features some interesting areas like the virtual area and warehouse full of crates (believe me, it’s better than it sounds) but overall it wasn’t enough to really capture my interest. It is maybe worth a play if you’re hunting for more Half-Life maps.
A average map pack had.It had some moments where it was good like the virtual world area,but it had really nothing else to it.The cutscenes were good,but the story wasn’t really there.Another one to play if your bored.
From the beginning I knew this was going to be something good. I was right. This was just amazing (and I would know ). My favorite part was [spoiler] when you were inside the computer[/spoiler]. I have no idea why everyone else doesn’t like this.
Excuse me people, but what did you like playing this mod?? I don’t get it..
The only positive I can say is there were some nice ideas like the matrix (virtual space) with the antivirus enemies or some lil puzzles but the Xen jumping phase for example and nearly the rest of it was just pretty boring, random and frustrating – excitement: 0
Pro’s:
-Own(?) music – but not everyone’s taste
-A few nice ideas, a bit nice level design areas
-Enemy soldiers (my fav enemy type) – that’s it to me, sorry!
Con’s:
-Mostly level design & gameplay
-Jumping sequence on Xen
-Way too less enemy(types)
-No real action, more like an adventure
I mean in was too random at places, too poor quality etc., so two stars indeed mean “think twice”, sorry to me it’s no “maybe” … but of course, to those who haven’t played it yet: check the reviews first I’ve to admit^