You wake up in a bedroom, after volunteering to become a test subject in some form of experiment related to The Black Mesa Research Facility.
Follow the instructions and perform the tests with intelligence, creativity and diligence.
You will be rewarded at the end.
Basic Details
- Title: Prototype 98
- File Name: hl1-sp-prototype-98.7z
- Size : 19MB
- Author: HLEngine
- Date Released: 27 December 2012
Download Options
Download to your HDD [19.00MB]
Installation Instructions
- Copy the prototype98 folder into your Steam/Half-Life folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Prototype98 should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
Screenshots
IMPORTANT NOTE: The screenshots are in black and white but the mod is FULL colour. I don’t know why they turned out black and white but it might be to do with the new Steam update. I’ll see when I post another mod.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 1024 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Reader Recommendations
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Meta Review Data
Statistics based on 11 comment(s) with meta review data.
Installed:
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 11 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 44 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by EliMCGamerGuy
Longest: 1 Hours, 45 Mins by PlanetPhillip
Total Time Played: 8 Hours, 7 Mins
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 11 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 44 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by EliMCGamerGuy
Longest: 1 Hours, 45 Mins by PlanetPhillip
Total Time Played: 8 Hours, 7 Mins
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Well, this was pretty interesting. I found the puzzles to be poorly designed and felt this was a poor man’s The Trap, which is the best puzzle Half-Life mod available. Here, some of the puzzles seemed to consist of illogical button pressing.
The comparison with Portal is unavoidable, but if you can live with that, then it has a certain charm. The voice was well done, I assume my some sort of automatic system, but the English needs work.
Once you get past the puzzle section, it gets much more interesting and I found the second part far more enjoyable. If the mod had been all puzzles, it would have only received a “Maybe” from me, but as it is, its worth playing.
I found the damage taken from shots to be pretty high, so this could provide a challenge if you play on HARD.
All in all, a well made that would have benefited from testing by the Beta Testers Collective.
Manually
Easy
1 Hour, 45 Minutes
I would give this mod a “Play it now”, but there are a few puzzles that could have been made better. It’s still pretty awesome to make that kind of awesome puzzles within the goldsource engine.
I think the idea is pretty good, an Aperture-like facility, but with guns. the background could have been developped a little more, and our escape should have been longer.
Pretty awesome anyway 😀
The fights with grunts near the end were pretty neatly placed because obviously the evil barneys took off a lot of HEV Power before that. I had a little trouble and died two (2) times. I actually had 4 hp and 0 power when I encountered the first room with 3 grunts, so it was a little hard. no need to say I wasn’t bunnyhopping anymore….
Manually
Hard
15 Minutes
Nothing special, just a good mod. But I get stuck on 6th test (room with a pistol) and used noclip. Does someone have a solution for this?
Wasn’t too sure about this one. Most of the actual puzzles included are pretty weak, it’s often not apparent what your goal is and I managed to break a couple of them and find an exploit in the level with the teleporter. In fact I was about to stop playing when the escape sequence started. It was hardly a surprise twist, but there was some nice, if repetitive, combat after the escape. Graphics wise it was mostly very good, although the mix of more modern textures and models with classic HL1 didn’t always work. I also liked the custom voice acting, despite it being somethimes nonsensical.
I felt there should have been a lot more depth to the puzzle part as it seemed like they made the bare minimum of effort in designing them compared to the rest of the mod. It was only the later parts that let it scrape a PIL.
PS I uploaded some colour screencaps 😉 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198012686815/screenshots/?
Manually
Easy
35 Minutes
While some of the reviewers pointed out that this mod isn’t that special compared to some other high quality mods this one still brought me a great joy.
The whole mod is heavily inspired by the Portal games and like in Portal you start in an isolated chamber and then the testing starts. Due to the Engine limitations we can’t expect Portal quality tests obviously but they are still nice never the less. Like in Portal some require some good thinking while some others could frustrate you.
Eventually we will attempt an escape of the testing complex and succeed which brings the mod to it’s 2nd stage during the game. From there on we fight against scientists – Barneys & even grunts. The monster placement was well executed and so was the mapping and the texture choices. It just was nice to look at very colorful and detailed rooms and corridors. Another bonus is the voice acting and while some sentences aren’t spoken in proper English it’s still nice to have em included as they increase the game atmosphere immense.
Certainly a mod that should have been longer but for what little it offered it was very nice. Play it now or later but play it for sure.
Manually
Hard
37 Minutes
Well, I particulary don’t like this kind of mods, because I think they’re heavely inspired on Portal stuff and that just suck when peolple try to emulate the puzzles especially in difficulty terms.
So although the first part of the puzzles was the main core of this mod, I just didn’t like them, they seemed to me like annoying more than enjoyable, I only solved the first dumby ones and the rest I didn’t even effort to try them, I just skip them.
Then untill you arrive to the escape part, things improoved a bit, there were some nice strategic battles against security officers and soldiers, though it wasn’t really to difficult untill you reach the end.
The tech part it was really well done, at least that appeard to be, the textures and lighting in the maps was perfect and I gues from a techinical POV is a really nice mod.
Overall I found this mod entretaining at the escape part, but is not the great puzzle mod of all times, is millions miles away from the Trap mod…, I guess this is ok to play it latter.
Manually
Medium
55 Minutes
Well,
als almost everyone here I didn’t like the puzzling, but the rest was nice and hard.
The idea/story is nice, as well. If just the first half of the game was better or at least entertaining, but I was even forced to noclip two puzzles.
First part: “Maybe?”, second part: “Play it now”
Manually
Medium
40 Minutes
I like the concept even if it was lifted from Portal. The puzzles are absolutely not scaled for newbies. This mod is for Half-Life veterans only. One of the puzzles was particularity hard for me, where you had to shoot the wooden plank in the machine on the ceiling. The mapper gave no indication that the material could be broken. The last portion, gunning down barneys and grunts, was pretty fun. Too bad it was only human enemies.
Manually
Hard
55 Minutes
stuck on the third puzzle…it just doesn’t seem obvious to me what to do with the crate and a door that won’t stay open long enough..
Manually
Medium
20 Minutes
I think it’s a Kind of cool concept, making a portal-like puzzle game out of half life, but I just can’t get off the third puzzle!
I agree with Duke, It doesn’t seem to jump out to me what to do with the Box and Door.
Other than not getting off the third puzzle, I like it! It’s got a thing about it, although it is kind of portalish, I think you can expand off this, branch off of portal! make your own story! and the like.
In conclusion, I say: Play It later.
Manually
Easy
5 Minutes
Prototype 98 is pretty much Portal in Half-Life setting. But without the Portal Gun and cubes, you only have platforming and explosives. The story follows an anonymous test subject, who is implied to be the 98th test subject, being experimented on with supervision by a totally-not-GLaDOS and armed guards.
The puzzle can be seen as copying Portal formula into Half-Life universe, as stated, but it also made attempts to gel it with the gameplay. It is less flashy but still challenging to solve. Although I really hate a few tests due to its reliance on timing, time-based puzzle is the worst for me. Also, the mod seems to heavily rely on quicksaves as checkpoints are few and far between, meaning you have not many chances to mess up a puzzle and if you mess up, chances are you have to redo it all over again.
The story is also in the same formula as Portal, but with a few twists and turns, I mean there’s even an escape sequence. But instead of a puzzle-centric boss fight, you get to shoot up the facility personnel. It is cathartic after what you were put through.
It’s still a short fun ride, even though how much it copies Portal.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
I like it the level design is superb , i loved the plot but the mod seemed extremely short i wished to seem a big adventure where in the end you get to kill the bastards
This mod was alright. Strong Portal vibes. The puzzles weren’t so hard as they were menial. I spent more time turning wheels to put something in the right place than I did figuring out the puzzles. The combat after the puzzles, however, was pretty good. The plot is basically “escape”, but there’s no background behind the protagonist or the company testing them. After a few good fights, the mod ends abruptly.
Very cute, very short, cool mod!
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
Not a fan. I tried my bit, none of the puzzles are hard, just clunky designed.