Author’s Note:
The level takes place at the Aperture Science laboratories in a large room that rotates around a central access.
The gameplay focuses on puzzle solving that requires players to think about the rotating 3D maze and how they can use it to reach and activate four switches in the environment.
- Title: The Fun Box
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-the-fun-box.7z
- Size : 2.05MB
- Author: Barret Hudson
- Date Released: 18 September 2012
Download directly into MapTap [2.05MB]
You MUST have MapTap installed before using this link.
You can still use it with MapTap once you have downloaded it.
- Copy TheFunBox.bsp into your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life 2\ep2\maps folder.
- Launch Episode Two.
- Open the console and type map TheFunBox and press ENTER tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The playthrough/walkthrough below is provided by PlanetPhillip. See more of my playthroughs on this site: VP: PlanetPhillip.
Note: The Stream broke twice, so the video is in three parts.
Click on the tabs below to select the size of screenshot you would like.
All sizes are the same screenshots, just in different resolutions.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 5 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 25 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by MinorLimes021
Longest: 1 Hours by Avantgarde95
Total Time Played: 2 Hours, 55 Mins
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Be warned, I actually felt a little motion-sick 10 minutes after finishing this. Might just be a coincidence.
The level, as the author’s note mention, this level features a rotating area around the central spindle.
I would have called it The Frustration Box myself because getting the last two buttons was a PITA.
The mechanic itself is prone to squashing the player and I presume that’s why Barret included an unlimited health supply.
All told, it’s an interesting idea and could be part of something larger.
Using Gauge
Medium
20 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AarrBGH2EmU
If you’re gonna do a Portalish map then take some of the good stuff from it as well, for instance the objectives and buttons in a Portal map are marked with dotted paths leading to them and in between them so A) you know where your objectives are, and B) you know what they actually do.
Because it was frustrating to have spent a good deal of time actually spotting the buttons, instead of figuring out how to get to them and eventually getting to them. They are hard to see from the console and the ladder and I was just ‘where the hell are the buttons that you’re talking about? What am I supposed to do?’
Other than that, was good for 10m or so, but the rotating room has been done before. I do appreciate the thought that went into designing the entire area as some platforms tricked me more than once into sliding off them.
Manually
Medium
10 Minutes
This was a cool and original puzzle solving map. Kind of well balanced in what difficulty skills respects, and I guess it took a while until you certainly know what and how to do it.
As It took me to finish it all in 35 minutes and it seems that the rest of the reviewers took less time than mine, I guess I’m kind of dumb ass or maybe a slow learner, but it feels quite good once you master the situation.
Now if you really don’t like hard jumps and less to perform them when you are in movement, I guess you won’t like this at all.
Overall it is nice to play it as is only one map, but I hope the author wont have in mind to develop a whole 30-40 maps mod with this dynamic because that just would really be a bad thing…
Instead as I see this guy is a professional level designer, I’d love to see a Combat mod for Hl2 crafted by him, that sure would be pretty good.
In conclusion this feels like a guildhall release, a nice concept but maybe quite too much experimental.
Using Gauge
Medium
35 Minutes
Nice puzzle. Reminded me of the rotating house map from a few years ago. The buttons were hidden just enough to make it difficult. I could have done without the endless repeating music. I got some protracted fun by dumping all the furniture from the office into the rotating room and watching it for awhile.
A good map for later.
My computer screen seems to still be rotating however.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
It is really fun map! But messages are displayed too fast, and I did not immediately realize what to do in the map 🙂
Manually
Hard
15 Minutes
I thought the map itself was kind of simplistic. I was able to get all four buttons in a short time without any difficulty. I would try adding in a few obstacles and hazards not only to make the puzzles more complicated, but also to improve on the map itself.
Overall, I thought the concept was interesting and I suggest anyone to try it out themselves. I wish the map could’ve been longer.
Manually
Medium
5 Minutes
Nice concept!
Manually
Medium
1 Hour