A few hours after Adrian Shephard and his squat got scattered allover the Black Mesa Complex, headquarter sent a rescue team to search the lost crew.
Allright, just finished it :)
WOW, what a wonderfull Mod.... i really really enjoyed the mod and it had a lot of nice ideas and somehow a fresh unique look.
I cant really say that i found something that i really dislike , mostly normal hl1 bugs like elevator stuck or not moving scientists :D
Some buttons were so small i didnt saw them on the first time.
Too the "Cards" are super small :) maybe add a sprite so you can see them =)
*Spoiler*
The Rock you need to shoot, i nearly started to cheat there cause i havent saw it... :/
But in the last moment i saw him ^^
Yeah the Outro was pretty funny :D
Damn that must take hours :D
Okay plz give us info if you do another mod or extra maps :D ?
<3 10 / 10 and a new FAVORITE HL1 Mod, even if the mod is small in Gameplaytime :)
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, READ AT OWN RISK!**
I'm going to do a completely honest review of this mod.
Right off the bat I want to say that it is obvious that a heck of a lot of thought and care has been put in to this mod. The aesthetics show this.
Quite frankly, this is some of the best mapping I have see quality-wise on the GoldSRC Engine. Albeit dated, it plays like a dream.
The scenes such as the alien arm breaking through an entire lab and through a door were simply spectacular!
But unfortunately, the mod is spoilt quite badly by a few flaws.
First of all, I feel some of the areas didn't really feel "Black Mesa'ey" such as the Laboratories made of rusty metal, and the entire sewer scene, including the areas made of brick.
These tunnels reminded me more of an SCP horror game as opposed to an underground research facility.
The other MAJOR issue I have with this mod is that it just really isn't fun to play...
I spent 90 percent of my time figuring out what I did wrong, where to find the keycards, and why I do a half an hour journey, just to find I have to re-assess all the things I did to find the right item.
The part that ****** me off the most has to be the sewers, I felt I was punished for not being smart enough for going in to the pipe where the note was with the numbers on. It was not made obvious enough; I accidentally missed it and ripped my hair out for half an hour trying to figure out why I couldn't progress forward.
Overall it is a damn nice looking MOD, but it just doesn't feel like Half-Life to me. It needs less ambiguous puzzles, and more shoot-em-up style scenes. I felt I wasn't really in a research complex any more.
I recommend you give it a play through, but don't expect it to be in the same style as other Half-Life 1 modifications.
That's my opinion on this mod.
Its a long time since i finished this mod.
But it was very outstanding; I liked the outside areas, they were executed very well and I took screenshots like crazy!
I think the mod crashed everytime i used certain weapons. That was annoying as ****!
But other than that a very nice little mod.
Great mod, definitely one of the best mods for HL!
Pros:
- Very interesting background story!
- Excellent mapping and scripting!
- Some exciting epic scenes and places!
- Black Mesa feeling all the way!
- Good voice acting!
- Quite long gameplay (30 maps with puzzles / missions)!
Cons:
- Some areas are almost empty, with very episodic enemies; and not so many monsters at all...
- No helping teammates for battles...
- Very poor weapons' using - only 6 of 20 OF weapons are avaliable...
- Soundtrack is used only in the beginning and in the final scene / credits...
This mod was pretty great. It was refreshing to see an Opposing Force mod for once (this is actually the first one I've seen). The quality of levels was pretty close to what you'd see in the originals. Not a whole lot done with weapons, unfortunately. I also got very tired of the scientist sending me on wild goose chases up and down very long elevator shafts, but the objectives were pretty clear and easy to follow. The last battle was a very difficult one. Altogether, this is a great mod if you want to see another side of Opposing Force.
The mod is Ok, but not really good in my opinion.
First, i dont understand why this mod was created only for the WON-Version without a hint on this page. Doesn't the author want everyone can play the mod easily? So downloaders have to be creative.
The downloaded file contains the mod in a very untidey folder. The reason is, the creater use much content from Opfor/TFC/BS which isn't illigal, but there are many unused files (textures for examples). My first impression all seems to be dilettante and lumped together.
After starting the mod i was impressed. The first minutes i thought, ok maybe he is unorgenised but he knows to create maps. But this impression didn't stay long. The maps are very detailed and there are some really nice "special effects" and scripted events. However for me the leveldesign is overdone for a HL mod and particularly for a mod who should be part of the HL universe. The engine wasn't created for so many details and r_speeds over 1000wpolys. Few scenes do not even look like many polygons, but "the computer says no" they are there. Besides, too many 1-units-brushes and brushed objects with unsuitable textures are looking ridiculous. Custom textures (or models) are a way to create a believable, detailed and aestethic environment with the GoldSrc-Engine and not 1mil-brushbased objects.
Instead of tinkering detailed bolts and handrails to put old washy texture on them after all, the creater should have used the time to find the many bugs andglitches and to eliminate flaws of the gameplay and gameflow. The player gets stucked in buttons, walls or other objects (which although are very detailed). Short after a levelchange is a locked door or another levelchange. Or the player don't know what he has to do. Is it necessary? There are many more things.
At least the mod has potential. Many people will enjoy this mod, if they get it to run. For geeks like me its a short pastime with some highlights, BUT it doesn't feel like HL/OPFOR/BS/Decay
[WARNING SPOILERS]
I like the mod... And finished it.
Though there was one part where there were trees and Assassins. Everytime I look at a Tree the framerate dropped.
And it was unfair in a way.
The mod isn't too 'actiony' till early late game.
Although I dreaded the parts of item gathering.
The level design is good, but it sometimes left me stumped sometimes, though I figure it out fairly quick. The mod is not really good at pointing where you wanna go next.
The part where the scientist guy died, it was sorta sad. And the train-ride ending had me on the edge of my seat.
Wow, this one flew under the radar. Only from 2012, but feels like a "new school" HL mod. Modernized look and feel with lots of detail.
Scripting is a bit janky. I had already discovered the alternate path at the beginning before the game prompted me to look for it. And even then, it was a dead end and I was able to just jump through the wreckage. Not sure what the author was going for here, but it didn't work. And then the "All units: retreat!" just as the mission is starting. What? Ugh, then the osprey just sitting there waiting to die. I see what the author was going for, but it just plays out awkwardly.
The outdoor kinda sewer area was very HL2-esque. Nicely done.
Environments at the start were a bit bland in general, which is unfortunate. Needed more props to hide that ugly rock texture, but there's not a whole lot you can do when the starting textures are so bad. Seems like the author struggled to figure out how to start the mod, leading to it feeling like an afterthought.
Inside was great. Detailed and thought-out, though there were a few Doom-esque low res textures that stuck out. Most rooms feel carefully crafted, down to the bathrooms with working toilets and sinks.
Poorly optimized and kind of buggy. Hard a hard time getting passed the Vortigaunt whiteout at the end. I think I kept dying after shooting the sample because it worked fine with godmode.
Highly atmospheric with long stretches of HL2 type downtime.
Game feels more like Half-Life 2 than Half-Life. Even the bathrooms make me yearn for the gravity gun.
These maps are huge! Backtracking is never fun, but Focalpoint does an excellent job "bringing it back" without you even realizing it. It's cool to look down and see the vertical progress you've made. Really gives a sense of scale and context to the map. Feels like a real place, rather than a random maze of corridors.
That said, environmentally speaking there were a few nonsensical areas that felt too random or too claustrophobic. Tight, angular architecture with low quality textures made this feel a little tiring at times, though well-meaning.
I loved revisiting the antimass spectrometer chamber! This time we're presented with a slightly annoying-to-traverse area that does an excellent job expanding on the sheer size and scale of this thing's power source. This is an incomprehensibly powerful device.
Great job integrating the Xen infestation within Black Mesa's walls. Doesn't just feel like a regular room with some flora sprinkled about. No, we've got the entire west wall a gaping maw with spooky tendrils emanating forth, crashing through windows and digging into the walls. Does this so much better than Half-Life ever did.
Keycard fetch quest got annoying. Give me Half-Life, not endless sprinting back and forth. And goddamn, why does the lift take so long?! God it's so boring and then the doors finally open and you're on STORAGE instead of SERVICE because the game put the buttons so close together that it screws it up when you're up close. Take a step back and goddamnit out of range. Ok crouch walk forward just close enough BUT NOT TOO CLOSE. Sensible gameplay, especially with how often the player gets stuck at the end of an elevator ride. It's such an art in Half-Life games to perfectly position yourself on moving objects to avoid getting jammed up on some ****.
I wish there was more human combat. Security guards were tanks, but boring. Assassins weren't used nearly enough, and where were the Black Ops? Not enough combat in general.
bro this is the most dangerous tram of all time. No safety rails or anything. Just don't look down! But that finale?! omg. So unrealistic, but makes for some great cinema.
lol at the scienceman telling me I'm good to hop down into the antimass spectrometer because my combat fatigues will protect me from the radiation. Yeah sure guy.
Focalpoint is a great mod with high production values. Perhaps a bit ambitious at times with a touch of tedium, but overall it was a fresh, enjoyable experience packed with good visuals and competent mapping.
Good mod
Я вообще не понимаю куда идти и что надо делать. Повествование очень рваное и история мне не понятна. В картах часто можно выйти за текстуры. Очень низкий FOV. Вобщем я не доволен. Простите.
Возможно я играю в более старую версию, не знаю.
I don't understand where to go or what to do at all. The narration is very choppy and the story is not clear to me. In the maps you can often go beyond the textures. Very low FOV. In general, I'm not satisfied. Sorry.