Hl2 Mods

[Vyrosama]

Last weekend, I was originally planning on playing some TF2 but saw that my steam browser had some recommended HL2 mods that I could download. So I decided to check them out for kicks.

Zombie Panic: http://www.zombiepanic.org/site/index.php

Synopsis: Team based deathmatch between survivors and zombies. Zombies can regenerate over time and have set pool of "lives". As you successfully maul the survivors, not only do the survivors respawn as zombies, your pool of lives increase. In addition to that, if you willingly start the game as a zombie, you can become the carrier (a.k.a. whitey) who has a chance of infecting any player he/she attacks. On the survivor side, you start with a random melee weapon (ranging from a golf club...to a keyboard) and a pistol. More ammo and better weapons are scattered through out the map. Depending on game mode, survivors need to band together to scavenge as much gear as possible and find a safe spot to hole up against the zombies or complete specific map objectives (i.e. turn on the power to activate the elevator to escape the mall...etc).

Thoughts: It's a nice change of pace from most traditional FPS Deathmatches. There is a sense of urgency to find a good weapon as soon as possible and as a zombie you have just enough power to overwhelm any soul who strays from the group. However, as you start to play through the same maps you tend to memorize where things are and what the best place to hole up is. This does make the gameplay a bit predictable, which takes all the fun out of guessing where a zombie will ambush you or where to find some tasty meat as a zombie. Although it does suffer from some gameplay quirks, what makes this game a blast is when people get into character on ventrillo. From random chatter of how to divvy up the ammo and weapons, to begs of mercy telling the zombies to leave them alone as they flee, to tactical commands of "quick I see whitey, let's get him!!!", it's always amusing to see how long one can survive till overwhelmed and eaten. Maybe with a few more clever maps that shake things up (random spawn points for players and items) and less safe spots to hole up or more spots for zombies to hid and pop out, then the replay value would increase dramatically as well the addictiveness. But for the time being, It's a nice game to play for some laughs (especially if you're a survivor-horror fan) and for some good company without being overly worried about getting the "top" score for your team.


Good: Finding an ak47 in the supermarket and unloading on a zombie who thought he "had" you

Bad: Your infected teammate neglected to tell you of his condition and instead of decided to munch on your brain as you tell him to cover you from the rear

Ugly: Five guys holed up in a small room armed with nothing but keyboards and a load of zombies outside



...will update with a good movie clip if I find any...more to come!

[Jonathan]

Well, de_dust is always the same, yet never got stale. Randomness could make up for a lack of good level design, but good level design means you never need randomness.

[Vyrosama]

Well, de_dust is always the same, yet never got stale. Randomness could make up for a lack of good level design, but good level design means you never need randomness.

Another thought - They have yet to perfect randomly generated levels in games. They had some of it in Oblivion but most of the times, I didn't really care what the layout was, it just became a mindless dungeon crawl hunting mission to explore every nook and cranny for treasure,enemies, lost dog, p0rn, etc. Guess they still need to find a "better" set of logic/rules to use during generation or something along those lines to make things more interesting...or random (not sure if that's the correct word here).

[Jonathan]

I think a salient point here is that "random" means something different to programmers than to users. People complained endlessly about iTunes's shuffler not being random enough. When they looked into it, they found people were complaining that the shuffled playlist would have two songs in a row by the same artist and other meaningless coincidences that are guaranteed by the laws of chance. So Apple changed the shuffle function so it was, in fact, less random, to give the feeling of being more random.

Random level design tends to produce a sameness which makes you feel like you've seen every level before. What is needed is less randomness to produce truly different-feeling levels.

[Vyrosama]

Age of Chivalry: http://www.age-of-chivalry.com/

Synopsis: Medieval themed team based deathmatch. You can choose between the Agathia Knights (blue team - holy themed) or the Mason Order (red team - barbarian themed). Besides the skins and the various map objectives, both teams play the same. There are three "classes" you can play, the knight (tank class), the footmen (support class), and the archer class. Each class is then further divided into three different weapon layouts. The preset maps range from laying siege to castles, protecting villagers, to just good ole team deathmatch. Depending on map objectives, you have access to battling rams, fire clay pits, catapults and explosive barrels to name a few. Gameplay is fairly straightforward, melee battle consists of timing your swings (or blocks) and targeting the neck/head for maximum damage. There's also a stamina constraint so most duels will end quickly since you won't be able to defend yourself once tired. Archers are pretty straightforward as well, although aiming does take time to get use to.

Thoughts: Very high production value for a mod. Not only that, this mod has a dedicated team who is working earnestly to improve the game balance and the overall gameplay. I do have to admit, It can be frustrating to start off as certain classes especially if you don't read how to play first and jump in cold (like I did). But the learning curve is definitely manageable and if you do need help there's always a few newbies/veterans around to help you out. Also there's a great sense of satisfaction and self gratification when you do manage to figure out how things finally work regardless of it being a positive or negative effect in the game. I still remember the moments of bliss when I decapitated my first victim, head-shot a random enemy with a throwing knife, or lite myself on fire and thus killing myself since I forgot to aim the fire catapult OVER the wall instead of into it. Once you do get hang of the game, you can then start to experiment with the various team tactics to efficiently take out the enemy (shields, archers in the back, smoke/fire-oil pots...etc). The game does have some minor gameplay glitches: weird clipping issues when you run into your own teammate, the range of weapons seems a bit inconsistent or hard to gauge, and certain classes still seem to be overpowered. Most of which can be easily overlooked and hopefully will be fixed in the near future by the development team. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, especially those who are bored of uzzis and sniper rifles and want to draw their swords and duel in a "real man's fight".


Good: Decapitate someone using a two handed mace (yes...it is possible...I've seen it!)

Bad: Realizing that the enemy has taken control of your base's catapult and is aiming back at your spawn point.

Ugly: Trying to block a critical bottleneck doorway by tossing down a fire-oil pot and then seeing that your own teammate rush out the doorway thus burning himself to death....


Gameplay Tips:
-http://www.age-of-chivalry.com/manual/
Looking at the manual for the first time...it looks sooo pretty and has a lot of info that I didn't even know....maybe I'll even read the background story

-Before last week's patch, the knight armed with a two handed sword reigned supreme in the battlefield. Not only can he take damage, he definitely could dish it out too. I've seen solo knights take out entire teams (although there was speculation that on top of that he was cheating...who knows). After the patch, it seems that the halberd wielding footman is now king. There were adjustments/corrections to range so the halberd seems to have a ridiculous range now. All is not loss though, the halberd swing still takes a bit of time to execute so he's vulnerable then.

-The archer class is definitely much harder to learn than other classes. Firstly, there's no on screen reticle. Secondly you have to compensate for flight arc of your projectile and the fact that you can't zoom in (no sniping for you!). To aim the bow, use the tip of the arrow as a guide; for the crossbow use the metal point that sticks out of the crossbow as a guide; for spears, use the tip of the spear..or your finger once you have started the firing animation.


...probably won't have time to update till I get bored of fallout3...wow I made this with out any smilies...::pats back::...oh wait...