Half-Life (2) Mods

[Cawdor]

Well ... I've been playing the franchise in a kind of semi active way for the last 10 years now and even though both games are rather awesome single player experiences, the multiplayer is dominated by its modding communities. So what I wanted to do in this thread was sharing some of my oppinions with you guys, give some recommendations and hopefully find a new moddy gem, presented by you.

Here is my personal chart:

1. Natural Selection (hl1)

• It simply has everything: First Person Action, Real Time Strategy, Team Play, Extreme Speed and Melee Combat as well as lurking in the Shadows and Massive gun fights. All this in an Alien vs Marines Environment with its own, unique design - The features are too numerous to list. Just ask if you have more questions. Its (as President Eden would say) undoubtedly, unquestionably, inescapably the best Game I've ever played.
  

2. Insurgency (hl2)

• Enough of the Arcade bull****. No more self regenerating super solders with a 1000 bullets on their backs. This one is all for realism - and with it you get one of the best atmospheres a mod can offer. Insurgency puts you into the ranks of the US Army or the Tunnels of the Resistance Cells all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Capturing territory to ensure constant reinforcements (times you are able to spawn) is crucial for victory. Weapon recoil, Iron Sights, no Health Bar, Blur Effects as the bullets fly by and a very mature community (many of them serving them self's) are only a few of its strengths.
  

3. Eternal Silence (hl2)

• Ever thought about spawning in a capital ship, jumping into a fighter or bomber, having some dogfights with the opponents to finally infiltrate the enemy battleship with your mates and hack its shields to have the others blow it up? No? Well Eternal Silence allows it anyway. Its biggest strength is obviously the varying game play. The moment you get bored with the Gun/Machine Gun/Flame Thrower/Rocket launcher/Sniper Rifle/Laser Rifle, it throws you into an Interceptor, Heavy Fighter, Bomber or Gunboat with your Mates. However Its what it depends on as neither the First Person Action nor the Space Combat feel fully developed yet as it still lacks its own sounds. Fighters don't know if they should feel like plains or actual persons running through space (its not as worse as it sound though). It has yet much to accomplish but it's fun none the less.
  

4. Zombie Master (hl2)

• Ever thought about pwning people 1on10? Well in Zombie master, not even 1on20 might be a problem. Since the other 20 are the "Survivors" and you are the Mercyless Hunter, the Zombie Master. Use 5 types of undead minions and scripted traps all over the map to bring death to the survivors. It's utter Grief - and fun. It has many really awesome maps which are really Immersive and do a good job in sucking you in. However, once you are dead (as a survivor), its over. If those bloody brain eaters took you down, you have to wait until the END of the round until you can play again. And that can take up to 20 minutes. Unfortunately, it doesn't let you spawn as a zombie after you have been killed and it never will - since the dev fracked off. However, its fun none the less for a few hours.
  

Thats it for now

I'll take a look into the empires mod and see how it developed. Its some HL2 mod with maps of the size you would normally find in a Battlefield title and has some RTS with a commander and base building involved. Lets see if its actually fun.

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