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MY GOD....THEYRE FULL OF STARS I'm a load of pretentious, indie-kid snobbery with a dash of useful laziness and a touch of luck. Bake at 357 degrees for six and nine-eighths seconds. I don't like your sass, young lady. I do, however, like your ass.

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Survival 101

nietzschesaurus Blog

I loved this mod. The first half put me in total oh-god-zombies-are-eating-people-i've-got-to-try-to-survive mode. I gotta admit, I tried building a couple of barricades before I remembered Half-Life 2 zombies bat stuff around. I was quickly smashed in the face by a flying box.

a lot of people have been complaining because they didn't think the mapping was very good. I thought it was fine. It did the job it was supposed to do; create setting and atmosphere. I actually loved the big three-layer foyerish area with the cafeteria on the bottom. I put on sv_infinite_aux 1 which made the game super fun. I didn't have to worry about the 15 second flashlight or running out of breath like a smoker carrying a heavy backpack.

I loved that the zombies and soldiers dropped after a few shots. It made me feel like the pistol was actually doing something.

I thought the music was really well placed, and it definitely bolstered the atmosphere even those most of them were the same tired HL songs I've heard a hundred times. The voice for the guy on the radio that tries to help you was really well done. I liked him and was secretly hoping I'd get to meet up with him and kick zombie ass. The crazy scientist's voice was...... uninspired.

Over all I thought it was fantastic. I loved the attempt at realism, and the simplicity of the story. Here's to hoping for a sequel.

City Rebellion

nietzschesaurus Blog

While this game was extremely short, I thoroughly enjoyed my play of it. Some people had a problem with what they saw as a lack of skill in mapping, but to me the interior mapping is just fine. The areas where the character is escaping through some sort of drainage ditch/canal/sewer/aqueduct are understandably sparse. I'm assuming the main character isn't in City 17, perhaps a less densely-populated town, which would explain why there isn't TRASH and RANDOM SHIT everywhere. The sign of a great mapper is being able to make an interesting and realistic map using less, rather than more.

I liked how the game went from the claustrophobia of the underground brick tunnels to the agoraphobic wide-open spaces of the drainage area. The developer used snipers in a way I haven't seen in Half-Life or any other mod. The point wasn't to kill them as it usually is; but to sprint at full speed, performing serpentine evasive maneuvers to dodge the rounds. I loved it.

The tunnels were probably my favorite part. They radiated a sense of dread. Not with cheap scares or pitched-black areas, but with well-placed yellow lighting, only a handful of zombies, and the natural claustrophobia of an underground catacomb. It is honestly a spectacular achievement. With no hint of irony or exaggeration, I can earnestly say it reminded me of how I felt when I first played through Ravenholm.

I do, however, have two complaints; they're rather minor. In the beginning, when you're trapped in the warehouse and combine are trying to raid it, I felt like it was too easy. Not in the "I'm so pro" sort of way, in the way that I felt the combine were really taking it slow in attempting to capture me. I expected a HL2EP1/2 style "enemies barging in from all directions oh god I can't keep up" and what I got was a couple of easily dispatched soldiers, followed by a couple minutes of waiting, repeat three or four times. Not to mention the player is given an easily accessible health and armor recharging station not twenty feet away.

The other complaint I had was when you were trapped in the infirmary whilst an apparent battle is going on outside. What I expected was explosions, screams, gunfire, frantic commands over the prominently placed loudspeaker, nigh drowned out by the twisted din of combine trans-species machines. What I instead got was a couple of calm announcements and the sound of some loud neighbors banging around in the upstairs apartment. A sense of anxiety, as I assumed was meant, was not created.

Overall, though, I see a lot of promise in this game. I gave it a 10/10. I felt that they used the mantra of "less-is-more" in a delightful way, and episode 2 was extremely well designed. While the developer still has a long way to go before there's real community praise over his games, to the trained eye he definitely shows hints of great promise.

Moddb, as a community, needs to spend a little less time bashing those who, although not as experienced as thechineseroom or the Black Mesa team, still pour blood, sweat, and tears into their games. These people can get better, and what better way than with praise in their successes and advise in their faults? Isn't that the point? This pack-like mutilation that I see, especially in the HL2 modding community, does nothing but kill the interest of those lesser, but talented, artists. Especially the ones who make an entire mod themselves.

And with that being said; when, if ever, can we expect City Rebellion episode 3?

Mistake

nietzschesaurus Blog

So I played through Mistake a couple of minutes ago. It's a short 15 minute mod that, if I remember correctly, was made in about a month. Not bad at all. I think I'll do a let's play of it.

It puts the player in the eyes of a mental patient as he hallucinates blood 'n guts all over everything. We're never told what mental disease he has, or where the doctors are through all of this, or anything. Apparently the developer is saving a storyline for his prequel. (I'm just being a twat, he probably planned on this being a one off when he banged it out, so it's okay).

I feel kinda bad because I couldn't stop joking to myself while playing it. For instance:

  • The medkits appear as a bottle of pills, a thing I didn't pay attention to, and.... a roll of toilet paper?
  • Falling through a metal chute into a laundry hamper, hearing a deafening crunch come from your tibial region, and taking a good 40-50 damage. I think they're using too much starch.
  • Making 3 stooges whooping noises while running a circle around the enemies, half of the time evading them completely and never needing to kill them at all.

God I act like a twelve year old.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing it. I hope I like Mistake -1 just as much, the developer shows promise and I think he could pull something really neat out of this.

Just between you and me........more fun than Korsakovia.

But that's a different story all together.

PARANOIA

nietzschesaurus Blog

PARANOIA is my favorite mod by far. The developers are masters of the art of suspense. My favorite part of the game is definitely after the explosion, you're stumbling your way through a mangled underground laboratory, your only contact to what is unfolding around you being the soldier that is heading in the same direction as you, albeit a few rooms up, describing what he sees before the shit hits the fan.

I found myself sprinting down the corridors, frantically scanning the subtitles, seeing the murals and corridors he had described, trying to get to the hostiles.

No other game made my heart race like this one. The lighting effects and textures were amazing, the high-res models blew my mind. I would definitely pay for this game.

My only complaint was that the gasmask was only used once. I feel that it ended somewhat abruptly, but that doesn't detract from the game much, as the storyline was fantastic. The characters were quite realistic. 10/10

p.s. and if there was a paranoia 2, my life would be complete.

fistful of frags

nietzschesaurus Blog 1 comment

so, i downloaded the multiplayer mod fistful of frags recently to give it a try, and here's what i've got to say about it.

it felt as if counter-strike was retooled to be in some lame spaghetti western full of clones of two actors wearing different hats. i quickly realized that there were only two guns worth using, ever; the bow w/ fire arrows, and the peacemaker. you gained money much too slow to buy any of the upgrades for a long time, thus greatly hindering your ability to stay alive for more than ten minutes before you were blown to bits and had to wait indefinitely to rejoin the match.

the mission objectives were explained with one word; "boss", or "loot" or some other shit and you were supposed to figure out via trial and error what you were doing. this resulted in a lot of dying.

not to say that the people who play fof are amazingly good, or that this game takes some time getting used to. i was able to jump in and get a high kill-to-death ratio right away, all thanks to the peacemaker that kills everybody in one to two shots. it felt pretty bad ass blowing away every person that stepped around a corner and grimaced at me wrong.

fof has an anti-tk system that's a massive pain in the ass. if you shoot one of your teammates, they take damage and a little box pops up asking them if they want to forgive you, take half your loot, or to not forgive you. i have yet to figure out what not being forgiven does, though i think it has something to do with taking all your money. not that it ever mattered to me, since i just used the peacemaker the whole time.

as said, this system is a pain in the ass. other players are prone to running in front of you, as they are in every other team-based multiplayer fps, and getting blasted in their denim-clad, leather-wearing ass. everybody gets shot, all the time, and likewise jack money from each other.

which is a great hindrance if you're not like me and don't just want to use the peacemaker the whole time. even though it kills everything forever.

the shotgun also does shitty damage, the tnt explosion is massive and all-encompassing, the maps are confusing and pretty much guarantee the same match over and over again.

5/10; it would probably be the funnest if you were to play with a bunch of friends. there's only two servers, and only a couple die-hard fans, so good luck.

p.s. more like fistful of FAGS.