Half Life 2 mod recommendations?

The Game Room
1

This is inspired by the I liked Half Life 2: recommend a new game thread, but premised on my being cheap n broke.

I’m looking for a good HL2 single player mod. I know there must be tons out there, and lots of fun ones, but damned if I can find a good one. Maybe I’m too picky.

I don’t want to do excessive jumping. I will hook up my Atari 2600 and play Pitfall if I feel the urge. Some jumping/careful navigating is ok, especially if it’s germane to the plot or makes for an interesting combat challenge.

I don’t want to get stuck in a maze. I don’t mind walking around a bit or solving puzzles, but please don’t make me draw a map just to get to the next stage.

I don’t want to spend time searching seemingly empty rooms just to find the one hole/vent/hidden door that will get me to the next stage. I don’t necessarily want to walk down a single corridor, but I don’t want to get stuck wondering where the hell the exit is.

I’m hoping for something with a bit more than a mindless bloodbath. I have Kickstart Doom on my machine, so if I want to have at it without much to think about, I’ll load up Doom II and vent frustration.

Then again, some mindless bloodbaths are fun.

Nova Prospect is fun, but what about some of the fun spaceship or western themes that were out there for HL1?

Special goodness if there’s a sniper mod out there. I’ve done the entire HL1 with just a crossbow or the sniper rifle (and, of course, sv_cheats to get the weapons in the first place) and had a blast. Anything similar to that experience would be great.

Of course, everyone who opens this thread won’t be as persnickety as I, so please, for Freeman’s sake, post away whatever mod you’ve enjoyed.

Thanks!

Rhythm

(on preview: damn this sounds cranky. Maybe that’s why I want to go a-shootin’

2

Absolutely download Minerva: Metastasis. Requires an installation of Episode One to play properly, and it’s a wonderful marriage of fanfic genius with superb level design.

3

Also be sure to keep tabs on Black Mesa Source, a total recreation of HL1 using the Source engine. Some indications point to a release later this year, but I’m not holding my breath … it’s been under development for ages and looks positively stunning.

4

Yeah, what you said. The only thing I don’t like about it is that there are an awful lot of the neverending antlion holes - and the ending is a bit weird, though awesome.

Riot Act is pretty good too.

ETA: if you didn’t know, you can find all the Valve-endorsed HL2 mods by searching for them in Steam.

5

Thanks!

I’m looking for Minerva now (though if I accidentally stumble upon Nirvana, that wouldn’t be so bad) :slight_smile:

Did the comment about never-ending antlions imply that you find them a bit… annoying? Maybe it’s how I have my controls set up, but I find fending off a swarm can be a bit… tedious, perhaps? Actually, I’m not sure how I feel about them – the guard the multiple tunnels bit in EP2 was fun.

Hasn’t Black Mesa Source been ‘about to be released’ for years? Wonder if the G-man has something to do with its delay…

I actually played Riot Act. I found it through Steam’s online doohickey, clicking back and forth and back and forth to find a single player mod. “Here, have some ammo. No, really, take the ammo. What, you DON’T WANT ANY MORE AMMO?!? AHHHHHHHHHHRRRR” Fun stuff.

6

I liked squishing the antlions in the buggy in regular H2, but I’m not thrilled about facing them on foot; I just don’t like segments of games with “infinite enemies” as a matter of principle, because they make it a bitch to explore - especially when they’re the sort of enemies that don’t give you ammo :frowning:

You can set the search parameters to show single-player mods only (in Steam). There are a bunch more here but some of them are a bit buggy.

7

That reminds me of an old mod I played a while back. It was something like “Antlion Defense” or such. Basically, you played as a Combine, and you set up a half-dozen or so turrets and troops to defend a base against wave after wave of antlions. It was like the scene from Starship Troopers, but with more chittering. No exploring, just hold out as long as you can. I think you could beat it, but I never got past the second scripted scene.