Boomtown has revieewed the Firearms mod.
Here's a snippet:With the main focus on the weapons and abilities, the mod is lacking when it comes to graphics. A lot of the models and maps can’t compare to the graphics we see today and it makes the game feel older to some extent. However, for a game designed with the Half-Life engine, there are some really cool things that shouldn’t be missed. There are a few good animations and the weapon models look real enough. Changing the mp5 to equip a silencer is probably the best looking animation I have seen. A lot of work has been put into the weapon models and animations and it has paid off. They look really authentic, not overly detailed, and they add to the excitement behind having a totally unique player.You can read the rest of the review here
Source: Games Radar
Have you expanded those communication techniques in HL2? To explain to the player he can do things like stitch a zombie with a crane full of girders?I think that comes down to the testing stage we've been spending more and more time on since before E3 [early May]. We learned this lesson with Half-Life. We didn't spend as much time on that stage as we wanted to. Around July 1998 [HL shipped in October 1998] we basically said the majority of the game is done. Now we need to find out how other people experience this and just how much of the stuff they find in there. Some people test by just bringing in a couple of hardcore gamers and seeing if they can find their way through. We approached it a bit differently and said, "OK, let's bring in Gabe's father [Gabe Newell is Valve's founder and MD], this 60-year-old, retired air force guy who's never even thought about firing up a PC, never mind an action game. Let's sit him down and see how he does. And let's sit the guy who designed the level behind him with a gag order and a pen and paper. He can only take notes. He can't give Gabe's Dad any hints. And until Gabe's Dad gets through 30% of the game - having a good time - we're not shipping. So we really play-test the hell out of it with a wide range of gamers. Unfortunately, a lot of folks feel the budget constraints, or think the money tap is going to be shut off before they get a chance to do that. Many games don't reach their full potential because of that.
Friday, 24 October 2003