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[PPK]

First things first: you may think I'm the wrong board, but when we talk about Half-Life, we talk about art. Just to clear things out before starting.

Of common knowledge is the fact that Half-life 2 has a lot of great mods besides GE:S; and because of that, I'd like to start a thread here to share some of those mods with the community ('cause you're not only going to play GE:S, or you'll start to pwn everyone and that isn't funny at all ...).

To start, I'd like to mention MINERVA: Metastasis, a mod capable of rivaling HL2 to some extent. In fact, his creator is now working for VALVe on the upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

I'm not going to say much about it, just that you have to play it if you haven't, and if you have, go play it again! And btw, you need Episode 1 to do it, so here is another reason to purchase Ep1...
Here's the link to download the mod: http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/phosphenes.shtml. Scroll down to the end of the page and choose the method you prefer.
As a final note, I'd like to refer that this is the sequel to a singleplayer map for HL1, by the same author. The map (or mod, if you prefer) is called Someplace Else. get it here: http://www.hylobatidae.org/minerva/parallax/someplace-else.html.

For now it is all, because I don't want to make wall texts. More to follow, so keep tuned! And make your own contribution! We are always on the lookout for mods!

[killermonkey]

I enjoyed Pirates, Vikings, and Knights for about 30 minutes then I couldn't stand it anymore. However, those thirty minutes were a glorious mix of YARRs, parrots plucking out eyes, sword fights, and bow and arrow kills. So, if you want to spend a good 30 minutes, download PVK. Zombie-Panic Source was also fun, but rather simplistic.

Mods I cannot stand (and do not endorse):
- Age of Chivalry
- Insurgency (crashes consistently when I try to join a team....)

[JcFerggy]

I had fun with Nightmare House. It's short, but it's fun if you like being scared.

[Jonathon [SSL]]

My second favorite mod to GES definitely has to be Zombie Panic! Source. It's extremely fun to play, looks great, and has a fantastic atmosphere.

As for HL1, Sven Co-op is definitely a win.

Mods I cannot stand (and do not endorse):
- Age of Chivalry
- Insurgency (crashes consistently when I try to join a team....)

I've never really taken AoC seriously. It's a fun game to play with friends because you can all go "OOOHHH!" over the mic when someone gets their head chopped off with a sword. Other than that, it's not so great.

Insurgency is OK, if you like dying from unseen stuff a lot. The learning curve has to be about 1000x steeper than CSS, and a new player is lucky to get kills (if any).

[PPK]

I played Insurgency once, but it is way too hard for me; it is only good for those hardcore fans of America's Army.

I never tried PVK or AoC; I'll probably give them a try and scream "HUUURRRRAAAHHH" on the mic after decapitating someone.

Another mod I played was Fistful of Frags, a western themed modification (multiplayer). You play either as cowboys or indians and have an array of Civil War weapons at your choice. In this one, headshots DO count. It is a bit slow-paced and a tad hard to aim at first, but I think it's worth a try.

[major]

I liked INS, but waiting for there transition to OrangeBox Engine.  I guess I'll have to play Beta3 till then

[kraid]

As a fan of the metroid series i liked Project Valkyrie much.
Unfortunatly they got not a single server up at the moment.
Eternal Silence was good too. Oh yea and the Stargate mods... .

[mbsurfer]

Dislaimer: I have played all of these mods first hand, and this is just my personal opinion on all of them.

For Multiplayer Mods:

Good

• Hidden: Source

          - 1 player is takes on the server as "The Hidden." This player is transparent and can only be seen if he/she moves.  The other players must then team up and hunt down the invisible enemy.

• Synergy

          - The main objective is for all players to complete the given objectives for each level; Escape, Assault, Defend, etc. You work together as a team to finish the level. Very original maps, very fun time with friends.

• Dystopia

          - A cyberpunk themed Half-Life 2 total conversion that places the player into tense combat situations in a high tech world spanned by computer networks. As either Punk Mercenaries or Corporate Security Forces the player will fight through the physical world to gain access, via jack-in terminals, to cyberspace.

• Perfect Dark: Source

          - A recreation reinvision of Rareware's Perfect Dark of the N64 made for the Source engine.

• Zombie Panic

          - The classic zombie outbreak.

• Fistful of Frags

Good but weak player-base

• Half-Life 2 Capture the Flag

          - Exactly what the title says.


For Single Player Mods:

Good

• Half-Life 2: SMOD

          - Half-Life 2 SMOD Is Half-Life 2, but with slow motion, kick with your HEV Suit, and LOTS of blood and gore. Get over 50 weapons such as: PSP Disk, Shovel, Alyx's gun, Grease gun, laser gun and much much more!

• Minerva 1 & 2

          - MINERVA is not a conventional modification, but instead is an ongoing, episodic series of single-player Half-Life 2 maps.

• Ravenholm

          - A modification based around the environments discovered in the Ravenholm chapter of Half-Life 2, with both familiar and unseen territories. SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF YOU.

• Nightmare House Map Pack and Remake

          - Yay scary, but fun!

Bottomline: Goldenye: Source remains the best.

[Konrad Beerbaum]

I'll second Hidden:Source. I also played The Professionals back in the day, it was pretty fun.  I tried out Project Valkyrie after reading their really good pr posts, but couldn't find a single person on the servers. 

[Ryan [Saiz]]

I think perfect dark source should say "A reinvision of Rareware's Perfect Dark of the N64 made for the Source engine." more than a recreation.

[kraid]

I'll second Hidden:Source. I also played The Professionals back in the day, it was pretty fun.  I tried out Project Valkyrie after reading their really good pr posts, but couldn't find a single person on the servers. 

Well that's exactly the problem. They got really quality work in there and made the first release in about 3 month, well i guess they didn't start from scratch coz it originally was a Metroid Mod till Nintendo told them to stop it, so they changed the name, playermodels and other stuff. But it still feels a lot like the Metroid Prime series.
Unfortunatly the interrest in this Mod wasn't that huge, and there is no real playerbase, just some random ppl who checked out the game whenever there was a new release/bugfix. Soon they quit gaming coz of the lack of content, there is only one finished map called 3mm_twinbridges and a WIP named 3mm_solar.
From time to time i still see a dev server playing a new map and there were some user created maps started, but so far only two WIPs made it ingame.
I really hope they are still working on the mod and come up with a new release which brings some live in the community.

[mbsurfer]

I think perfect dark source should say "A reinvision of Rareware's Perfect Dark of the N64 made for the Source engine." more than a recreation.

Dually noted.

[PPK]

I haven't tried Project Valkyrie nor Perfect Dark: Source, but from what I've seen (screenshots and videos), they still have some work to do.

I also played Nightmare House. It really scares the shit out of you, but only for the first time, because things simply pop out in front of you. Otherwise, it is pretty decent and I'm looking forward for for the sequel, which, from what I've seen on their website, will be a little more sophisticated...

[.sh4k3n]

I rather enjoyed Insurgency, actually.

[PPK]

I guess I'll give Synergy a try. It sounds like fun. I'll post here when I have a consistent opinion about the mod.