Recent reviews by Bounter

[ SPOILERS AHEAD ]
So, Swelter. This mod was something I heard about from a friend, and judging how I enjoy Half-Life 2 mods, I decided to check it out. Now, this will be put into 2 parts of "Stuff I like" and "Stuff I don't like", and then ending words with the overall score I have for the game. So let's begin.

~ Things I enjoyed about the game ~
- Unique setting - The protagonist being a rebel agent trying to go undercover to a different group is a neat concept. Not to mention, that playing as a rebel, or just resistance member in general, is something I do want to see more of, and if the mod team ever wants to, I feel like they could really succeed with making mods are like this.
- It straight up has TF2's Demoman in it - Yup.
- Funny intro - The title card made me giggle out loud, it was VERY funny and neat.
- The environments - they are gorgeous, well made and full of detail and life (especially in the city and villages in the steppes). All while not being too FPS heavy, or too cluttered WHILE being incredibly immersive. I also heavily enjoy how unique it is, with the Central Asian architecture and style.
- Well designed puzzles - While some people say they are bit too complex or unintuitive, I personally enjoyed each one, and found each to be both hard and easy at the same time, requiring thinking outside of the box in some cases, which I do not consider a bad thing. It's a shame that steppes are just "puzzle city" though.
- Music - Very well done and good sounding. Sometimes it's an OG soundtrack for environments, ambience and story parts, sometimes for combat. I also like the Half-Life 1 and 2 remixes thrown in the game.
- Variety of environments and puzzles and the combat - Can be applied to above, but in short, very few puzzles or combat encounters or environments seem to be 1:1, each one feels unique and different, making them not repetitive or boring. The combat encounters are also usually pretty unique thanks to the different areas they're put into. Even if combat itself is a BIT better than HL2's (which is a bonus too I guess), it does help it be pretty nice usually.
- Weapon variety - It's not too much, or too little. Each one has a function at the specific part of the game, or has a niche use that shows itself every once in a while. I never had a moment where a weapon felt useless. At least not in the majority of the game's sections. Each one had the use case it needs, and utility it could provide.
- Car mechanics and driving is way better than in HL2 (and EP2) - It may be slower and not have SMG box, but it drives and FEELS way better than it did in the regular HL2. It doesn't tumble around or ♥♥♥♥ around weirdly. It's not too floaty or too heavy, it's just right for a car.

Now, with things I LIKE out of the way, let's talk about what I dislike. NOW these are my opinions, and just because I say "I don't like them" doesn't mean they're bad, I just didn't enjoy them.

~ Things I didn't enjoy ~
- The voice acting - In most cases, it's just NOT good. Wether it's mic quality, the pronouncation of words, the poor grammar (I know the devs/people working on it are Russian (lol) but still), or just flat deliveries, it makes it rather not nice to listen to. Especially Ricki and Academic, their voice acting is SO FLAT and so not good in most cases, I wanted to blast both of them into the sky. Occasionally, the acting improves with certain NPCs, but it won't save the fact that it's generally poor.
- The Story - CONTROVERSIAL but personally I think the story is not that good. Now, considering this mod is like 2-6 hours long, it can't have a full on fledged story and ♥♥♥♥ of a full game, but it's still not that great. The pacing is very off, you immediately get people to help you out (Ik they're lambda movement but still odd how they all help you, considering you're just A GUY), Academic trusts you immediately too and calls you his "colleague", Ricki also trusts you instantly to SHOW YOU (presumably his) a kid, one of the only ones born after the invasion. Not to mention, that the overall pace is very rushy, like in City you go from killing CPs, to then destroying a mortar, then instantly a warehouse, then a rocket turret in like 1-2 first hours of the GAME. Also the ending section is straight up out of Modern Warfare 1 (old one), World at War and Black Ops 1, in both the flying plane/drone section, and the whole "Sleeper agent meant to kill special someone", endings are also very rushed and are TOO similar in my eyes, with too few differences.
- The Anarchists - I think they're kind of morons. Now hear me out. They basically fight off the Combine, but rather than trying to get rid off them globally, they only care about the local people of the steppes, and they prefer to just wait out the invasion and SURVIVE like normal people, while BLAMING Lambda Movement when occasionally village gets bombed because of them (The Lambda). This is just wrong on so many levels. A) Combine won't just let you exist out there B) If you don't get rid off Combine globally and in the cities, they will eventually come after you too C) Disregarding lives of the people in the Cities or Lamda members, because "uh, we live like normal people in the steppes, we want peace" is just CRUEL and DUMB. I just think that while it's fair to assume that Rebels would have their own groups, it's just weird that they'd have one that straight up has a conflict with the MAIN one.
- Enemy Variety - It's worse than Half-Life 2. Sure it has Bullsquids, which appear in ONE part of the game (Port) and there is only like 10 of them? Nice. But it lacks: Antlion Guards, Acid Lions, Zombine, Manhacks, Scanners, most Synths (Hunters, Striders, Gunships etc.), Combine Snipers, and Dropships (The one at the end isn't one). LIKE HOLY DAMN. Not to mention, that in Steppes, you only encounter Antlions, and some Zombies near the end of it. It's GENUINENLY pathetic at times. Also, it mentions Houndeyes and Barnacles, but neither of these are in the game either.
- Pacing of the Weapons - In Half-Life 1 and 2, you obtain weapons not TOO fast, or too slow, you always obtain them at the right place and right time, like Shotgun in HL2, Tau Cannon or Gluon in HL1, or something like crossbow in Entropy Zero 2. In this game though, in the first chapter, so like 1-2 hours of the game (max) you obtain: Stunstick, Grenades, Pistol, SMG, Magnum, Mosin (Sniper Rifle), Shotgun and health injectors (not a weapon but still). That's 7 out of 12 weapons THAT early. Not to mention AR2 can be obtained early via. secret (even though ammo is non-existant), Magnetic Pusher is given not too much later too. You get so many so quickly, it's easily overwhelming and ruins the pacing of getting them when the time is right. Like what's the point of the Magnum if you got Mosin earlier, which instantly kills most things in the gut, while also having ammo be slightly more common. Also Injectors are ONLY useful when you have no medkits around, which almost NEVER happens, except maybe for the Helicopter fight in Ricki's Compound.
- Enemies feel Spongy - That's only the case with few weapons (SMG and Pistol), but sometimes they feel like they can tank FAR more than they could regularly. ESPECIALLY Bullsquids. They can tank 3-4 Magnum or Mosin shots to THE FACE before they die. It's incredibly frustrating.
- Car is weird on ramps - Car is generally good, but on ramps it ALWAYS seems to go off the track even when pointed directly on it, it's odd. But thankfully it rarely happens.

~ CONCLUDING ~
The game has it's ups and downs, it has issues and also benefits. Would I recommend it overall? Yeah I would. It's a sometimes messy but overall good and well made experience, and I recommend it to any Half Life fan who wants to see a good HL2 mod from a perspective of a normal citizen/rebel and not our HEV protagonist. The game for me gets a 7/10, maybe a 7.5/10 too.

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