Hot Mods 19/12

Games are practically becoming disposable these days. Not that a short lifespan is represented in their pricing structure, mind you, but the sheer weight of new releases suggests we’re expected to pay, play and head straight back to the shops.

But a lot of the time our used games can provide the foundations for an almost infinite number of new titles. The impoverished games industry might be bleating about used game sales, but once you’ve entered the awesome world of game modding there’s little reason to buy a new release ever again.

So to kick off IncGamer’s new mod coverage, we thought we’d begin with the big one – Half-Life 2. Not only was Gordon Freeman’s second outing a great game in itself, it has provided the framework for an endless collection of amazing (and free) mods. If you own Half-Life 2, you own the gateway to an infinite library of amazing gaming opportunities. Here we present five Hot Half-Life 2 Mods – not necessarily meant to represent the best, so much as a collection of diverse and entertaining ways to unlock Half-Life 2 and introduce you to the diverse world of game modding.

If you’ve got any Hot Mods of your own, or you’d like to recommend one to the IncGamers community, let us know in the comments section. We’d love to hear your thoughts on modding, so please get involved.Zombie Panic!http://www.zombiepanic.orgZombies are a constant source of inspiration for modders, providing the perfect apocalyptic enemy that you can slaughter without any regret – considering the antagonists are a) already dead, and b) trying to eat your brains.

It’s classic zombie epidemic stuff in Zombie Panic, with an overwhelming outbreak of slavering, limping, clawing, flesh-hungry dead folk vying for a bite of humanity’s last remaining survivors. What’s unique about Zombie Panic is the way in which the infection spreads, with all the players joining a server and one member ‘volunteering’ to take on the role of the first zombie.

As the humans begin to fall, their game isn’t instantly over, however. Deceased players join the ranks of the undead, and turn their attention on their previous teammates. The wonderfully balls-out action is therefore bolstered by a high level of amusement and anti-camaraderie, which is rare to find even in commercial games – never mind community built mods.

But this Half-Life 2 mod is exciting for lots of reasons, not just the entertaining hordes of undead bullet fodder. This was one of the inaugural mods that Valve allowed us to access through Steam – making it easy to install, update and play online. If you own Half-Life 2, you need to play Zombie Panic. Simple as that.{PAGE TITLE=Page 2}Insurgencyhttp://www.insmod.net/Insurgency has become something of a game in its own right – providing a total conversion for Half-Life 2 that brings the FPS action in direct competition with contemporary commercial shooters. Based in the Middle East, Insurgency is an intense urban warfare multiplayer that plays heavily on teamwork tactics and organisation.

Indeed, the only real way to make any progress in Insurgency is by crafting yourselves into a finely honed and well-regimented squad. Fantasy MMOs have promoted the idea of hierarchical guilds for a long time, but the FPS genre hasn’t really explored this territory. Multiplayer shooters tend to be a collective of players, fighting together without too much organisation, but Insurgency demands you and your teammates tailor your approach to the urban tactics.

It offers a host of modern, war-torn battlefields that are practically recognisable from real life news reports, in such locations as Almaden, Baghdad, Haditha, Karkar, Ramadi, Hillah, Abdallah, Buhriz and a host of others as the community builds more and more arenas. These maps are also designed very intricately to ensure you use every doorway, concrete bollard and burnt out car to edge your way into dominance.

Insurgency is another mod that Valve has put out on its Steam distribution network, so you get automatic updates, leaderboards, easy install and an ultra-simple way to get in on some tense multiplayer action.Smashballhttp://www.smashball.tv/The new Speedball game didn’t turn out all that spectacular, sadly, but that hasn’t stopped modders from advancing the concept of futuristic, designer blood sports. Indeed, it’s something of an interesting twist that the FPS framework of Half-Life 2 has been put to sporting use in Smashball – a high octane, ultra-violent ball game mod.

Smashball features some truly unique maps as the playing field for the simple, yet intricate sport. Players must fight their way through the labyrinthine levels to grab the ball and run it into the opposition’s goal. The teams are equipped with full physics-equipped grappling hooks and jet packs to boost them around the urban mazes as they try to avoid – or kill – the competition.

Each player is also tooled up with a weapon to whittle away at the enemy’s energy; making them more vulnerable to the hand-to-hand combat attacks that ensue during the aggressive tackling. Energy levels do replenish, but there are no rules as to the ferociousness of your tackling, so Smashball players can regularly find their characters injured or dead.

With the Smashball community regularly building new maps and tonnes of league action for you to get in on, this is the perfect mod for anyone who found the new Speedball game a bit lacking, and is bored with the over-licensed commerciality of dedicated sports games.{PAGE TITLE=Page 3}Black Mesahttp://www.blackmesasource.com/Not all mods attempt to convert a game into something completely different – often enough the modding community is more on the ball with bug fixes and improvements to the source game than the original developer, and Black Mesa simply takes this concept one step further.

Black Mesa is something of a critique on the original Half-Life game. It challenges the gaps in the story and gameplay that, in many respects, were later filled by Half-Life 2. But that doesn’t change the fact that Half-Life wasn’t everything it could have been, and Black Mesa uses the Half-Life 2 engine to take another – more complete – bash at Gordon Freeman’s debut.

It recreates all the environments of the Black Mesa research facility, along with all the characters we met the first time around, only in much greater detail. Several games modes are implemented, with more planned, such as single player campaigns, multiplayer, a co-op mode (which will allow you to recruit other characters from the lab along with your online friends) and a deathmatch game.

It’s great to revisit the classics every now and then, and Black Mesa gives you the perfect opportunity to rewind and reboot Half-Life.One To Watch: NeoTokyohttp://www.neotokyohq.com/Of the thousands of mods in development, very few of them actually make it to a full release. Each week we’ll take a look at a mod currently in development, to highlight the ongoing support your old source games are still getting. This week, it’s NeoTokyo – an ultra-stylish total conversion for Half-Life 2.

The game follows a power struggle between factions of the Japanese Secret Service during a time of civil unrest. A military coup is being planned by the Jinrai in this dystopian vision of the future, and you take an active role in the impending Japanese civil war.

Oozing liquid fluorescent style, NeoTokyo borrows heavily from classical manga themes, with a shade of William Gibson thrown in for extra substance. The incredible musical score adds a huge amount of depth and atmosphere to the shadowy action, so it’ll be great to see how the story plays out alongside the fantastic character and environmental designs. Judging by the awe-inspiring trailer, this NeoTokyo could well provide the dark sci-fi shooter that’s missing from the shelves this Christmas.