Recent reviews by Tree Fiddy (No Monitor)

The most fun I've had with my pants on

The maps are very pretty, very polished. The lighting is impressively atmospheric. I'm also impressed with the soundtrack. Having said that, I am less impressed with the game as a whole.

I wasn't a fan of the gun play, and some of the maps were impossible to navigate. In particular, I found the trash compactor section frustrating to navigate. I found the protagonist's dialogue to be a bit too "on the nose" and expository. I also think some of the story telling was underwhelming/prone to plot holes. Why does the protagonist mention dodging combine atrocities in the pre-Nova Prospekt prison whilst being in the army? The Combine would only have used prisons after the 7-hour war, and by that point, I'm assuming any state militaries would have been dissolved. Similarly, as the protagonist monologues about the 7-hour war in the opening cutscenes, we are treated to footage of Overwatch soldiers crossing a bridge. I don't think that pairing makes sense, as the Combine only co-opted humans into the Overwatch during the occupation, i.e., years after the 7-hour war was fought and lost.

I think this mod has some good qualities to it and is definitely worth checking out. Personally, I didn't like it much. I think it's overall underwhelming as a mod, but that it has some cool innovations (gravity-dampening lasers, for instance) that make it worth checking out if you wanted to get some inspiration for stories or mods or anything else like that.

Bought and started my first round of this game in 2013, just finished now. 5/5