Recent reviews by Señor Vergador

This game was literally better in early access.
I'm having this super rare mouse glitch at the moment that stops my cursor just short of the options menu, but I absolutely intend to get into the nitty-gritty if and when it gets patched. From what I hear, it mostly got worse in every facet, which is a damn shame because this game actually used to be fun, especially in coop.

Ready or Not... isn't.

Let's not kid ourselves, you're here because of the Raycevick video.

Snowdrop Escape is probably one of the best mods I've played for Half-Life 2, and seeing as how it made it to the Steam store and got it's own achievements, I'd say it's earned it. On the whole, it is a good mod and I suggest you play it. Combat, puzzles, story, you name it, it's got it. But for each of these pieces of this wonderful creation, there's a minor negative that keeps it from being the best it can be, and I don't know if patches can fix it. I'll list these out for you, but I'll have to put some stuff behind spoiler tags as they're pretty integral to both the review and the mod.

The combat in this game is... okay, at least in my opinion. I definitely got the sense that it took cues from Entropy: Zero, what with the enemies dropping a lot faster than normal. Nothing wrong with that. However, there was one enemy that just ate point-blank shotgun rounds like candy, and while he was armored, it still didn't quite sit right with me just how much ammo it took. I wonder if hitting him from the back would have made a difference as I basically played ring-around-the-rosie with him.
There was also some interesting changes to the Half-Life weapons and inventory system that I actually did like. Iron sights were added, and thusly, hip firing has become very inaccurate. The crosshair reflects this as well, looking more like very wide-spread parentheses instead of the usual crosshair setup. The weapons you can carry are also limited, with only one weapon per slot instead of carrying around a whole arsenal. You can only carry one sidearm, one medium weapon (these are your submachine guns and assault rifles), one heavy weapon (high-powered semi-auto rifles, the AR2, and rocket launcher), and your melee and grenades. I like this because I was forced to choose my loadout for the situation I was in, and it made me plan ahead for the situation I thought I would be getting in. Basically, if the game left a shotgun laying around for me, I had to stop for a second and wonder if it was giving it to me because I would be in smaller areas.
These weapons also were labeled with real weapon calibers, which was a nice touch. It made the world feel more real.
The only hangup I think I ever had with the weapons was that the M1 Garand was labeled as a 7.62mm rifle, and looking it up now for this very review, it's technically correct, but when I first played it I was caught way off guard. Otherwise, the weapons and their systems are great.

The puzzles in this game are, again, good overall, but sometimes their logic just seems a tad skewed. Those door code puzzles were actually nice, but it would be better if you didn't plaster the code right above the lock. You gave me a PDA, so if you can, why not make me look around for a note with the code and put it in my PDA? Another example is near the end (I won't spoil the story with this one) where you have to attach a hook to the snowmobile you're riding. When you first see it, it's set on some pipes (with an arrow pointing right at it) and it all should click right then and there. When I first got to it, I thought I had to shoot it to knock it down. After all, this wasn't the first time bullets or grenades solved my problems, so why not now? Well, I shot it about five times, and after a bit of headscratching while running around looking for other supplies, I realized that I was actually supposed to climb up there and knock it down by hand. That's all well and good, but when I got up there, I couldn't hit it with my melee. And then I pressed "use" and presto! The hook fell and I was on my way. I just couldn't help but wonder why a bullet wouldn't work.
That's what I mean when I say the logic is a tad skewed. The solutions aren't wrong per se, they're just not the solutions that make the most sense or keep the pacing. But still, they're good puzzles and I had fun with them nevertheless.

The combat and puzzles can't exist without a map to place them in, and I must say that they are filled to the brim with detail. The signs are in Russian, and honestly, I felt like I had a bit of an edge because I can read it. Some signs designate what's what and someone who can't read Russian might be running around a little bit longer trying to figure out where to go. This is mitigated somewhat by having some signs in both Russian and English, and they're usually important enough to warrant the two languages occupying the same space. There's not much else to say here, other than that the use of loose props could stand to be toned down, especially during the first few chapters. I felt like I was tripping over stuff a good bit of the time and that's not really great, seeing as how professional mercenaries aren't usually clumsy.

This part ties into the maps, but it's a big enough component to warrant its own section.
The pacing is pretty well laid out. It goes back and forth between combat and puzzles, which is normal. That rise-and-fall is good design at its core and is much appreciated. Do a bit of shooting, do a bit of puzzling, rinse and repeat. However...
the pacing takes a nosedive right at the end with the snowmobile section. It was still doing shoot-puzzle-shoot, and while performing puzzles with a vehicle involved is fine in and of itself, it will ruin the whole section if not done correctly. It even got so bad as to combine combat and puzzles. I don't mind outrunning a gunship, and I don't mind stopping to solve a puzzle, but for goodness sake, you just don't ever combine the two. On top of that, I felt kind of cheated out of a good vehicle section simply because I was constantly having to stop and solve a puzzle only to drive all of two minutes and do another puzzle. This really put a sour taste in my mouth and put me back towards middle ground in terms of whether or not I liked it. Overall, though, it was good.

When I say "the other stuff", I mean things like the in-game text, voice acting, and overall polish. And while I understand that this game was made by a team mostly comprised of Russians and Poles (much love to you guys, by the way) it definitely shows if you play the game in English. When I played the opening, I almost immediately turned on subtitles because I heard a very thick Russian accent. You can hear it with some of the characters and you can most certainly read it in the various notes left around. Even the very title seems to have fallen prey to this, as I feel like "Snowfall" was the word they were after. On this point, I'd like to offer up my services to clean up the English text and provide voice acting as well. It can really hinder the atmosphere of a game and make people laugh when they really shouldn't. My main example here is when you use your fists at certain points. In your inventory, they are labeled as "My Trusty Fists". It got a little chuckle out of me when I saw it, but if the overall tone of this mod is to be serious, a joking weapon label can do more harm than good.
But still, the somewhat broken English and thick accents add a certain charm to the mod, giving it what I can only describe as a "homemade" feeling.
Another point I'd like to add was the use of on-screen text. I can understand why you'd use it, you have to convey stuff to the player somehow, but you've already given the character a voice, so you've already given yourself the most helpful tool imaginable. I guess it was due to unknown constraints with the voice actor, so I can't really hold that kind of thing against you. It is a free mod after all.

I've run out of available space, so long story short, go play this. It has plenty to keep you hooked and plenty to talk about.

Leave, and don't come back until you do the job properly

So let me tell you guys a little something about myself: I'm generally a quiet guy, especially when it comes to gaming. This game, however, made me unconsciously break that rule. I didn't scream, but I did blurt out some sentences.
WARNING! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

It started off like usual, check settings, go through the tutorial, then go forth unto the main game.

The tutorial was pretty basic. You're dropped in an isolated shooting range with barely any lighting except a blue computer screen explaining what you're doing through text. It ran me through melee (literally just punching, I guess that's cool), then it taught me loading and firing. Simple target shooting, no problem. Done it all before. It didn't really do anything about my movement... and both my sticks turn me... and then it hit me.
I can't move. My feet are bolted to the floor.
Well, I guess there's no backpedaling and shooting today. This should be interesting. And it is.
The tutorial ends with the computer telling me good luck, a nearby door opening to an incoming horde, and fading to black. It was rather unceremonious and I loved it.

So I got into the main game with some tidbits of knowledge that was good to know:
1) No moving around. Just turning. Makes my life easier, I guess.
2) I have unlimited ammo. Just fine by me.
3) This game is kinda dark. Luckily, the pistol (and only the pistol) has a flashlight on it.

So with that knowledge at hand, I lock and load. I proceed to hear some poor sap screaming "Help! He's behind me!". Said poor sap comes running out of one of the subway cars with a zombie in tow, and he's toast with naught more than about 30 seconds of screen time. This zombie sees me. I pulled a little sneaky on him in the form of a 12 gauge. Dropped like a bag of rocks. I hear various moaning and use the sound cues to wheel around and open fire. This continues, and somewhere along the way, the power goes out. I was so engrossed in the simple combat (and the atmosphere, my god they nailed it like a piece of cheap wood) that I didn't notice until a squad of soldiers kicked in a door and lit up the newest batch of zombies like a Christmas tree. I figured that these guys were my exfil, and after saying some generic stuff ("We're from HQ", "Lab's analyzed this and there are mutations", "We're leaving the city", etc) they break off into two groups.
One group goes to turn back on the power, and the other one stays behind to look after me. Unfortunately, one of the guys is some sort of next-level dumbass and goes to check out a noise. Thankfully, the other guy tries to stop him but ends up being dragged along.

They didn't make it.

And hoo-boy, this next section's something I haven't seen or felt in a long time...

So now the power's out, my backup has been killed by some kind of light-sensitive zombie, and something's moving around back there. Remember that flashlight I mentioned was attached on my pistol? Congratulations, it now pisses off these zombies and they'll make a beeline towards you if you shine it on them. I found that out the hard way.

After shining my flashlight around, I saw a silhouette start running off somewhere. It ran right through a door and towards my face. Not cool, this is my no-no square and I'm gonna defend it with everything I have. The whole gimmick of this section began to click and I was thinking about ways to effectively combat these bastards. Maybe shine my light on it and aggro it while switching to my shotgun so I can blow it away? No, that tactic's too smart. I ended up just using my shotgun and my keen sense of observation. Sound from that way? The one ambient light from that direction showed a square inch of a silhouette?

Target acquired.
Fire.

I also used the muzzle flash to locate any other targets coming from the same direction. It sorta worked. It certainly didn't keep them from reaching me, but whatever. I held out. Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum from earlier got infected and came back for me. No thanks, this virus sucks, but your stupidity is worse. I don't need to catch either.

The lights slammed back on and drove away what remaining zombies there were. The trains did, however, depart the station, and I wondered how the hell I was gonna make it out of here. I felt relief as the other group came back. They asked what the hell I did to the guys from earlier, but I didn't say anything because silent protagonist. I did make an attempt to wave my hands in an explanation, but no time for that! A new enemy approaches! And... oh no. No, no, no, no, NO.

It's spiders. It just HAD to be spiders.

Now I'm not the biggest arachnophobe, but I'm not exactly a fan of spiders either. Either way, they're trying to eat my face and I'm not really into that. I shoot the big ones, and a couple of little ones pop out. To hell with that nonsense! I dealt with Half-Life's Gonarch, I know what I'm doing!
I finally drop the last spider, and...

So apparently these mutations are rather diverse, because a human-looking zombie (it has rather visible eyes and hair, facial features, the works) comes out instead of a couple of small spiders. It looks at me and runs away. Yeah, that's right, run! I've got a shotgun, and what do you have? That's right, an inferiority complex!
I hear thumping and see dust come from the ceiling. Ah, so it's trying to get the drop on me, eh? You're no match for-

I'd like to take a moment and say that what I saw the first and last time I looked up was something else. Ain't never seen nothing like it before in my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ life. The timing of my thoughts somehow lined up perfectly. You couldn't recreate it if you tried.

"Oh, ♥♥♥♥ THAT."

See, remember how I said that this zombie had a whole face and whatnot? Those eyes certainly stuck out to me, and when I looked up, I looked this thing dead in the eye. And that's not the worst of it. Whilst unloading my shotgun in this thing's face, it proceeded to open up its 'outer face' and reveal its inner one.
Internally screaming, I'm throwing shotgun shells at my gun (this is not an exaggeration, I was missing the reload and simply throwing perfectly good 12 gauge everywhere but where it needed to go) while this absolute unit is ♥♥♥♥♥-slapping me into the 5th dimension. Reloading this thing is too slow, so I switch to my pistol and start unloading. Weird, this thing isn't taking any damage.
I then notice a pustule of sorts.
Ding!
Hear that? That's me realizing that I need to hit it in its weak spots to at least buy me some breathing room. See, there's three you need to hit. One on its right shoulder, one on the left wrist (that one was a real ♥♥♥♥♥ to hit) and one on the stomach. Hit all three, and it turns it back to reveal a fourth weak point. You aren't getting away that easily!
I pop a couple of caps and now it's looking real hurt. And hey, look at that, my train's arriving! I watch this thing get plowed like a field and get back up. It's crawling back onto the platform and that simply cannot be allowed to happen. You don't have any sort of metro card, you don't have a ticket, and most importantly, you don't have any humanity left in you!

BLAM!
Chk-chack!
BLAM!
Chk-chack!
BLAM!
Chk-chack!

It drops and I breathe a sigh of relief. The scoreboard appears to signal that the ride is over, please exit through the gate to the left, and thanks for visiting.

Yeah, this game's good. Dripping with atmosphere, good horror, and there's probably some replay value from the score system and multiple difficulties. If you like zombie killing and/or spooky times, grab this game. Only problem is that there isn't enough of it.