2D games, especially platformers are indisputably an undying genre - a respected fatherly figure in gaming nowadays. Be it an emulated NES version of Super Mario Bros, the adventures of Sam & Max, or plain simple tetris - playing them gives you that warm nostalgic feeling you'd get as a six-year-old mashing your game pad like there's no tomorrow and hoping the gaming time limit set by your parents won't run out anytime soon. Flat-Life brings you back to just those childhood times and by combining them with a bit of crowbar, shotgun & headcrabs provides you with one of the most enjoyable and fresh Half-Life experiences ever.Obviously, the main thing making this mod so darn awesome is gameplay. Now there's no new monsters or vehicles or an egon gun that pierces walls, derives its targets of their flesh leaving nothing but bones and also has the powers of the gravity gun (write this one down, ChickenFist!). Actually, your arsenal, friends and foes haven't changed a bit. It's the way you see and interact with your environment which has, and that's right where the fun begins. Even if at first something as simple as a change in perspective doesn't sound too impressive, sticking with Half-Life's 3D renderer and putting the player in a 2-D perspective side-scroller or a top-down view shooter turns Flat-Life into something really special.Sadly, some problems are there to ruin the fun. First of all, there are multiple stability issues, especially in multiplayer games. Sometimes the only way to successfully start or join a game is when you're already in-game, meaning you have to load a random map in singleplayer before you can connect to any server. Loading saved games is also sometimes a bitch, causing crashes and other problems. Also, .mid music playback seems to have problems working after a mapchange or load. However, the vast majority of these issues is fixed on version 1.3, which will hopefully be released depending on the author's laziness. Stability aside, there are some other problems as well. The main thing eating my donuts and overcooking my casseroles is the crosshair in side-view, inaccurate and static. Even if its position would represent the trajectory of the bullet perfectly, it would still be pretty hard to aim, as it's always placed three steps from the player, making it very hard to predict whether you'll miss or not at longer range. Something like the RPG laser spot, showing you exactly what your bullet is going to end up in would be a real savior in this case. Somewhat dodgy player movement in some cases can also be a problem, especially when navigating through the various jumping puzzles most FL maps are full of. Even though tampering with Half-Life's physics system is annoying, some alterations in player velocity control to make it more responsive and precise should be considered.Beneath these issues, however, lie the various neat extra additions to the overall experience. Stuff like extra gibs/gore add some nice slapstick humour, the aforementioned buggy, yet nostalgia-inducing chiptone playback give it the right sound, while the neat shader water effects provide the eye candy. And of course, the very main thing making me forget any instability or singleplayer issues described earlier is the multiplayer. It's like you're in control of this special magnifying glass that instead of concentrated heat emits tiny lead showers, explosives and wee little crowbar bruises. Burning those pesky ants trying to capture your flag has never been so fun. Having spent a bit over an hour playing with my co-reviewers, I can't help but praise the multiplayer (which is why my final gameplay score is fairly buffed) and feel sad about the lack of suitable quality maps. With three different game modes (plain/team deathmatch and ctf) and a variety of powerups, there's plenty of unused mapping potential there. Hell, there's even some primitive custom-made bots for you to test things with.From a mapping perspective, the initial mod package doesn't feature any of the more impressive works released by the community, making impressions and variety feel a tad weak at first. In both singleplayer and multiplayer, most maps are fairly crude and dull, showing little of what Flat-Life has to offer. Visual aspects such as architecture, texturing or lighting were mostly functional, rarely showing anything more impressive. The only stock singleplayer map to display something more interesting seemed to be Operation Iceflow, yet in the end it proved nothing more than average both in aesthetics and ambience. The only exception to this was the infamous Tetrisitus, featuring a rather unique theme, however it was weak in every other field and overall frustrating to play due to the limited player view distance. Multiplayer maps were mostly nothing more than functional arenas with little attention paid to visuals (the only exception being ctf_egypt).
Bottom Line
Even with its multiple issues, this is one unique bundle of fun you should definitely give a shot. There's plenty of community-made content of higher quality to try out and if you're capable of gathering 3-6 people willing to go multiplayer, you have absolutely no excuse to miss out on the immense oldschool fun Flat-Life can provide.
Overall, it's a really neat concept, which while sadly falling flat on its face in singleplayer is more than redeemed by the exceptionally fun multiplayer.
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 22:56:35 UTC
in journal: #5039Comment #50487
Checked the site, trailers, screenies, etc. Looks indeed a lot like a TF2 ripoff, though I'll refrain from judging untill I've actually played it. As for now, judging from what I saw, I have to say it didn't impress me that much.
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 20:38:37 UTC
in journal: #5040Comment #39262
"I have found penis in your butt. I the sociable man, soul mate. You tired were from loneliness, now tired you are from sex. Please condom to bring, and control of birth pills too.
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 15:47:58 UTC
in journal: #5040Comment #39266
I got one of those a messages every idiot sends to as many as possible, thinking they are doing everyone a big favor, this time telling me that if I sent that message to enough people, I would get a free cell phone from Ericsson. Not Sony Ericsson, just Ericsson. How stupid can one get?
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 14:46:08 UTC
in journal: #5040Comment #39260
is this familiar to you?
BEST PRICE ! Buy Cialis, Viagra online NOW - and save 50% your money !!!
another one -
Dear Lucky Winner,
This E-mail is to inform you that you emerged a winner on our online draws which was played on the 10th of February,2008.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of ?1.000.000.00 For further Information about your Winnings,contact
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 06:15:26 UTC
in journal: #5040Comment #39259
Haha, answer her!
"I the simple australian boy and I attractive, sociable young gentleman I like to has in butt from woman, soul mate...Which could appreciate all my qualities!!"
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 05:59:16 UTC
in journal: #5039Comment #50490
Yes, it's free alright. Where they get the money from you ask? From advertisements in the loading times between maps, which really, I don't think is such a big thing. You don't have to pay for shit to get an advantage over a other player.
@ Strider
Ok, it's questionable, I give you that. But does it really matter? A good game is a good game. Surely this game has the same input (cartoony violence) but that doesn't mean the games are identical to each other.
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-30 00:53:59 UTC
in vault item: dm_strikerComment #16595
Texturing 10/10 Very well done. There was a good variety of textures but they all kept within the theme of the map.
Entity Layout 9/10 You incorperated every weapon, but the more powerful weapons were harder to find which evens it out a bit. I personally think there was too much health around, making players who run be the hardest to kill, you had health in nearly every room. The teleporter effects were pretty cool as well.
Design 10/10 Very solid design, everything looks euthentic and has a purpose. The variety of combat scenarios are diverse which is a big plus and you used a good amount of props. I find it good that the larger physics props that you can normally pick up with the gravity gun were locked in place, I find this useful to prevent cluttering of a map, making it hard to get around.
Ambience 8/10 The lighting was perfect, bright enough to see but dim enough to cast those wonderful shadows that we all love so much. You only just scraped by on ambience though, there was some but nowhere near enough for my liking.
Map Skill 10/10 I personally think you put a lot of effort into this map and it definately shows.
Total 9/10 (5 stars) This is a great, Half-Life based map which really fits in with the default mapcycle. Very impressive work and keep it up!
Commented 16 years ago2008-04-29 18:56:28 UTC
in journal: #5039Comment #50489
Ow stop being such a bunch of narrowminded TF2 fanboys and just try the game when it's out, instead of whining that it's a crappy TF2 wannabe. It's free afterall!!
@ Madcow
It's a closed beta, which you can play by invitation. But when the beta is done, you'll just click, download and play. We'll hook up and play a game sometime, okay?
Texturing — 8.1
Ambience — 8.8
Lighting — 7.6
Gameplay — 8.7
AVGN Video Review
Bottom Line
The charming retro-feel of the good ol' sidescrollers combined with our favorite FPS. A brilliant, well executed idea.Texturing — 6.4
Ambience — 7.5
Lighting — 7
Gameplay — 9.6
Review
2D games, especially platformers are indisputably an undying genre - a respected fatherly figure in gaming nowadays. Be it an emulated NES version of Super Mario Bros, the adventures of Sam & Max, or plain simple tetris - playing them gives you that warm nostalgic feeling you'd get as a six-year-old mashing your game pad like there's no tomorrow and hoping the gaming time limit set by your parents won't run out anytime soon. Flat-Life brings you back to just those childhood times and by combining them with a bit of crowbar, shotgun & headcrabs provides you with one of the most enjoyable and fresh Half-Life experiences ever.Obviously, the main thing making this mod so darn awesome is gameplay. Now there's no new monsters or vehicles or an egon gun that pierces walls, derives its targets of their flesh leaving nothing but bones and also has the powers of the gravity gun (write this one down, ChickenFist!). Actually, your arsenal, friends and foes haven't changed a bit. It's the way you see and interact with your environment which has, and that's right where the fun begins. Even if at first something as simple as a change in perspective doesn't sound too impressive, sticking with Half-Life's 3D renderer and putting the player in a 2-D perspective side-scroller or a top-down view shooter turns Flat-Life into something really special.Sadly, some problems are there to ruin the fun. First of all, there are multiple stability issues, especially in multiplayer games. Sometimes the only way to successfully start or join a game is when you're already in-game, meaning you have to load a random map in singleplayer before you can connect to any server. Loading saved games is also sometimes a bitch, causing crashes and other problems. Also, .mid music playback seems to have problems working after a mapchange or load. However, the vast majority of these issues is fixed on version 1.3, which will hopefully be released depending on the author's laziness. Stability aside, there are some other problems as well. The main thing eating my donuts and overcooking my casseroles is the crosshair in side-view, inaccurate and static. Even if its position would represent the trajectory of the bullet perfectly, it would still be pretty hard to aim, as it's always placed three steps from the player, making it very hard to predict whether you'll miss or not at longer range. Something like the RPG laser spot, showing you exactly what your bullet is going to end up in would be a real savior in this case. Somewhat dodgy player movement in some cases can also be a problem, especially when navigating through the various jumping puzzles most FL maps are full of. Even though tampering with Half-Life's physics system is annoying, some alterations in player velocity control to make it more responsive and precise should be considered.Beneath these issues, however, lie the various neat extra additions to the overall experience. Stuff like extra gibs/gore add some nice slapstick humour, the aforementioned buggy, yet nostalgia-inducing chiptone playback give it the right sound, while the neat shader water effects provide the eye candy. And of course, the very main thing making me forget any instability or singleplayer issues described earlier is the multiplayer. It's like you're in control of this special magnifying glass that instead of concentrated heat emits tiny lead showers, explosives and wee little crowbar bruises. Burning those pesky ants trying to capture your flag has never been so fun. Having spent a bit over an hour playing with my co-reviewers, I can't help but praise the multiplayer (which is why my final gameplay score is fairly buffed) and feel sad about the lack of suitable quality maps. With three different game modes (plain/team deathmatch and ctf) and a variety of powerups, there's plenty of unused mapping potential there. Hell, there's even some primitive custom-made bots for you to test things with.From a mapping perspective, the initial mod package doesn't feature any of the more impressive works released by the community, making impressions and variety feel a tad weak at first. In both singleplayer and multiplayer, most maps are fairly crude and dull, showing little of what Flat-Life has to offer. Visual aspects such as architecture, texturing or lighting were mostly functional, rarely showing anything more impressive. The only stock singleplayer map to display something more interesting seemed to be Operation Iceflow, yet in the end it proved nothing more than average both in aesthetics and ambience. The only exception to this was the infamous Tetrisitus, featuring a rather unique theme, however it was weak in every other field and overall frustrating to play due to the limited player view distance. Multiplayer maps were mostly nothing more than functional arenas with little attention paid to visuals (the only exception being ctf_egypt).Bottom Line
Even with its multiple issues, this is one unique bundle of fun you should definitely give a shot. There's plenty of community-made content of higher quality to try out and if you're capable of gathering 3-6 people willing to go multiplayer, you have absolutely no excuse to miss out on the immense oldschool fun Flat-Life can provide.Texturing — 8
Ambience — 10
Lighting — 8
Gameplay — 8
Angry Scottswoman Video Review
Bottom Line
Overall, it's a really neat concept, which while sadly falling flat on its face in singleplayer is more than redeemed by the exceptionally fun multiplayer.As for now, judging from what I saw, I have to say it didn't impress me that much.
Regards,
TeH Strideh"
Who reads anymore? You look at the title and skim, done and done.
Just didn't catch that.
Give me her personal email, damnit. You know damn right she's my soul mate.
FresheD: best answer ever.
is there even another email provided?
"I the simple australian boy and I attractive, sociable young gentleman
I like to has in butt from woman, soul mate...Which could appreciate all my qualities!!"
@ Strider
Ok, it's questionable, I give you that. But does it really matter? A good game is a good game. Surely this game has the same input (cartoony violence) but that doesn't mean the games are identical to each other.
How does that have anything to do with anything?
Very well done. There was a good variety of textures but they all kept within the theme of the map.
Entity Layout 9/10
You incorperated every weapon, but the more powerful weapons were harder to find which evens it out a bit. I personally think there was too much health around, making players who run be the hardest to kill, you had health in nearly every room. The teleporter effects were pretty cool as well.
Design 10/10
Very solid design, everything looks euthentic and has a purpose. The variety of combat scenarios are diverse which is a big plus and you used a good amount of props. I find it good that the larger physics props that you can normally pick up with the gravity gun were locked in place, I find this useful to prevent cluttering of a map, making it hard to get around.
Ambience 8/10
The lighting was perfect, bright enough to see but dim enough to cast those wonderful shadows that we all love so much. You only just scraped by on ambience though, there was some but nowhere near enough for my liking.
Map Skill 10/10
I personally think you put a lot of effort into this map and it definately shows.
Total 9/10 (5 stars)
This is a great, Half-Life based map which really fits in with the default mapcycle. Very impressive work and keep it up!
There are many games with the same graphic style.."
The sudden switch in the series from gritty realism to cartoony violence following TF2's announcement and release isn't questionable to you?
The Battlefield games fail in general anyway.
Mariowned: D:
Just went up in respect, in my books.
@ Madcow
It's a closed beta, which you can play by invitation.
But when the beta is done, you'll just click, download and play.
We'll hook up and play a game sometime, okay?
Oh, just a shitty Battlefield variation, nevermind.