TWHL Tower 2

Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant. A great example of some of the best mapping HL1 has to offer, in all its different flavours.

Now to figure out where those last two discs were hidden...

It's time!!!

Just finished this earlier tonight and I loved (almost) every minute of it. I suppose I can list out my individual ratings per floor to explain my rating more.

(25) Roof - Strider - Warm Welcome: 10, 10, 10, 10, and 10. I loved everything about this opening level and it set the stage super well for the rest of the mod.
24 - JamaicanDave - Pest Control: 10, 10, 9, 9, 10. I loved just about everything about this level but the lighting was a little boring I suppose, but it's just an office setting anyway. The ambience was a little too quiet as well. One of my personal favourites for the architecture.
23 - Dolmo - Phantom Lab: 9, 9, 9, 9, 8. Pretty good as well, but I have to say that waiting around for the bad G-Man impression to finish was a little bit irritating.
22 - Ogdred & Windawz - The Tomb: 10, 10, 10, 8, 7. Visually, this floor is excellent. But the gameplay and lighting suffer a bit. Jumping onto small platforms ain't that fun as well as the cheap deaths the first time around with the floors that break. It's also pretty dark in most areas.
21 - PsyWarVeteran - Cargo Specimen: 8, 9, 9, 8, 6. I'll be honest, I really didn't find this level that much fun to play. It's kindof irritating and I guess not really my thing. Texturing is pretty good other than some texture choices I personally found a little questionable, architecture is pretty decent I guess. Ambience gets the job done as well as the lighting, even if it's a tad plain.
20 - TruckStopSantaClaus - Food Court: 6, 6, 7, 7, N/A. It's a decent relax map made by someone who (I think?) is relatively new to HL mapping. Pretty much no gameplay aside from eating a brush pizza then hunting for the CD.
19 - MrFloyd - Half-Pint: 10, 10, 10, 10, and 10. Just like Warm Welcome, there's not a single thing I would change about this floor. Even the way the level ends is comedy gold.
18 - ZikShadow - Memories: 9, 9, 10, 8, 10. This map really shines with the ambience. It's kinda basic for the most part with the architecture and texturing but more than makes up for it with the atmosphere.
17 - Dr. Orange - Orange Corp.: 10, 10, 9, 10, 10. Nearly perfect, just a little lacking in ambience, I felt. Very humorous and one of my favourite floors.
16 - RollBarrel - Tele Office: 7, 7, 7, 7, 9. Level's pretty good for what I assume is also a novice mapper for HL. I found breaking the individual glass things for the teleporter generators incredibly satisfying to do, so that's major points for that. I might rob that gimmick for something sometime in the future.
15 - Spikehunter - Training Course: 10, 10, 6, 7, 8. Well if you wanted to make a training course map, I'd say you nailed it, but at the cost of having some plain lighting. There's also no or very little ambience at all? This level is also pretty hard.
14 - Strider - Smash & Grab: 10, 10, 10, 10, and 10. Loved absolutely everything about this floor. The entity work must've been insane. Also, what's that song on the radio?
13 - JamaicanDave - Saviour?: 10, 10, 9, 10, 10. Really fun level, but I don't think I've been able to save the scientist ever. Is it even possible? Lighting is more interesting this time around since it's a lab setting. Another one of my personal favourites. I love both of JamaicanDave's floors, okay.
12 - Strider? Unq? - Xen Garden: 10, 10, 10, 10, and N/A. Another chillout floor with no gameplay, but the visuals and ambience more than makes up for it.
11 - Dr. Orange - Apartments: 9, 9, 9, 9, and 10. A cool map to follow the chillout floor, though I don't find it to look and feel quite as nice as his previous floor. Weird and awkward transition after going to bed, not sure if that was entirely intentional.
10 - Penguinboy - Not Much Of A Turnabout: 9, 10, 6, 8, 10. I loved this floor. The murder mystery gimmick was awesome and brought me back to one of my fave custom scenarios for SimCity 3000 (Who Murdered Mayor Stunkalot). The level itself is pretty plain but it gets the job done. I don't think it has any ambience though.
09 - Urby - Headley and Crabb Solicitors: 10, 10, 10, 10, and 9. Killing headcrabs and zombies is kinda boring and slow, so it lost a point for that for me. It was pretty good otherwise.
08 - PsyWarVeteran - Darkwoods Penitentiary: 8, 7, 10, 8, 10. I enjoyed this floor much more, even though it really is just Orange's Apartments but spookier. The texturing this time around was a little weirder, and some low quality textures were used. Lighting is used pretty well for the most part.
07 - 2muchvideogames - Flippant: 8, 9, 7, 8, 6. I played this in beta testing and it was absolute hell. You know the section if you've played it. If not, consider yourself lucky. It's a lot easier this time around. The level gimmick is cool even if the gameplay suffers because of it. Level gets the job done.
06 - Ogdred - Von Braun: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10. I don't even LIKE System Shock 2, but this floor is incredible. Everything about it is nailed. I love it. It's also especially better now that the one issue it had in beta has now been fixed (the crate).
05 - Lukkasz323 - Cupid's Queue: 9, 9, 9, 9, 9. Fun floor. Don't really have much to say about it otherwise.
04 - PsyWarVeteran - Trial By Fire: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10. One of my absolutely favourite floors. I loved it. Absolutely nothing I would change about it other than maybe rewriting the code for the text on the notes that appears on your screen so you don't accidentally miss a note's text. That's no fault of this floor though. It's similar to ZikShadow's floor.
03 - Zoonyarts - Hard Inferno: 10, 9, 8, 8, 8: Some really impressive destruction at play in this map, but a couple questionable texture choices. Ambience is a little lacking but it doesn't last very long before it doesn't matter anymore. Lighting also suffers a bit but it quickly becomes obvious why. Maybe I'm getting biased at this point, but fighting hgrunt fatigue is setting in.
02 - Unq - Repechage: 10, 10, 10, 10, and a goddamn 10. The entity work for this map I'm sure was an absolute nightmare but it absolutely paid off. This is probably hands down my absolute favourite floor of the entire mod. It's Strider's Smash and Grab but on steroids.
01 - Strider - All Foyered Up: 10, 10, 10, 10, 9. Grunt fatigue is in full swing, so I guess it loses one point for that, but the APC is fun. Not much else to say otherwise, Strider's floors are pretty consistent quality.
00 - Unq - Cenodrome XL: 10, 10, 10, 10, and another damn 10. Same thing as Repechage. This floor is awesome. Vox is hilarious and the final boss is as well. I loved it.

So if I were to average out all of my scores, we get an overall score of: 8.5 (rounded up to 9), 9.3 (rounded down to 9), 9, 8.9 (rounded up to 9), and 9.125 (rounded down to 9). All in all, a great success! I was most impressed with the floors that tried to achieve a realistic setting or do something different and new with the game. Most of the puzzle or "walking simulator" floors were my absolute favourites. Looking forward to TWHL Tower 3!

Edit: I wrote this late at night/early in the morning so I might've been too harsh or too generous to some. Don't really take it too personally.

TWHL Tower 2 takes everything that the first mod laid out and dials it up to eleven. More floors, more action, more puzzles, more insane Spirit entity wizardry. The whole experience is absolutely worthy of a playthrough, but I will attempt to break down each floor individually for those who care.

Full floor breakdown over at Run Think Shoot Live. (I smashed through TWHL's character limit and couldn't trim any more...)

Overall, this was an absolute blast to play through and a joy to have been an active part of. Stunning work by everyone involved and a huge and hearty thank you to Strider for taking on the project, as well as Penguinboy and Unq for picking things up when Strider had to step away for a while to go and dodge security cameras and disable some lasers somewhere.

I can't even put into words how great an experience this was.

With very, very few exceptions it's an absolute delight to play from start to finish and the amount of talent on display is awe-inspiring. Unq and Strider are the absolute crème de la crème, but that is by no means an insult to all the other contributors who all did an incredible job.

I want to curl up in a ball and cry because I will never have these skillz.

Amazing work! It inspired me to learn how to make maps for half-life 1...

By the way, floor 14 (Smash & Grab), what's that song on the radio? I really liked it.

Edit: Action Davis - Japanese https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xQ27XCVitw

One of those things that just keep on giving on each replay. There's so much to be inspired from, and even some slick levels with incredible attention to details.
It took me 3 hours to play it, it would take me a week to give a reasonable and fair review to each map, so I'm just gonna congratulate every mapper for the effort that went into this.

I love community mapping projects. Lots of fun, distinctive little stories. Great creativity working within the floor boundaries, some levels felt cramped and others huge. Amazing entity work.

I prototyped an entry for this, but gave up thinking there wasn't enough to it. Regret level: 10.

Best map i also like the paintings can someone where to find the gman painting that made by joanna barnum? I really like that painting

That's a lot of high-quality maps! Some interesting gameplay mechanics and ideas, and the level of detail in some of the maps is just excellent. I've tried to summarize my thoughts on each map:

Warm welcome: I like how the gameplay mechanics were communicated through visual clues (red lasers + red glow on turrets, orange pipes).
Pest control: The cubicles combat area setup was nice, with vorts being able to flank the player. Standard HL gameplay but nicely done.
Phantom lab: Visually very nice, good use of available space, also good use of satchels/tripmines. I wasn't expecting a hidden item search and found the G-man sequences a bit too long, and the intro was weird, but a great map nonetheless.
The tomb: Fun introduction and great atmosphere, especially the 'artifact grab' and the cheesy 'ending'. Instakill traps were a bit frustrating, but still a fun map.
Cargo specimen #798: Interesting monster use. It wasn't always very clear how to proceed though. The start and end 'sequences' were a fun touch.
Food court: Finally, after all these years, Gordon gets to eat something besides medkits and morphine...
Half-Pint: Fantastic! Manages to be both predictable and surprising at the same time. Definitely one of the highlights of this mappack.
Memories: These kind of maps aren't really my cup of tea.
Orange corp: Nice visuals and 'storytelling' that builds up suspense before the final 'discovery'.
Tele office: Visually more basic, but the combat and especially the 'finale' were actually quite fun.
Training course: Refreshingly different in style. Combat was maybe a bit too though but it was never dull.
Smash & grab: Very well done. Visually appealing, distinct mechanics that were clearly explained, and not too easy either.
Saviour?: Good sense of place and level of detail. Interesting use of windows and layout, so the player can see the AI taking initiative, which makes them look smart.
Xen garden: 1/10 would never relax here again. 'domesticated' headcrabs, yeah right... But seriously, this one looked very pretty.
Apartments: I don't like horror maps so I skipped this one.
Not much of a turnabout: That's a cool little detective story. Very nice!
Headley & Crabb: Not bad visually, but not the most interesting combat-wise. I'm not sure why Barney was hostile?
Darkwoods penitentiary: Not really my style, but I'm glad I stuck around to see the ending.
Flippant: An interesting idea, but enemies were rather difficult to hit (due to a hitbox issue?) and combat was too hard overall for my taste.
Von Braun: This floor felt like a different game altogether. Very well done. The hint system was a good idea, given how little 'room' there was to introduce the different gameplay mechanics.
Cupid's queue: A bit rough around the edges, with some rooms not making much sense. I did like how it gave you a glimpse of the secret cd.
Trial by fire: More horror, so another skip for me.
Hard inferno: Nice idea about exploration versus direct confrontation. Ending was pretty frantic.
Repechage: Visually very pleasing, interesting gameplay mechanics, chock-full of secrets, but above all, great fun to play. One of my favorite maps in this mappack.
All foyered up: Visually very nice (chrome tv effect!), but the final room felt a bit too cramped for a grande finale.
Cenodrome XL: I'm not sure whether I'd be able to beat this without cheating, but it's an interesting idea for sure. The connection with Repechage is a nice touch.