Black Ops Redux review - Ianmnfla13

[James]

Hey guys, just thought I'd post a review I just received on your Black Ops Redux mod:

Opening Notes: Remaking an old mod must be hard to do. You need to remake the maps, make new models and textures, and you need to make sure it still has that feel that the original had. Let's see if the remake of the old mod "Black Ops" lived up to it.

Story - 10/10
Black Ops puts you into the role of Declan Walker, a Black  Operations Operative sent on a mission to eliminate Dr. Gallagher, a former scientist of the Black Mesa Science Team. He stole a mysterious briefcase that the Black Ops need at all costs which you'll find out near the end of the mod.

The story is well thought out and I liked the comics throughout the mod. It seems like a very legit concept to be playing as a Black Ops instead of playing as a Grunt or a Barney or even some unknown character (most likely Gordon Freeman) in a HEV Suit. That's what makes this a very original mod concept which sorta worked all around.

Gameplay - 9/10
What really impressed me was the fact that the people remaking this mod used Sysop's AM Rebirth Source Code, which made this mod much more fun to play. Gameplay was good, very realistic with the movement and the injuries. The puzzles were well worked into the gameplay, which doesn't happen with most modifications. I also loved how there were some face paced action at some points. Like you're in the streets with the Grunts firing at you, the music kicks in, there's a helicopter firing at you to,

Graphics - 9/10
The textures and modeling are superb, animations were great too. The environments is some of (This is my opinion people) the BEST mapping I've seen. Very well made and once again, well thought out. And since they used Sysop's source code, the effects were made just a bit better.

Sound & Music - 5/10
There really isn't much to the sounds, only the footsteps, gun sounds and grunt sounds changed, so there isn't really much changed.

Overall Score - 10/10

I have to give props to the people that made the original mod in the first place because they did a very good job of tying everything together. Like I said a couple times before, it's just well thought out, everything perfectly fit together. The guys that remade the mod did a great job also for updating it in the way that they did, and this may have been short but it ended well.. I had a lot of fun playing this and I hope you guys to.

Congrats guys.

[Ianmnfla13]

They win 25 Internets each.

[RaZ777]

OH SHI, but for crying out load, WE DIDN'T REMAKE THE MAPS D:

[Ianmnfla13]

Still some great mapping.

[Sporkeh]

i giev 10/10

[Ianmnfla13]

wut

[Matuka]

Actually don't you mean your overall score is 33/40? :D

Also @Ianmnfla13, welcome to HLC, better than FPSB, every post you make about FPSB has to be negative!

[Ianmnfla13]

I only go there for the content. I went to the forums and got lamed once or twice.

[Greer]

Thanks Ian, as i can see you got the idea of mod to have new gameplay and graphics, basically making it nicer and better to play, old HL1 action was just not enough.:D

[Ianmnfla13]

Thanks Ian, as i can see you got the idea of mod to have new gameplay and graphics, basically making it nicer and better to play, old HL1 action was just not enough.:D

You can say that.

[Lexi]

Not bad review. I wouldn't give it 10/10, but I mostly agree.

Offtopic:
By the way, reviews are pretty often showing personal opinions of the reviewer. I haven't seen some constructive criticism for a while. For example one dude from our country made a professional review for F.E.A.R. 2. Man, that was full of bullshit! He was complaining about things that didn't really spoil the game. He almost buried the game for some unknown shitty reason, even though it was awesome, pretty similar to F.E.A.R. 1 gameplay (which was awesome too). Sadly, that's how it works. Somebody's looking forward to some game/movie and some asshole buries it with lies in his review.

[Ianmnfla13]

Sounds like a Class A Douchebag.

[Sporkeh]

Offtopic:
By the way, reviews are pretty often showing personal opinions of the reviewer. I haven't seen some constructive criticism for a while. For example one dude from our country made a professional review for F.E.A.R. 2. Man, that was full of bullshit! He was complaining about things that didn't really spoil the game. He almost buried the game for some unknown shitty reason, even though it was awesome, pretty similar to F.E.A.R. 1 gameplay (which was awesome too). Sadly, that's how it works. Somebody's looking forward to some game/movie and some asshole buries it with lies in his review.

Lol.

[Ianmnfla13]

Offtopic:
By the way, reviews are pretty often showing personal opinions of the reviewer. I haven't seen some constructive criticism for a while. For example one dude from our country made a professional review for F.E.A.R. 2. Man, that was full of bullshit! He was complaining about things that didn't really spoil the game. He almost buried the game for some unknown shitty reason, even though it was awesome, pretty similar to F.E.A.R. 1 gameplay (which was awesome too). Sadly, that's how it works. Somebody's looking forward to some game/movie and some asshole buries it with lies in his review.

Lol.

And here's House.

[Sporkeh]

Yeah it's almost as if reviews should only state cold facts instead of personal opinions on the game, like "I like/dislike this game, because of so and so".

He was complaining about things that didn't really spoil the game.

Yeah, they spoiled the game, but not... REALLY.

He almost buried the game for some unknown shitty reason

How do you know it's shitty reason if it's unknown buddy?

even though it was awesome, pretty similar to F.E.A.R. 1 gameplay (which was awesome too).

That's opinion, and therefore in your optics wrong. Also I think both FEAR 1 and 2 suck donkey dick, but I can't say that in a review because that would make you cry and write angry letters to me.

Sadly, that's how it works.

Yeah.

Somebody's looking forward to some game/movie and some asshole buries it with lies in his review.

Because OBVIOUSLY everything reviewers say is absolutely true and his/her tastes apply to everyone ever.


URGH

[Greer]

As long as viewers wont go like Podcast 17 now went, its good to know more then one opinion, 10 people reviewing one mod will be great enough to review it from all sides.

[Ianmnfla13]

That's opinion, and therefore in your optics wrong. Also I think both FEAR 1 and 2 suck donkey dick, but I can't say that in a review because that would make you cry and write angry letters to me.

FEAR was great and FEAR 2 wasn't as good. I'm all for weird endings but that was fucking mad. The only FEAR games you should think that suck donkey dick should be Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate.

[toadie]

That's opinion, and therefore in your optics wrong. Also I think both FEAR 1 and 2 suck donkey dick, but I can't say that in a review because that would make you cry and write angry letters to me.

FEAR was great and FEAR 2 wasn't as good. I'm all for weird endings but that was fucking mad. The only FEAR games you should think that suck donkey dick should be Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate.

No, he's well within his own rights to believe the FEAR and FEAR 2 suck, it's his own view. If he's played through them both, he's well entitled to his own view. Telling him he's wrong is like trying to tell him his favourite sports car isn't a Bugatti Veyron, it's a FIAT 500 - he's clearly made his mind up, and very little will change it.

I mean.. I think he's a tool , but you have to respect a personal standpoint, you can't just say " that's rubbish. You're supposed to like what I like".
Also FEAR 1 and 2 do suck. Terribly. Granted, great tech, pretty good art.. but the story was uninteresting told in that bad mix of cliche horror mixed with Japanese horror mixed with grindhouse mixed with bad FPS narration.. the weapons ranged from pistol in 9x19 suckabellum  to railmagnet-gun-BFG-thing, it's a linear weapon progression too. Pistol, SMG/Shotgun, Shotgun/SMG, AR, rocket launcher, experimental weapon, final boss. Of course that's a simplification, but my point remains - it's very very linear progression.
OH and everyone loves offices. It's a fact. This is why features them so much, without much mix up with OTHER locations.... except doom3-esque labs. Actually, these games are a lot like Doom 3- Dark, overhyped shooterfests with breaks  in the "press trigger down hard" mechanics to pretend they're being scary. FEAR one made me jolt once, and that was it, the rest of the time I got exactly the same amount of tension fom squishing a stressball.
Finally, big spoiler ending of FEAR2 was these things in this order- Badly executed, fucked up, full of orange and wind, probably the most anticlimatic fight ever.

THere, there's me justifying myself in some detail there. I didn't think that FEAR 1 or 2 brought anything new to the table that wasn't done better in any other generic horror FPS. I'm now tempted to replay Doom 1 and 3 again to see if they hold up.

edit - OH, and Perseus Mandate doesn't even register on my games-dar. It shouldn't have been sold really.

[Ianmnfla13]

No, he's well within his own rights to believe the FEAR and FEAR 2 suck, it's his own view. If he's played through them both, he's well entitled to his own view. Telling him he's wrong is like trying to tell him his favourite sports car isn't a Bugatti Veyron, it's a FIAT 500 - he's clearly made his mind up, and very little will change it.

It's not like I flamed him with obscenities and said "You should like THIS", I just randomly said "The only FEAR games you should think that suck donkey dick is Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate." I do respect his opinion, but what I meant to say was "Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point are much worse."

Finally, big spoiler ending of FEAR2 was these things in this order- Badly executed, fucked up, full of orange and wind, probably the most anticlimatic fight ever.

That's not what I meant when I said "fucking mad". I was talking about how Alma raped Beckett during the fight.

edit - OH, and Perseus Mandate doesn't even register on my games-dar. It shouldn't have been sold really.

It's better than Extraction Point to some extent.

[Anton]

I went iver this with a moderator. You are all getting banned for posting in a troll thread. See that guy "James"?
Notorious troll on these boards.

[James]

Yes, I troll my own website.

[DiamonD]

James, please ban this "James" person; he's a huge troll.

User was banned FOREVER for this post. Reason: "James, please ban this "Ashiq" person; he's a huge troll."

[DiamonD]

I think I know your secret identity.

Hello, Daza.

[Florence]

I think I know your secret identity.

Hello, Daza.

[toadie]

No, he's well within his own rights to believe the FEAR and FEAR 2 suck, it's his own view. If he's played through them both, he's well entitled to his own view. Telling him he's wrong is like trying to tell him his favourite sports car isn't a Bugatti Veyron, it's a FIAT 500 - he's clearly made his mind up, and very little will change it.

It's not like I flamed him with obscenities and said "You should like THIS", I just randomly said "The only FEAR games you should think that suck donkey dick is Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate." I do respect his opinion, but what I meant to say was "Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point are much worse."

Finally, big spoiler ending of FEAR2 was these things in this order- Badly executed, fucked up, full of orange and wind, probably the most anticlimatic fight ever.

That's not what I meant when I said "fucking mad". I was talking about how Alma raped Beckett during the fight.

edit - OH, and Perseus Mandate doesn't even register on my games-dar. It shouldn't have been sold really.

It's better than Extraction Point to some extent.

a) no, you didn't, but that wasn't my point. My point was, I think clearly layed out there- you can't say someone's opinion is wrong just because it isn't the same as YOUR opinion.(by wrong ,I mean to say you take what you think as fact that noone else can dispute and anyone who does is clearly breaking that logic)
b)pff, I wasn't going into depth. I was jsut quantifying my opinion- Fear 1 and 2 are mediocre, in my eyes.
c) see b

[Ianmnfla13]

You have beaten me.

[Anton]

I had a discussion about this with a hella trolling kind of guy. And well, I think if you start off with the ungrounded opinion that a game is going to suck, and you on't even try to find good points when reviewing, you shouldn't review it. It's not like I read game reviews, but this has happened to artists and filmmakers I've seen get reviewed. The reviewer basically hates them for no apparent reason, and when the review comes along he states things like "i couldn't be bothered with listening to song blah blah, I know it's going to suck" that's just a bad review in my opinion, not a bad rating.

Although I suppose this wasn't the case. And I have no idea if it's different when reviewing games. As far as I have seen, game reviewing consists of not punctuating and hating every game in existance.

[Ianmnfla13]

I've only starting reviewing mods, even got into playing mods earlier this year. I'm not the best reviewer, but with a little bit more thought about the mod itself, I can be a good one.


So is this a good review? Bad review?

[Sporkeh]

Not that great since you did not elaborate on anything at all, except a bit for the story.

What really impressed me was the fact that the people remaking this mod used Sysop's AM Rebirth Source Code, which made this mod much more fun to play.

Why does that make it more fun to play?

The environments is some of (This is my opinion people) the BEST mapping I've seen.

Why?

Sound & Music - 5/10
There really isn't much to the sounds, only the footsteps, gun sounds and grunt sounds changed, so there isn't really much changed.

Are you giving it a 5 because the default sounds are not great, or because they didn't change much?

Etc.

[D3ads]

I gotta be honest with you guys, I played it for about an hour and then stopped and haven't been back to it since. Great new weapons and effects but that's about it, the problem is I've played this before several times and since nothing in the maps have changed it seems rather pointless. Also the graphic novel sequences needed to be replaced to accomodate the new models but they weren't so it breaks the immersion somewhat. I had a great time playing the original when it came out and imho it didn't really need a facelift, HOE was a different kettle of fish so it made sense kinda to "remake" it.

Also F.E.A.R. is awesome, the original at least, for providing some of the best combat in a FPS. The second one was a bit of a let down but not bad. Extraction Point was.. uhhh.. pointless really and I liked Perseus Mandate but only because it felt like a really good user made mod and I didn't buy it.