Wow, this was an epic failure on my part. I think calling this "weekly" was a stupid choice, as I don't have the time to update it that often.
I've found myself playing a lot of Source engine mods lately and some of them are incredible! They are so good that I think Valve should definitely hire the creator! Each week, in this thread, I'll feature a Source mod and talk about it a bit, giving it the "Hey Valve, Give This Guy a Job!" award.
Up first, we have an Left 4 Dead campaign I just found out about today called "Heaven Can Wait", created by a Russian named ROMKA. L4Dmods.com compiled it for English download and play.
Download here: http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=package&Itemid=2&packageId=612
Time for a short review of "Heaven Can Wait"
Heaven Can Wait is an incredibly long and challenging 5-map campaign. Versus mode is not playable on this map, and with quite good reason, it would be completely unbalanced in favor of the infected. Let me tell you, my friends and I struggled with this thing on Easy mode! Right off the bat you're plopped down at a crash site holding only your pistol, sometimes a second pistol or actual weapons being around if you're lucky. There is no "safe time" at the beginning like there is in the other campaigns, you are being attacked right off the bat! At first I didn't like this, but then as I played it time and time again, I actually liked this idea. It just makes this not a good campaign for L4D beginners to start with.
Another big draw about this campaign is how the crescendo events are triggered. There are very few crescendo events that you have to press a switch to trigger (read: less than 3 I think). I won't spoil all of them, so I'll give an example by talking about one that happens right near the beginning. You're walking down a road, toward a bridge with cars on it, you hear a rumble as you see the cars sink below where you can see on the bridge. The bridge crumbles and all the cars fall in the water. All of the noise from the bridge itself alerts the horde, so you're backed into an edge fighting for your life. On the positive side though, the horde broke down a gate you formerly couldn't get through, which is the way you're supposed to proceed. This makes it feel even more like a zombie apocalypse because the zombies come whenever they feel like it, not necessarily on your schedule. My only criticism of this is that it can be unfair sometimes from a gameplay perspective, which is probably why Valve didn't take a chance with this kind of design in their own campaigns.
The art design of these maps is absolutely jaw-dropping. There's a farm road, a city that looks like it's seen the effects of the zombie apocalypse, a parking garage (those that played it will remember this well, heheheh), and a military base. My personal favorite just to look at is the map number 4. If you wish to hear about this, highlight the spoiler box below:
Heaven Can Wait is a fantastic campaign that's also a very long and difficult. Don't feel embarrased for playing this on Easy, because that's pretty much like playing the stock campaigns on Advanced. I cannot highly suggest enough that you have four human players for this campaign, as the AIs will just get you killed by their stupidity. Get this one, because it's in most of the EGA members' rotation for campaigns we play.
I've found myself playing a lot of Source engine mods lately and some of them are incredible! They are so good that I think Valve should definitely hire the creator! Each week, in this thread, I'll feature a Source mod and talk about it a bit, giving it the "Hey Valve, Give This Guy a Job!" award.
Up first, we have an Left 4 Dead campaign I just found out about today called "Heaven Can Wait", created by a Russian named ROMKA. L4Dmods.com compiled it for English download and play.
Download here: http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=package&Itemid=2&packageId=612
Time for a short review of "Heaven Can Wait"
Heaven Can Wait is an incredibly long and challenging 5-map campaign. Versus mode is not playable on this map, and with quite good reason, it would be completely unbalanced in favor of the infected. Let me tell you, my friends and I struggled with this thing on Easy mode! Right off the bat you're plopped down at a crash site holding only your pistol, sometimes a second pistol or actual weapons being around if you're lucky. There is no "safe time" at the beginning like there is in the other campaigns, you are being attacked right off the bat! At first I didn't like this, but then as I played it time and time again, I actually liked this idea. It just makes this not a good campaign for L4D beginners to start with.
Another big draw about this campaign is how the crescendo events are triggered. There are very few crescendo events that you have to press a switch to trigger (read: less than 3 I think). I won't spoil all of them, so I'll give an example by talking about one that happens right near the beginning. You're walking down a road, toward a bridge with cars on it, you hear a rumble as you see the cars sink below where you can see on the bridge. The bridge crumbles and all the cars fall in the water. All of the noise from the bridge itself alerts the horde, so you're backed into an edge fighting for your life. On the positive side though, the horde broke down a gate you formerly couldn't get through, which is the way you're supposed to proceed. This makes it feel even more like a zombie apocalypse because the zombies come whenever they feel like it, not necessarily on your schedule. My only criticism of this is that it can be unfair sometimes from a gameplay perspective, which is probably why Valve didn't take a chance with this kind of design in their own campaigns.
The art design of these maps is absolutely jaw-dropping. There's a farm road, a city that looks like it's seen the effects of the zombie apocalypse, a parking garage (those that played it will remember this well, heheheh), and a military base. My personal favorite just to look at is the map number 4. If you wish to hear about this, highlight the spoiler box below:
You end up going into city hall, where right off the bat, they tried to set a trap for the players by having a gate and 3 metal detectors. Remembering Dead Air, my friends and I had to look around and find a way around it. We spotted a table and jumped onto it and then over the gate. We went along through the hallways, a courtroom, and then the mayor's office! This room looked absolutely beautiful, then one of us walked over to the bookcase, and one of the books turned white, like it was a switch, so they pressed it and it opened the bookshelf to reveal a secret staircase! Down the long flights of stairs was a player-activated event where you have to call a monorail car!
Heaven Can Wait is a fantastic campaign that's also a very long and difficult. Don't feel embarrased for playing this on Easy, because that's pretty much like playing the stock campaigns on Advanced. I cannot highly suggest enough that you have four human players for this campaign, as the AIs will just get you killed by their stupidity. Get this one, because it's in most of the EGA members' rotation for campaigns we play.
"Heaven can Wait" :rockin :rockin :rockin
