HL2 EP2: Grey Mod.

[Kreekakon]

I just finished playing through my first run of the campaign. Here's what I think:

Graphics: I love what they've done here There are tons, and tons of new content, and almost looks like it's its own game. Rarely do you see so much new content in a mod. The mapping is also done really well. there's quite a lot of detail in many places.

Gameplay: This should probably fall into two segments: Combat, and Puzzles.

The combat in short...it has too many weapons, given the length of the mod you will be unable to utilize them all successfully. The guns are okay in this aspect, and you should be able to find uses for them always, although you'll be using the pistol the most due to its abundance of ammo. The melee weapons however are way too many. The Sledge hammer is useless, and once you get the knife, I doubt you'll be using any other melee weapon.

Now onto the puzzles: I actually enjoyed them quite a lot. There aren't that many, but all have their solutions hidden subtlety in places which aren't extremely hard to find if you try. Best part is they will make you feel like a genius when you solve them, which is what I think puzzles should always have implanted in some form.

Horror Aspect: I have to say the opening segment of the mod is one of the creepiest things I've ever played for some time. It set up as a great taster for what might have followed. After the game starts the front half will start to build-up more, and more as you figure out something is wrong with your world; I thought this was done well too, even if it did have jumpscares (Which were effective ones BTW).

However after the mod passed its halfway point...I don't know. the sense of tension was all, but gone. There weren't even any mildly disturbing moments anymore. I can't help, but feel the developers just rushed out the ending segment without putting much thought to it. To make matters worse, the plot, and buildup was never resolved, at least not in my book. Which brings us to the next part.

Plot: Oh man, oh god, oh man. I don't even know where to start with the plot of this mod. It is obviously the greatest con in the entire mod. I did not find the story gripping. Motivation was very weak throughout.

For the entire first half of the story, you have no idea what you are doing. You aren't even given a basic premise to go on about. You are left with nothing to wander the streets. And, no, the deep-novel like text segments in loading don't help.

When you do get to the plot however, I feel like there's little that's intriguing from what I could see. Plot-wise there is hardly no buildup, no answers given which open more questions. I felt like the ending was especially anti-climatic. That's my least favorite part of the mod. I'm not sure if the alternate ending would change my mind, but I think that's irrelevant. I think a good game should be able to draw a satisfactory point at the end of your first play-through, much like how you should feel after you've watch a movie for the first time at the theater. In here, the game just cuts off at the end. No nothing. it just leaves me with a blank feeling, and that's not a good thing.

Verdict: Excellent graphics, with a fairly decent horror aspect which unfortunately falls flat after the first half. The story though is the main bummer in Grey: 6.5/10