After 13 years' development, Half-Life mod about a marine assault on Black Mesa launches to rave reviews
Half-Life: Field Intensity is a new mod for Valve's 1998 shooter that launched this week after 13 years in development. Created by a group of three veteran modders known as Hazard Team, whose previous work includes the 2009 prequel mod Half-Life: Induction, Field Intensity is a much larger project. Taking cues from Opposing Force, the mod's 34 maps follow the story of one of the marines sent into Black Mesa to quell the alien invasion and silence the scientists working there. The mod has had a very positive reception, with one ModDB user calling it «one of the best mods I've ever played».
Hazard Team began work on the mod in 2009, after the launch of Induction. Originally known as Soldier's Adventures, Hazard Team wanted to make a «classic» Half-Life mod that, in the words of its programmer Roman Chistokhodov «tells the story of the Black Mesa incident from the point of view of yet another character.» The mod initially focuses on the Marines' opening assault on the Black Mesa facility. «Opposing Force starts with an osprey crash and Adrian Shephard being unconscious for a long time, and skips a big bulk of the Half-Life storyline» says Chistokhodov. «We tried to fill this gap and show some HECU action before the evac order.»
The mod's action is split into two parts that Hazard Team refers to internally as «Days». Day 1 focuses on the Marines' early encounters with the Xen aliens, with maps made primarily by the mod's co-creator, who goes by the nickname KRSK. Day 2 is, as Chistokhodov puts it, «a classic 'try to escape Black Mesa'» trope. The two halves of the story are weaved together by an unseen radioman who informs you about the wider events at the facility, an addition that Chistokhodov states was «inspired by games
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