uWrite: Steam Power Still Exists, Not To Anyone's Suprise

The following article was submitted by Raidon. The opinions expressed below do not represent those of Ani-Gamers or its affiliates.

Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, the first official game to use the source engine. Since then, mods for it have been released, the most famous of which is Counter Strike. It's still a good game, but even the most fervent fanboys of the intense tactical shooter get bored of it every now and then. So, what do you do if you're bored with your current collection? Look for more mods, of course!

Dystopia
The first one covered is Dystopia. Think of this as Counter Strike meets Ghost in the Shell. There are three classes: light, medium, and heavy. With each able to choose from a bank of abilities, you will fight the war on two fronts, cyberspace and the "meat world." The gameplay is much like Unreal Tournament; almost every game requires you to capture or destroy certain objectives. It's a fun game, and good enough to keep you distracted from the pre-pubescent infested Team Fortress 2 (I'm not bashing TF2's gameplay, but please refrain from using voice chat if you sound like a 10 year old).

Zombie Master
Mod number two is Zombie Master. One player controls hordes of zombies in an RTS scheme, and the other players exist as survivors. They have to complete chalenging objectives, such as repairing a truck to drive away from an infested city. The game mechanics are great; you have to take advantage of the Source Engine's physics to succeed. Survival gear includes a crowbar a la Gordon Freeman, a sledge hammer, a pistol, a shotgun, a winchester rifle (some see it as a tribue to Shaun of the Dead), and an uzi with Something Awful's signature awesome face grafted onto it. Have fun surviving!

Eternal Silence
Eternal Silence can be seen as a hard-futuristic port of the space battles seen in Battlefront II. However, I have very little to say about this game as there are never any playable servers.

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Half Life 2: Deathmatch is a mod you have to purchace from the Valve store. However, the $9.95 is well worth it. The game pits the Combine police and army against the terrorists and freedom fighters, the Rebels. Arm yourself with weapons from all three Half Life 2 games, including the gravity gun. Nothing is more satisfying than throwing an enemy's grenade back at them. Maybe throwing a buz saw at their neck, or crushing them with a car. Oh well, be creative.

Zombie Master
Half Life 2: Deathmatch is a mod you have to purchace from the Valve store. However, the $9.95 is well worth it. The game pits the Combine police and army against the terrorists and freedom fighters, the Rebels. Arm yourself with weapons from all three Half Life 2 games, including the gravity gun. Nothing is more satisfying than throwing an enemy's grenade back at them. Maybe throwing a buz saw at their neck, or crushing them with a car. Oh well, be creative.

Battle Grounds 2
Our final game is called The Battle Grounds 2 (requires Deathmatch). It is the sequel to the hit game of the same title. The mod takes you back in time to the revolutionary war, where you fight as either a royal infantry man, an officer, or German Jaeger mercenary for the British or as a soldier, officer, or frontiersman for the Americans. The soldier classes are armed with standard-issue muskets with average accuracy and relatively fast load times. They are also armed with bayonettes which could be used to stab the enemy during a charge. Officers start out with pistols, which have poor accuracy but are more acurate than a musket when moving. They are also endowed swords for hand-to hand combat. Jaegers and Frontiersmen are sniper classes; their muskets have excelent accuracy yet have longer reload times, and their lack of bayonette force them to rely on either a hunting knife or a a sword.

A brief conversation with the lead developer of TBG2 revealed that with the new release of Steam and Source, new features will be avaliable in game. Such features include unlockable equipment, such as better bullets, rifled barrels, a scope for the sniper classes, and a ridable horse vehicle. They will also make it possible for players to destroy said scopes with an acurate shot, dislodge bayonettes, and kill the horses. There will also be at least two new classes: a mercenary class for the British (possibly Swiss or Dutch) who is armed with only a sword, yet has the ability to sprint. The American double of this class is the pirate, armed with a sabre. The developer also claims that they attempted to make grenadier classes for both factions, yet the modeling and coding is proving quite dificult, and they have decided to delay the class. Additionally, they are looking into a way of creating musket-bayonette battles in other eras such as the Napoleanic battles and the Civil War.

Each of these mods are not my work, and credit should be given to their creators. The interview with the creator of BG2 took place during an in-game battle so not all information may be 100% accurate. After all, we were busy trying to defend our last capture point and push forward before the British could respawn.