Posted: 08-05-05 In: Reviews By: Munro2 |


Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag is a fresh breath of air for the ongoing struggle of the Combines battling the Rebels. In this newest MOD with the humble name of Half-Life 2 indicated on the title, gameplay revolves around capturing the opposing force's flag in four alternate modes. For players such as myself who love to see anything from the Half-Life 2 universe implemented within the game, HL2: CTF will bring hours, if not days of enjoyment. However, for those who do not fancy Half-Life 2 as much as us loyalists, does HL2: CTF bring enough unique gameplay elements that intrigue you into finally finishing the Half-Life 2 story mode? I think not. If you haven't already taken fancy to the players, weapons, or just about anything in Half-Life 2, then I suggest you stay away from this MOD as every gameplay element revolves around the raging war between the Rebels and Combine forces.

Although I continually tried to remove the thought from my brain, HL2: CTF only feels like an addition to the wonderful HL2:Deathmatch. Every element is reminiscent of HL2:Deathmatch's gameplay, excluding the actual objective; Capturing flags. However, this isn't a negative thought because with the addition of capturing flags, HL2: CTF advances the deathmatch style gameplay by including not only a chance to set up strategic positions to prevent the capturing of your flag, but also by spreading runes throughout the map to enhance abilities to give you that certain edge above your opponent.

The greatest feature that I appreciate the most about HL2: CTF is the ability to strategically position players to ensure your flag doesn't get captured, thus giving something each player on the team to work on while playing. Scoring is broken down into six different factions, each ranging from killing a person to capturing the flag. Another great inclusion is you cannot solely win on killing the opposing team. The amount of teamwork required to win is very high, so straying along and trying to be a kill-whore won't make your team mates very happy.

In HL2: CTF's current status there are around 11 maps to play, and each map contains enough killing ground to last throughout the beta stage. HL2: CTF's maps are chalked full of different routes to plan an invasion on the opposing force. My personal favourite is CTF_Prison Riot, an abandoned prison complex. Weapons are scattered throughout each map and once taken, each will respawn within a given amount of time. As with every game, individual maps have their own advantages with a certain type of weapon, but launching debris with your gravity gun never gets repetitive.

Even though I appreciate Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag's gameplay, I do not believe everyone is aware of how many hours of fun this MOD can bring once you find a populated server. This is the most concerning problem; there aren't enough servers with players on them, and once you are lucky to find a populated server, possible lag and server shutdowns kill the experience. However, I do not believe this is HL2: CTF's problem, because not many server hosting companies support the Half-Life 2 modding community. Throughout my playing period, I hardly noticed any bugs that hindered the playing experience, but as usual there are those bugs and glitches that need fixing through further releases.

Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag is a great MOD that every Half-Life 2 enthusiast should experience at least once in their lifetime. The gameplay is simple enough, yet playing on the unique and diverse maps created by the experienced mappers in the development team delivers the real fun and excitement. Although I only experienced one time where my game disconnected while playing due to the server crashing, I was very happy with Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag's stability. Final Verdict - Download HL2: CTF and experience what it has to offer yourself! More strategies, forums, and an explanation of the gameplay can be viewed at Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag's homepage.