While I was playing Chemical
Existence I thought to myself, 'this would be
a great game to make my next level for'. Moments
later I remembered that it's not a game, it's
already an addon for a game! With all new weapons,
monsters, items, textures and levels, it's almost
an entirely new game.
It kicks off with a lame story of you playing
a programmer who is going to visit his sister
in another city, but when you get there it's
in chaos. Your car is blown up and you are left
on the run. Soon enough you find a bomb and
decide to blow the chemical plant up, which
is spreading poison throughout the city and
killing everyone.
Many cutscenes and scripted
sequences were used to tell the story. In fact
for about the first 1/3 there wasn't much action
at all. Simple puzzles were spread throughout,
as you would expect with Half-Life, nothing
being too hard though.
Eventually you get more weapons and the enemies
become more frequent. There aren't too many
different enemies, mainly the humans with a
few different weapons. There was a big ugly
mutant in the sewers, but half the time it would
just stand looking at you as you shoot it. The
humans were very fun to fight. They were different
to Valve's humans, they seemed to inflict more
damage and kill you quicker. However, the stronger
firepower evened it out. After fighting Human
Grunts for so long, it was very refreshing to
fight a different kind of Human that is still
very tough.
The weapons were all very good.
Unfortunately the only ammo you really get is
for the Machine Gun and Sniper Rifle. Of course,
these two were the weapons of choice anyway.
There were even some weapons which I don't even
think I tried! All the models looked fine.
The levels is where Chemical
Existence stood out. They are some of the best
levels for Half-Life that I have played. Something
which Half-Life lacked was variety, but this
definitely has it as you adventure through the
city, sewers, bases and even a shopping mall!
There were unique sections such as when you
sit in a jetboat and kill the enemies that go
by, or in the back of a jeep armed with a Machine
Gun/Rocket Launcher. Along with all the sequences
and explosions, it helped to make Chemical Existence
very unique.
To find some bad points is
tough. Every member of Red Genesis has done
an excellent job, which is quite uncommon for
TC's. Everything about is is great. It could
have been a little harder I guess. Although
I did play on medium and quicksaving was common,
the fact that I only used one weapon suggests
that it wasn't too tough. The final battle in
particular was too easy. Your strolling along
then suddenly some big guy with a couple of
pistols is shooting at you. It took only six
poisonous darts and that was it, the end.
If Red Genesis had kept working
on this for another year or two and made it
as long as a full game, I think it would have
been very popular. I definitely would have brought
it. Nevertheless it is still very long, keeping
me busy for at least 3 hours. I think it is
easily the best release for Half-Life to date,
including Opposing Forces and Half-Life itself!
I look forward to a sequel.
