It’s been a while since I played ANY Half-Life 2 mods, but the recent release of NeoTokyo has managed to change that. With ModDB.com community rating of 8.9 and being ranked within the Top 5 Popular Mods since its release, NeoTokyo has garned huge praise from both its hardcore fanbase and newcomers (like myself).
What is it though? The developers describe simply:
…a first person shooter that aims to provide a visceral & realistic combat experience in a rich futuristic setting.
It certainly is as “realistic” as it can be without getting Tom Clancy-ish. Movement is generally slow, jumping isn’t a way of dodging bullets, and the gameplay mechanics are simple, but varied. Now, it does have a futuristic setting, so the “realism” aspect is something that is debatable. If anything, the best way to describe what they mean by “realistic” is that you can run and jump like Quake, the game is slightly slower than Counter-Strike, and it requires a significant amount of teamwork (if you want to win most of the time).
I’ve been playing just about every night for the past week and a half. I even got my brothers and friends to download the thing and give it a try. NeoTokyo does remind me a lot of Dystopia, with its futuristic setting and its cyborg take on combat. Nevertheless, they are both very, very different from one another. Dystopia is, in my opinion, is a tad too complicated for public server gaming. It is more suitable for actual team-based competition, which is fine because that is its focus.
NeoTokyo, on the other hand, is a little easier to grasp for newbies. And, the mechancis are simple enough for a team of strangers to work together effectively. And, of course, it has great potential for competitive play as well.
The game has a single game mode called Capture the Ghost. The ghost, strangely enough, the top half of a female cyborg that is placed somewhere on the map. Cleverly, where she spawns changes from round to round, so players must adapt the way they play each time, rather than just running for the center each time. Both teams have a Retreival Zone, where they must escort the Ghost to capture it, thus winning the round.
When a player picks up the Ghost, he automatically loses his primary weapon, making him vulnerable, and this is when his teammates must protect him. The location of the Ghost can be seen by all the players on the map and is represented by a large flashing circle, which is green if your team has it, red if the opposing team has it, and gray if nobody has it. Another interesting thing is that the player with the Ghost can switch from his pistol to the Ghost itself, allowing him to “use” it. While using the Ghost, the player is able to see the location and distance of all enemy players within a close proximity of him, allowing him to give locations out to his teammates.
There are also three classes that you can choose from: Recon, Assault, and Support. Each class plays a little differently, and has access to different weapons and abilities. Recons, for example, have infinite sprint, has the ability to do a “long jump,” get night vision, and a longer cloak. Assault have limited sprint, thermal vision (which allows them to see cloaked players), a frag grenade, and access to some mid-sized rifles. Support get no sprint, a large amount of armor, a smoke grenade, a vision that allows theme to see through things like smoke, and then access to power machine guns.
The classes would seem to create a Rock, Paper, Scissors dynamic of gameplay, but it isn’t that simple. Each class, if played appropriately, has a chance at taking down the other two. Of course, conditions may, and often do, vary.
In the current build, there are a few bugs that need to be worked out. For example, while capturing the Ghost is the most absolute way to win a round, killing all the enemy players is an alternative. However, sometimes the round still doesn’t end even if that happens, so players must wait until the Ghost is taken to the retrieval zone.
NeoTokyo is a fun, well-polished HL2 mod that stands out. It has simple, yet dynamic gameplay that can create some truly memorable and awesome moments. Nothing beats being the last player alive, standing between your opponents and the retrieval zone. This is a MUST DOWNLOAD for anyone who owns Half-Life 2, period.
Filed under: Half-Life 2 Mods, NeoTokyo
