Action Half-Life, a game modification
Created | Updated Oct 15, 2002
Action Half-Life is a multiplayer modification, or mod, for the computer game Half-Life. The designers set out to recreate the feel and pace of action films. Since there are two kinds of action films in this world, this could have been a Good Thing or a Bad Thing.
The first kind of action film generally stars young white males with limited facial expressions, overdeveloped physiques, monosyllabic vocabularies and passports from small countries with lax regulations on steroid use. There will generally also be a love interest, usually of the competent-and-tough-and-smart-but-somehow-I-still-can't-help-falling-for-this-neanderthal archetype. Depending on the year and place of production, any or all of a wide range of popular and/or politically correct stereotypes, such as the plucky kid, the grizzled veteran, the charismatic military officer, the fanatical terrorist, the comedy black sidekick, etc. The body count for a film of this type is generally more voluminous than the script it was made from.
The second type of action film employs an innovation still considered experimental in contemporary mainstream filmmaking. It is called "a plot". Many films of this type are produced by Asian filmmakers such as Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and John Woo, whose "The Killer" encapsulates the Hong Kong blood opera genre of violent morality plays perfectly. Quentin Tarantino took a great deal of inspiration from Ringo Lam's "City on Fire" when making "Reservoir Dogs".
Fortunately for us all, the mod's developers, who call themselves the A-Team presumably in homage to the 80s TV show, are fonder of the second type of action movie. A whole lot fonder, as gameplay reveals - many models come straight from films, dives and rolls to evade bullets are possible and - all important for that John Woo feeling - you can blaze away at your esteemed opponents with a gold-plated .45 in each hand, or kung-fu kick them through plateglass if you get close enough.
Action Half-Life uses a realistic model for weapons and falling damage, and wounds continue to inflict damage through bleeding until bandaged. There are no health packs, and recoil and movement have a severe effect on accuracy; gamers new to realistic shooters are advised to bear this in mind before shouting "cheater" on public servers.
The game community is relatively small, but fairly active, with a variety of quality new models, maps and support tools circulating via the dev team's site or the forums.
Action Half-Life is descended from Action Quake, which spawned the sequel Action Quake II and the in-development Action UT. As of this entry, AHL is available in Version 5.5 Beta.
Gamers who enjoy AHL are advised to try out The Opera, a similarly-themed Half-Life mod with some innovations of its own.
The first kind of action film generally stars young white males with limited facial expressions, overdeveloped physiques, monosyllabic vocabularies and passports from small countries with lax regulations on steroid use. There will generally also be a love interest, usually of the competent-and-tough-and-smart-but-somehow-I-still-can't-help-falling-for-this-neanderthal archetype. Depending on the year and place of production, any or all of a wide range of popular and/or politically correct stereotypes, such as the plucky kid, the grizzled veteran, the charismatic military officer, the fanatical terrorist, the comedy black sidekick, etc. The body count for a film of this type is generally more voluminous than the script it was made from.
The second type of action film employs an innovation still considered experimental in contemporary mainstream filmmaking. It is called "a plot". Many films of this type are produced by Asian filmmakers such as Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and John Woo, whose "The Killer" encapsulates the Hong Kong blood opera genre of violent morality plays perfectly. Quentin Tarantino took a great deal of inspiration from Ringo Lam's "City on Fire" when making "Reservoir Dogs".
Fortunately for us all, the mod's developers, who call themselves the A-Team presumably in homage to the 80s TV show, are fonder of the second type of action movie. A whole lot fonder, as gameplay reveals - many models come straight from films, dives and rolls to evade bullets are possible and - all important for that John Woo feeling - you can blaze away at your esteemed opponents with a gold-plated .45 in each hand, or kung-fu kick them through plateglass if you get close enough.
Action Half-Life uses a realistic model for weapons and falling damage, and wounds continue to inflict damage through bleeding until bandaged. There are no health packs, and recoil and movement have a severe effect on accuracy; gamers new to realistic shooters are advised to bear this in mind before shouting "cheater" on public servers.
The game community is relatively small, but fairly active, with a variety of quality new models, maps and support tools circulating via the dev team's site or the forums.
Action Half-Life is descended from Action Quake, which spawned the sequel Action Quake II and the in-development Action UT. As of this entry, AHL is available in Version 5.5 Beta.
Gamers who enjoy AHL are advised to try out The Opera, a similarly-themed Half-Life mod with some innovations of its own.
