Phil Daniels has delivered what is perhaps the first high quality single-player Half-Life level addon from
a third party!
Drug Barons takes advantage of Half-Life's sequal-welcoming ending; you are now
working for the G-man. The first mission you receive is, surprisingly, not as corrupt and evil as one
would expect. As it turns out, you're suppose to go to South America and fight the war against
drugs.
You start off inside a government-controlled military complex and you immediately get to witness the
great attention to detail and awesome visual quality. But the beginning is far from perfect, and it
might be even a little on the flamboyant side. The new dialogue is interesting, so's the wandering
hamster (if you can find him), and in between, you can see obsessions with Xena and truly fledgeling
Barneys. But, all taken into consideration, your first stop in this multi-map adventure is more of a
show-and-tell type of level than one that helps the plot along. The obvious quality of the beginning,
however, sets the stage for great things to come.
You're drug bust mission goes amiss, and as expected, you're war against drugs in South America
becomes a one-man mission. The action literally starts off with a bang as all hell breaks loose while
your escort vehicle crashes and all your team members are killed. Getting past the first obstacle
featuring an electrified fence might require some visual meditation of you're surroundings; but make
sure you get passed this first obstacle, because some great grunt-fights follow it.
Aside from one awkward introduction of a bullsquid at the beginning, Drug Barons pits you
against nothing but human grunts. Which is not a problem considering the great fights you get!
Action in Drug Barons is furious and very unforgiving as you'll encounter whole squads of
very smart and destructive enemies. Especially in the outdoors, Drug Barons allow the
grunts to use their AI to their full potential, which has not been the case in many previous and more
cramped entries for Half-Life. But even more challenging is the ever-present anticipation for a fiendish
surprise being thrown your way.
If it's a great design you're craving, Brug Barons delivers that as well with some of the best
looks you'll find in a usermap. From indoors to outdoors, realism is always there and the texturing
and lighting choices just never goes wrong. In addition, there's an incredible attention to detail in the
architecture. While plenty of prefabs are used, Phil integrates them with his own talent for aesthetics
and the result is an almost fool proof design department. I say almost because I have a few
complaints that involve the storyline. First, you don't see one once of coccaine, which should be
pretty easy to create textures for :) Secondly, drugs in South America aren't in deserts, as depicted
in this addon, they're in jungles!
Although Drug Barons is still not touching the quality that Valve displayed in the original
game, this is one small step for authors, one giant leap for author-kind :) With great
examples of custom dialogue and amazing scripted sequences for the first time in a usermap for
Half-Life. This is the best that this category has to offer for now, and you'd be a fool to pass it by.
