The Hidden (video game)

"The Hidden" is a multiplayer total conversion for the popular "Half-Life 2" computer game. The gameplay revolves around the retrieval of an escaped research subject with the twist that the subject is highly agile, incredibly strong and nearly completely invisible. The first beta version was released on June 13 2005.

The Story

In the early 1950s, during the post war boom in military research, human genetics experiments were taking their first, tentative steps. A team of scientists, working at an Infinitum Research laboratory discovered some remarkable phenomenon resulting from DNA manipulation of subjects. Many subjects lost their lives or were driven insane by the irresponsible and immoral experiments that followed.

By the mid 90s, the failure rate on the experiments had reached a point where Infinitum Research felt they could move the studies onto the next step and introduce combinations of DNA alterations within a single subject, one of these alterations had proven to allow for the phenomenon of biological light refraction. Using this research, the scientists intended to develop the ultimate covert military agent. Early into the new millennium, experiments on subject number 617 led to a massive genetic trauma, leaving the subject in a reduced mental state and suffering from a number of genetic anomalies.

Shortly after the error and before the issue could be resolved, the subject was able to escape from the research laboratory. An elite section of the internal security force, the Infinitum Research Intercept Squad (IRIS) has been deployed to retrieve the subject and contain any issues resulting from his escape. Meanwhile, the experiment has been shut down and all funding recalled, Infinitum Research denies all knowledge of any form of such genetic experiments but is happy to discuss their progress in the cloning of healthy human organs.

As the IRIS close their net around subject 617, known to the team as "The Hidden", he must turn the tables and become the hunter rather than the hunted.

Objective

Mission Briefing: Hunt down an invisible enemy.

The Infinitum Research Intercept Squad (I.R.I.S.) is on the hunt for a fugitive, the subject of a secret genetic experiment, who is known only as Subject 617. The Good News: The IRIS team is well trained, well armed and co-ordinated.

The Bad News: The genetic manipulation has given Subject 617 enhanced speed, mobility and incredible strength - he can pounce like a tiger, cling to any surface and is known to pin victims up for feeding. Worst of all, the experiments have rendered him nearly invisible to the human eye. This is why he is known as The Hidden.

Equipment

As of Beta 4a, I.R.I.S. members have the choice between playing an Assault, a Support role, or a Surveillance role (Spectating). They get to choose a Primary Weapon, a Secondary Weapon and Additional Equipment. The Assault role can use any of the four primary weapons, while the Support role can only choose from two. However, the Support role can partially restock the ammo supplies of teammates and is given 3 sonic trip alarms.

*Primary weapons
**FN F2000 assault rifle (Assault only)
**FN P90 submachine gun
**Remington 870 MCS shotgun (Assault only)
**FN 303 less-lethal launcher

*Secondary weapons
**FN Five-Seven pistol
**FN FNP-9 pistol

*Additional equipment
**Laser Aiming Module (LAM)
**Flashlight module
**Night vision goggles
**Sonic trip alarm
**Adrenaline shot The Hidden has only two weapons:
*Knife - the knife has 2 attacks
**the slash (which takes 3 hits to kill)
**the "Pigstick" (which takes 1 hit to kill, but is much harder to time and is less rapid. Additionally, some servers disable this)
*A number of pipe bombs, dependent on the number of I.R.I.S. spawning with the Hidden in that round
**1/2 I.R.I.S.: no pipebombs
**3/4 I.R.I.S.: 1 pipebomb
**5/6 I.R.I.S.: 2 pipebombs
**7/8 I.R.I.S.: 3 pipebombs

Hidden Abilities

As the Hidden, the player is given several extra abilities not available to the I.R.I.S. These abilities compensate in some way for the vastly inferior weaponry the Hidden is equipped with. The Hidden's abilities include:

*InvisibilityThe Hidden is nearly invisible, with only a little distortion of the background indicating their prescence. However, to an experienced I.R.I.S. player, a running Hidden can be spotted quite easily by this distortion, depending on the background. A stationary Hidden, however, can be extremely difficult to detect.

*PouncingThe Hidden has the ability to make huge leaps, which can allow the player to traverse the map extremely quickly, as well as accessing areas of the map unreachable to the I.R.I.S. The pounce ability also facilitates escape if the Hidden gets into trouble, as well as being an effective maneouvre for rapidly attacking an I.R.I.S. player.

*Wall-GrabbingThe Hidden is able to cling to most of the surfaces in the game and hang there until their stamina runs out. This allows the Hidden to attack from unexpected angles as well as reach high places inaccessible to I.R.I.S. players.

*Aura ViewWhile standing still, the Hidden is able to activate an Aura View, which shows the location of nearby I.R.I.S. as well as a general indication of their health (green indicates good health, dark red means the player is near death). This can allow the Hidden to target weaker enemies for an easier kill, as well as pinpointing the location of camping I.R.I.S. in order to plan an attack.

*FeedingIf the Hidden kills a player by slashing (i.e. not with the Pigstick or pipebombs), their body can afterwards be used as a source of minor health regeneration for the Hidden. The disadvantage of feeding is that the I.R.I.S. players can see the body being jerked around, and will therefore know the location of the Hidden player.

*Super StrengthThe Hidden is able to use their super strength to pick up crates, boxes, barrels and other objects in the game environment and throw them around the map or at the I.R.I.S. These projectiles can serve either as a distraction or as a weapon. It is possible to kill an I.R.I.S. player with one hit from an object, but such kills (known as physkills) take much practice to perfect.

References

* " [http://www.hidden-source.com/images/media/pcgamer_scan.jpgHalf-Life 2 Modification, Hidden: Source] " PC Gamer, June 2005.

* " [http://Hidden-stats.co.uk Hidden: Source online ranking system] " SMOKE911, May 2007

* " [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumkXlLDUYQ YouTube Hidden:Source Beta 3 trailer] " SMOKE911, May 2007

* [http://www.igf.com/2006finalistswinners.html 2006 Independent Games Festival Awards] - Finalist, Best Half-Life 2 Mod

External links

* [http://www.hidden-source.com/ Official website]