Action Half-Life

Infobox VG
title= Action Half-life


caption=
developer= The A-team (Akimbo Team Productions, LLC)
publisher= N/A
distributor=
designer=
series=
engine= Goldsrc
version= 2.0 (October 25, 2003)
released= 1999
genre= First-person shooter
modes= Multiplayer
ratings= N/A
platforms= PC
media=
requirements= 500 MHz processor, 96 MB RAM
input= Keyboard, Mouse

"Action Half-Life" (abbreviated "AHL") is a mod for the award-winning first-person shooter computer game "Half-Life". It strives to simulate action movies, especially those directed by John Woo.

Development

Led by Dwayne 'Oddjob' Douglass, "Action Half-Life" went through several beta versions before being released as version 1.0 in 1999. It originally had several lead programmers involved, but Stuart 'Payback' Crouch coded the last few betas leading to v1.0 (which was meant to be the final one).

"AHL:Directors Cut", however, is a project started by the [http://ministryofaction.net/ Ministry of Action] . While this project isn't supported by the A-Team themselves, it has been authorized. Their goal is to take the best features of previous versions to create a final "Director's cut". This includes improving overall accessibility, weapon behavior, and content. The number of players who actively play "Action Half-life" has waned recently, and this is something the Ministry of Action team hopes to rectify.

The latest version of "Action Half-life" is "Action Half-life: Director's Cut" - Release Candidate 2 (RC2). RC3 is currently in development (as of June 2007) and is being touted as the final version of "AHL:DC".

Features

"Action Half-life" has a stunt system similar to the one found in "Max Payne", introduced in "Action" beta 3.0 long before "Max Payne" was released. It was also the first "Half-Life" mod to feature akimbo pistols (although they are treated as one weapon). Furthermore, it pioneered several graphic enhancements to the "Half-Life" engine, including the visible laser sight and wall debris. "Action Half-life" also has support for a single player mode. Some unique features in this mode include a move called "Adrenaline Rush", which is similar to Bullet Time.

Another noted aspect of "Action Half-life" is the inclusion of several hidden areas that are housed in many of its maps, especially those created by famed map designer Hondo. One map in particular ("5 AM") requires the cooperation of multiple players to access and complete. It is in fact much bigger than the main portion of the map.

A more recent feature addition is the walljumps that were added in Release Candidate 2.

"Action Half-Life" is the second official mod in the "Action" computer game series. The first was "Action Quake 2" and the third was "Action Unreal Tournament 2004". There is also a similar mod called "Half-life 2: Distraction" that utilizes the Source engine. The team of this project consists mainly of fans of "AQ2", "AHL" and "The Specialists".

Gameplay

The object of game is very similar to "Half-life": kill or be killed.

At the start of a round, you must choose a Single Pistol, Unique Weapon, and Special Item. Unlike the buy menu in "Counter-strike", these weapons are free and have limited ammunition, which makes tactical usage crucial.

In addition to the usual Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, a round based game-mode called "Last Man Standing" is also available, which can be described as either Deathmatch without respawning or Teamplay with everyone on their own team. This is very similar to a mode in "Unreal Tournament", which also has a game-mode called "Last Man Standing", but players are allowed to respawn multiple times per round.

Though previously broken by Valve updates, "Action Half-Life" (as of Director's Cut Release Candidate 2) has seen the return of goalplay. A server can set goal maps (typically identified by an ahlg_ prefix in the mapname) to be played as normal (with the cvar: mp_nogoals 1), or to allow the goalplay to take effect (mp_nogoals 0). The Ministry of Action re-worked old goal maps' entities to work with the fixed goal code. Though some of the goal code still seems buggy (as of RC2), it remains functional for implementing goals in maps. Some examples of goalplay in the official maps include VIP escort (ahlg_wikkedcity_dc, ahlg_metro_dc), NPC assassination (ahlg_wikkedkorp, ahlg_plexharbour, ahlg_urban_riot_dc, ahlg_engholm_dc), bomb setting (ahlg_actionrail_dc), and bomb defusal (ahlg_onslaught2_dc). The goal code is designed to allow for mapper-imagined goalplay, rather than stock goals, such as those used in "Counter-strike" (where mappers have predefined hostage and defusion-related entities).

Weapons

Trivia

* One of the maps has a painting of Cosmo Kramer from an episode of Seinfield.
* Fusey has a cameo as one of the models

References

http://mods.moddb.com/4473/ahl-directors-cut/

http://www.ministryofaction.net

http://ahl.telefragged.com/

ee also

*Half-Life
*Steam
*List of Half-Life mods
*Valve Software

External links

* [http://ahl.telefragged.com/ "Action Half-Life" homepage]
* [http://ministryofaction.net/ "Ministry of Action" homepage]
* [http://ahlmd.telefragged.com/ "AHL Map Depot" homepage]
* [http://www.gamespy.com/articles/494/494610p1.html Article] at GameSpy
* [http://pc.ign.com/articles/368/368285p1.html Article] at IGN
* [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/05/29/3-2-1-action-half-life/ Article] at [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ RockPaperShotgun]