Zombie Panic! Source

"Zombie Panic! Source" is a multiplayer Half-Life 2 First-person Shooter modification that pays homage to the popular Zombie genre of film and games. It is the sequel to the Half-Life modification Zombie Panic!, both of which are available to download for free.

Gameplay

The game features two modes of gameplay, "Zombie Panic! Survival". In this game play mode, the round can only be won if one side completely destroys the other team. The other Mode is "Zombie Panic! Objective", in which humans have to complete objectives or barricade themselves in houses for 10 minutes before they are killed by an infinitely spawning zombie side.

Other features that the team modified include the inclusion of music, several custom sounds, several maps, several ways to randomly spawn weapons and ammunition in the map, a host of melee weapons and firearms, a new inventory system that includes the old weight system, and a centralized ammo bank to manage all ammo picked up.

Humans

Every player in the game (Excluding one zombie, or more if players opt to spawn as one) spawns as a human at the beginning of each round. Humans spawn with one pistol (Either the Glock, PPK, or USP), and one, usually fairly weak melee weapon. Survivors have access to a wide variety of guns and melee weapons alike to aid them in either completing objectives or obliterating the zombie team. To negate weapon and ammunition hoarding, each weapon has its own weight, thus if a character is carrying too many guns, melee weapons, or too much ammunition, he will be significantly slower. Humans can also barricade from the zombies by pushing physics objects while not holding any weapon (H is the default key to holster weapons).

Weaponry

Ranged Weapons

AK-47: A very powerful, rapid-firing gun. Useful if one human is forced to battle several zombies. The AK-47's magazine holds thirty rounds at a time, and players can hold a maximum of one hundred rounds at a time.

MP5: The MP5 is similar to the AK-47, as it also is a fairly powerful, rapid-firing gun, although it weighs slightly less than the AK-47. Like the AK-47, the MP5 holds thirty rounds in a magazine, and players can hold a maximum of one hundred rounds.

Revolver: The revolver is a very powerful, albeit slow-firing weapon. Its cylinder holds six rounds at a time, and is currently the only weapon capable of killing a zombie in a single head shot.

Glock 17, 18c: The glock handguns are fairly powerful, rapid-firing pistols that are capable of holding 17 or 18 rounds in a magazine.

Walther PPK: The PPK is a low-capacity handgun that can only hold 7 rounds in a magazine, which is little compensation for its damage. It is probably the pistol many users would not want to start with, given it only contains 7 bullets per chamber and no spare ammo unlike the other pistols.

Heckler & Koch USP: The USP is a rapid-firing pistol, with a magazine capable of holding 15 rounds. It deals more damage than the glocks.

Remington 870: A slow-firing, yet very strong shotgun. It can hold six rounds at a time, and knocks zombies back several feet upon impact.

Mossberg Super Shorty: A fast-firing, very strong shotgun. It can hold three rounds at a time, and knocks zombies back several feet upon impact. Due to its short barrel, it is less accurate than the Remmington 870.

Grenade: An extremely powerful weapon at medium range (Or close range, if a player is planning to commit suicide and kill a few zombies). The grenade can kill any zombie if they are very close to it.

Melee Weapons

Sledgehammer: The sledgehammer is a melee weapon with a slow swing rate, but with a large damage output. It also knocks zombies back upon impact.

Crowbar: The crowbar is another melee weapon with a fast swing rate, and a large damage output.

Chair: The chair is a melee weapon with a slow swing rate, yet incredibly high damage output.

Keyboard: The keyboard is a melee weapon with a fast swing rate, and an extremely low damage output.

Wooden Plank: The wooden plank deals low amounts of damage with a fairly fast swing rate.

Shovel: The shovel is a medium swing rate, and medium damage output melee weapon. It can hit zombies from a very long range, and is thus useful for defending barricades.

Golf Club: The golf club is a long range melee weapon with a medium swing rate, and low damage output.

Machete: The machete is a melee weapon with a very fast swing rate, and deals a large amount of damage. However, it requires the user to be in extremely close ranges, exposing them to the zombie's melee attacks.

Frying Pan: The frying pan is a melee weapon with a fast swing rate, large damage output, and decent knockback.

Wrench: The wrench is very similar to the frying pan, with a fast swing rate, large damage output, and decent knockback.

Axe: A melee weapon with a medium swing rate, and fairly large damage output.

Tire iron: The tire iron is a melee weapon with a fairly fast swing rate and large damage output.

Hammer: The hammer is a light melee weapon with a fast swing rate and medium damage output.

Zombies

Zombies are the team opposing the humans, thwarting the humans' attempts at survival at each opportunity. At the beginning of each round, all players (Except for one zombie, the Carrier) spawn as survivors. Zombies move slightly slower than humans (Approximately 80% of a human's speed), except when they use their lunge, giving them a brief burst of speed. They can only use this ability for several seconds, although it refills when they damage a human. Zombies can use melee attacks and physics damage (Caused by throwing objects into humans) to harm and kill humans. The zombies' melee attack is powerful, causing twenty five damage out of a human's maximum 100 health per hit, and this is made even more lethal by the fact that there is a limitless 'rate of fire' to the zombie attack - the rate at which the zombie swipes is limited only by how fast the player can press the left mouse button. Zombies can also activate a special vision, which clearly displays humans (Red if they are active, black if they are inactive, and green if they are infected), and amplifies the area's light.

Carrier

The Carrier is a zombie with a different, bare and pale skin, stronger melee attacks, more health, and the chance to infect humans which is an unique trait to the Carrier.

Infection

Each time the Carrier hits a human, the human has a chance to be infected. Once a human is infected, it takes approximately one minute for them to turn into a zombie (Survivors can discern the infected by visual cues, such as heavy breathing and grunts). Survivors can kill the infected during this time if they choose to do so. In many rare cases, zombies can win even when the zombies are all killed. This is achieved by having two humans and one carrier. When they encounter, the carrier infects one of the humans before being killed. The round continues despite the absence of the zombies. Eventually, the infected human will turn into a zombie and attack the last human and the fight will determine the victory of one of the teams.

Glitches

The most common glitches is the stuck glitch is when both humans or zombies get stuck in a particular object/barricade and need a significant amount of time to get unstuck. Another infamous glitch is the "door glitch" when a zombie (user who pressed e) tries to open the door and the humans at the other side of the door opening at the same time causing the door to jam and stay put. Note that "door glitching" is a bannable offense on some servers.

Barricades

There are various type of barricades that can be used to block off or hold the doors/windows to prevent zombies from entering. Most common barricades are:

Red Couch/Sofa - One of the most common barricade item and perhaps one of the more useful barricades. It is unbreakable and if placed wisely, able to prevent a door from opening no matter what the zombies do.

Green Drawers - Another common barricade item. However , due to its lack of width, does not perform efficiently as a "frontline" barricade item but more of a supporting one.

Bed Skeleton - Sometimes seen barricade item. However, it can be easily flipped over by zombies.

Silver Table - A mediocre barricade item. Efficient if only used as support barricade.

Blue Rack - A tall 4-row rack which is very useful and quite common. Best used on windows due to its height.

History

"Zombie Panic! Source" began development in early 2005, and released their first public beta on December 28, 2007 [ [http://halflife2.filefront.com/file/Zombie_Panic_Source_v10_Full_Client_Release;85371 Zombie Panic: Source v1.0 Full Client Release, Half-Life 2 Downloads, Half-Life 2 -Releases ] ] [ [http://kotaku.com/339770/zombie-panic-source-brings-zombies-panic-to-source Source: Zombie Panic Source Brings Zombies, Panic to Source] Kotaku article briefly reviewing Zombie Panic! Source] [ [http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=83791 Blue's News: News Comments] Blue's News article about the release of Zombie Panic! Source] .

In 2006 [ [http://www.moddb.com/events/2006-mod-of-the-year-awards/top100] ModDB 2006 Mod of the Year top 100 page] "Zombie Panic! Source" was picked as one of ModDB's top 100 unreleased mods of the year.

In 2007 [ [http://www.moddb.com/events/2007-mod-of-the-year-awards/features/25910/players-choice-winners-showcase/] ModDB 2007 Mod of the Year Awards] , "Zombie Panic! Source" won ModDB's player's choice unreleased mod of the year.

On February 9th, 2008 [ [http://www.moddb.com/groups/49/moddb-staff/features/26199/mod-db-podcast-debut/] Mod DB Podcast Debut!] , "Zombie Panic! Source" was discussed in the first ModDB podcast.

The mod was also featured in the March 2008 issue of PC Gamer, UK Edition [PC Gamer #185, UK Edition, p 94. March 2008] .

On October 8th, 2008 it was one of the first five "mods" to be released on Steam by Valve under their new commitment for easy accessible to quality user created modifications in the Steam Store.

ee also

*List of undead-themed video games

References

External links

* [http://www.zombiepanic.org/ The Zombie Panic! webpage]
* [http://www.moddb.com/mods/4374/zombie-panic-source ModDB Page for Zombie Panic!]
* [http://www.zombiepanic.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7090 A list of mirrors to download Zombie Panic! Source]