Finally, this mod is out! To be honest, I kinda forgot about Snowdrop Escape’s existence: since I didn't see anyone talk about it. That is until two months ago when somebody on Discord mentioned it was out. That doesn't mean I thought it would be bad or anything, I can tell whether a mod is going to be amazing or not. So, what do I look for in a mod? I want it to feel like an Expansion Pack or like a whole new game. That means new weapons, enemies, setting etc. So, when I saw new mechanics and guns in the tech demo videos for the mod, I got very excited. I know some people didn’t like it, cough JarekTheGaminDragon cough, but I feel the reasons are justified. I just want to get it out there: I REALLY enjoyed my time with Snowdrop Escape and it’s about as I expected.

PROS

So what is Snowdrop Escape about? Well, it is a mod where you play as a mercenary within the half-life universe named James Hugo. This means you're neither for the Resistance or the Combine. What a f*cking centrist, am I right? This mod kind of reminds me of another Half-life 2 mod out there called Half-life 2: Ice. Both are like expansion packs with new gameplay mechanics, weapons, snow-like setting, risks-taken, and a brand new story. However, like Half-Life 2: Ice, Snowdrop Escape's story is not that deep and really shouldn't be taken seriously. That's not to say the story is bad, but it is far from perfect.
So what do I like about this mod? Well to start with, I loved the graphics of Snowdrop Escape. I sometimes call these Source graphics: “The Portal 2 Graphics.” I’ve been wanting to see these types of visuals for a mod that is focused on the Half-life story side of events. The only two examples I can think of are Entropy : Zero 2 and this mod. Maybe I'm overlooking this, but god d@mn does this mod have style. The graphics did blow me away though, for the most part at least. We’ve never really had snow in a Half-life game before, so having it here is interesting. I had a lot of Metro Last Light vibes when riding the tram that was underground in the dark; I adore these moments in mods and games because I get the feeling of an adventure. But let's shut the f*ck up about all of that, the only reason I am here is for the gameplay.
The gameplay is pure fun, it’s not F.E.A.R.’s level of great, but it works as a good time killer. Speaking of F.E.A.R., a new mechanic is that you can only carry five weapons with you. But only specific categories: melee, pistol, machine gun, non-machine gun, grenades, PDA, and toxic antidote. So maybe not exactly like F.E.A.R. then... It’s still great strategizing what guns to carry: like maybe you just want nothing but shotguns or something. There is more than one type of weapon in this game and the freedom of choice is awesome. Again, like Half-life 2 : Ice, it’s here to give you a new experience and a great time. The animations are fine, but nothing fantastic since it’s a mod. There are not that many returning weapons, which I want of course. In fact, the ones that do return have new animations and tweaks, so technically they are different weapons. But, a lot of them were odd choices: 1m Grands, Famas, AK47s (which is fine by me), and probably some other strange picks. Am I complaining? Yes and no: they were new guns that were fun to use, but, they don't really fit with the Half-life universe post-Seven Hour War.
The level design wasn't that bad either, not perfect but gets the job done. I mean if a dumbass like me could figure it out with no help from the internet, that must mean it's good... right? Yeah, that does not mean it is completely great, more on that later.
The story is okay in some areas and other times isn’t. But I do think it’s cool playing as a third faction and it being its own little side HL story. In the beginning, the story was just okay or meh; but overtime, it gets better and more interesting where it goes. It is very far from perfect… but still fun.
The soundtrack is pretty damn good and it was composed by Paweł Perepelica. I’m actually listening to it while I am writing this and I do have to say that it is well made. Sadly, it’s nothing too memorable, but it’s still pretty good.

CONS

Now for the things I don’t like about this mod. Let’s get the elephant out of the room (no I am talking about my fat @ss), there are TOO MANY puzzles in this mod. But, are the puzzles poorly designed? No. I didn’t need to look up a walkthrough on what to do and figured them out on my own. Though that did cut back my time on the first playthrough to five hours. The puzzles weren’t hard to figure out, it’s just that there shouldn’t have been this many in the final product. If the devs are reading this: I want to let you know that I didn’t dislike your puzzles and thought they were mostly well made - but please do cut down on them next time.
There are these pointless cutscenes in the middle of gameplay and I don’t get why they are here. If these cutscenes were cut from the mod, nothing would be different. They’re just a waste of time, serve no purpose and feel inconsistent. Hugo doesn’t even talk in-game, but only in the cutscenes. I’m not against cutscenes in games, but if you are going to do it like this then just straight up f*cking cut it man.
I like the level design of this mod, it wasn’t too hard to find out what to do for the most part. But these are just some words of advice: make the arenas more open. For example, in one area, you have to wait for an elevator to come up and defend against fast zombies. When the zombies are coming from one direction while I am sitting in the corner with a shotgun shooting at them with no f*cks given, then the levels need to have more happening. The underground areas mostly suffer from this problem: they just feel tight and need expansion. I also feel like you should do a better job of indicating where the player goes since it can be confusing at times. Also, there is like this blue filter wherever you go outside in the snow, but once you step inside it’s like it’s just gone like magic. Also, fix your pacing please: one second I am riding an airboat, and then, not even 40 seconds, I am off and done with it.
You can tell that the lead devs are not native English speakers; most of the acting lines have broken English. But, there are some talented voice actors in here like Trivvy, who is currently doing Bad Cop in Entropy:Zero 2. Whoever Trivvy voice acted for was the best character in the mod. However, there are still odd picks: like why the f*ck is Tyler McViker in this thing?! I don’t have a grudge against Tyler McViker, at least I don’t think I do… but why is he here? He is just Tyler McViker and I can hear him giggling in his mic.
There are some useless items in this mod. The PDA reminds of the PDA from Doom 3 and just tells you what the protagonist is thinking. Again, why even have those cutscenes if the PDA tells us his thoughts? The antidote is a cool idea for a game mechanic; but late game, you will never use it.

CONCLUSION

My final thoughts are similar to Half-life 2: Ice, it’s a fun little fan-made expansion pack you can play. If I had to rank it, I would give it a -8/10. Just go in expecting a non-serious, but still fun, Half-life 2 Episode 2 mod. The team behind this project is already working on another mod called “Swelter." Sadly, it is not a sequel and will be its own new story. The style of Swelter seems to be Central Asian-themed, like Kazakhstan or somesh*t.

I hope you enjoyed this review of mine. Leave a comment if you want to, I will be sure to read it. Heck, maybe you could correct me on something like grammar or an argument I made. That’s all I have to say, take care!

Mod links:
Snowdrop Escape (ModDB Link): https://www.moddb.com/mods/sde
Swelter (ModDB Link): https://www.moddb.com/mods/swelter

My personal links:
I have a YouTube if anybody wants to look at that: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGEwsB7LK8_duOhvpJW7_jw

[h1]Snowdrop Escape | A Mod of Puzzles :/[/h1] Finally, this mod is out! To be honest, I kinda forgot about Snowdrop Escape’s existence: since I didn't see anyone talk about it. That is until two months ago when somebody on Discord mentioned it was out. That doesn't mean I thought it would be bad or anything, I can tell whether a mod is going to be amazing or not. So, what do I look for in a mod? I want it to feel like an Expansion Pack or like a whole new game. That means new weapons, enemies, setting etc. So, when I saw new mechanics and guns in the tech demo videos for the mod, I got very excited. I know some people didn’t like it, cough JarekTheGaminDragon cough, but I feel the reasons are justified. I just want to get it out there: I REALLY enjoyed my time with Snowdrop Escape and it’s about as I expected. PROS So what is Snowdrop Escape about? Well, it is a mod where you play as a mercenary within the half-life universe named James Hugo. This means you're neither for the Resistance or the Combine. What a f*cking centrist, am I right? This mod kind of reminds me of another Half-life 2 mod out there called Half-life 2: Ice. Both are like expansion packs with new gameplay mechanics, weapons, snow-like setting, risks-taken, and a brand new story. However, like Half-Life 2: Ice, Snowdrop Escape's story is not that deep and really shouldn't be taken seriously. That's not to say the story is bad, but it is far from perfect. So what do I like about this mod? Well to start with, I loved the graphics of Snowdrop Escape. I sometimes call these Source graphics: “The Portal 2 Graphics.” I’ve been wanting to see these types of visuals for a mod that is focused on the Half-life story side of events. The only two examples I can think of are Entropy : Zero 2 and this mod. Maybe I'm overlooking this, but god d@mn does this mod have style. The graphics did blow me away though, for the most part at least. We’ve never really had snow in a Half-life game before, so having it here is interesting. I had a lot of Metro Last Light vibes when riding the tram that was underground in the dark; I adore these moments in mods and games because I get the feeling of an adventure. But let's shut the f*ck up about all of that, the only reason I am here is for the gameplay. The gameplay is pure fun, it’s not F.E.A.R.’s level of great, but it works as a good time killer. Speaking of F.E.A.R., a new mechanic is that you can only carry five weapons with you. But only specific categories: melee, pistol, machine gun, non-machine gun, grenades, PDA, and toxic antidote. So maybe not exactly like F.E.A.R. then... It’s still great strategizing what guns to carry: like maybe you just want nothing but shotguns or something. There is more than one type of weapon in this game and the freedom of choice is awesome. Again, like Half-life 2 : Ice, it’s here to give you a new experience and a great time. The animations are fine, but nothing fantastic since it’s a mod. There are not that many returning weapons, which I want of course. In fact, the ones that do return have new animations and tweaks, so technically they are different weapons. But, a lot of them were odd choices: 1m Grands, Famas, AK47s (which is fine by me), and probably some other strange picks. Am I complaining? Yes and no: they were new guns that were fun to use, but, they don't really fit with the Half-life universe post-Seven Hour War. The level design wasn't that bad either, not perfect but gets the job done. I mean if a dumbass like me could figure it out with no help from the internet, that must mean it's good... right? Yeah, that does not mean it is completely great, more on that later. The story is okay in some areas and other times isn’t. But I do think it’s cool playing as a third faction and it being its own little side HL story. In the beginning, the story was just okay or meh; but overtime, it gets better and more interesting where it goes. It is very far from perfect… but still fun. The soundtrack is pretty damn good and it was composed by Paweł Perepelica. I’m actually listening to it while I am writing this and I do have to say that it is well made. Sadly, it’s nothing too memorable, but it’s still pretty good. CONS Now for the things I don’t like about this mod. Let’s get the elephant out of the room (no I am talking about my fat @ss), there are TOO MANY puzzles in this mod. But, are the puzzles poorly designed? No. I didn’t need to look up a walkthrough on what to do and figured them out on my own. Though that did cut back my time on the first playthrough to five hours. The puzzles weren’t hard to figure out, it’s just that there shouldn’t have been this many in the final product. If the devs are reading this: I want to let you know that I didn’t dislike your puzzles and thought they were mostly well made - but please do cut down on them next time. There are these pointless cutscenes in the middle of gameplay and I don’t get why they are here. If these cutscenes were cut from the mod, nothing would be different. They’re just a waste of time, serve no purpose and feel inconsistent. Hugo doesn’t even talk in-game, but only in the cutscenes. I’m not against cutscenes in games, but if you are going to do it like this then just straight up f*cking cut it man. I like the level design of this mod, it wasn’t too hard to find out what to do for the most part. But these are just some words of advice: make the arenas more open. For example, in one area, you have to wait for an elevator to come up and defend against fast zombies. When the zombies are coming from one direction while I am sitting in the corner with a shotgun shooting at them with no f*cks given, then the levels need to have more happening. The underground areas mostly suffer from this problem: they just feel tight and need expansion. I also feel like you should do a better job of indicating where the player goes since it can be confusing at times. Also, there is like this blue filter wherever you go outside in the snow, but once you step inside it’s like it’s just gone like magic. Also, fix your pacing please: one second I am riding an airboat, and then, not even 40 seconds, I am off and done with it. You can tell that the lead devs are not native English speakers; most of the acting lines have broken English. But, there are some talented voice actors in here like Trivvy, who is currently doing Bad Cop in Entropy:Zero 2. Whoever Trivvy voice acted for was the best character in the mod. However, there are still odd picks: like why the f*ck is Tyler McViker in this thing?! I don’t have a grudge against Tyler McViker, at least I don’t think I do… but why is he here? He is just Tyler McViker and I can hear him giggling in his mic. There are some useless items in this mod. The PDA reminds of the PDA from Doom 3 and just tells you what the protagonist is thinking. Again, why even have those cutscenes if the PDA tells us his thoughts? The antidote is a cool idea for a game mechanic; but late game, you will never use it. CONCLUSION My final thoughts are similar to Half-life 2: Ice, it’s a fun little fan-made expansion pack you can play. If I had to rank it, I would give it a -8/10. Just go in expecting a non-serious, but still fun, Half-life 2 Episode 2 mod. The team behind this project is already working on another mod called “Swelter." Sadly, it is not a sequel and will be its own new story. The style of Swelter seems to be Central Asian-themed, like Kazakhstan or somesh*t. I hope you enjoyed this review of mine. Leave a comment if you want to, I will be sure to read it. Heck, maybe you could correct me on something like grammar or an argument I made. That’s all I have to say, take care! Mod links: Snowdrop Escape (ModDB Link): https://www.moddb.com/mods/sde Swelter (ModDB Link): https://www.moddb.com/mods/swelter My personal links: I have a YouTube if anybody wants to look at that: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGEwsB7LK8_duOhvpJW7_jw