Action Half-Life
Encyclopedia
Action Half-Life 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
.
AHL:Directors Cut, however, is a project started by the 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, 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 October 2008) and is being touted as the final version of AHL:DC.
Recently, a combined effort with continued blessing from the original A-Team, Ministry of Action has released Action Half-Life 2. This is version 1.0 "The Sauce of Death," and it appears that this will be a continued work with further releases to come.
, 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 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.
; at the start of a round, players 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.
The game also includes a "last man standing" mode, which plays like deathmatch, but without respawning after death.
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
for the award-winning first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game Half-Life. It strives to simulate action movies, especially those directed by John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
.
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 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, 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 October 2008) and is being touted as the final version of AHL:DC.
Recently, a combined effort with continued blessing from the original A-Team, Ministry of Action has released Action Half-Life 2. This is version 1.0 "The Sauce of Death," and it appears that this will be a continued work with further releases to come.
Features
Action Half-life has a stunt system similar to the one found in Max PayneMax Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
, introduced in Action beta 3.0 long before Max Payne was released. It was also the first Half-Life mod to feature akimbo
Akimbo (gaming)
Dual wielding is to hold a weapon in each hand. In gaming a dual wield may also be called akimbo style, though it has little resemblance to the human position of that name...
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
Bullet time
Bullet time is a special and visual effect that refers to a digitally enhanced simulation of variable-speed photography used in films, broadcast advertisements, and video games...
.
Another 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
Action Quake 2
Action Quake 2 is a mod for the computer game Quake II created by The A-Team. Although originally released in 1998, it still has a small player base mainly in South America, Scandinavia and especially in Finland, with active servers on several continents as of 2008...
and the third was Action Unreal Tournament 2004.
Gameplay
The traditional mode of gameplay is DeathmatchDeathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
; at the start of a round, players must choose a Single Pistol, Unique Weapon, and Special Item. Unlike the buy menu in Counter-strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
, these weapons are free and have limited ammunition, which makes tactical usage crucial.
The game also includes a "last man standing" mode, which plays like deathmatch, but without respawning after death.
See also
- Action Half-Life:2Action Half-Life:2Action Half-Life 2 is a mod for Half-Life 2. Based on Action Half-Life, Action Half-Life 2 is the next installment of the Action Half-life Series which allows players to simulate being in an action movie while killing other players in a death match.-See also:*Action Half-Life*Half-Life...
- Half-Life
- Steam
- List of Half-Life mods
- Valve Software
External links
- Action Half-Life homepage
- Ministry of Action homepage
- AHL Map Depot homepage
- Article at GameSpyGameSpyGameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
- Article at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
- Article at RockPaperShotgun