Action Half-Life

From Free net 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. It was developed by the 'A-Team', led by Dwayne 'Oddjob' Douglass. It has had several lead programmers, but Stuart 'Payback' Crouch is the current one. Action Half -Life had several beta versions before being released as version 1.0.

Action HL has several rare features. First, it has a stunt system similar to the one found in Max Payne. Note, Action beta 3.0 had these stunts long before Max Payne was released. It was also the first Half-Life mod to feature akimbo pistols. Furthermore, it pioneered several graphic enhancements to the Half-Life engine, including the visible laser sight and wall debris. In addition to the usual Deathmatch and Team vs Team, it also has a round based game-mode called "Last Man Standing" which can be described as either Deathmatch without respawing or Teamplay with everyone on their own team. Note, Unreal Tournament also has a game-mode called "Last Man Standing", but normally the players are able to respawn a few times. UT LMS with only one life would be equivalent to AHL LMS.

Also, unlike other mods, it has support for single player mod. In it, the player can execute an Adrenaline Rush mode, which is basically Bullet Time.

Another noted aspect of AHL is the inclusion of several extremely off-the-beaten-path but long and intricate secret areas that are housed in many of its levels, especially those created by famed level designer Hondo. One in particular (in the level "5 AM") takes multiple players to access and complete, and is in fact much bigger than the main portion of the level.

Currently, Action Half-Life is being maintained by a group of fans called the Ministry of Action. They are developing fan-made updates to AHL version 1, called Director's Cuts. While these updates aren't supported by the A-Team themselves, Ministry of Action has been given the A-Team's blessing.

Action Half-Life is considered to be the second official mod in the "Action" series. The first was Action Quake 2 and the third was Action Unreal Tournament 2004.

1 Weapons
2 Items
3 See also
4 External links

[edit]

Weapons

Action Half-Life has these weapons:

Kung Fu

Kung Fu is your basic melee attack. You can punch with your fists or you can perform a variety of kicks. The secondary fire performs a spin-kick, and pressing jump and stunt simultaneously while standing still performs a jump-kick.

Throwing Knife

Every player comes equipped with at least one throwing knife, which can be thrown or used as a back-up melee weapon. Throwing a knife takes timing a precision, and because knives take time to travel through air, a knife user must lead their target. However, a thrown knife does a substantial amount of damage, and usually kills with a single hit. It is not possible to throw knives while diving unless the knife was already pulled back before a dive is made.

Grenade

The grenade is a popular item on populated servers. It has a large blast radius, and can be set for short range, medium range, and long range tosses. If the grenade pin is pulled by accident, use of the +weapon command will place the pin back into the grenade.

Beretta

The Beretta is the most common pistol in AHL. It is blessed with a high ammo count and decent accuracy values, and a very short reload, which make it popular amongst new players. However, it is plagued by poor penetration and low damage. The Beretta can be held akimbo, with one Beretta in each hand. The Beretta can be fired in semi-automatic mode for more precise shooting, or automatic mode to put more bullets into the air.

Colt 1911

Another often used weapon, the "Golden Colts" (resembling the ones used by Nicholas Cage in Face/Off) fire the powerful .45 ACP round. While on par with the Beretta in terms of accuracy, the 1911's small magazine means that the user will expend their rounds in a short amount of time.

Colt SAA

Used by the famous John Wayne, the Colt SAA is a single action revolver that fires .45 Colt rounds. The SAA has the longest reloading time of all of the pistols because rounds must be loaded one at a time. However, unlike magazine pistols like the 1911 or Beretta, remaining ammunition within the gun isn't lost during a reload. The SAA can be quickly fired by fanning the hammer, sacrificing accuracy for speed. While the single SAA is highly inaccurate, the akimbo SAAs are the exact opposite.

Desert Eagle

One of two high caliber pistols, the Desert Eagle is the most powerful of the three semi-automatic pistols. The Desert Eagle's high caliber round guarantees excellent penetration, but its downfalls are long draw time, high amount of recoil and small magazine capacity. In the right hands, the Desert Eagle is a very formidable weapon.

.44 Magnum

The .44 Magnum is the single most powerful pistol in the whole game, beating out the Desert Eagle by a small margin. The Magnum, like the SAA, takes more time to reload than the semi-automatic pistols. However, unlike the SAA, the Magnum is incredibly accurate. If coupled with a laser sight, the Magnum can serve as a makeshift sniper rifle. However, this weapon takes a steady hand to shoot.

Submachine gun (MP5K)

The submachine gun is a good all-round weapon. It works best in close-quarters, but can take out targets at medium range. The submachine gun fires can empty very quickly, so acquiring additional magazines for it is important. It can be coupled with a silencer, making it perfect for stealthy players.

Shotgun

As proven in John Woo's masterpiece, Hard Boiled, the shotgun is an excellent close range weapon. It can rip through opponents easily, with kevlar providing a small amount of protection. The shotgun is marred by its short range and manual pump action. Each shell must be loaded into the shotgun individually, so a shotgun user must hold the reload button to load more than one shell at a time.

Handcannon (as seen in The Road Warrior)

The handcannon is an example of big power in a small package. It has two barrels, which can be fired simultaneously, or one after the other, resulting in massive damage. The handcannon's short range requires the user to be point-blank in order for the shots to do any significant damage. Even if the user empties both barrels and misses, reloading only takes two seconds.

Assault Rifle (M4 Carbine)

The Assault Rifle is one of the most popular unique weapons of AHL. With high damage and penetration, the Assault Rifle is a truly powerful and versatile weapon. Fully automatic fire produces quite an amount of recoil, so burst fire or single shot is recommended in order to maintain accuracy. The Assault Rifle can be coupled with a laser sight to reduce the recoil and boost accuracy.

Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle

The semi-automatic sniper rifle is the weaker of the two sniper rifles, but allows for quick follow up shots. The semi-auto isn't as popular as the bolt-action because it lacks the bolt-action's one-hit-kill ability.

Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle

The most often used and most maligned unique weapon in AHL. The .50 caliber bolt-action rifle is tied with the throwing knife as the most powerful weapon in the game, able to kill with a single hit to the chest. Anybody lucky enough to survive such a shot is likely to bleed to death in a matter of seconds. Legshots don't kill, but they are useful, slowing down an opponent and allowing a kill shot. Also present is a bug which allows a bolt-action user to fire the weapon accurately in an instant. Opinions on the .50 cal are varied. One such opinion is that it breaks AHL's fast paced gameplay.

Note: The Beretta, 1911, and SAA can be held akimbo. Only four pistols may be carried at a time. Only one non-pistol gun may be carried at a time, unless the player is equipped with the bandolier. Up to ten knives may be carried at a time.

[edit]