I like Xash3D. Here's why.
Start the review.
Firstly, we open to the menu. I had the Steam version that I got from registering Half Life, which gave me Ricochet and Day of Defeat, the only two HL-based games I don't have, so it was a nice surprise that I opened it to get this:
It certainly looks like Sierra's Half Life, although it doesn't have the moving logo. I liked it, but it's a minor thing.
We open the game, from my save since I have one, and we see this:
It looks no different from normal Half Life. That's because it isn't.
I guess this thing was less pointed than I thought. It's Half Life, what else can I say?
Well, how about this?
(Update 1st June 2016: When I took this screenshot, I thought the game was bugged. It wasn't, sort of. When I installed the game, it defaulted to rendering the models as left handed models, and to fix it I had to go into the
MULTIPLAYER OPTIONS MENU. The most hidden place it could be, rather than putting it in graphics options, where it really belonged.
Hell yes. Do you see that? That is not a rotated image or map. That is strafe bobbing with only a Steam copy of Half Life. I have a copy on CD, but I've lost it along with all the expansions and mods.
This one thing is what made this port stand out above all others.
The mods.
Here's a picture of the actual Alpha at 640x480:
Here's the mod at 960x720:
It has a bunch of fantastic mods and games made with it:
Shaft & In Deep (what you see there), you can use any Half Life game with it, and IONIZATION, which I think is one of the best looking Xash games.
There is one downside to the engine, though:
Yeah. Sorry, guys.
Overall, it's a solid engine that adds to the experience.
8.5/10, I would totally get it if you want to liven up your experience with the game via mods.
