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Justice - SP by satchmo

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Map Description

Justice: A Single-Player Map for Half-Life 2

Version 3 released: August 30, 2005
Length: Approximately an hour long for a first-time player
Difficulty: Kick-ass hard

SCENARIO
Did you find the ending to Half-Life 2 not challenging enough? This map is an addendum to what happened to Gordon after the official Half-Life 2 ended. If you're looking for a more intense conclusion for Half-Life 2, you've come to the right place.

The map takes place a few days after you have blown up the Citadel in City 17. Gordon Freeman regains consciousness after a brutal beating by the combine capturers. You're locked up in a jail, and your murder trial for killing Dr. Breen and his associates is scheduled for the next morning.

The G-Man is presiding as the judge over the trial, and your instinct tells you that you really have no chance at getting a fair trial. Judging from the appearance of your cellmate, you better get out when you still have a chance.

You must escape the courthouse before night falls. You've got nothing but your wit to successfully survive the squads of combines guarding the courthouse. Fight with your brain, not just with your guns.

If you wish, you can watch a video walkthrough of this map, courtesy of Habboi.
Postscript:

There was an earlier version of the map with two antlion guards in the courtyard instead of the gunship. After playtesting with members of the SnarkPit, I decided that having a gunship can take advantage of the layout of the map so much more than the antlion guards. The older version is no longer available for download. I hope you enjoy this new version as much as I enjoyed creating this map.

Discussion

Posted by Andrei on Fri May 20th 2005 at 7:36am
Played it, liked it. What I didn't like, however, was the lighting; most places being so dark that it made combat almost impossible. The outdoor lighting is also pretty ugly too and I keep living with the impression that this would have been better-off with the sky_day01_04 skybox (with appropriate light_environment settings, of course!).
Posted by theoddone on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 11:32pm
I haven't even used the elites yet, since I usually have the battles setup at rebels vs many, many combine (they're aim is just pitiful). I'll try having a elite only squad vs some rebels. Do you recall if you can limit the number of gunballs they have?

BTW, do you plan to make another map similar to this? I really enjoyed it.
Posted by satchmo on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 11:13pm
[Author]
The last three Elite Combines I have in the courtyard are the most interesting, in my opinion. They have free reign of the entire map, and with info_nodes dispersed throughout the map, they hunt for the player everywhere.

I played the last bit myself over and over again because I find the AI variations so interesting.
Posted by theoddone on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 10:46pm
I asked, but then I edited because I remembered that you set the difficult in the setting menu so I just figured it stayed on hard even with custom maps.

I like to make battle arenas with the AI and watch how they handle each other in a fight without me being the primary target. It's really interesting, and makes for some downright awesome un-scripted action! (since not 1 battle is EVER played out twice) This is primarily how I learned the ins and outs of the AI behavior.
Posted by satchmo on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 10:35pm
[Author]
Ahh, using your wit very well indeed. You must breeze through Half-Life 2 easily.

By the way, you asked about setting the difficulty setting for custom maps. I don't know how to do that. I just make the map more challenging by enemy placement and arm them with various types of weapons. I also direct their assault to some extent, but I allow the AI to do most of the hunting.
Posted by theoddone on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 10:26pm
I just know what to expect from each enemy is all, since the AI is so predictable. Not to mention, at the beginning of the game, the gunship blew over the first turret, which made that ordeal very easy. :D
Posted by satchmo on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 10:12pm
[Author]
Wow, that's very impressive. You're either God himself or you used some cheat codes.
Posted by theoddone on Wed Mar 16th 2005 at 8:00pm
I beat this in 15 minutes, and 5mins of that was wandering around trying to find my way around. I never went below 60hp and only used the HEV suit charger and not the health changer. Unless it was on easy, a lot of you suck. :P

This is not even close to being hard. P.S: I also did not beat the SP campaign, not yet anyways.
Posted by satchmo on Tue Mar 15th 2005 at 5:46pm
[Author]
The basement used to have zombies in it, but many beta playtesters complained that they're out of place. They thought it was strange to have zombies in the basement of a courthouse. So I took them out.

I still have a fast zombie in the map. It's hard to find. It's not even mentioned in the walkthrough, because it's not essential to beat the map. You can find him yourself by venturing to the fenced generator in the courtyard in the back of the courthouse.

Thanks for the comment, by the way.
Posted by Rotacidare on Tue Mar 15th 2005 at 5:24pm
Liked the map, good looking and fairly challenging. Killing the first couple of guards was a bit hard, after that not too bad. I liked the use of a variety of enemies, a 'scarier' basement would have been cool with fast zombies. Next make a new zone outside the gate!