Wednesday 2 July 2014

Reviews: KEYS for Source Singleplayer 2013


Minor spoilers are not indicated. If you want the full experience, play it first.

Reviewing something like Keys, a short, singleplayer art mod built in the Source engine, is extremely difficult. By definition art mods circumvent every convention of standard critique; stuck on a wall thanks to a bad bit of clipping? Its creator can say it's representative of mankind's struggle, or some other utter bollocks. In a subgenre of little meaningful interaction with a few puzzles here and there, does Keys fall into the trap of meaningless glamour and pretensions to depth, or genuinely hit some high notes?

Immediately there's a sense that Keys isn't trying to be anything more than it is. Some sequences almost have the feeling of a visual exercise of the game's engine, while others are beautiful for their own sake. It isn't part of the artist's ego or a flimsy 'edgy' idea; Keys presents its ideas and areas, and leaves you with them to figure out and play with. As a subjective piece, it may not have hit me where it did others, but I was thankful for the author's willingness to let me work through at my own pace.


On the technical side, the mod loads the first level on boot, skipping any menu time. This has the negative effect of needing a few moments to adjust the graphical settings, yanking you out of any initial immersion. Unfortunately, this is probably the opposite of the author's intention, but Source by default loads mods in a 4:3 aspect ratio. There are a couple of excessively dark areas, and one or two shonky level transitions that don't seem to function as smoothly as they could.

At one point - perhaps due to a little rushing - an ambient sound did not end on transition to next area and proved so distracting I had to use the console to stop it. The lack of a conventional menu also made the ending ambiguous at best - a 'thanks for playing' would have been appreciated. While I can understand the author's desire to not have a menu, sometimes you have to stick with convention.

Keys touches on meta elements, but never reaches the
heights of The Stanley Parable
In terms of level design, Keys is robust and functional. The idea of exposing how the engine works and maps are constituted as building blocks is touched on, in a Samuel Beckett-esque purposeful removal of immersion, but I found the meaningfulness lacking. It doesn't really go anywhere - conventions aren't subverted, and while there's some imagery in having to descend out of these areas, they feel like part of a much more haunting and grim mod altogether when juxtaposed with Keys' more complex and interesting set pieces.

Those ethereal sequences in turn are open to interpretation, and provide a solid foundation for interaction. They are strung together by a few common themes, and the storytelling finale puts a fair amount of the prior mod into an understandable perspective. The puzzle sequences are understandably simple, but sufficiently involving and unfrustrating, thanks in part to the brilliant soundtrack.

The soundtrack really is a strong point, and one of the stand-out features; haunting guitar melodies underpin your actions, and I have to give credit to the composer. It helps pace the mod, and sets the mood beautifully.



To be fair to the author, minimal gameplay is the name of the non-game here, and Keys is the first mod I've heard called an 'interactive art gallery' without it being a criticism. The line that art mods walk between game and interactive gallery is an interesting one, and the lack of a win/lose condition can raise interesting questions about whether they're really games at all. The question and presentation of art within a medium frequently interrogated for artistic merit haunts the game, and actual gameplay elements allow it to cast aside the complaints that the gorgeous-but-weak Dear Esther's recieved of being little more than a stroll with some narration.

Ultimately what Keys doesn't do is overreach - it's a piece of achieved ambition, and making a mod is no small feat. The creator is a long-time member of the same mapping community as myself, but chooses not to strive for the climactic heights of 99 Bolts, or City 17, mods that have reached for the stars and plummeted back to Earth with scorched wings. It is a short, simple, and extremely creative sequence that's worth a download if it's your cup of tea.

Arma, if you're reading this, well done mate.

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Review: Courage for Source Singleplayer 2013


Minor spoilers are not indicated. If you want the full experience, play it first.

Every so often you come across a mod that really chimes with you, and Courage comes very close to doing so. Described by its creator 'turboluigi' (this is why I love the mod community) as "L4D2 meets Dear Esther", it dabbles with the former's gameplay while taking just a few pages from the latter's surrealism.

What results is a technically competent and incredibly dark piece that creates a much more resounding sense of finality than any conventional death sequence I've played in some time. Naturally, only a short singleplayer mod could pull off this kind of thing, and I gave the whole thing two run-throughs in around ten minutes or so.


Built in the Source engine, there are no major tweaks to note - the guns go bang and the bad men fall down. The conventional linearity of most Half-Life 2 mods is replaced with a single open area, which within moments is swamped with zombies. Your running gun battle allows you to grab ammunition and health, while the generously proportioned map gives you plenty of breathing space without suffering from the problems of having the shambling necrotics become a shooting gallery.

The real hook of the mod lies in 'courage', a virtual reality system that opens up to the player after eliminating the resident zombie population. Half-Life mods suffer greatly from a weapon and physics set that's ten years old, and without the resources to code in new guns increasingly clever ideas are a necessity. Once activated, courage shunts you to an alternate reality in a thoroughly jarring tonal shift that left me on the right side of bemused without being inappropriate.


Thematically, Courage absolutely nails it. The humour is subtle and the tone well-balanced. There's a sharp irony to the real world's advertisements for courage, and the facile world of the simulation is set against a grim and invasive reality. Without spoiling it, I thoroughly recommend playing the mod twice to understand the mechanics involved; the twist has frightening implications that really make you think about the implications of your actions. I'm probably going to do a writeup of that in the coming days.

On a more critical slant, I personally found some of the music in the courage sequences to border on the overly sentimental, and I think the contrast between the real and simulated worlds is sufficiently jarring without a crooning vocalist. SPOILERS I found the 'good' ending a little weak as well, and again overly optimistic for my personal taste. Like Danny Boyle's film Sunshine, this might have been one instance where the happy ending could have been replaced by an endless, one-man holdout against an onslaught. Equally, it provides firm closure and an acceptable reward for persevering, so each to their own. SPOILERS OVER.

Overall, it's very much a short-and-sweet piece that for its download size is well worth the entry fee of zero pounds/dollars/euros/whatever. While it borders the line between dull, routine, silly and manipulative, Courage very much does so in all the right ways. Thoroughly recommended.