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The Ship Takes Offbeat, Whodunnit Approach To Half-Life

Posted by simoniker on from the band-played-on dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the official 'The Ship' website, featuring "a free downloadable [multiplayer] Half Life 1 mod" described by a forum poster as "a twisted version of Agatha Christie meets Clue." The welcome page details: "You've just won a free ticket to a dream cruise onboard a spectacular, replica 1920's cruise ship!", and the official play guide explains some of the intriguing game mechanics, which involves each player needing to "find out the name [of each fellow 'passenger' on the Ship], eliminate unknown passengers, and find out which one is your quarry", then "kill them without being caught by security or too many witnesses." There are also additional wrinkles in the recently released mod, since: "To curb excessive killing, players are traumatised by committing murders", and "Each player has basic needs [including going to the bathroom] which must be taken care of."

12 comments

  1. Sounds interesting by elasticwings · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This sounds like it might be fun to try. I wonder if it'll make port to Half Life 2... whenever that comes out.

  2. Just wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Each player has basic needs [including going to the bathroom] which must be taken care of."

    Does that mean that this mod can be classed as a "First Person Shitter"?

  3. Looks pretty neat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but judging by the torrents of enthusiasm I'm seeing, the servers will be empty. It doesn't seem like a good mod for 1vs1... and no bots...

  4. I don't understand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...the concept behind these "ultra-realisitc" games. Life isn't fun by any accords, so what's the point in trying to emulate it? I supose it can make for some interesting gameplay, but you can only go so far with the idea before it becomes a real life simulator and not a video game.

    It's the reason movie quality games like Metal Gear still have floating ammo boxes. And by Jesus, where would we be without the floating ammo boxes?!!

    1. Re:I don't understand... by duncangough · · Score: 1

      I noticed that some of the early interviews for Half Life 2 mentioned the need to frequently clean your gun so that it would always work.
      Not surprisingly, that's something I've heard little more of ;-)

      --
      Suttree, a weblog about casual games development
  5. Wow, this might set off ! by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 2
    ....IF ONLY I COULD DOWNLOAD IT !

    *grumble* Thanks Jolt for the UK only download servers :/

    1. Re:Wow, this might set off ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It took me awhile to find the international download link too (maybe they just added it?)

      Click on 'Intl. downloads' under media, then click on international download mirror 1.
      It worked for me and I'm in Canada, even though the text makes it sound like it shouldn't.

      I haven't tried the game yet, but it sounds interesting.
      If they try to release it as a stand alone game as they're planning, I can see lack of servers being a problem for such a niche game.

  6. What a coincidence by phaire · · Score: 2

    I just reinstalled Half Life for the first time in years, specifically to play They Hunger: http://www.planethalflife.com/manke/
    Now to download and try this one!

  7. Hrm by inkless1 · · Score: 1

    I can admire the originality of the basic premise, and the sim-like "needs" system sounds neat, but in it's core isn't this just a Hunter/Assassin style mod?

    1. Re:Hrm by SoulSkorpion · · Score: 1

      What's your point? We're suffering a torrential deluge of WW2 games at the moment, not "Hunter/Assassin style" mods.

      Change is good.

    2. Re:Hrm by inkless1 · · Score: 1

      Uh, the point is that this isn't much change. It's a bit of a twist, but the site describes it as revolutionary. Like I said, it's kinda neat execution, but let's not go overboard.

      There's a great assassin mod for UT2004 - don't see that get the rage on at /. ... hell, if you are feeling the deluge of WW2 games, I don't think you're looking hard enough.

      http://unrealmods.org/list_mods.php?engine=ut2k4