First Person Shooter > PC : HL2 MOD > MINERVA: Metastasis

MINERVA: Metastasis (PC : HL2 MOD)
Release Date: September 2nd, 2005
Publisher: N/A
Developer: Adam Foster
Genre: First Person Shooter - Sci-fi

Posted: April 19th, 2006
Last Updated: June 24th, 2007

Latest Release: 1.0 On-Site Links Transcript Downloads MINERVA: Metastasis (1-2) (22.86 MB .exe) (BitTorrent)

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Off-Site Links Official Site Official Development Blog [ ten four ] Review ModDB Entry Article on Steam Storefront The Valve Developers Community Entry

ESRB Rating: N/A Also Available On: N/A Also Released As: N/A

Number of Players: 1 Player Prequels, Sequels and Expansions: MINERVA: Metastasis 2 (Sequel) Average Completion Time: 45 Minutes

Similar To: Half-Life 2 (PC) Related To: Half-Life 2 (PC) Rating: Average rating: Ratings 5 4 3 2 1

MINERVA: Metastasis is a Half-Life 2 mod which features some amazingly well thought out level design. We're talking about Valve-quality map design here. It contains only one map, but the mod itself will appear as a series of episodic maps, so expect this to be a little short. MINERVA also contains some new sounds and music; however, one of the best features that I found with the media included in the download is the complete map sources are included so you can see exactly how he built it and even edit the maps.

Along with the awesome level design you can expect to see some awesome gun fights with the Combine forces. You also get a little expanded dialogue and plot which seems to be based on the Half-Life 2 plot, but the dialog itself is very cryptic and almost poetry like. This writting style is very neat, very mysterious and makes you wonder what exactly is going on in the back story. In fact, minerva and metastasis are both greek/roman in origin, so this may have some significance (considering more greek mythology is referred to in the dialog) or maybe it is just something cool to allude to. You can catch a glimpse of all the cryptic dialogue in the game on my Transcript page.

The fact that this mod uses one map is incredibly cool. It is very large, so even though only one loading is needed, it takes awhile to load. Unfortunately also because of the bigger map some lower end machines may get some choppy gameplay. I even found some areas to be choppy.

This isn't the first time Adam has released something like this. He also has some experience in the Half-Life world in which he released another episodic tale entitled "Someplace Else". Some information and a review about "Someplace Else" can he found here on the ten four site. Adam has also now released the second part of Metastasis, and because of the low file size combined both parts into one download, so there is no real reason to find just the first or second ones by themselves. As such, the download available here through BitTorrent will contain both of the episodes.