I've heard about the controversy circulating in the Half-Life community; about how Hunt Down The Freeman gained notoriety for its crowd-funding and lengthy delays, only to end up with a release with lackluster content and asset flips borrowed from original Half-Life 2 or other mods. As an HL mod fan knowing this, and for the fact that it's been on a sale, I've purchased this with caution and played through it in 7 hours. So, is it as bad as the negative part of community argue for what it is?

To start it off, it is an ambitious mod project with a relatively large team that has leverage on different parts of content creation. HDTF is a story-driven single-player game based on the Half-Life universe, putting you in the role of a villain soldier starting in Black Mesa, then fighting through the Seven Hour war, followed by future events parallel to the HL2 plot. The plot presented has some shiny moments, more akin to a movie pitch rather than as a game, as it flirts with influences such as Metal Gear Solid, for example (Hideo Kojima being part of the credits). That's emphasized by SFM movie sequences that the team chose to implement in the mod, being shown up during and between the levels for the storytelling. Knowing that Half-Life 2 has done well without cutscenes and its engine makes the work of adding those seamlessly is tricky. Despite some bogginess around that, it doesn't bring down the sense of immersion too much when weighed against the superior quality of the movie making (at least, I tried to ignore that annoyance).

Despite the usage of movie sequences and a plenty of dialogues, there is an amount of plot holes that they haven't covered between certain levels and leaves me confused as the next level has loaded. There are also several spots that hardly even give clue to what you should do next in this seemingly expansive map or the other one, not without looking up the walkthrough after a while.

Regarding that, the map design standards are inconsistent, with plenty of levels that lack polish regarding AI programming and lighting balance (too bright or too dark). The team aims to go with vast map sizes that would dwarf creations by Valve. While it would make for gameplay consistency and epic factor on paper, the final result is that some maps end up being underused for their massive size. While I find it passable with relatively pristine, snowy mountains or a misty forest filled with zombies, running through a Combine facility with nobody to interact or fight with is a total waste of time... As I've experienced performance issues with certain levels, having massive map size on most of the Source-based game is a double-edged sword you could apply as a developer.

The audio department is a mixed bag but works for the most part, with nothing to complain about the sound design and the soundtrack is sufficiently dynamic, fitting into the HL2's original atmosphere. I'll give it to the composer of the main theme, who delivers a poignant setting for the plot with its classical/east-European piano motifs into play. The cinematic interplay between music and movie sequence do help to lift the characters written into Hunt Down The Freeman, making them sufficiently memorable if you care enough about the story.

Alas, the voice acting is even more mixed in terms of talent and recording quality. While the main characters have sufficient studio quality recording and some form of experience to deliver engaging expressions, I am a bit vexed with some minor characters who sound like they were recorded through a mobile phone or a laptop. Considering it's still a mod fan creation (despite forking out 2.49€ for it), I could forgive the creative director for opening the opportunity for aspiring voice actors that lack experience or for the lack of talents they couldn't afford.(?)

Is Hunt Down The Freeman still worth picking up? Not unless you are a die-hard Half-Life fan with an open mind and even then, until the devs are fixing most of the glaring issues as I've stated above, you'd do yourself a service to buy it on a cheap sale or until it eventually goes free. Who knows...? With a larger scale of reactions from the HL & modding community, I hope the developers take something out of the lesson and hone their future projects. After all, Hunt Down The Freeman had a decent potential that was wasted by lackluster execution.