Very good but very very hard campaign

We are used to play campaigns in expert level, and custom campaigns in either expert or advanced. This one we had to finish it in normal mode, because it was very very hard.

First map, we killed around 80 special infecteds, which is huge. On our first attempt, we were slower, and killed around 100 or 120 SIs.

Cons:
Levels transitions did not make perfect sense sometimes (high-tech scientific lab vs rusty middle-age prison).
It is very easy to get lost in some maps, and it is frustrating.
I got stuck in the sewers, had to go idle so that the bot teleport.

Pros:
Everything else.
Every map was very nice, very well crafted, with each its own atmosfear.
Custom sounds (creepy ones! I was scared because at first I thought that someone was being murdered in my building)
Custom models and behaviors (although the Zs in bullet-proof white suits does not make sense).
SIs are popping in a smart way

Very good campaign! But it took us 2h50 to finish it in normal mode... (first part was in advanced mode but we wiped too many times and switched to normal)

Thank you for the very hard and good work Phaeton!! It was very hard, but we enjoyed it. If you have other creations, we would be glad to test them :)

Original, but real hard and a few bugs...

Very original way of playing... Being chased by tanks from the very beginning, with almost no stuff, is quite hard and original.

However, we did not even finish the first map in advanced, due to a bug with the ladder to the sewers... We all died here. It was our 10th attempt to finish the first map, and we gave up.

Too bad, it was interesting.

Pros:

- Awesome custom music
- Awesome custom events
- Awesome custom scenery
- Very very beautiful maps
- Real fun in penultimate map during custom event (could be enhanced even more, maybe ?!)

Cons:

- Boring : unfortunately, the only "con" we could find, but is was really necessary to say it. Indeed, the campaign was boring because of the huge maps (sometimes we did not know where to go), and almost NO zombies anywhere, almost no hordes, almost no special infecteds, almost no tanks...
Also, finale was way too easy because of this "con"

Conclusion:

We were really disappointed regarding the only "con" we noted. Because apart from that, everything is awesome!
Please, take this review into account for the next players :)
I still give 9/10 because it was awesome for everything else. But it seemed more like a "walk in the park" in the real meaning of the word.

Pros:

- Hard (at least when playing alone with dumb bots)
- Custom music
- Custom melee weapons
- Custom event
- Nicely designed

Cons:

None

Conclusion:

Minor a few bugs (see below), this campaign is really well done! It is hard, with custom things in it, and I really enjoyed playing it! (minus the dumb bot AI)

Bugs I encountered:
- Multiple big red blinking "ERROR" meshes (1 near the dead pilot, 2 in the area under the bridge, 3 near the first lighted area in the finale, and a few somewhere else, can't remember) EDIT : okay I see there is a patch for that!
- Bots repop was not obvious... 2 bots died at the same time, but only 1 repoped. Another time, 1 was dead, but he never repoped
- In the first map, near the big "boat", 2 bots died, probably by falling into the sea (no zombies or anything around them)
- In the first map, it took me 2 minutes to understand that I had to go down the "windows" ^^ (I thought I would be going backwards...) Maybe a black arrow would be a nice addition there
- Great custom melee weapons, except I could not see the icon in my inventory
- In the penultimate map, there was a big pink (buggy) building

Anyway, this campaign really rocked!!! :) :)

Pros:

- All customized campaign
- Easter Egg
- Long
- Hard (when playing with bots)
- Real minecraft universe

Cons:

None

Conclusion:

A few minor bugs (doors can't open if a zombie is behind, metal sound for a wood ladder, and a few minor things).
But apart from that, this campaign was really great, or even impressive!!
We really had fun playing it, and I'm willing to play it again for the easter egg I missed :)
Congratulations for the real hard work!!

Pros:

- Amazing work done creating this campaign !

- Very long campaign

- Custom stuff all around

- Quite hard ! (4 quite experienced players had a hard time doing it in normal mode)

- High fidelity to the game/movie

Cons:

- Very long

- Very hard

- Though very well done, sometimes it becomes boring to get one item in order to unlock another one that will unlock a third one at the opposite side of the map (point & click-like)

- Hordes sometimes pop on the players

- Not enough throwables/kits (but maybe it is on purpose)

Conclusion:

Very good work, unique levels and items, unique logic to progress through the map/campaign.
Despite the (very !) good work, it is still very long, hard, and sometimes annoying for the key stuff.
I don't want to bring down the global note of this campaign because it still is amazing, but please fix all the few annoying things and it will be perfect :)
We played for 4 hours and still had 4 maps to do... :)

Pros:

Near perfect loading screen
Very beautiful and original
Interesting and nice custom content (pool, light beams and everything)
Really nice finale
Fun
Forgot : really original and beautiful intro

Cons:

A few small things :
- "only" 4 maps
- During rush event with the door to open, the tank popped before the event started and we killed it through the door
- Destroyed wall at cannon event was not very obvious

Conclusion:

(increased my rating a bit) A few small things should be perfected in order to make this campaign really perfect. Keep up the excellent work !! :)

Pros:

Beautiful
Well designed
Very original (intro, finale...)
Custom stuff everywhere (much appreciated !)

Cons:

The intro in realism was impossible. The parachutes were sooo hard to find (one spawned behind a crate...), add that all the specials and hordes that keep coming... Also the first time we did not receive any tips on what to do (finding parachutes).
The finale is way too hard (played it a few times with 4 average players in normal no-realism and never won)
The fireworks in finale sometimes bug (don't get the ice melt although well placed), and they don't spawn again when spoiled, it's too bad.

Conclusion:

This is a very unique campaign, extremely interesting due to custom stuff and original ideas for intro and finale. I loved it, but the parachutes are hard to find (you should make them a lot bigger), and the finale is hard as hell (ammo is far from the boat, for example). Anyway this is an excellent campaign ! If you fix the parachutes and the fireworks, I will give you 95 or 100, because I can't find any other drawbacks :)

Pros:

- Nicely crafted maps
- Coherent chaining of maps

Cons:

- Worst bug : final must be fixed : either you call the radio before filling the gas and in this case it is absolutely impossible to finish, or you fill the gas before calling the radio and in this case the final is useless
- Bugs of specials (even tanks) spawning behind special doors (first map before entering the drug store, in the sewers also in the machinery room), under the fallen bridge (tank) and behind the white wooden wall before the fallen bridge, and also at some places behind walls (the wall on the right after the elevator where you need to pick up the gas to explode the wall)
- Not enough melee weapons

Conclusion:

Despite 5 well designed maps, some bugs remain, and some of them are quite important.
Fix them and I will update my review and give you 85 or 90 (custom textures and buildings and all will give you more points)
Keep up the good work !

Pros:

- Long
- Unique
- Very well written
- Love the end
- Hard but fun

Cons:

Lack of beautiful textures but I guess it was the goal.

Conclusion:

This is one hell of a campaign ! The best campaign my friends and I have ever played, we all agreed on that.
That campaign is unique, it kept us playing for more than 2 hours to finish it. We died so many times and played it in normal mode. The ideas in this campaign are very good, we never get bored or something, and as I said, I love the end !

Warm congratulations to the writter, you REALLY should work for Valve !