Half-Life: Science and Industry

"Unfortunately too different for its own good."

Science and Industry (S&I) is a mod for Half-life. You need Half-life installed to play it. It is team based multiplayer only. It retains a lot of things from original Half-life like Grenades and Scientists, but it adds new depth and a unique feel. There are new Gameplay rules as well as new tactics to be implemented. Unfortunately for S&I few people will download something that is this different. It's a large download for dial up users, and nobody wants to download a mod that big unless they know it's fun. Well, I am here to tell you 3 or 4 hypothetical people that may read this that yes, it is fun.

You will have to read the FAQ or readme for more info on how to play, but essentially it is about 2 rival corporations competing violently. Money is your main resource, although it works pretty subtly. Steal their scientists, distract the ones you can't carry back with you, steal their research, destroy their equipment, kill their guards and make them respawn them at a cost. The primary means of winning is gaining scientists from the other team, although generally causing havoc had wondrous effects. Scientists build guns and upgrades for you, so you are more effective at completing these goals. Your team must vote on what research they want done, the high scorer gets an extra vote so you want to be top man of your team if you don't agree with them.

Weapons: Most of the time you will not research all of the weapons before the match is up, that's unfortunate, but you can set a longer timelimit. Many weapons are directly ported from Half-life. Several are modified. Most are completely new and interesting. In addition to killing enemies, you can also use some ''weapons'' to make your scientists work faster, their scientists work slower, or generally be defensive. If you're playing on a LAN I recommend not reading about any of the weapons in readme or FAQ. It's much funner asking ''What just happened?''

Graphics: A few new models here and there. A lot taken directly from Half-life. The new models look enough like the Half-life models that a layperson wouldn't know the difference.

Sound: Nothing really noticeable. Mostly Half-life sounds. No music or anything. Sound is overall not an issue.

Gameplay: Fun, fast paced, a lot like Capture the Flag but more chaotic. Inventively planned so that there are multiple scientists, research items to steal, equipment, and ways of dealing with upgrading. Gameplay is quite good, although it's complexity may put people off early on.

Maps: I liked the maps. Multiple routes like any good TFC map, but with added areas for the Administrator and Destroyable Equipment (see or FAQ) readme for details. They are well textured too in addition to being well laid out. They have a memorable look and feel. The only problem is that on some maps you are only allowed to have 3 weapons at the spawn point.

Overall: This is a great mod. It's complex, chaotic, but never overwhelming. I enjoy it thoroughly and give it a 10/10. If this were released as a full game it would be a different story, but as a free mod with a relatively small file size, given it's large amount of content, I would have to say that this is sweet. My sentences are bad though, hehe. I encourage you to bring this to any LAN party, you won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/03, Updated 01/18/03