 Good evening. Entropy Zero 2 is everywhere. It's the first Half-Life fan game to break out into the mainstream in a good while. Getting picked up by big dog YouTubers, plastered all over the Half-Life reddits, and generally becoming unavoidable if you're active in the community. If you're not familiar, Entropy Zero was a Half-Life 2 fan game released in 2015 in which you take control of a combine unit called Bad Cop, and its freshly released sequel is one of the most heavily anticipated Half-Life mods of all time. I'm a big Half-Life guy, so I want to share my thoughts on this game, what I liked and disliked. But first, I want to be transparent about the fact that I'm good friends with one of the game's programmers, that I was a beta tester for the game and got to play it about a month early, and I even have a voice acting cameo in the opening chapter. So one might say I'm a bit biased. But despite the fact that I got to play it before most people, for the majority of the time I've had my hands on Entropy Zero 2, I've been kind of like a deer in headlights. I'm not exaggerating when I say it kind of stunned me. In fact, when I first got served a questionnaire on how I felt about the mod I struggled to say anything bad about it at all. I'm sorry to the team that I'm only just now figuring out how to give real feedback now that the game's already out, but the whole reason this video is so late is because I'm only just now starting to really understand my feelings about the game. Now, I'm not a video game reviewer, I haven't really done anything like this on the channel before, and I don't even really play that many games outside of Valve's titles, so when I offer my thoughts, I can see that they're definitely from a limited and narrow perspective. However, I'm still going to share them anyway because in my opinion this mod really does rule, and I want you all to know why. So, let's talk about Entropy Zero 2. Or Easy 2. Starting with the story, Easy 2 is a continuation of the story from Entropy Zero 1, obviously. Though you don't need to play the original to enjoy it. It's kind of like how you can enjoy Half-Life 2 without having played the OG. To boil it down, you're playing as the same guy from Entropy Zero 1, or well, I guess a new version of him, after he gets promoted from a Metrocop to an elite soldier. The game takes place after the events of Half-Life 2, as the advisors task you with hunting down and capturing Judith Mossman now that she's become a trader to the combat. Your character's name is Aiden Walker, though he's usually referred to by either his unit number 3650 or simply as Bad Cop, and he's got a clearly troubled past. From what we learn, his wife died from an illness, and his daughter disappeared shortly after, with him being jailed as the prime suspect in her assumed murder. It was the Combine who stepped in and freed Aiden, giving him a purpose and direction in life as a lethal enforcer. He's widely regarded as a freak and an outcast by his peers, and holds a reputation for being a suck-up who's overly loyal to the Combine. Bad Undying Loyalty is what has inspired the Combine to use him as a blueprint to create the perfect soldier and clone the shit out of him, with the story being a bit of a commentary on how governments take advantage of social outcasts in the real world. Anyway, being that Bad Cop is a super-soldier clone and all, he makes pretty good progress on tracking down Judith Mossman, discovers some interesting backstory about Aperture Science's shell company, Arbite, and even meets a robot companion called Wilson along the way. The only problem is, being that Bad Cop is a super-soldier clone and all, there's a lot of duplicates of him. And one of them has apparently gone rogue on a mission to sabotage the Combine. You can't let that happen. Meet your antagonist, dubbed Clone Cop. He's your number one liability, one step ahead of you at every move, and a force to be reckoned with. He's also the number one source of exposition in this game, leaving audio logs for the player to listen to so they can unravel more of the story as they play. Anyway, I can't really say much more about the plot without delving into spoiler territory, which I'd like to avoid for now. So how about that gameplay? First off, the weapons. The developers kidding up the prototype AR2 and Entropy 01 with new sounds and a fucking Extendo magazine proved that they had a good taste for how to make Half-Life 2's gameplay more viscerally exciting. However, they took this to another level in Easy 2. Every weapon's got redone sounds and animations, some have new models, and they all feel significantly beefier. The revolver in particular handles beautifully. Interestingly, there is no crowbar stand-in melee weapon, only an FPS kick mechanic that reminds me of S-Mod, one of my favorite Half-Life 2 mods of all time. Instead of a standard-issue sidearm, Bad Cop gets a Gauss pistol, which is really cool and interesting in both premise and visual design. It's an energy gun with an alt-fire that builds up a charged attack, and it never runs out of ammo. As for new weapons, they've implemented the slams from Half-Life 2 Deathmatch as a tool for detonating enemies and doors alike, they've added a zen grenade which sucks stuff up and spits other stuff back out, sometimes health and supplies, usually just zen creatures, and finally, they've added the MP5K, which is a hefty SMG with both burst fire and fully auto capabilities. The zen grenade is really fun to use on big enemies in areas with tons of props, and it gets used in some nifty puzzles as well. The MP5K is nothing breathtaking and I really didn't make much use of it in my playthroughs, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to occasionally just explode on enemies with it. Speaking of enemies, let's talk a little about them. Being that you're taking control of an antagonistic combine elite directly across the aisle from Gordon, your primary opponents are now resistance members, but to shake things up, some of them have jet packs which seem to be built from Tao cannons, and their AI has been improved quite a lot. You'll see them making use of cover and even fleeing when they're scared. You can also kick guns out of their hands and then apprehend them, which is a really cool touch. Old school Half-Life fans will be pleased to see the return of enemies like bull squids and classic headcrabs, opposing force fans will flood their khakis with cream at the sight of pit drones and gonomes, and normal people will probably think it's cool to fight Vortigaunts again. Oh, and zombie Vortigaunts are cool no matter where you stand. To close things out, your allied combine troops can be commanded on a whim and are actually pretty competent teammates, definitely a step up from the clunky squad mechanics from Half-Life 2. Overall, EZ2 has a ton of interesting changes to the gameplay formula that give it a lot of depth and replay value. So with all of that out of the way, what were the things that resonated with me about this game? Well first and foremost, I liked how earnest it felt. Entropy 02 is clearly made by dedicated and authentic Half-Life fans, as evidenced by its incredible attention to detail and litany of obscure references. I mean come on, they brought back Mosman's assistant Chester. I bet you didn't even know that guy had a name. I thought the way that the Arbite brand, which appeared on those unused Half-Life 2 crate textures was flipped into a shell company for Aperture was a very interesting idea, especially given that the plot point served as a vehicle to bring the player into a new and intriguing Aperture location. Similarly, I found it cool how they subtly recontextualized zen healing pools as bull squid egg nests. I thought the levels themselves were well designed and found driving the APC to be more fun in this than in pretty much any other Half-Life 2 mod I've played. Also, the Wilson runs are a nice, fresh iteration of the crate baby slash Noam Chomsky tradition. There's a lot of Half-Life fan games that don't feel like they're made for people who know or care deeply about the series' lore or history, but I can firmly say that EZ2 is not one of them. Not even close. However, it's time to get to the contentious part of the video, and that's the part in which I describe things about the game I didn't like. Now most of my problems with EZ2 admittedly are out of a purist lens, as they're simply things that I felt make the experience less Half-Life Keep in mind, it should speak to this game's quality that I like it so much given how far it strays from the standard formula. But to start off, I wasn't the biggest fan of the game's story. I found the clone arc and themes of fighting yourself and finding your inner humanity to be a little too anime-esque for my taste. It's not bad. I mean, it kept my interest until the end, but it just felt kind of mismatched with the source material. I also thought in a lot of ways that the game's visual identity might have been too distant from Half-Life 2. I noticed a lot of pitch-black darkness, which really doesn't appear much in the Half-Life 2 trilogy outside of Episode 1, widely considered to be the weakest. There was very intense, almost bordering on neon lighting at times, and near constant use of intense color correction and bloom that sometimes kind of hurt my eyes. Level environments were of varying quality. Some were phenomenal with an unbelievable amount of detail packed in, while I found some others left something to be desired. The redone weapon animations, as badass as they are, feel overtuned to me. I also found the added recoil to some of the guns to be a bit overbearing. Though I'm the kind of dork who probably would've rather they just kept the default guns, so whatever. As much as I was impressed by the Rebels AI and found welding shotgunner guys to be badass, I also found the way the jetpack Rebels fly to look kind of silly. In fact, Rebels having jetpacks at all seems kind of ridiculous to me. I guess it's not far-fetched given what we know about the Half-Life universe's technology, but tonally, it kind of reminded me of that weird Japanese Half-Life 2 survivor game. In fact, pretty much every time an NPC jumps or otherwise falls using this animation, I think it looks goofy. As for the voice acting, I know some people really dislike Bad Cop. Personally, I don't mind him. I even cracked a smile at a few of his one-liners and references. However, I did find some of the other voice acting in the mod to be of less than stellar quality. Another one of those able-eathed combine! We can't let it get to Dr. Mosman! And the team being limited with Mosman's dialogue was undeniably awkward, even if it gave way to a great Black Mesa East callback near the end. And while I'm not someone who particularly minds the tonal difference between Half-Life 2 and Portal 2, I can see why someone who thinks Portal 2's writing is too silly for Half-Life would dislike EZ2's dialogue. My final nitpick is in relation to Candy. Okay, so fanservice is a lot like Candy. It's an easy way to put a smile on someone's face. But just as having too much Candy is bad for you, having too much fanservice can easily spoil an experience. Entropy 02 undoubtedly partakes in its fair share of fanservice. It reaches into the Candy jar and has more than a few helpings. And I can't pretend that I didn't get a little sugar sickness from time to time. In terms of its plotline, EZ2 certainly flirts with Half-Life 3 hype a lot, and it bridges the gap between Portal and Half-Life in a way I can't imagine Valve doing. But I actually found this Portal and Half-Life 3 stuff to be the least egregious fanservice in the mod. The stuff that I found kinda nasty was the appeal to cut content fans and opposing force fans. Now, time to admit a bias once more. I really don't like it when mods try to incorporate elements of opposing force or the other gearbox expansions into the modern Half-Life continuity. I think that there's pretty much no way to do it that isn't at least a little contrived and ham-fisted, since the Half-Life 2 games just flat-out weren't written to accommodate them. Trying to connect the dots leaves you with jarring plot holes to fill, and I personally find it to be nasty territory that you should really just avoid if you're trying to make a lower-centric mod. I have also been known to dislike the circle jerk around the Half-Life 2 beta, but even outside of that, I found the stuff in EZ2 that catered to the cut content and opposing force communities to be really pointless. Pit Drones are a boring and forgettable enemy, and they don't seem to serve any purpose to the plot either. Outside of their admittedly cool introduction, I'm struggling to remember any interaction with them that wasn't just running them over with the APC. I can't deny that the go-nomes return is really cool, but it's used in a way that's more creative than it was in opposing force, and left me wondering if things might have been more interesting had the developers just created their own original monster instead. As for the cut content stuff, I was genuinely confused at the sight of the stuka bat. It isn't very impactful in combat, it's very stilted looking in its movement, and whenever I encountered it, I actually found myself wondering if it's AI was even working properly. How many people will even recognize this thing anyway? Also, remember that MP5K from earlier? Well, while it certainly doesn't detract from the gameplay, I don't think it really adds much either since there's already two other SMG weapons, and I can't help but feel like it might have only been added as an appetizer for fans of the beta. Anyway, in spite of all my grumpy gripes, Entropy Zero 2 is still probably the best Half-Life 2 mod I've ever played, and there's a convincing case to be made that it's a better experience than some of the game's official entries. I can totally understand why people are bestowing it as the best Half-Life mod of all time. It undeniably sets a very high bar for the Half-Life modding scene, and it's definitely a tough act to follow. In case you couldn't tell by now, I called this video Hunt Down the Mossman as a tongue-in-cheek joke, not to insult EZ2. They're both obviously on complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to Half-Life fan games, although I do think it's funny that both star a bad guy in the Arctic hunting down a Half-Life resistance member. Anyway, thank you to everyone involved in the project for bringing some primo content to the Half-Life community. I know I'm not the only one grateful for it. If you've beaten the game already and don't mind spoilers, stick around after the credits for one last bit about the game's ending. Thanks for watching, have a good day. The ending to Entropy Zero 2 is fucking awesome and one of my favorite things about it. I genuinely can't think of a more climactic way to end a Half-Life 2 mod. You're literally taking on a Combine Advisor in front of the Borealis, and the boss fight itself is based on actual prototypes from Half-Life 2 Episode 3, which makes it just that more authentic. It's fun, super tense, and very rewarding. The fact that there are so many endings and so much choice afforded to the player is great too. I love it. Side note, the fact that I got to do a cameo in this game is insane. Earlier this year, I also provided some voice work for field intensity, which is the best Half-Life 1 mod I've ever played. So, in a really strange and unpredictable turn of events, I think there's a chance I might have accidentally landed myself a voice acting credit in both the best Half-Life 1 mod of all time, and the best Half-Life 2 mod of all time. 12 year old me would be very proud. Wait, who's here, Rektor? The war is over between me and Rektor that lasted 15 to 20 minutes.