Acabo de encontrate este articulo y me parecio muy buena la idea de recopilar juegos clasicos que han recibido un refresco gracias a los mods hechos por verdaderos fanaticos o como dice la escritora:"Trabajadors fans han vertido corazón, alma, increíbles niveles de esfuerzo técnico y cantidades ridículas de tiempo en la mejora de muchos clásicos del género con modernos gráficos, sonido y características"
Se que muchos no estan de acuerdo con la idea que los graficos lo sean todo para hacer de un juego, un GRAN juego, pero quizas si comparten mi idea de que repetir aquel juego que nos hizo pasar horas y horas de sano entretenimiento, con una imagen renovada vale mucho la pena.
13 Classic Games Made Awesome with Mods (part 1)
Time is a cruel mistress to technology, particularly to video games. Sure, Deus Ex was a shining beacon of level design and plot arguably not matched to this day (though prequel Human Revolution came close). But even with rose-diamond composite augmented optics, we have to admit that once cutting-edge graphics are now past their prime. It’s hard to persuade a twenty-first century newcomer to play a game that looks so very 1998. But for some games, there is a solution: mods.
Hard-working fans have poured heart, soul, incredible levels of technical effort, and ridiculous amounts of time into upgrading many classics of the genre with modern graphics, sound, and features. These mods make games we loved in the last century challengers for the affections of gamers in this one.
The modding scene on the PC is very vibrant, and games such as Oblivion have thousands of mods available, from minor tweaks and graphical improvements to significant extensions and alterations that, while worthy, also mean you’re no longer playing the original game. If you want to play a classic game, just updated for modern hardware, it’s sometimes hard to figure out which mods you want.
So here is a selection of some of the genre’s best-of-the-best, with one mod (or a select few) that goes above and beyond to bring it up to modern specs. I’ve limited the list to mods of classic games; these mods also must improve the game while leaving the original design intact, except for fixes. Plus, they must also be simple to install (preferably automated).
If you’ve never played some of the games on this list, consider this your invitation to try them now. And if you played them back in the day, these mods are reasons to relive your awesome game experience.
(Thanks to Peter Wainwright.)
Half-Life: Black Mesa Source
Half-Life was a revolutionary game from 1998 that reset the expectations of what a first-person shooter should be at a time when we still thought that Doom 2 was kinda neat, Quake was where it was at, and Daikatana was not yet Romero’s Folly. (The release of Half-Life helped put the crowbar into that coffin.) In it, theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman mutely fights to survive after an interdimensional rift non-theoretically tears into the research facility where he’s based.
In 2004 Valve produced an updated version of Half-Life, retooled to run on the Source engine developed to support sequel Half-Life 2, and inventively called Half-Life: Source. But while it did feature enhanced visuals and added physics, some very dedicated fans felt even that could be improved. And then they spent eight years improving it.
“Black Mesa Source,” a re-envisioning of the original Half-Life, was released in September 2012. Technically, it’s not a mod, because you don’t need the original Half-Life, or even Valve’s own upgraded version, to play it. You do, however, need the Source SDK. Improvements include better lighting and shadows, all-new textures and animations, improved physics, and a terrific new soundtrack. It even supports the Xbox 360.
“Black Mesa Source” has been greenlit on Steam’s Project Greenlight, which means you’ll soon be able to download it directly from Steam. If you just can’t wait, it’s also available, um, at the source.
Half-Life 2: The Cinematic Mod
Half-Life 2 revisits Gordon Freeman and gives him an alien occupation to fight off and a gravity gun to help him with the dirty work. It was one of the, if not the, best first-person shooter ever created. But that was back in 2004.
Enter the “Cinematic Mod,” a mod that enhances every aspect of the game, from lighting effects, new high definition textures and character models, improved playability, and visual enhancements that have to be seen to be believed.
The “Cinematic Mod” comes as a self-contained installer that automatically detects where you’ve got the game installed. It upgrades Half-Life 2 to use the version of Valve’s Source engine used in Episode 2, so you’ll also need the original game plus HL2:E1 and HL2:E2 installed for it to work. It also provides stand-alone tool you can use after installation to select between a variety of high-definition models for Alyx, Barney, the G-Man, and other NPCs. Some variants might not be to your taste, but you do get to choose, and you can even stay with the original non-HD models if you don’t like any of the enhanced versions.
After eleven major iterations and many more minor updates, CM11 stands as possibly one of the most intensive makeovers of a classic ever done. Yes, this is the eleventh iteration of the mod, and as I write this, CM12 is just beginning to appear. In other words, Half-Life 2 just keeps getting better.
Deus Ex: New Vision
Voted PC Gamer’s best game of all time in 2011, Deus Ex really was as revolutionary as everyone claims. Playing as an augmented cybernetic agent for UNATCO, the player delves ever deeper into a twisting plot that was, to many, everything the X-Files was pretending to be but actually wasn’t. When other games had linear plots and levels, Deus Ex gave us multiple approaches to every objective and consequences to our actions; even today other games struggle to meet the standard it set in 2000.
Today, of course, Deus Ex looks as dated as broadcast television. Time to apply a visual augmentation, “Deus Ex New Vision.” “New Vision” actually comprises three separate mods, conveniently bundled together. Unfortunately, you have install them by hand, but other than adding one line to a configuration file, it’s all drag and drop:
- The main mod itself provides new textures, which you copy into the Deus Ex installation folder. You also need to add one line (given to you in the documentation) to the game’s main .ini file.
- The second mod upgrades the game to DirectX 10 (you can also opt for OpenGL) and also unlocks HD resolutions like 1920×1080.
The last mod replaces the game launcher. While technically unnecessary, it makes it easier to configure the game and fixes a host of potential problems like game speed issues. (If you don’t use the alternate launcher, choose “Show All Devices” when you select the rendering engine to see the DX10 option.)
The result doesn’t make the original look brand new, but it’s definitely an upgrade you’ll appreciate.
You can also install “Revision,” an actively developed mod that’s redesigning all of Deus Ex‘s levels to improve gameplay, in some cases from the ground up, and also comes with a proper installer. I can recommend the combo of “New Vision” plus “Revision” for full but still-vanilla augmentation.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series: Stalker Complete 2009/2012
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl (or Stalker: SoC for short) is a 2007 first-person shooter set in and around the real-world Chernobyl Zone of Alienation (its actual name). The game combines the nuclear tragedy of 1986 with elements of the 1979 film by Andrei Tarkovsky and original novel Roadside Picnic in which forces unknown have sent physics awry, producing hard-to-spot anomalies where your next step could be your last.
Brutally punishing to those who charge recklessly into combat, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: SoC; sequel game S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat (2009); and prequel game S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky (2008) reward the thoughtful player with gameplay that’s part FPS, part survival horror, and part mystery thriller. There are plot twists and genuinely dramatic moments that made me think back to Half-Life 2 for a comparable experience. Also, pay attention, because there are multiple endings and you are not spoon-fed the route to the best outcome.
For enhancing the gameplay while staying true to the original, the aptly named “Stalker Complete” mods are the way to go. There’s one for each of the three games, and a new version of “Stalker Complete” is currently in the works. (I played “Stalker Compete 2009,” but assuming it’s named accurately, “2012” should be around any moment.)
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are a little more recent than others on this list, but the games as released weren’t without some problems, including bugginess, and the mods improve the original games by fixing a number of them, along with greatly improved visuals, textures, and dynamic lighting. They also allow players to switch from first- to third-person perspective and give NPCs the ability to toss grenades. Plus, you can continue playing after you finish the plot.
De esta primera entrega solo he jugado uno de los mods mencionados("el Black Mesa Source"), pero me veo muy tentado a buscar por Stalker y jugarlo, he oido buenos comentarios de ese juego y ahora con esta nueva cara.....si dan ganas.
Espero disfruten la lectura y para los que como yo no hemos jugado estos juegos o mods, pues suena como una buean guia
fuente:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/10/10/13-classic-games-made-awesome-with-mods-part-1/Parte 2: aun no lo he leido
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/10/10/13-classic-games-made-awesome-with-mods-part-2/3/
